Riders return to roots with Knuckle Huck event at Winter X

There's only one rule in the event that has captured the imaginations of all the high-flying daredevils at the Winter X Games: Do something cool.

This weekend, cool will happen in a contest called Knuckle Huck, a set of low-flying, highly creative trips down the mountain that have, in many minds, helped action sports rediscover their roots.

Without the bright lights and TV cameras, this very well might be what snowboarding or freestyle skiing looks like when friends get together for a day on the slopes.

Jesper Tjader practices for knuckle huck at the Winter X Games on Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021, in Aspen, Colo. (Kelsey BrunnerThe Aspen Times via AP)

The uniquely Winter X contest works like this: A group of snowboarders (competition starts Friday night) or freestyle skiers (Sunday) have 20 minutes to “huck” themselves over the bottom “knuckle” of the hill that's set up near the big-air venue — bypassing the massive kicker completely. Judges rank the riders on overall impression — no scores.

The winner takes home a set of gold-plated brass knuckles dangling from a chain. There are no silver or bronze medals — in fact, no other rewards at all, other than the smiles that radiate across the mountain when this event, now in its third year for snowboarding (second for freestyle skiing) ends.

“It's so much fun, because there's so many endless possibilities,” said snowboarder Zeb Powell, who won the competition last year but is sitting out this season as he recovers from a knee injury. "You're always jumping out of your chair because you don’t know what you just saw. You can't process it. You're like, ‘Oh my gosh, how did he do that?’”

The sun sets during the knuckle huck and big air ski practice for the Winter X Games at Buttermilk on Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021, in Aspen, Colo. (Kelsey BrunnerThe Aspen Times via AP)

Where the typical halfpipe or slopestyle contestant seeks perfection on high-flying moves that have been done before, hundreds of times, Knuckle Huck calls for absolute originality.

“The way you win the event is by doing something that doesn’t have a name, by coming up with a creative way to go over the knuckle or to hand-drag it or flip in a way that has never been done,” Winter X Games freestyle skier turned broadcaster Tom Wallisch said.

A disclaimer: You will not see this at the Olympics next year — or maybe ever.

In a world that has been constantly defined by progression — i.e., death-defying leaps and flips above the frozen halfpipe and the rock-hard slopestyle kickers — this Winter X event harkens back to the sport’s roots. It speaks of a time when friends went to the mountain looking for moves that would impress each other, not necessarily some judge sitting in a booth.

“That's the closest any of these X Games events come to feeling like what the sport really is all about,” said Wallisch, who participated in the inaugural ski Knuckle Huck competition last winter while wearing about 10 pounds of broadcast equipment to provide on-course commentary. “For us growing up, it’s all about skiing with your friends, pushing each other, trying to learn new tricks, just laughing and having a good time and sort of the camaraderie of skiing together.”

For now, it's only a men's event. But in a nod to the fluid, come-one-come-all nature of the sport, two-time women's Olympic slopestyle champion Jamie Anderson was set to join the men on the hill for the snowboarding version of Knuckle Huck on Friday night.

Don't count her out, either.

“It just comes down to creativity and expressing your style rather than just hucking some big double or triple corks," explained Colby Stevenson, who won the inaugural ski version of the event last season in Aspen along with slopestyle. “It’s a more mellow competition.”

This is what “mellow” look like at Winter X: One of Powell's tricks on his way to gold in 2020 was a “Coffin Method Back Flip” where, at full speed, he bent down near the knuckle, slid on his back along the snow and did a flip while grabbing his board.

The fans — not allowed in the park this year because of COVID-19 protocols — loved it. Hard not to be awed as a competitor, either.

“We feed off the energy of the competition," Powell said. “It's an all-around, fun, exciting event for everyone."

The Knuckle Huck began on the snowboarding side at Winter X in 2019 (first winner: Fridtjof Tischendorf — "Fridge" for short and who competes while wearing a backpack). The freestyle skiers liked it so much they wanted in and were included last winter.

Anything can happen in the Knuckle Huck — similar to the vibe on the mountain with buddies.

“You’re not going to see anyone frowning or being sad because they fell or something," Wallisch said of the competitors. “Because it’s just such a good time.”

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Arizona guard Jaden Bradley had just emerged from the locker room, his left wrist tightly taped after a collision left him holding it in pain. Koa Peat was mired in foul trouble, and Houston was making a big run in the Big 12 Tournament title game

All season long, the second-ranked Wildcats had demonstrated their talent.

On Saturday night, they proved their resilience.

Brayden Burries broke out of a slump with 21 points, including a pair of clinching free throws with 8.3 seconds left. Peat also had 21 points and Bradley, who hit the semifinal game-winner against Iowa State, finished with 13 as Arizona held on for a 79-74 victory over the fifth-ranked Cougars in a rematch of last year's championship game.

“They're just resilient, you know? And they just have this unbreakable spirit,” Tommy Lloyd, the Big 12 coach of the year, said of his Wildcats. “These guys do an amazing job of figuring it out in tough moments.”

It's a talent that should serve the Wildcats (32-2) well going into next week's NCAA Tournament. They've won nine straight since their only two losses of the season, and six of those wins have come against ranked opponents.

“We got in the Big 12 and I learned real quick we were looking up and chasing a program, and it was Houston,” Lloyd said. “And not that we were fixated on the chase, but it gave us a great barometer for what we felt we had to do in our program.”

The Wildcats, who lost to the Cougars 72-64 in their Big 12 title game debut a year ago, led 75-66 with just over a minute left on Saturday night before Mercy Miller and Milos Uzan hit 3s on consecutive possessions to give Houston a chance.

But when Peat missed a jumper with 22 seconds to go, Arizona big man Motiejus Krivas gathered the rebound and was fouled under the bucket. The 7-foot-2 junior from Lithuania calmly made both free throws to extend the Wildcats' lead.

Kingston Flemings and Miller missed layups at the other end for Houston (28-6), and by the time Miller was fouled and made two free throws, there was just 13.2 seconds to go. Burries was fouled on the inbound pass and put away the game.

“You had the two best teams in the Big 12 fighting down the stretch. Either team could have won the game," Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. “Sometimes it comes down to a break. Sometimes it comes down to a whistle. Sometimes it comes down to a bounce. When two teams are evenly matched like they were today, that's what it comes down to.”

The championship matchup — one befitting of a Final Four — was close throughout the first half until Burries, who'd missed 11 straight shots going back to a quarterfinal win over UCF, finally got hot for Arizona. The All-Big 12 guard hit four in a row late in the first half, scoring the Wildcats' last 10 points and giving them a 44-36 advantage at the break.

They stretched the lead to 15 points in the second half as the game became more physical.

In a span of a few minutes, Bradley hurt his wrist in a collision and briefly went to the locker room. Peat was slow getting up after he was hammered on a shot. And during a scrap for a loose ball, five bodies hit the floor, and when a jump ball was finally called, Burries and Houston forward Kalifa Sakho laid on the court unwilling to let go.

Houston was still trailing 59-44 when it finally went on its big run, scoring 14 straight points and nearly drawing even.

But the unflappable Burries answered with a three-point play, Ivan Kharchenko scored on three straight trips down floor for the Wildcats, and they managed to regain just enough breathing room to survive all the way to the finish.

“Arizona is really good,” Sampson said. “If Arizona had lost to Houston, I'd have said the same thing. ‘Arizona lost to a really good team. There’s no shame in Arizona losing to Houston.' And I'll say the same thing the other way. Arizona is really good.”

Houston will likely be a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and play first- and second-round games in Oklahoma City. Perhaps more importantly, the Cougars would play their regional semifinal in Houston should they advance.

Arizona should have a short trip to San Diego for its opening weekend games in the NCAA Tournament. If the Wildcats advance, the projected No. 1 seed would head up the coast to San Jose, California for the second weekend.

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Houston's Joseph Tugler (11) chases a loose ball between Arizona's Tobe Awaka (30) and Anthony Dell'Orso (3) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the championship of the Big 12 Conference tournament Saturday, March 14, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)