During the Olympics, I avoided covering Shaun White not because I don’t care for him, but because talking about Shaun makes me feel dirty. Good-dirty. Because he’s one of those guys that does it for me, and I have no idea why. It’s not like he’s some Jon Hamm-esque heartthrob. It’s not like I look at photos of Shaun and think “I need to get with that.” Even looking at him shirtless on this new issue of Rolling Stone doesn’t really do anything for me sexually. But when I watch him interviewed, or see him break into one of those huge grins after rocking the half-pipe, and I want him. He’s f-cking adorable.

Shaun White has revolutionized snowboarding, won the big gold in Vancouver and lit his snowboard aflame, Hendrix-style, on the cover of the new issue of Rolling Stone, joining an elite club of athletes to appear on our cover not once, but twice. And as the focused, business savvy White tells it, a lot of his recent success on the half-pipe and off can be attributed to a new addition to his life: “Getting into music has changed my personality and my way of doing things,” he reveals to RS writer Vanessa Grigoriadis. “I”m far more open now.”

White, who began snowboarding at six and went pro at 13, has recently returned to one of his early loves — skateboarding — but he does more shredding on one of his three Les Pauls. Jimi Hendrix, Guns n’ Roses and Led Zeppelin are in regular rotation; “Whole Lotta Love” is his favorite-ever song. “I think guitar is the best thing in the world,” he says. “It’s the only thing where no matter what I do, I can’t do it all myself.”

The 23-year-old White is a bit of a loner, though. He practices his sport solo on a $500,000 private half-pipe Red Bull built him in Colorado and is known to march to the beat of his own disciplined drummer. While fellow competitors gather to watch snowboard or skate videos in their spare time, he opts out (”I’d rather do it, not watch it,” he explains). Olympic teammate Louie Vito even tried to unnerve him a bit by blasting Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A.” in the van while White was setting his mental stereo to rock & roll.

For more on White’s unique journey, and to get inside the head of one of the greatest snowboarders in the sport’s young history, read the full story in our new issue, on sale at newsstands today.

[From Rolling Stone]

Jesus, he just has such a cute personality! Did you see him on Oprah last week? Even she was into him – she was flirting with him like crazy. What’s great about Shaun is that he’s totally game for everything, and he has this totally Zen-like approach to his fame and his fans. He never seems to even feel stress, and he never seems to get overwhelmed. It’s not humility, but its not arrogance either. He just seems confident in himself, in a really refreshing, nice way.

Sigh… and of course, he’s a redhead too. Love the gingers.

Oh, and my mom loves him too. She thinks he should cut his hair, but she would still love him for a son-in-law.

Cover and photos from Rolling Stone online, all photographs by Terry Richardson.