When the X Games begin here Thursday night, Shaun White will be spinning through the air on a skateboard again, his tangled red locks trailing like adoring fans. Not at the Staples Center downtown, where skateboard Big Air will take place on the mega ramp, but across the street at L.A. Live during the premiere of 'X Games 3D: The Movie.' A documentary of highlights from the past two X Games, the film will be the only opportunity to watch a three-dimensional White on his skateboard this summer. With the Winter Olympics a little more than six months away,White -- the gold medalist in snowboarding halfpipe at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy, and the most recognizable personality in action sports -- has opted out of the skateboarding season to focus on snowboarding. 'I had a thumb and ankle injury that kept me off my skateboard for the beginning of my skate season,' White said via e-mail. 'Then summer snowboard opportunities came up, and with the Winter Olympics next year, I felt I needed to get more snowboarding in.' Training for top snowboarders has evolved into a year-round global pursuit, complete with summer sessions on glaciers or in the Southern Hemisphere. For five years, White balanced that trend with a professional skateboarding career each summer. But in an Olympic year, preparation for the coming snowboard season has escalated into an arms race between competitors, including secret weapons. 'Nowadays, if you're a top competitive snowboarder, riding all summer long is pretty much a necessity,' said Adam Moran, the global team manager for Burton snowboards, one of White's sponsors. 'There are a lot of contests in December each year, and if riders don't get on snow this summer, they will only have a month or so to get everything back from the winter before, which can be tough.' With a deep and talented field, qualifying for the four spots on the U.S. men's halfpipe team will be highly competitive. To help riders prepare this summer, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association helped finance construction of a 22-foot-tall halfpipe that meets Olympic specifications at the High Cascade Snowboard Camp on Palmer glacier at Mount Hood in Oregon.White was among several top professionals who spent time training there this month. 'With the lineup of riders in the U.S., it's going to be insane,' Kevin Pearce, a candidate for the United States halfpipe team who spent a week at Mount Hood this month, said about qualifying. 'There's probably 10 to 12 guys that have a real reliable chance of making it.' White, 22, remains first in line. But he is not taking any chances. 'He has won so many contests, so many times, that some riders out there may want to beat him almost as much as they want to win the event,' Moran said. Last winter, Red Bull, one of White's sponsors, built a private halfpipe at Silverton Mountain, a spartan resort in Colorado known for its extremeterrain. Rumors and images circulated on the Internet of White's secret spot, with a giant air bag at the bottom of the halfpipe for soft landings while practicing tricks. His fellow professionals Keir Dillon and Heikki Sorsa joined White, but little was known about their sessions. In a sport in which top riders were accustomed to training together, a private halfpipe marked a departure from past practice. White's rivals took note. In June, Nike built Pearce a private halfpipe at Mammoth Mountain in California, which he rode for two weeks with his fellow U.S. Olympic hopefuls Danny Davis and the brothers Luke and Jack Mitrani. When asked which tricks he was working on, Pearce was circumspect. 'That's the whole idea behind a private halfpipe, kind of keep it a bit quiet, not let everybody else know,' he said. 'So once the season's under way, it's pretty much a surprise.' White has not competed in halfpipe since withdrawing from the U.S. Open in March because of a bone chip in his left ankle. His injury has healed, but he professed little knowledge of what his competitors had been up to and revealed little about his own training. For the past five years, White has maintained his primacy in halfpipe snowboarding while competing in skateboarding. He has won gold, silver and bronze medals in vert skateboarding at the X Games. Although he will not compete this week, White will be on hand to watch some of the skateboarding events. He did not directly address questions about whether he would return to skateboarding next summer. 'Snowboarding has always been my main sport from the beginning,' he said. 'I was just lucky enough to have my snowboarding skills cross over to skateboarding.' White's sponsors, which include Target, Hewlett-Packard and American Express, have supported his decision to maintain a diminished profile while preparing for the Olympics. 'We support Shaun in what Shaun wants to participate in, whether that's snowboarding or skateboarding or both, we're fine with whatever he wants to do,' said Troy Michels, who works in lifestyle marketing for Target. White did say he would join the U.S. snowboard team in New Zealand for training this fall and has no plans to compete before theU.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix at Copper Mountain in Colorado on Dec. 11, the first of five Olympic qualifying events. Pearce said: 'I'm excited to see how the whole sport is going to move forward this next time we ride. It's going to be a big change.' In the midst of summer, with attention and hype already swirling around the Winter Games in Vancouver, White tried to put the competition into perspective. 'The Olympics is an amazing event,' he said. 'It's something to look forward to, but it doesn't make or break who people are.' 