Winter X daredevils ride fine line between height, happiness

FILE - Silver medal winner Australia's Scotty James celebrates during the venue award ceremony for the men's halfpipe finals at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 11, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. There's a legion of freestyle skiers and snowboarders at the action park who refuse to subscribe to the “spin to win” theory. It's the idea that maxing out flips and twists is the only way for them to score big with the judges. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)

FILE - Alex Hall of the United States, checks the score following his run in the slopestyle finals, Friday, Dec. 17, 2021, during the Dew Tour freestyle skiing event at Copper Mountain, Colo. There's a legion of freestyle skiers and snowboarders at the action park who refuse to subscribe to the “spin to win” theory. It's the idea that maxing out flips and twists is the only way for them to score big with the judges.(AP Photo/Hugh Carey, File)

Japanese snowboarder Ayumu Hirano competes in the superpipe at Winter X Games Aspen in Aspen, Colo., Friday, Jan. 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Kelsey Brunner)

Australian snowboarder Scotty James, right, talks as host Selema Masekela listens during a news conference ahead of Winter X Games, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023, in Aspen, Colo. (Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times via AP)

From left to right, snowboarders Kokomo Murase, Zoi Sadowski-Synnot and Tess Coady wait for the results after the women's snowboard Slopestyle finals at X Games Aspen in Aspen, Colo., Friday, Jan. 27, 2023. Sadowski-Synnot overtook Coady for first place with her final run of the event, leaving Murase in third. (AP Photo/Kelsey Brunner)