Profile and significance
Brady Perron is a New Hampshire–raised, Utah–based freeski athlete-turned-filmmaker whose eye and editing have helped redefine how park, street, and culture are presented on snow. He grew up lapping Mount Sunapee before moving west at 18, cutting his teeth with the 4bi9 and Stept crews and then shifting behind the lens full time. Across the last decade he’s become a cornerstone collaborator with Phil “B-Dog” Casabon and Jake “Mango” Mageau, directing and shooting projects that balance technical skiing with rhythm, pacing, and story. That approach earned back-to-back X Games Real Ski golds as the credited filmer for Casabon in 2018 and 2019, and formalized his role as a Director/DP with Level 1 Productions beginning in 2020. In 2021 he and Mageau released “Freehand,” followed by “Something in the Water” (2022) and ongoing Kimbo Sessions and invitational edits, culminating in new 2024–2025 releases that highlight his continued influence.
Perron matters because his films changed what “good skiing on camera” looks like. He privileges readability—angles that let the trick breathe, music choices that guide the eye, and cuts that amplify style instead of hiding behind pace. For fans, that’s why his work is rewatchable. For athletes, it’s why clips he directs tend to age well: the skiing is visible, the intent is clear, and the edit has soul.
Competitive arc and key venues
Though Perron is best known behind the camera, his competition relevance is real: he filmed and edited the winning X Games Real Ski entries for Phil Casabon in 2018 and 2019, an all-urban contest judged as rigorously as any slopestyle final. Those medals validate a method—pick lines that photograph well, favor decisive exits and held moments, and sequence the cut to tell the truth about difficulty. On the invitational side, his lens has become part of the language at Sweden’s Kimbo Sessions in Kläppen and at rider-driven gatherings where style and creativity lead. In 2021 he and Mageau launched “Freehand” with Level 1; in 2022 they returned with “Something in the Water,” and in 2024 Perron released a Kimbo short that captured the session’s tempo. Early 2025 added a fresh statement piece shot with Henrik Harlaut, reinforcing his role as a go-to director for the scene’s most influential skiers.
Geographically, these milestones map to specific venues. Broadcast-level courses at Aspen (Buttermilk) shape Real-series expectations for how street skiing should read on a big stage. Summer repetition at Timberline on Mount Hood trains the eye for long-lens timing and reliable speeds. And the SLC ecosystem—Brighton/Solitude rails, Park City jump lines, and the density of filmers and skiers—gives him the daily reps to keep ideas sharp when the camera is rolling.
How they ski: what to watch for
Perron’s skiing background bleeds into his direction. He favors tricks that “read”—locked presses, pretzels with edge authority, swaps that happen late enough to be unmistakable, and jump axes that set early so the grab has time to present. When he’s the one skiing for a shot, expect quiet shoulders, compact stance, and landings that roll immediately into the next feature. When he’s filming, expect framing that shows those same qualities in others: the camera holds just long enough for the viewer to feel pressure changes on rails or to see a grab fully connected. The result is an honest picture of difficulty and a heightened appreciation for style.
For progressing skiers, that’s instructive. You’ll see how a small choice—grab duration, a subtle nose press, a cleaner exit—impacts the clip more than adding another 180. Perron’s films are essentially a syllabus for “readable difficulty.”
Resilience, filming, and influence
The shift from athlete to director wasn’t a retreat; it was a doubling-down on contribution. After early parts with 4bi9 and sessions with Stept, Perron helped steer flagship B-Dog projects—“Tempo,” “En Particulier,” “Nuance,” and “Ensemble”—that foregrounded choreography and mood. With Mageau, he crafted the intimate SLC-based “Freehand” (2021) and expanded the palette in “Something in the Water” (2022), a short that folded fly-fishing and road-life into the skiing without losing technical weight. In 2024 he delivered a Kimbo Sessions cut that bottled the event’s flow, and in 2025 he teamed with Henrik Harlaut on a new edit that shows his recent direction: warmer color, deliberate handheld energy, and musical choices that push narrative as much as tempo.
Influence shows up in two places. First, athletes now build lines with the “Perron lens” in mind—planning where a camera can sit, how a trick breathes, and what detail will be visible at speed. Second, younger filmers copy the cadence: steadier cuts, honest speed, non-gimmick music edits. The upshot is a healthier feedback loop between skiing and cinema: technique supports the shot, and the shot clarifies the technique.
Geography that built the toolkit
Perron’s toolkit is a product of place. Early repetition at Mount Sunapee’s compact terrain taught economy: get to features quickly, try often, and value control over amplitude. The Salt Lake City corridor added rails, urban options, and a year-round community that treats filming as training. Summer blocks at Timberline’s Palmer Snowfield gave him and his collaborators the cycle of “try → adjust → retake” that makes winter street clips possible. Abroad, sessions at Kläppen’s National Arena and New Zealand’s Cardrona parks contributed scale and rhythm—long lines where tricks must relate to one another and still read from the fence line. Broadcast venues like Buttermilk contextualized all of it: street moves can work live if the speed, angle, and axis are chosen for the camera, not against it.
Those places also explain the feel of his films: calm, confident speed; compositions that keep skis in the frame just long enough; and edits that make a run feel inevitable.
Equipment and partners: practical takeaways
Perron’s collaborations span core brands and production houses. As a Director/DP with Level 1 Productions, he has access to athletes and support structures that let ideas scale. Projects with B-Dog have involved Armada’s creative universe; the recipe there (whether on cam or in front of it) is durable twin-tips tuned for rail bite underfoot and detuned tips/tails, paired with a neutral mount that supports switch landings and butter entries. With Mageau, “Something in the Water” listed partners like 686, Fat Tire, and ON3P Skis, illustrating how modern films often weave athlete sponsors into a project’s backbone.
Takeaways for skiers and filmers alike: build a repeatable setup and a predictable workflow. On snow, that’s a ski you don’t fight, bevels you can trust, and a stance you can hold for ten takes. Behind the lens, that’s stable exposure, angles that don’t lie about speed, and music that supports—not overwhelms—the skiing. If your edit is clear, the style can breathe.
Why fans and progressing skiers care
Fans care because Perron’s work makes difficult skiing feel understandable without flattening it. You see the lock on a press, the moment a pretzel begins, and the axis change that separates a good double from a great one. Progressing skiers care because his films are roadmaps: how to sequence a line, where to place a caper trick, when to hold a grab, and how to translate park habits to street or vice versa. Coaches and judges care because the clarity helps calibrate what counts in 2020s freeskiing: readable difficulty, execution, and style that survives slow-mo and broadcast angles alike.
Most of all, Perron’s catalog shows that culture leaders don’t have to choose between art and accuracy. His Real Ski wins prove the method under pressure; his Level 1 work proves it scales; and his recent invitational edits prove it still evolves. If you want to understand where freeski filming and style are going next, watch what Brady shoots—and how he lets the skiing speak.
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Profile and significance
Cole Gibson is an American freeski rider best known for his role in HG Skis’ influential urban projects during the mid-2010s. As part of the Vermont/Northeast-rooted crew, Gibson contributed to a run of street-focused films and web edits—among them “Aurora” (2013), “5 to 9” (2014), “Children of the Guan” (2015), “PromoCabana” (2016) and the two-year project “Eat The Guts” (2017). Those releases helped define an era of gritty, story-driven street skiing where line choice, build quality, and execution mattered as much as trick count. While he never chased World Cup points, his presence in these widely circulated films gives him lasting relevance to fans of urban/street skiing and to park skiers looking for a realistic blueprint for filming outside resorts.
Competitive arc and key venues
Gibson’s public résumé is film-centric rather than contest-heavy. The arc begins with his HG Skis introduction in 2013 and continues through a string of team movies and seasonal drops that spotlight East Coast handrails, creative closeouts, and night missions in winter cities. Summer laps at Timberline on Mount Hood kept timing sharp and gear experiments ongoing, while periodic park mileage in Colorado—particularly at Keystone’s A51 terrain park—shows up in social clips from the same period. The throughline is clear: stack shots during storms at home, travel to reliable park hubs to keep skills tuned, then return to the streets when conditions and crew schedules line up.
How they ski: what to watch for
Gibson reads like a technician who values full-feature usage and clean landings. Expect patient speed management into long kinks, gap-to-rail starts that require exact entry marks, and solid balance for nose/tail pressure through swaps. He keeps approach lines tidy, rides out both directions, and favors combo choices that look repeatable rather than one-and-done “hucks.” On park features he’ll lean into manuals, redirect transfers, and fast footwork that lets him extract two or three moments from a single obstacle. The sum is an urban style that rewards rewatching: practical, controlled, and filmed to highlight the whole spot, not just the ender.
Resilience, filming, and influence
HG Skis’ output was known for do-it-yourself persistence: digging, salting, rebuilding, and walking away when security, traffic, or weather refused to cooperate. Gibson fit that mold. Across “Children of the Guan” and “Eat The Guts,” you see the ethic of small-crew commitment—efficient shoveling, smart B-plans when temps swing, and line choices that balance ambition with a high chance of rolling away clean. For progressing skiers, his influence is pragmatic: pick spots that match your skill, build them right, and film in a way that tells a short story rather than chasing a single clip. Those habits make edits more watchable and projects more sustainable.
Geography that built the toolkit
The Northeast’s freeze-thaw rhythm and dense urban layouts shaped Gibson’s eye for features—handrails with awkward kinks, narrow run-ins, and drop-to-flat consequences. Summer stints at Mt. Hood provided reliable park access and nearly year-round repetition on rails and jumps. Colorado sessions kept the park meter running when storms were scarce back East; the A51 setup at Keystone is a frequent training ground for street-minded riders looking to dial consistency before filming. That combination—Northeast streets, Hood summers, and Colorado parks—underpins the calm speed control and measured trick selection you see in his parts.
Equipment and partners: practical takeaways
Gibson’s film credits tie him to HG Skis during the 2013–2017 window, reflecting a setup aligned with urban abuse: moderately stiff park/urban skis that hold tune after repeated rail impact, detuned contact points for fewer edge bites, and inserts/bindings chosen for reliable heel retention on kinks and gaps. Apparel and culture links via Tall T’s involvement around “Eat The Guts” reinforced a street-first visual identity. For skiers emulating his approach, the bigger lesson is systems thinking: detune thoughtfully, choose a mount point that balances presses with stable landings, and keep edges fresh enough to track on long metal without feeling hooky. A compact shovel kit, salt for temperature swings, and clear roles within a small crew (builder, filmer, spotter) often matter more than any single product choice.
Why fans and progressing skiers care
Gibson’s catalog with HG Skis stands as a study in doable—but still high-impact—street skiing. There’s inspiration here for everyday crews: make the most of local weather, read the feature from in-run to outrun, and prioritize landings you can repeat. For viewers, that translates to rewatchable segments where the narrative of the spot stays intact. For riders leveling up, it’s a credible path: park time to lock fundamentals, then well-planned street sessions that put quality and story ahead of raw volume.
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Profile and significance
Daniel Bacher is a freeski park specialist from Innsbruck, Austria, who broke through internationally with a bronze medal in Ski Big Air at X Games Aspen 2024. Born in 2004 and raised in the Stubai Valley, he came up through Austria’s national program and the TU Innsbruck club system, earning two junior world silver medals in 2021 before stepping onto the senior stage. He represented Austria at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games and added a World Cup podium with second place at Big Air Chur in October 2023. Bacher’s signature is playful power—tail-butter initiations, precise grabs, and an instinct for using course features in original ways that read clearly on camera and to judges alike.
Competitive arc and key venues
Bacher’s early résumé includes the Winter Youth Olympic Games in 2020, followed by a breakout 2021 Junior Worlds where he took silver in both slopestyle and big air. The next step was the senior circuit: he qualified for Beijing 2022 (17th in slopestyle, 21st in big air) and kept momentum with consistent World Cup starts. His first World Cup podium arrived at the season opener in Switzerland—second place at the music-and-sport festival Big Air Chur in October 2023, a showcase of his switch tail-butter double cork mechanics. In January 2024 he earned X Games bronze at Aspen’s big air, a result that validated his approach at the sport’s most-watched stage. He returned to Aspen in 2025 for Knuckle Huck, placing fifth in a field stacked with style leaders. Between contest peaks, he logs training volume around Innsbruck—fast park laps at Nordkette Skyline Park above the city, the well-shaped Golden Roofpark at Axamer Lizum, and pre-season jump mileage on the Stubai Glacier.
How they ski: what to watch for
Bacher’s competition runs are built around control and creativity rather than maximum spin volume. He’s best known for tail-butter and tail-tap initiations that change the look and timing of familiar tricks—most notably a switch left tail-butter double cork 1440 with safety grab that became a calling card. Watch for compact approaches, deliberate takeoff marks, and clean axis control in the air; he keeps the body quiet and lets the ski flex and timing do the heavy lifting. On rails and side features he favors smooth speed and full-feature usage over “huck and hope.” The overall effect is readable and replayable: tricks that judges can score confidently and fans can analyze frame by frame.
Resilience, filming, and influence
Like many park specialists transitioning to senior finals, Bacher has absorbed the usual setbacks—variable weather windows, high-pressure qualification formats, and the learning curve of big-venue scaffolding jumps. The response has been steady refinement. Between World Cup starts and X Games appearances, he contributes to film- and brand-driven edits (including creative sessions with the Capeesh crew), reinforcing a style-first identity that resonates with park skiers outside the FIS bubble. For the broader freeski audience, his rise underscores that technical nuance—tail butters, clean grabs, measured spin choices—can win podiums without sacrificing personality.
Geography that built the toolkit
Bacher’s toolkit is very much a product of Innsbruck’s neighborhood of training grounds. Quick-hit after-school laps at Nordkette Skyline Park build edge feel and rail timing within sight of the city. The Golden Roofpark at Axamer Lizum provides a deeper feature set to string together lines at speed. Early-season big-air timing happens on the glacier—Stubai is a European hub where national teams test jump shapes months before winter fully arrives. Add travel to Colorado for Aspen and you’ve got a map that balances volume, variety, and the exact big-jump feelings required for World Cup pressure.
Equipment and partners: practical takeaways
Bacher rides for Armada and is part of the Monster Energy roster. He also collaborates with Flaxta on a limited “Continuous – Daniel Bacher Edition” goggle. For skiers looking to learn from his setup rather than copy it outright: keep rail edges tuned with a light detune at contact points to reduce bites; choose a mount point that preserves switch stability while leaving enough tail for butters; and prioritize a consistent boot–binding feel so cork axes and tail-initiated spins stay predictable as you scale up jump size. His contest runs highlight how a familiar trick can look brand-new when initiation, grab, and exit timing are dialed—an approach that depends as much on repeatable equipment feel as on raw talent.
Why fans and progressing skiers care
Bacher is a useful reference for riders who want to compete without defaulting to maximum rotation. He shows that judges reward clarity: clean initiation (often buttered), a locked-in grab, and an axis that stays readable from takeoff to landing. Fans get memorable visuals—tail-tap creativity, sturdy landings, a style that’s easy to spot in a crowded field. Up-and-coming park skiers get a blueprint: build volume on medium features, practice buttered entries until they’re second nature, and let trick variety—not just spin count—carry your runs. The results speak loudly enough: Olympic experience at 17, a World Cup podium in Chur, and X Games hardware in Aspen, all while keeping a distinctive look that translates to film parts and brand edits.
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Profile and significance
Henrik Harlaut (born 14 August 1991; Stockholm, raised in Åre) is one of the defining freeskiers of the modern era—an athlete who set records at X Games, stacked FIS World Cup podiums, and still found time to re-shape contest culture through rider-driven events and films. Harlaut owns a record haul of X Games Ski medals and the most Ski golds, highlighted by a landmark campaign in Aspen 2018 when he won both Slopestyle and Big Air in a single weekend. He’s also the rider who brought the “nose-butter triple cork 1620” from idea to history at Aspen 2013 Big Air, a moment that reset what was possible while keeping his hallmark readability—clean set, long grab, confident spot and stomp. Three Olympic Games (Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018, Beijing 2022) widened the audience for his style-first approach, even as he continued to invest in culture with the B&E Invitational and film projects like The Regiment. For freeski fans and developing riders, Harlaut is the template: do the heaviest tricks, make them easy to read, and build spaces where style leads the conversation. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}
Competitive arc and key venues
Harlaut’s competitive résumé blends consistency with signature highs. In the World Cup era he earned multiple wins and podiums across Big Air and Slopestyle—peaks in 2017 and 2019, plus a 2021 return to the steps—while his X Games record (eight golds and a record medal total) kept him in the sport’s brightest spotlight for more than a decade. The Aspen 2018 sweep (Slopestyle + Big Air) and his 2021 Big Air gold under pressure exemplify why judges and viewers trust his skiing: he scales difficulty without sacrificing clarity. Olympic turns in 2014, 2018 and 2022 added global stagecraft; even when results weren’t the headline, the takeaway was the same—legible trick architecture at full speed. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}
Just as important are the formats he helped elevate. Alongside Phil Casabon, Harlaut co-hosted the B&E Invitational at Les Arcs—a skatepark-style course that let riders tell stories with lines, not just trick lists, and where peer voting reinforced culture over calculation. Those years influenced today’s style-forward events and modern jam formats. Between seasons he kept timing sharp at parks with reliable laps and clean lips: Sweden’s Kläppen (home to many style sessions), California’s Mammoth, and long-season Mt. Hood for late-spring mileage. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}
How they ski: what to watch for
Harlaut skis like a director and an engineer at once. Approaches are drawn early to minimize drift; the takeoff meets the lip in balance; grabs lock as soon as the body finds axis. Whether he’s spinning forward or switch, the rotation fits the venue—no last-second scrubs, no fight with the landing. His signature buttered entries (most famously the nose-butter into triple cork) are never decoration; they set the axis so the rest of the trick reads cleanly to judges and cameras. On rails he uses the whole feature—presses into swaps, redirects, and exits that square the shoulders—so even complex lines remain legible on replay. The result is difficulty you can study, not just applaud. :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}
Resilience, filming, and influence
Harlaut’s cultural impact extends well beyond bibs. With Casabon and producer Eric Iberg he helped popularize rider-designed courses and film projects that let style lead—culminating in the B&E years and the two-year film The Regiment, backed by core partners and retailers. He also competed in video-first formats (Real Ski, Knuckle Huck) that reward creativity, connecting contest and edit audiences. Off-hill, his Stockholm-born, Åre-raised perspective shows in Harlaut Apparel Co., an independent label that treats drops and visuals like part of the story. It all adds up to a durable influence: younger riders copy not only his axis management and grabs, but also his insistence on formats where the best skiing looks like freeskiing. :contentReference[oaicite:4]{index=4}
Geography that built the toolkit
Place explains a lot about Harlaut’s approach. Åre gave him the Scandinavian mix of rope-tow repetition, icy learning days, and creative park design; Sweden’s broader park ecosystem—especially Kläppen Snowpark—refined timing and line selection. Springtime moved to long-season venues—Mammoth Mountain for reliable XL jumps and clean takeoffs; Oregon’s Timberline on Mt. Hood for months of consistent practice. The B&E years anchored a French chapter at Les Arcs, while Arctic Sweden’s Riksgränsen supplied late-light windows and natural hits that sharpen creativity when most resorts are closed. That map—Åre → Kläppen → Mammoth/Hood → Les Arcs/Riksgränsen—produces exactly the composure and readability you see on snow. :contentReference[oaicite:5]{index=5}
Equipment and partners: practical takeaways
Logos matter less than systems, but Harlaut’s partners tell a coherent story. His signature Armada EDOLLO ski is built for presses and pop with durability for rails—recently refreshed in the 2025–26 line—while his boot of choice is the K2 FL3X Method B&E, a three-piece design tuned for park feel and repeatable flex. For vision he runs Oakley, including signature Line Miner goggles; energy support comes from Monster Energy; and his own Harlaut Apparel Co. handles the fit. Practical takeaways for progressing skiers:
• Tune edges for the day: lightly detune contact points to avoid bites on rails, keep under-foot bite for icy in-runs, and refresh base structure before salted scaffolding jumps.
• Keep swing weight and mount points consistent across “training” and “shoot” setups so timing transfers from medium jumps to XL lines.
• Protect in-runs and landings when filming or on comp day; consistent entry speed and clean outruns make long grabs and centered stomps possible. :contentReference[oaicite:6]{index=6}
Why fans and progressing skiers care
Harlaut bridges worlds: he took home the biggest medals without abandoning the style and storytelling that built freeskiing in the first place. Fans get rewatchable runs and parts—tricks that tell a story from approach to ride-away. Developing skiers get a step-by-step blueprint: design the approach first, size the spin to the venue, lock the grab early, and value landings you can reproduce tomorrow. That philosophy is why his Aspen highlights still circulate, why his World Cup wins feel instructive, and why park laps worldwide still carry echoes of his technique. :contentReference[oaicite:7]{index=7}
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