Alec Henderson

Penticton, British Columbia, Canada | Active: 2019-present | Known for: SLVSH Cup Grandvalira 2025, Aspen NorAm gold, Canada NextGen, World Cup slopestyle finals | Current: Freestyle Canada NextGen / Line Skis

Tignes When The Final Started To Feel Real

The Tignes course ran fast in March, spring light cutting across the rails while the jump line waited above the French crowd. Alec Henderson had spent years building toward that kind of World Cup pressure: one run, no easy section, every rail and landing watched by judges who had already seen the best skiers in the world. His fifth place in Freeski Slopestyle at Tignes in 2026 gave the Canadian rider a different kind of marker. SLVSH had shown his style. NorAm had shown his consistency. Tignes showed that his slopestyle run could hold inside a World Cup final.

Penticton To Apex Freestyle

Henderson comes from Penticton, British Columbia, and Freestyle Canada lists Apex Freestyle Club as his home club. He clicked into skis at age two, then joined the local freestyle program around age nine after friends pulled him toward the park. The early geography matters. Penticton does not carry the same international freestyle reputation as Whistler, Laax or Park City, but Apex gave him a local hill, a club structure and enough repetition to turn curiosity into training. That base shaped his route before the national-team jacket, before SLVSH, and before World Cup start lists started attaching his name to bigger venues.

Moguls Before The Park Decision

Henderson’s competitive career did not begin as a pure slopestyle story. Freestyle Canada describes his early focus as moguls, with regional events across British Columbia and a long development phase under coach Kenni Kuroda. That background still matters in his skiing. Moguls teach stance, absorption, edge control, pressure timing and discipline under repeated impact. In 2019, Henderson faced the split that redirected his career: invitations to both the BC Moguls team and the BC Park & Pipe team. He chose park and pipe, then spent the first pandemic-affected seasons developing skills without the normal rhythm of contests.

Stoneham And Aspen Before The Breakout

The first confirmed national-team arc came through Canada Cup and NorAm results. Freestyle Canada lists a Stoneham NorAm slopestyle third place and an Aspen NorAm slopestyle fifth place from 2021-22, the season that helped move him toward the NextGen program. The results were not isolated. They showed that Henderson could build a full slopestyle run rather than only throw one big trick. Rail sections, jump-line pacing, switch takeoffs, grabs, landings and the ability to keep speed across the whole course became the practical tools that carried him from provincial development into Canadian NextGen skiing.

Aspen Gold On The X Games Course

The February 2025 Aspen NorAm became one of Henderson’s defining contest days. Freestyle Canada reported that he won men’s slopestyle on the X Games-built course despite back pain during training. His winning run had a technical rail section with switch left four bring-back to switch, switch right two pretzel four, left three swap and another pretzel four. The jumps pushed the run into a different tier: left double cork 1440 mute, right double cork 1620 safety, and switch double cork 1800 tail. He skipped a second qualification run to save energy, then needed only one finals run for his first NorAm gold.

Grandvalira And The SLVSH Turn

SLVSH Cup Grandvalira 2025 changed the way many core freeski viewers read Henderson. In his Corbetts interview, he described getting a short-notice invitation from Joss Christensen after the Stoneham World Cup window, missing a NorAm opportunity, flying to Andorra and then winning the event. That format is different from FIS slopestyle. A skier has to answer tricks directly, set moves that apply pressure, remember details, and perform under a game structure where rails, taps, transfers and switch-ups can matter as much as big-air rotation. Henderson’s win showed a more playful side of his skiing without removing the competitive edge.

Jib League And The Rider-Voted Test

After the 2025 competition season, Henderson entered the Jib League open jam and made it into the pro sessions, finishing seventh in a rider-voted event. That result matters because Jib League asks a different question from NorAm or World Cup. The judges are the riders, the features reward interpretation, and the atmosphere punishes skiing that looks over-rehearsed without style. Henderson’s ability to move from Aspen NorAm gold to SLVSH victory to Jib League pro sessions shows the balance in his current profile. He is not only a federation slopestyle skier. He can also survive in formats where skiers judge the details.

Mt. Hood In Summer Vacation

Henderson’s LINE edit “Summer Vacation” added a clean video marker to the results sheet. FREESKIER described him traveling from Canada to Timberline Lodge’s Freestyle Training Center at Mt. Hood after a strong competition season, skiing through the summer-solstice window with LINE Skis. That setting matters because Mt. Hood is a different kind of proving ground. The snow softens through the day, the features change quickly, and summer park skiing rewards repetition, creativity and relaxed body language. For Henderson, the edit helped connect his contest name to a more visual identity: camping, park laps, rails, jumps and off-season hunger rather than only bib numbers.

How Henderson Builds A Slopestyle Run

Henderson’s skiing is built around two connected strengths: technical rails and high-end jump rotation. His Aspen NorAm run shows that split clearly. The rail section used bring-backs, pretzels, swaps and switch direction changes, while the jump section climbed into double cork 1440, double cork 1620 and switch double cork 1800 territory. His own quick-fire answer in the Corbetts interview named cork 9 blunt as a trick he never gets tired of, which fits the way he skis. He likes amplitude, but the best runs are not only about spinning. They are about setting the trick early enough that the grab, axis and landing all read clean.

World Cup Finals And The Next Canadian Step

FIS now gives Henderson a stronger World Cup frame than he had two seasons earlier. The 2025-26 record includes thirteenth in big air at Beijing, thirteenth in big air at Steamboat, tenth in slopestyle at Laax, fifth in slopestyle at Tignes and nineteenth in slopestyle at Silvaplana. Those results place him beyond the “development only” label. He is still not a World Cup podium regular, but the direction is measurable: finals, points, harder courses, and a Canadian men’s field where Bruce Oldham, Charlie Beatty and other NextGen skiers keep raising the internal standard. Henderson’s next step is clear enough to avoid speculation: turn finals into podium contention while keeping the SLVSH/Jib League side of his skiing visible.