The Winter Olympics were last hosted in Beijing, China, in 2022. Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, is the host for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
After opening in Aspen, Colorado, next week, Shaun White's new halfpipe league will travel to the mountain in China where he closed out his career at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
The Snow League announced the remainder of its four-stop, opening-season schedule Monday, which includes a trip in December to the Secret Garden snowpark in Zhangjiakou, China, followed by a return to Aspen in February 2026, then the season finale in Laax, Switzerland, after next year's Milan-Cortina Olympics.
The opener is set for March 7-8 at Buttermilk outside of Aspen. Coverage of the league will stream live on Peacock.
White's final run came at Secret Garden, where the three-time gold medalist finished fourth to cap off his fifth Olympics on an emotional day on the halfpipe.
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After retiring, he set out to create a league that would bring together the world's top riders, whose sport has long lacked a well-defined circuit and has also struggled to offer top prize money at many of its marquee events.
The Snow League is offering a $1.6 million prize pool, with $370,000 for each event and $160,000 to the league’s champions after all four events.
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Defending Olympic champion and top-ranked Ayumu Hirano is invited to compete in next week's 16-man contest, along with his younger brother, Kaishu. Also invited is second-ranked Ruka Hirano, who is not related to the brothers, along with Americans Chase Josey and Chase Blackwell.
The women's contest is scheduled to include Olympic silver and bronze medalists Queralt Castellet and Sena Tomita along with Americans Maddie Mastro and Maddy Schaffrick.
In a unique twist, the finals of the league's events will be head-to-head, best-of-3 bracket-style tournaments in which riders will have to drop in from both sides of the halfpipe on their first two runs.
Freeskiing on the halfpipe will be added to The Snow League starting with the event in China, though no names have yet been publicized for those contests.
Eileen Gu won medals in all three freeskiing disciplines — gold in halfpipe and Big Air and silver in slopestyle — at the Beijing Olympics.
