Aspen, CO – Winter X Games Gold Medal Snowboardcross (SBX) champion Nick Baumgartner arrives in Aspen this week looking for a repeat in the six-man riding action on Buttermilk Mountain at the 2012 Winter X Games. Qualifying takes place on Friday with the finals to follow on Saturday.

Baumgartner, a member of the 2010 U.S. Olympic Team, won last year’s Winter X SBX competition in dramatic style. Less than two weeks prior to the event that was televised on the ESPN networks, the Iron River, Mich. native broke his collarbone on a training run on Copper Mountain in Colorado. Baumgartner underwent surgery, which resulted in a plate and 15 screws in his shoulder. An injury that would suspend most racing seasons proved irrelevant to this proud father of then six-year-old son Landon, who was in attendance with grandparents Bob and Mary.

“Knowing that my boy was at the bottom was so phenomenal. It got me down here every time just coming around the corner knowing that he would be watching,” Baumgarter said while holding Landon following his gold medal run. “To win is unreal. I am so happy to do this in front of my boy.”

Baumgartner, who competed this past summer in his first season as a TRAXXAS Torc Series off-road, short-course truck racer, ended teammate Nick Holland’s five-year winning streak at Winter X last year and is looking to collect more hardware this weekend with a second gold medal in SBX.