Max Moffatt

Profile and significance

Max Moffatt is a Canadian freeski specialist whose blend of technical rail mastery and measured amplitude has made him a mainstay in slopestyle and big air finals. Born in 1998 and developed through Canada’s high-performance system, he emerged onto the global scene with a World Cup slopestyle win at Seiser Alm/Alpe di Siusi in 2019, then consolidated his reputation with a silver medal in Ski Slopestyle at X Games Aspen 2022. Those results, combined with multiple World Cup podiums including a 2024 slopestyle podium at LAAX, place him among the most reliable all-conditions rail riders on tour. Moffatt’s competitive profile is reinforced by a complete trick vocabulary spun both ways and a habit of squeezing extra difficulty out of rails where others conserve. For fans and progressing skiers, he represents the modern slopestyle archetype: creative line selection, clean execution under pressure, and a style that reads well on TV and in person.

Competitive arc and key venues

Moffatt’s breakthrough came in January 2019 with a World Cup gold at Seiser Alm, historically one of the most flow-oriented slopestyle courses in Europe. He has since accumulated World Cup podiums and consistent finals appearances across venues that reward technical rails and precise jump management. In January 2022 he stepped onto one of the sport’s biggest stages, taking slopestyle silver at X Games Aspen on the Buttermilk course inside Aspen Snowmass/Buttermilk. That same winter he represented Canada at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, competing in slopestyle and big air under the lights and scaffolding that defined the urban-style big air venue; his participation at Beijing 2022 established him as an Olympic-level contender and broadened his profile beyond core audiences. In 2024 he added a podium at LAAX, a park renowned for world-class rail architecture and creative features, further validating the strength of his rail-first approach on Europe’s benchmark terrain parks.

How they ski: what to watch for

Moffatt’s defining trait is rail difficulty layered onto smart line choice. He frequently opens with technical entries—switch approaches, gap-to-rail transfers, and blind change combinations—that set a high base score before he ever leaves the ground on the jump line. Watch for him to incorporate pretzel exits, surface swaps, and high-spin dismounts without sacrificing board-on-rail control. On jumps he’s balanced rather than reckless, favoring both-way doubles in the 1440–1620 range and upping risk only when the scoring window demands it. Judges reward his variety: both-direction spins, grabs held to the bolts, and course usage that squeezes an extra feature or an extra change onto a rail. The result is a run profile that feels dense with trick content yet remains readable and clean to the finish corral.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Like most top freeskiers, Moffatt’s career has required resilience—weather holds, re-runs, and the inevitable knocks that come with learning new variations at speed. His competitive consistency over multiple winters, particularly after the 2019 breakthrough, speaks to a patient, process-driven approach rather than boom-or-bust risk. While he’s known foremost for contest performance, he also shows up in progressive park and rail showcases, including specialty events that emphasize creativity and presentation. That crossover matters: slopestyle trends increasingly flow from experimental sessions back into judged formats, and athletes who contribute in both spaces often push the meta forward. Moffatt’s rail choices—clean, exacting, and deliberately high-difficulty—are an instructive template for younger riders learning to score without gambling their whole run on one huge send.

Geography that built the toolkit

Moffatt’s foundation runs through Ontario club culture and Canada’s national system. Early repetitions at Caledon Ski Club, a private club north-west of Toronto with dedicated terrain-park programming, gave him a high-volume environment for fundamentals. From there, time spent in European park strongholds—LAAX and Seiser Alm—helped refine his rail repertoire on long, feature-rich courses with judges who reward technical nuance. In North America, recurring laps at Buttermilk exposed him to the pressure cooker of X Games finals and top-tier build quality that lets athletes attempt the kind of switch-on, high-spin rail tricks he’s known for. That mix—Ontario repetition, Swiss precision, Italian flow, and Colorado contest polish—shows through in how he links rails and how confidently he manages speed on the final jump.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

Moffatt skis on Liberty Skis, a brand whose freestyle shapes prioritize lightweight swing weight and dampening that pays off on both rails and jump sets. For viewers trying to translate sponsor talk into on-snow feel, Liberty’s park-oriented models emphasize edge hold for takeoffs and stable landings without dulling the ski’s willingness to pivot on rails. His eyewear partner, XSPEX, is a Canadian brand whose goggles and sunglasses target clarity and quick lens swapping, useful when light changes between practice, qualis, and finals. The broader lesson isn’t about copying his exact setup; it’s about matching your equipment to venue realities. If your local hill is rail-heavy with short run-ins, weight and swing dynamics matter more than big-mountain stability. If you’re chasing jump progression, prioritize predictable pop and platform on landings—the attributes that help Moffatt keep grabs locked while maintaining speed for the next feature.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Max Moffatt matters because he embodies the direction modern slopestyle is heading: dense rail difficulty, both-way spin literacy, and runs built to score in any weather window. His X Games Aspen silver and World Cup podiums show the competitive ceiling; his steady finals presence shows the floor. For fans, he’s an easy watch—smooth style, clean landings, and a knack for making complex rail sequences look inevitable. For skiers learning to evaluate or emulate elite slopestyle, he demonstrates that you don’t have to send the absolute biggest spin to build a winning score if your rails are impeccably difficult and your variety is complete. Track him at LAAX, Seiser Alm, and Buttermilk, and keep an eye on Olympic-cycle events after Beijing 2022; his profile suggests more podium-capable seasons ahead, particularly on courses that reward technical precision from the first kink to the final booter.