Former Sandpoint resident aiming for X Games gold
<p>Sandpoint native Brandon Adam will be competing in mono ski at the 2012 Winter X Games later this month. He claimed silver at the 2011 event, and is hoping for gold the second time around. (Courtesy photo)</p>
SANDPOINT — As a youth growing up in Sandpoint, Brandon Adam spent a lot of time shredding the slopes of Schweitzer on a snowboard.
He also loved to race super cross motorcycles, where he became comfortable catching huge air going off jumps at high speeds.
So it came as little surprise when Adam, 26, took up the sport of mono skiing five years ago after losing both of his legs in a roadside bombing while serving in Baghdad.
Adam, who graduated from Sandpoint High School before moving to Colorado in 2003, will compete in the 2012 Winter X Games mono ski for the second straight year on Jan. 26-29 in Aspen, Colo.
Mono skiing is a relatively new sport for the disabled skier, as competitors race in heats of four down the same courses used for snowboardcross and skiercross races.
When asked what he loves most about the highly competitive and adrenaline-charged sport, the Purple Heart recipient and Army veteran of two tours said simply being scared.
“Everything is massive in X Games, and there are some serious consequences to falls,” says Adam, who led a portion of last year’s inaugural X Games race before crashing and ultimately finishing second. “Being scared is what I love the most.”
Adam, who is married and raising a daughter in Woodland Park, Colo., says the only way to really train for the race is to practice jumps, as there are no courses for him to practice on at Copper Mountain, where he skis.
Just like in snowboardcross, where fellow Sandpoint natives and X Games participants Pat and Nate Holland are competing, Adam is always striving for a cleaner run. Admittedly competitive, he hopes to join Nate Holland as an X Games gold medalist this year.
Last year, there were a handful of wrecks in the X Games mono ski final, as well as passes, bumping and big air.
“I’ve had plenty of times when I’ve come into contact in the air off of jumps,” describes Adam. “I used to race super cross, so it’s pretty comfortable for me.”
A competitive mono ski race circuit is currently forming, with as many as three more events on tap after the X Games.
“Before the incident I snowboarded constantly, so it was a pretty seamless transition. Six months after my injury, I started (mono skiing),” says Adam. “This sport is more what I like to do. Hopefully we’ll end up getting it into the Olympics.”