It has always been my dream to win a gold medal at the Aspen XGames. Since I was ten years old, I have obsessing over being a professional skier. In being a professional skier, the biggest event of the year is Xgames, it is our “Superbowl” of freestyle skiing. As you can imagine, winning the event last year was my most prized dream to ever come true. As this year’s 2020 XGames approached it seemed as if there was a lot of pressure on me to repeat last year’s success. I was extremely nervous going into the contest but, I was also extremely dedicated to performing at my absolute best. I was skiing like an absolute mad man in pursuit of the illustrious gold. I was showing up at every training session right on time and had a well thought out plan of what I was going to do in that moment. My coach, Elana Chase, and I had many conversations while spinning on the bike trying to figure out the best plan to suit the new “Jam Style Format” that XGames unveiled. We knew it was most likely going to be four runs in finals and that each run had to be different and or progress from the last one. With this new format it was imperative to be consistent and progressive, something that is really difficult to do under pressure. I had to execute and land a number of different runs in a row.

Run one:
Rightside Double cork 1260 mute, left 720 tail, switch right side double cork 1080 Japan, left side double cork 1260 mute, and finishing with a double down the pipe flatspin 900 Japan. I have never done this exact run before and I performed it in good fashion but, definitely Far from perfect! I was sticking to the plan and everything was looking fairly solid.

Run two:
Rightside Double cork 1260 mute, left 900 tail, down the pipe double flatspin 900 Japan, left side double cork 1260 mute, into a down the pipe double flatspin 1080 Japan. I was not planning on doing this run at all but in the middle of the left side double cork 1260 mute I realized that I wasn’t going to make it around for the 1440 and I had to then pull an audible mid run finishing with the down the pipe double flatspin 1080 Japan which I have never done in competition. Overall, it was a solid run and I was really grateful to have pulled off something new!

Run three:
Was a total throw away run as I repeated some tricks and missed a few grabs. I simply stayed on my feet and got to the end of the pipe with a few fun stylish tricks.

Run four:
I was the last to drop in. I never watch any of the other competitors runs and or look at the scoreboard until the contest is over but, for some reason I decided to glance over at the leader board and I was in second place… I Looked Elana dead in the eyes and said “showtime”. I dropped in and did a right-side Double cork 1260 mute, left 900 tail, down the pipe flatspin 540 Japan, left side double cork 1440 mute, and finishing with a switch right side double cork 1080 Japan. A run that I have never done before and a run that would plunge me back into first place and achieve back to back gold medals at the X Games!

My whole family came rushing over to me after I landed that fourth and final run. I was overwhelmed with pure jubilation and sincere gratitude. It was an amazing experience to watch all of my hard work unfold in front of my eyes. I will cherish that moment for the rest of my life, and I am so grateful that I got to spend it with some of my closest friends and family members. My coach (Elana Chase) and I hugged and spoke briefly about the contest afterwards. I have the upmost respect for her as she has got to be one of the worlds best sports strategists and continues to blow me away with her knowledge and sports intelligence. We had a plan, stuck to the plan the best we could, and the result is just fantastic. Thank you to everyone who came out and supported me and or watched on television, I could feel you riding right along the side of me. Back to Back Champ baby! Love all, trust few, paddle your own canoe!

Last fall I was approached by Level Gloves to make a Pro Model “Alex Ferreira” signature line. When hearing the words pour out of their mouths about a pro model glove line my jaw dropped. “let me get this straight, you want to do a pro model line with me???” – “Of course!” “WOW!” I ran home right after this monumental meeting and started thinking of ideas of what I wanted to do. I reached out to my creative director (Michael Campbell of ​Visual Intent​) and we started collaborating on our mutual ideas. I told Mike, “I want something fast, Red + White, and classic!” and mike responded, “COOL, Lets do it!”

I cannot express in words how grateful I am to Mike for him creating these gloves under an unbelievable time crunch. We decided to do a two-part line featuring the “Alex Ferreira Pro Rider Mitten” and the “Alex Ferreira Off Piste Trigger” He worked his magic and produced some phenomenal looking mittens and trigger gloves.

Alex Ferriera Pro Rider Mitten

Discount applied at checkout

The “Alex Ferreira Pro Rider Mitten” is a blend of red and white colors and is much more of a light weight mitten for sunny spring days. This is my go-to mitten when competing in events like X Games, Dew Tour, and Grand Prix’s. It is perfect for riding on a sunny spring day when you obviously need hand coverage but don’t want to be sweating profusely. It’s pure red + white combo gives it this counterintuitive thrust of progress yet keeping that established classical look in mind. It’s electric, bold, and screams CHOW (my nickname)! The red leather palm has three white embroidered snowflakes along with the C H O W name. The white linen top includes the AF shield Logo along with some classy diagonal stripes near the cuff. On the inside cuff we have the Alex Ferreira signature in white embroidery on a red leather background. We wanted to have fun with this glove, we wanted to be the quintessential projection of myself through my hands. These mittens will be retailed at $60 per pair. Please use the “AF20” discount code when purchasing and get 20% off! Any feedback is greatly appreciated, please leave a note on the site!

Alex Ferriera Off Piste Trigger

Discount applied at checkout

Now to the Trigger. The “Alex Ferreira Off Piste Trigger” is black with red stitching. The trigger is a mutation of glove and mitten. It is a three-piece glove that covers that hand in three different sections, the first being the index finger having its own compartment, the middle, ring, and pinky fingers in their own compartment, and lastly, the thumb having its own compartment. It too features a red leather palm with a black embroidered snowflake near the inside cuff. The classic Alex Ferreira signature is found on the cuffs tightening Velcro strap. On the back side of the glove we have red stitching accompanied by a black and red AF shield logo. I’m wearing these gloves when it’s cold, deep powder day. With Level’s iconic Primaloft technology and a 4000 Thermoplus warmth level rating, these puppies will not only keep you dry, but most importantly, they will keep you happy and HOT! We were going for a more professional (James Bond) look here, very sleek yet, noticeably attractive. These gloves will be retailed at $150 per pair. Please use the “AF20” discount code when purchasing and get 20% off! Any feedback is greatly appreciated, please leave a note on the site!

Overall, this was truly a full team project, and nothing would have been completed if it weren’t for some very memorable and important people including:

Michael Campbell
visualintent.net
Michael Campbell acted as my creative director and he is an absolute master of his craft. I am forever indebted to Michael and grateful for his time and expertise. He has a wonderful Eye for creative projects, and I would say he absolutely nailed what we both had in mind.

Erin Sullivan & Jarka Duba
level-gloves.com
Erin Sullivan and Jarka Duba first introduced the idea of having Level and I partner and make a Pro Model line. If it weren’t for them that bridge would never have been crossed. They have been behind the scenes working day in and day out dealing with manufacturing, distribution, and shipping. Thank you guys, so much for thinking of me and seeing this project through until the end.

Max Perotti
level-gloves.com
Max Perotti has been my Level Glove representative over in Italy and has been nothing but open minded and there to help. He carried out the finishing touches of the gloves and really brought them to life.

Emily Belyea
emilybelyeacreative.com
Emily Belyea is my website developer and was actually introduced to me by Michael Campbell. Emily has been the perfect fit since day one as she works so hard and her hard word shows in how elegant and pristine the AF website turned out. She continues to stay on me about getting things done and I am so grateful and appreciative of that. Lastly, she has offered countless ideas to market the AF glove line in a positive and profitable light.

Candice Reider
level-gloves.com
Finally, we have Candice Reider who handles the Level Glove USA website and was able to bridge the gap by means of directing sales from my website to the Level Glove Website and carrying the tasks of using the “AF20” discount code. I cannot say thank you enough, and I can’t wait to do it all over again coming into 20/21’s line!

I haven’t posted a blog post in sometime now but, I have something of substance that is worth while talking about. Every January the most critically acclaimed event in action sports known as X Games takes place in a little place called Aspen Colorado. A warm place, a place where the beer flows like wine, where beautiful women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano. (your supposed to laugh) that is a joke HAHA. But in all seriousness the XGames is an event of integrity, an event held FOR the athletes, an event where you are getting the up most media coverage and actually making it onto the top sport network of all time known as “ESPN”.

Ever since I was 10 years old I always dreamed of being able to compete in XGames.

When I was in eighth grade I specifically remember sneaking out of the classroom with two of my best friends Mikey Schumacher and Torin Yater-Wallace and catching the bus from school over to Buttermilk just to watch the training sessions of the athletes. My mom would call and say, “Where are you? The school just said you weren’t in class” I would reply with “I couldn’t miss watching the training sessions mom, its XGames week, don’t I get a break?” Its funny to laugh about now but in the moment all of our parents weren’t happy with us. We would live, eat, and breathe X Games because we knew in our hearts and in our heads that we all wanted to be professional skiers when we grew up.

Over the years we kept practicing and eventually competing in regional events, then national and, soon after – World Cup level events.

I had worked hard for so many years awaiting the prestigious X Games invite that oh so few were given every year. Year after year the invite would swoop over my head and into the lap of another more worthy candidate, but in 2013 there was an open qualifier held in Whistler Canada and if you won that event then you won yourself an X Games invite. I flew to Canada Guns a Blazing and did just that… I WON!!! I finally received my first X Games invite at the age of 18 (my senior year in High School).

I went on to compete in my first X Games hoping for a great result but only to find myself crashing on both runs and not even making finals…

Eventually I got better at dealing with the pressure and by the next year I received my first X Games medal (bronze). It might as well have been gold because all of my friends and I sure enjoyed ourselves as if it was HAHA. Since my first X Games appearance I have been invited back every year totalling to Eight starts in the X Games gate. I am grateful and humbled to receive an invitation back every year making me just as happy and stoked as I was for that first X Games invitation. In those Eight starts I have received two bronze medals, two Silver medals, and as of recent the most illustrious Gold medal at the X Games.

Since I was a little boy I had always dreamed of winning The X Games. My friends and I would talk about it for years on end describing how it would be when we really won and what it would mean to us, and what we would do with all of the new sponsors. It was amazing dreaming of that moment day in and day out, we would obsess over it. Creating reenactments of the event on the trampoline in the summer, watching every video that we could get our hands on all of the professional skier’s at the time.

Coming into X Games this year I was not 100% to say the least.

I went to a training camp the week before and ended up straining my hip flexor muscle. When I got home later that week it had snowed a lot and while shoveling the driveway I pulled out my back. Lastly to top it all off I came down with a bad case of Strep throat, ultimately having me bedridden for four days before the event. The first night of training I could barely ski. The second night of training got a lot better and I pushed my body much harder than I had for a number of days at that point making me extremely sore the day of the event. I woke up the day of finals and I could barely lift my legs I was so tired. I waited around all day trying to ice and rest as much as I possibly could before going into battle. I showed up to the venue breathing heavy and dragging my feet to the base of the pipe as slow as a turtle. I did four training runs and wasn’t terribly happy with how they went. My body hurt so much and I wasn’t sure that I could compete at my highest level leading me to seriously consider dropping out of the event entirely.

I continued to fight on and see how the first run went and then make a further decision. By the time I knew it I was up and at ‘em in the start gate and feeling the nerves coursing through my veins. I was second to last to drop in. I dropped into the pipe with laser focus and basically blacked out until my score came in… 90.66 a great first run score in my book! Leaving me in first place.

Run two came around and it was a throw away run.. Didn’t land. Run three, still in first place and nothing to lose with one person left to drop behind me I dropped in and gave it my absolute best effort using every ounce of energy I had left, posting a 3rd run score of 92.66! The last competitor landed his run keeping me on the edge of my seat until his score came in at a 90.33. I WON!!!! WOW! The moment that I had been dreaming of since I was 10 years old had finally come true.

My mom, dad, sister, grandfather, extended family and most of my close friends were there to share that incredible moment with me making it the most special night of my life.

The town of Aspen was so gracious to me, offering complimentary meals and drinks to my family at most of the restaurants in town. I was humbled and honored to receive hundreds of thank you messages via text, Instagram, and email from friends and family. We enjoyed all of the after contest festivities to the fullest and I cannot thank all of my supporters enough for the kind words that I have received. Overall it was the best day of my life and I was lucky to have been able to share it with people whom I care about the most.

To view more images of me at the X Games as well as other competitions, check out my media gallery.