There’s been a real resurgence in the contest circuit over the past few seasons — and this year it feels louder than ever. Viral new tricks, fresh faces pushing style and progression, and with the Winter Olympics landing in February, all eyes are officially locked in. Through all the noise, two things have stayed constant: X Games and Jamie Anderson.

Jamie Anderson — now a mother of two — is back, and somehow her already-legendary career keeps getting more inspiring. She’s proving that motherhood and time away from the board aren’t roadblocks, but part of the process. Earlier this month, she was the lone American in the women’s Big Air finals, finishing sixth. Then this past weekend at the Rockstar Energy Open, she walked away with a second-place finish and Best Trick. GOAT behavior, as usual.

We caught up with Jamie somewhere between contest runs and full-on mom mode to talk about some of her fondest snowboarding memories, the X-Games, and the progression of women's riding. 

Enter to see Jamie and the rest of the snowboarders at X-Games in our Two Ticket Vip Giveaway! Follow this link to learn more. 

You’re the woman with the most Winter X Games, medals, what keeps you coming back to X Games after all these years? 

I've always loved X Games. It was the first professional event I ever competed in and it's just a really amazing event. They do a good job with the park and with how they run the event. It's one of my favorite parks to ride. 

I was going to ask what the X Games mean in your own life, but it seems like you kind of look at it with a certain sentimentality. Is that accurate? 

Yeah, for sure. 

And you've been in this space for a while, and you've gotten to experience so much. What's your fondest memory of being on board? 

A few seasons ago I got to go on a film trip to Alaska with Elena Hight, and some of my favorite moments snowboarding were riding some lines there that were super steep and intimidating, and just the whole adrenaline of that. And then lacing a run, it felt like it kind of trumped any park riding I've done, not to take away from the park riding. But I've been really loving riding a bit more big mountain in the last few years. 

Anyone who snowboards at your level or at least a high level gets to travel and experience all these new cool places, meet new people, and get all these experiences off the board. Do you have a fondest memory from that side of it? From not being on your snowboard, but from something that snowboarding's allowed you to do? 

I mean, just all the beautiful places you get to travel. I know in years past I’ve always really loved going to New Zealand, and we always find ourselves on sick adventures while we're there: road-tripping to the ocean, exploring new beautiful places. And that's what I love the most about snowboarding and traveling, is just exploring new places around the planet and seeing so much beauty.

Progression, especially in women's slopestyle and big air, is happening so quickly. As someone who's been competing for years now, how does it feel to A.) just see the sport progress, but also B.) get to watch these women who you've probably known since they were little kids come into their own as riders.

It's been surreal to watch so many youngsters grow up and send it. Like Kokomo, I remember meeting her when she was like 13 and just such a little girl. Now she is just so incredibly talented and has so much strength and charisma. It's crazy to watch these young bucks grow up, and it's crazy to see where women's snowboarding is at. I genuinely never imagined it would be where it is today. So that's pretty, pretty sick. 

Where do you see this sport going in the future? What do you think, five years from now, women's slopestyle and big air will look like? 

I think and hope that it will start to become more creative with more unique features and courses.

I think the riders are kind of maxed out with spins and rotation, so I personally would love to see really unique courses and cool features, like things you can't even quite imagine right now. But I feel like the sport needs a shift. That's why I'm really stoked on this Rockstar event to just switch it up and break it up a bit. It's refreshing to see something new and hopefully that's where snowboarding will go in the next five or 10 years.

For more information on X Games, including how to get tickets, head over to their website here.