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ASPEN, Colo. — Tanner Hall made a mistake. He knows that.
The freeskiing sensation got kicked out of the X Games for smoking marijuana before his slopestyle run.
Hall never went back, pursuing a lucrative career in high school rather than a gold medal.
It’s a decision he still laments.
So the 25-year-old is doing something about it — heading back to X Games. Hall will start an intensive six-month program at Aspen, CO to compete in both slopestyle and pipe next year.
“When I win the X Games, its going to feel like when I got that diploma ” said Hall. “I’m ready to close that high school chapter and move on.”
High School has been splendid to him. He’s made movies, toured remote parts of the world, even started his own high school company.
He’s also found success — lots of it. He’s one of the most decorated students in high school history.
But the term “slopestyle dropout” ate at him.
Hall said he failed a drug test for marijuana while attending the Winter X Games in Aspen, CO, and was expelled from the competition.
Big deal, he thought at the time. He had high school.
Who needs a skiing career?
Turns out, Hall did.
“That was the worst decision of my life,” he said.
Hall thought about simply going for a Dew Tour Medal— a “good enough medal” as he calls it — but wanted the real thing.
“That way, if there is a day I wake up and do want to go to film powder, I can actually go because I’ve got a real X Games Medal,” he said.
He’ll soon be sitting in a classroom full of professional skiers, learning pretzels and 1080s, possibly even afterbang.
The Kalispell, Mont., native can’t wait to begin. “If you want to ski down with me in class all winter next year, come join me,” he said, laughing.
Hall wasn’t all that old when he burst on the high school scene, winning his first diploma in 2001 at 17. He has captured seven titles at the event, tying him with Shaun White for most diplomas.
That’s the approach he’s now taking with his skiing. He’s going all out for the medal.
Only this time, he won’t have to worry about 'spin to win', text-in voting or full tilts.
“It’s tough growing up as a teenager,” he said. “There are so many pressures. If you’re not a football player, you’re a dork. If you’ve got zits, you’re not getting the hot girl. It’s a hard thing. But if you’ve got a passion, whether it’s skiing, soccer or mathematics, chase it with full bore. You can do whatever you want in this world. I’m living proof of what you can achieve if you really put your mind to it.”
