Jacob Belanger

Profile and significance

Jacob Belanger is a Québec-born freeski rider whose rapid rise through film projects and jury-selected awards has made him one of the clearest new voices in urban and all-terrain freeskiing. Raised in Lac-Beauport with early laps at Le Relais, he came onto the wider scene via street-leaning web series and youth edits before earning headline recognition with Joey Kraft’s films “Water The Plants” and “The Harvest.” In 2023 he was named Amateur Skier of the Year at the iF3 Movie Awards, then in 2024 stepped up again to take Breakout Skier of the Year—rare back-to-back progression that signals a rider converting promise into consistent, high-level output. He followed that momentum with a Breakthrough Skier of the Year honor at the 2025 Newschoolers Awards, cementing his place among the athletes shaping today’s film-first freeski culture.

Competitive arc and key venues

Belanger’s résumé reads more like a filmmaker’s than a bib-chaser’s, but the venues still matter. “Water The Plants” (2023) paired late-season backcountry with gritty urban, while “The Harvest” (2024) showcased a heavier, more mature street selection and stronger narrative through-line. Those projects premiered on the iF3 circuit and traveled well online, the exact distribution pathway that turns a strong part into a breakout season. Beyond festival screens, his travel-lap fundamentals come from the parks he’s used as laboratories: long, repeatable lines at Whistler Blackcomb after relocating west, compact East Coast rhythms at Mount Snow’s Carinthia terrain parks in Vermont (Carinthia Parks), and the tight, high-repetition snowparks of Québec that reward precision over flash. The result is an athlete who can shift from frozen urban rails to pristine spring jump lines without losing the clarity judges and viewers look for.

How they ski: what to watch for

Belanger’s skiing is built on readable mechanics. On rails he favors a centered stance and quiet shoulders that keep spin-ons, swaps, and pretzel exits looking inevitable rather than chaotic. Approach angles stay conservative until the moment of commitment, which helps him lock on through kinks and gaps and exit with real speed. On jumps—whether a hand-built urban transfer or a maintained park step-down—he places the grab early and holds it, keeping axis and rotation obvious for the camera. That combination of early grab placement, axis clarity, and stacked landings is why his heaviest tricks still “read” on film, and why his lines maintain momentum from the first hit to the ender.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Two seasons in a row of iF3 hardware isn’t a coincidence; it reflects a process. Belanger’s parts show a repeatable workflow—scout and measure, shovel and salt, test speed, adjust angle, then commit—that compresses the randomness of urban skiing into something you can trust. The filming itself doubles as skill acquisition: imperfect in-runs sharpen edge feel; short landings enforce stacked finishes; and the pressure of “we have light for ten more minutes” teaches decision-making that carries into any judged format. His move to Whistler broadened that toolbox with bigger terrain and backcountry days, adding air awareness and line-reading that complements his street DNA. As a result, his segments resonate with both core street fans and park-to-pow viewers who value substance over hype.

Geography that built the toolkit

Place explains a lot about Belanger’s style. Night laps and freeze–thaw rails around Québec, especially at Le Relais, taught timing, speed control, and footwork on steel. The move west opened a wider canvas: long spring lines and park repetition at Whistler Blackcomb for polishing jump timing and linking features at speed. East Coast trips—like sessions in the well-known park program at Carinthia Parks—add the firm-snow discipline that makes rail tricks travel across conditions. This triangle of compact city hills, high-volume destination parks, and real-world urban textures is why his skiing looks composed whether the spot is a municipal stair set or a glacier-fed spring line.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

Belanger rides with support from Salomon, and the setup principles visible in his parts are highly transferable. A true-twin park or all-terrain twin mounted near center keeps stance neutral for both-way spins and stable pretzel exits. Edges are tuned consistently with a careful detune at contact points to reduce hang-ups on rails without dulling pop for lip-ons or step-downs. Boots that deliver progressive forward flex while maintaining locked-in heel hold help finish landings stacked when the snow is fast or chattery. None of this is gadget-driven; it’s a repeatable platform that lets the same tricks read clean in different speeds and textures. For progressing skiers, that’s the real gear lesson.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Belanger matters because he makes modern freeskiing easier to read. His edits show how momentum-saving rail choices, full-duration grabs, and clean axes turn a line into something you want to replay. The award trajectory—Amateur Skier of the Year (2023) to Breakout Skier of the Year (2024) at iF3, followed by a Breakthrough Skier honor in 2025—confirms that the approach scales as the stage gets bigger. If you’re learning how to evaluate skiing, watch how he preserves speed through the rail deck so the final feature can carry an ender, and how he chooses rotation and grab combinations that remain obvious from the first frame to the stomp. If you’re building your own projects, study the process behind the clips as much as the tricks. That’s where Jacob Belanger has become a reference: in turning thoughtful decisions into durable footage, year after year.