Pates continues comeback tour with podium finish in his Snow League debut

Jake Pates received his invite so late he didn’t even get to compete with his name on his athlete bib like the other riders at The Snow League. But that didn’t stop the 27-year-old from crashing the podium as Shaun White’s new halfpipe contest held its third-ever event and second at Aspen’s Buttermilk Ski Area on Saturday.

“Really crazy. I’m grateful. Just excited to be here,” Pates said after finishing third, pointing out he only got word he made the 20-man field about a week before the contest. He was still in Italy following the Winter Olympics at the time. “This event is so revolutionary for snowboarding. It’s pushing the level. It’s adding so many different variables to the sport. I’m just excited to be a part of it. The level of riding is so high. This is the new age of snowboarding and to be a part of it is just a privilege.”

Pates, who is from Eagle but did begin his snowboard career training as a youth with the Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club, had been a 2018 Olympian but retired not long after, saying he needed to step away mentally more than anything. He went about four years between World Cup contests, finally returning in February 2024 before eventually making the 2026 Olympic team. He finished eighth in Livigno on Feb. 13 to match his result from Pyeongchang.

Considering the long layoff, for him to be back in the halfpipe going toe-to-toe with the best snowboarders in the world is almost too good to be true for a rider who considers the Roaring Fork Valley a second home.

“When I’m in this pipe at Buttermilk it feels like I’m home,” Pates said. “Obviously, the goal is to get on the box, get on the podium, and I did go to the Olympics, which was an amazing accomplishment for me to get back to that point. But to come here, this event has so much prestige. I feel like I’m back now.”

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The Snow League wrapped up its two days of halfpipe snowboarding on Saturday with the men’s and women’s quarterfinals, semifinals and finals of the head-to-head tournament, a truly unique format in the sport. The 20 men and 12 women were whittled down to eight each after a long day of qualifying on Friday.

In the quarterfinals, Pates defeated a fellow Colorado rider, Telluride’s Lucas Foster, to advance. But then, in the best-of-three semifinal matchup, Japan’s Ryusei Yamada, who is now the reigning Olympic bronze medalist, proved too much for Pates. Yamada went on to beat his countryman, new Olympic gold medalist Yuto Totsuka, in the head-to-head final.

Pates did rally to defeat New Zealand’s Cam Melville Ives in the third-place match to earn the coveted podium spot. Cam is the brother of halfpipe skiing superstar Finley Melville Ives.

“So much riding. I’ve never competed in a contest with so many runs,” Pates said. “I lost track of how many I did. It didn’t help that me and Cam were going head-to-head and had to pull a third one, but I think we were both really pumped that we got another opportunity to go against each other.”

With his AVSC ties, Pates has been front and center this week in his Snow League debut. Among his duties was presenting a signed and framed athlete bib to AVSC’s Nichole Mason, who is the club’s snowboard program director, during a special pre-event athlete draw on Thursday at the Viceroy Snowmass.

Now, he’s hoping he gets a follow-up invite to the final Snow League stop of its four-event first season, to be held March 19-21 in Laax, Switzerland. The first-ever Snow League season champions will be crowned on Swiss snow with their names to be added to the new Tiffany and Co. trophy that White unveiled during the athlete draw.

“I hope I get that Snow League invite to go out to Switzerland and Laax — one of my favorite places on Earth — and all the boys are going. I’d love to continue along and ride with them and get to compete again in this format,” Pates said. “This is actually super crazy. I started snowboarding here and learning tricks in this halfpipe. And then to retire, spend all that time off, work my way back to this point, go to the Olympics, come here after, get a spot, end up third — it’s crazy. I’m kind of speechless to be honest.”

This was the first Snow League win for Yamada, who is only 19 and more than proving he is among the world’s best in recent seasons. Totsuka, who won the Snow League debut in Aspen last winter, upset Australia’s Scotty James to win Olympic gold only a few weeks back in Italy.

Yamada, Totsuka and fellow Japanese star Ayumu Hirano, who won the Snow League contest in China earlier this winter but failed to make it out of qualifying this week in Aspen, are the favorites to add their name to the trophy in Laax. Totsuka is the slight points leader over Yamada after three events.

Of note, Japan’s Kaishu Hirano, the younger brother of 2022 Olympic gold medalist Ayumu Hirano, set an unofficial record for amplitude out of a halfpipe during his qualifying run on Friday, reaching 25 feet, 2 inches. He was recognized after Saturday’s finals for his feat, with Canada’s Brooke D’Hondt and Yamada winning the event’s new highest air award for their performances on Saturday.

While halfpipe skiing did make its Snow League debut earlier this winter in China — won by China’s Eileen Gu and Canada’s Brendan Mackay — it was scrapped from the Aspen program this week due to how close the competition was to the Olympics. The halfpipe snowboarders competed earlier than the skiers at the Games, allowing more time to make ready for The Snow League in Aspen. The skiers will return in The Snow League season one final in Laax.

Mastro leads Americans in women’s field

Japan, like it does in most snowboard contests these days, also owned the women’s field, with Japan’s Sara Shimizu taking the win over California’s Maddie Mastro in the final on Saturday. Only 16 and making her Snow League debut, Shimizu was the first off the podium at the 2026 Olympics and is another rising superstar in the sport.

Mastro’s runner-up finish matched her result from Aspen last winter, when she finished second to Japan’s Sena Tomita. Mastro did not compete in the China contest earlier this winter — won by China’s Patti Zhou — and her Snow League podium comes only a few weeks after she had a disappointing showing at the Olympics, finishing dead last in the 12-woman final.

“I’m just really proud of how I handled myself in Livigno and also I’m proud of how I’ve handled myself after Livigno,” said the 26-year-old Mastro, who has struggled mentally with poor results in her younger days. She called her runner-up finish on Saturday “a win.”

“Of course, every contest I enter I want to win so there is always that piece of me that leaves me hungry for that win,” she added. “I want to stay on top of the box, always. That never, ever changes. But big picture, I’m really, really proud of myself.”

Tomita finished third on Saturday, with Japan’s Rise Kudo finishing fourth. Kudo pulled out of the third-place match due to injury, meaning Tomita automatically got to claim the podium spot.

Shimizu’s win shouldn’t be too surprising as she also won X Games Aspen back in January. She also won X Games bronze in 2025 as a 15-year-old X Games rookie.

“We’ve been riding together since October and it’s really been fun, to be honest,” Mastro said of her budding rivalry with the young Japanese standout Shimizu, who like Mastro has proven she can put down multiple double corks in a run, something few women can do.

“It was just a really cool moment of not only is there one woman doing it, now there are two,” Mastro continued. “That makes it more fun. In the past that would have scared me. … But now, I’m more excited and it’s more motivating. If you can do it, I can do it.”

Tomita continues to lead the women in points entering the final contest. Japan’s Mitsuki Ono maintains second place overall after her quarterfinal loss to Tomita.

The Snow League closed out the weekend with a concert by music legend Wyclef Jean from the base of the Buttermilk halfpipe.

This story is from AspenTimes.com