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Profile and significance

Ferdinand “Ferdi” Dahl is a Norwegian freeski original whose blend of contest pedigree and culture-building has made him one of the most influential park and street skiers of his generation. Born in 1998 and raised around Oslo, he broke through on the biggest stages with multiple medals at the X Games—slopestyle bronze in 2019, slopestyle silver in 2021, and slopestyle bronze again in 2023—while stacking nine FIS World Cup podiums and two Olympic appearances, including an eighth place in slopestyle at PyeongChang 2018. Those results alone would secure his status. But Dahl’s impact extends further: he co-founded the rider-led Jib League series that reframed what a freeski “contest” could be, and he channels his design sensibility into the apparel label Capeesh Supply. The result is a rare dual footprint—elite competitor and thoughtful scene shaper—whose skiing reads clearly at full speed and whose projects elevate the wider culture.

Today, Dahl’s priorities span performance and stewardship. You’ll still see him under stadium lights at Buttermilk in Aspen during X Games week or dropping mid-winter edits from Europe and North America. You’ll also see him building spaces for others to shine, whether that’s hosting a jam-style Jib League stop with fellow founders James “Woodsy” Woods and Øystein Bråten, or releasing small-batch garments that carry Capeesh’s playful, skaterly aesthetic. He skis for Vishnu Freeski and rides with Monster Energy, a sponsor mix that mirrors his commitment to rider-run creativity and broadcast-level execution.

Competitive arc and key venues

Dahl’s contest résumé maps the modern freeski ladder. Early Europa Cup and World Cup starts led to a breakout Olympic debut at the PyeongChang 2018 Games, staged at Korea’s Phoenix Park, where he placed eighth in men’s slopestyle. World Cup consistency followed, culminating in nine podiums and back-to-back seasons ranked among the very best in slopestyle overall. In Aspen, the X Games medals arrived across four winters, validating a trick vocabulary and run composition that judges reward and fans replay.

Venue context explains why his skiing travels so well. Buttermilk rewards multi-feature flow and line design under heavy camera pressure; Phoenix Park’s Olympic stage compresses everything into immaculate takeoffs and unforgiving landings; Austria’s in-city Nordkette Skyline Park demands cadence on dense rail panels; Sweden’s Kläppen serves long spring laps where measured speed and early commitments separate a good run from a great one. As Dahl pivoted some focus toward film and rider-led events, he didn’t abandon competition; he reframed it. Jib League’s jam format—skier voting, style-forward criteria—moved the needle while keeping the difficulty and clarity that defined his World Cup and X Games success.

How they ski: what to watch for

Dahl’s skiing is a case study in readable difficulty. On rails, approaches are squared early, body position stays stacked, and lock-ins look decisive rather than dramatic. Surface swaps resolve cleanly; presses have shape instead of wobble; exits protect momentum into the next setup. On jumps, he favors measured spin speed and deep, functional grabs—safety, tail, or blunt held long enough to stabilize the axis. That early grab timing keeps shoulders quiet and landings centered, so the outrun breathes instead of becoming a last-second save. Directional variety—forward and switch, left and right—shows up without breaking cadence because every choice serves the line.

Two tells help you “read” a Dahl run in real time. First, spacing. He leaves room between moves, so each trick creates setup for the next one rather than stealing from it. Second, grab discipline. The hand finds the ski early and stays there long enough to influence rotation, not just decorate the frame. That’s why even his bigger spins look calm, and why editors can present his clips at normal speed without resorting to slow-motion rescue.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Longevity at the top level requires adaptation. After years of traveling the World Cup and major-event circuit, Dahl broadened his canvas: spring projects in the Alps, on-camera head-to-heads in SLVSH games, and the co-creation of Jib League with Woods and Bråten. The through-line is composure. Whether the setting is a single-hit scaffolding jump, a multi-feature slopestyle course, or a dense rail garden at Nordkette, he protects speed, commits to control inputs early, and finishes tricks with enough time to ride away clean. That reliability earns trust—from judges tallying slopestyle scores, from peers voting in jam formats, and from filmmakers who want clips that hold up after ten replays.

Influence shows up far beyond podium photos. Jib League’s format centers skiers as voters and storytellers, and its stops have become required viewing for anyone who cares how style and difficulty can coexist. Capeesh, meanwhile, exports the same ethos via apparel drops and creative videos—small teams, rider agency, humor intact. Add in years of high-profile clips and a deep library of World Cup runs archived at Olympics.com, and you have a body of work that doubles as instruction: honest speed, early commitments, centered landings.

Geography that built the toolkit

Place is the skeleton of Dahl’s skiing. Oslo’s compact hills and firm winter snow built edge honesty and quick decision-making; repeated laps discipline the feet and hands. The Alps supplied longer radii and faster in-runs, especially at Nordkette, where dense features reward timing and rail economy. Spring blocks at Kläppen layered in rhythm on creative setups and medium-to-large booters, and the annual pilgrimage to Buttermilk honed broadcast composure. On the Olympic stage at Phoenix Park, he proved those habits survive the brightest lights. Stitch those environments together and you get a toolkit that travels: protect momentum, manage spin speed with the grab, and keep the run’s shape intact from first rail to last landing.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

Dahl’s current setup mirrors his philosophy. With Vishnu Freeski he rides a park-capable platform with balanced swing weight and reinforced edges that tolerate repeated rail contact without unpredictable flex. Energy and event support from Monster Energy keeps the spotlight on projects that showcase skier agency, while Capeesh Supply lets him translate taste into design. If you’re looking to borrow from his gear decisions, the lesson is category fit over model names: choose a symmetrical or near-symmetrical park ski, mount it so butters and presses feel natural without compromising takeoff stability, keep bases fast so cadence survives cold or salt, and tune edges to hold on steel yet soften contact points to avoid surprise bites on swaps. Equipment won’t replace timing, but the right platform makes good timing repeatable across long filming days and pressure-heavy finals.

Equally practical is how he structures a season. Early repetitions on consistent parks sharpen approach mechanics; jam-style events test composure under variable pace and crowd energy; and marquee weeks at places like Buttermilk demand the full package—rail clarity, directional variety on jumps, and airtight landings. That rhythm is a template ambitious riders can copy on the path from local edits to international relevance.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Ferdinand Dahl matters because he turns elite difficulty into clarity and then uses his platform to grow the culture around it. He owns multiple X Games medals, deep World Cup credentials, and Olympic finals experience, yet he’s just as committed to rider-run spaces like Jib League and to creative output through Capeesh. The skiing itself is easy to follow at normal speed because the mechanics are honest: early grab commitment, measured spin speed, and landings that preserve momentum for the next move. For viewers, that means segments worth replaying; for developing skiers, it offers a concrete checklist—square the approach, use the grab as a control input, finish the trick early, and let the line breathe. That combination of results, readability, and stewardship is why Ferdi sits at the center of freeski culture today, whether the backdrop is an Olympic venue, a televised course in Colorado, or a rail garden above Innsbruck.

Profile and significance

Johan Berg is a Norwegian freeski athlete best recognized for his technical rail game and creative lines in slopestyle settings. Active through the mid-2010s and into the 2020s, he appeared on the international scene via FIS competitions and independent showdowns that spotlight park precision over sheer amplitude. His name is familiar to core freeski fans through head-to-head park battles and specialty park events hosted on meticulously built setups, where line choice and trick variety are scored as closely as execution. The combination of polished switch approaches, clean edge management, and a willingness to thread difficult transfers has kept Berg relevant within the European park community and visible to global audiences whenever contests and showcases converge at destination resorts.

Competitive arc and key venues

Berg’s competitive footprint includes FIS slopestyle and big air starts, with international appearances that helped establish him as a technical park skier rather than a pure big-jump specialist. He has competed at southern-hemisphere events hosted at the high-quality park infrastructure of Cardrona Alpine Resort, where Winter Games NZ routinely gathers a deep field and rewards composed trick selection in variable winds. In North America, the slopestyle course at Copper Mountain has been a recurring waypoint for European riders transitioning to early-season World Cup events; the venue’s long rail sections and progressive jump line align well with Berg’s strengths. More recently, he has been a fixture in creative park matchups staged at Sunset Park Peretol in Andorra’s Grandvalira domain, where night sessions, fast laps, and compact features invite high trick density. Across these stops, Berg’s results have been built less on single-trick shock value and more on runs that remain intact from first rail to final landing.

How they ski: what to watch for

Berg’s skiing is defined by rail exactness layered onto high-tempo course usage. Watch for fast switch-on entries, surface swaps placed mid-feature, and pretzel exits that preserve speed into the next setup. On transfers he prefers lines that cut diagonally across the feature set, opening options for quick 270-on variations and blind-change dismounts without over-rotating. His jump approach is pragmatic: stable doubles in both directions with grabs held long enough to signal control, then an immediate reset into the rail section where judges tend to differentiate runs at modern slopestyle events. The hallmark is composure. Berg rarely hucks; instead, he compresses difficulty by stacking features, carrying speed cleanly, and linking trick families so the run builds logically rather than hinging on one make-or-break spin.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Park skiing careers are built on repetition under imperfect conditions—variable salt, glare ice at dusk, softening lips on sunny decks. Berg’s consistency in night-shoot environments and contest time slots speaks to that repetition. He shows well in invite-style battles precisely because those formats reward trick inventory and adaptability more than set-piece hero shots. That presence has a secondary effect: younger riders studying match-play edits can copy the sequencing—switch entry, lock, swap, pretzel—without needing world-cup-sized jump lines. In an era where slopestyle judging increasingly values rails as heavily as jumps, Berg’s clips function as practical examples for approaching rails with both directionality and speed control in mind.

Geography that built the toolkit

Coming out of Norway’s club scene, Berg benefitted from a culture that prizes time on rails and disciplined fundamentals. The European circuit then broadened his vocabulary with extended laps at Grandvalira, whose night-lit Sunset Park Peretol compresses features for high-frequency learning. Southern-hemisphere training blocks at Cardrona Alpine Resort further shaped his trick timing on true competition-length jump lines and long, technical rail decks that punish sloppy edges. Periodic North American starts at Copper Mountain added altitude, early-season firmness, and the need to find speed efficiently—conditions that reward skiers who can stay light on their feet while keeping bases flat and edges sharp.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

Public sponsor details for Berg have varied over time, but the practical equipment lessons are consistent. Rails demand a park ski with a balanced swing weight, a predictable flex underfoot, and sidewalls that survive repeated edge sets on metal. If your local hill skis like Cardrona or the compact lines at Sunset Park Peretol, prioritize a mount point that keeps spins neutral and a tune that preserves just enough bite to stay locked without grabbing on surface swaps. For jump days akin to early-season Copper Mountain, slightly detuned tips and tails with a crisp underfoot edge can stabilize takeoffs and support long grab holds. Helmets and goggles that manage flat light at dusk sessions matter more than graphics; many of Berg’s best clips come in transitional light where contrast is low.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Johan Berg resonates because his skiing translates directly to what most park skiers see every day: rails first, jumps second, and the need to connect everything cleanly. He illustrates a scoring pathway built on density and control rather than single-trick gambling. If you are learning to evaluate slopestyle runs, track how he uses both-way spins and deliberate exits to keep judges’ deduction windows small. If you are progressing your own park skiing, his approach suggests a blueprint—master speed, lock the rail early, finish the exit clean, and carry momentum into the next feature. Whether the setting is a world-class venue like Cardrona Alpine Resort, a creative night park such as Sunset Park Peretol, or an early-winter build at Copper Mountain, the same thesis applies: precise rail work is the engine of a modern freeski run, and Berg’s clips show how to do it with clarity.

Profile and significance

Øystein Bråten is a Norwegian freeski slopestyle specialist whose career sits at the intersection of contest consistency and street-leaning creativity. Born in 1995 and connected with Torpo IL in Norway’s Hallingdal region, he rose through the era when slopestyle went from “new school” to global prime time. The signature line on his résumé is historic: he won Olympic men’s ski slopestyle gold at PyeongChang 2018, and FIS noted that the title made him the third Norwegian—after Kari Traa and Stine Hattestad in moguls—to win Olympic gold in freestyle skiing. That achievement matters beyond a single day because slopestyle is a sport of tiny margins, changing courses, and relentless trick progression; being the athlete who delivered the winning run when it mattered most is a legacy-making result.

Bråten’s significance also comes from how he earned that peak moment. His competitive record shows long-term presence on the World Cup circuit with podiums before the Olympics and a breakthrough World Cup win in 2017. At the same time, his public identity has always included the “build it, session it, film it” side of freeski. Through projects with Red Bull and technical rail concepts like his “Flip 2 Flip” feature, he became a reference point for skiers who value control and precision on rails as much as spins on jumps. In an era where slopestyle can drift toward pure rotation math, Bråten is remembered as an athlete who could win with both difficulty and a distinctly Scandinavian sense of cleanliness.

Competitive arc and key venues

The clearest way to understand Bråten’s arc is to track his climb through the highest-pressure venues in freeski. He appeared at the Sochi 2014 Winter Games and finished 10th in men’s slopestyle, a strong result in the early Olympic era when the discipline was still defining what “finals-level” looked like. Over the next four years he matured into one of the circuit’s most reliable scorers, stacking podiums and building a reputation as an athlete who could deliver a complete run when weather, speed, and course design made outcomes unpredictable.

On the World Cup calendar, his milestone victory came at Stubai Glacier on November 26, 2017, where he earned his first World Cup win in men’s slopestyle. That win is important context for his Olympic story: it shows he didn’t arrive at PyeongChang as a one-off underdog, but as a rider already capable of winning a top-tier event. The seasons around that period also include major results at classic slopestyle proving grounds such as Cardrona Alpine Resort in New Zealand and Silvaplana in Switzerland, plus big-air World Cup podium-level form that underlined his versatility beyond a single format.

X Games results add another layer because they measure performance under a different kind of spotlight. Bråten won men’s ski slopestyle gold at X Games Aspen 2017 and backed it up with another slopestyle gold at X Games Norway 2017 in Hafjell, plus a slopestyle bronze at X Games Aspen 2016. He also won the urban-style invitational Red Bull PlayStreets in Bad Gastein, a contest that flips the slopestyle idea into a street setting and rewards rail mastery as much as jump control. Taken together, those wins show why he was viewed as an “all-conditions” competitor: he could handle federation courses, invitational showpieces, and city-style builds without losing his identity.

PyeongChang 2018 became the career-defining venue. In the Olympic final, Bråten scored 95.00 on his first run, then had to wait through the remaining attempts as rivals chased him. That detail is essential to the narrative: slopestyle isn’t only about doing your run, it’s about doing it early enough and clean enough that the rest of the field cannot catch you. When the contest ended, he stood atop the podium as Olympic champion, with Nick Goepper second and Alex Beaulieu-Marchand third. That moment turned a strong World Cup and X Games athlete into a lasting name in Olympic freeski history.

How they ski: what to watch for

Bråten’s skiing is easiest to recognize in the way he treats rails. He has long been framed as a technician—an athlete who approaches rail features with the precision of a street skier while still maintaining the speed and composure needed for full slopestyle courses. For viewers, the most revealing moments are often at the top of a run: watch how early he sets his line into a rail, how stable his upper body stays through a slide, and how smoothly he reconnects with the fall line after the dismount. In slopestyle, that “exit quality” is where clean runs are built; a shaky rail exit forces defensive skiing into the next hit, and defensive skiing kills amplitude and style on jumps.

His jump skiing tends to mirror the same mindset: controlled takeoffs, deliberate grabs, and an emphasis on landing position so speed carries forward. When he is on form, the run looks planned rather than patched together. That matters because modern slopestyle judging is effectively an evaluation of completeness: difficulty matters, but so does whether every piece of the run communicates control. Bråten’s best contests have been the ones where he blends technical rail sections with confident spins, keeping the run readable from start to finish instead of relying on a single chaotic banger.

The “Flip 2 Flip” concept captured why his style resonates. Presented through Red Bull content, it centered on a flip-on to flip-off rail feature—an example of how he pushes progression by rethinking what a rail trick can be. Even if a viewer doesn’t know every naming convention, the takeaway is clear: Bråten’s creativity often lives in feature use and approach angles, not only in adding another 180 degrees of rotation. If you want to evaluate his skiing the way other freeskiers do, prioritize those details: line choice, feature interpretation, and how “quiet” the run looks even when it’s technically hard.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Bråten’s Olympic gold is a resilience story in the specific way slopestyle tests athletes. In the PyeongChang final, he delivered the best run of his life immediately, then had to sit with the result while the rest of the field took multiple shots at beating it. That waiting game is psychologically brutal: you can’t improve your score, you can only watch others try. Winning in that scenario is not just talent; it’s the ability to trust your preparation and stay composed when momentum shifts around you.

Beyond competition, his influence shows up in how he helped keep rail creativity visible in an increasingly jump-heavy era. Through Red Bull projects and the travel-and-session format of the “Send It!” series, he became a recognizable figure for skiers who care about filming, urban or street-inspired trick ideas, and building features rather than only training on standardized contest courses. That matters culturally because freeski has always been a two-lane sport: structured events on one side, creative expression on the other. Bråten’s career shows those lanes can feed each other. Contest training can create the consistency needed for filming, while street-style thinking can make contest runs feel less generic.

His continued relevance is also tied to the “backyard” mindset that many progressing skiers relate to. Red Bull’s “Backyard Bangers” concept highlights how building and riding small features repeatedly can translate into elite-level control. For fans, that’s a reminder that the most impressive contest runs often come from unglamorous work: thousands of attempts, endless rail laps, and the patience to refine small details until they look effortless.

Geography that built the toolkit

Bråten’s story is rooted in rural Norway, not a giant resort town. His association with Torpo IL and residence in the Ål area place him in a region where winter is long and training has to be self-directed. That geography has a quiet influence on style. Scandinavian freeski culture has traditionally valued clean execution, a calm posture, and a strong rail tradition—skills that travel well because they are not dependent on a single type of park. When you grow up needing to make the most of whatever features exist, you learn to be inventive and precise.

From there, the international circuit added new layers. Courses at Stubai Glacier are often fast and firm, rewarding a skier who can be accurate on takeoff and landing even when the snow is not forgiving. Silvaplana brings a different rhythm, with European builds that can emphasize rail complexity and creative line options. Southern Hemisphere stops like Cardrona Alpine Resort matter because they set early-season trends; the skiers who are ready to perform there often carry confidence into the Northern winter.

North American contest hubs also shaped his toolkit. Parks at resorts like Aspen Snowmass, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, and Mammoth Mountain are designed for repetition and high-speed runs, which rewards the kind of disciplined execution that becomes essential at the Olympics. When you zoom out, the PyeongChang win links all of those geographies into a single narrative: a Norwegian rail technician who could travel the world, adapt to any course, and still put down the run that defined an Olympic final.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

Bråten’s public partnerships are most clearly visible through his long-standing presence in Red Bull freeski content, including technical rail features and series-style projects. In terms of what that implies for equipment, the key is not chasing a specific pro model, but understanding the demands of his disciplines. Slopestyle and big air require a twin-tip setup that feels symmetrical for switch takeoffs and landings, with edges and bases durable enough for heavy rail use. A skier who wants to bring street-inspired ideas into a contest run also needs a predictable platform: inconsistent flex or an unfamiliar mount can make spins feel different in each direction, which is a recipe for sketchy landings and rushed grabs.

For progressing skiers, the most practical takeaway from his style is that “equipment” starts with feel and repetition. A boot that fits securely allows you to stay centered over the skis when landing switch. Bindings mounted to support balance in both directions make it easier to keep spins clean and grabs deliberate. And a ski that holds up to repeated rail hits encourages more attempts, which is where technical confidence actually comes from. Bråten’s career highlights that a clean run is rarely the product of a magic setup; it’s the product of a setup you trust enough to focus on execution rather than survival.

Partners matter in another way: they often fund time on snow and creative freedom. If you look at the arc of Bråten’s work, it’s clear that contest seasons and filming concepts both require travel, planning, and the ability to chase the right conditions. For a developing skier, the lesson is straightforward: prioritize the systems that let you ski more—consistent coaching, safe progression steps, and access to features—because those systems compound faster than any single gear upgrade.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Øystein Bråten matters because he is the kind of freeski athlete who proves slopestyle is more than spin count. He won Olympic gold at PyeongChang 2018 by putting down an early, dominant run and holding off a finals field that kept raising the stakes. He also built a contest résumé that includes a World Cup victory at Stubai Glacier, multiple World Cup podiums, and slopestyle gold medals at X Games events in both the United States and Norway. Those results check the “champion” box in every major contest ecosystem—World Cups, invitationals, and the Olympics.

Progressing skiers care because his skiing is instructive. It shows how rail precision can be a weapon in competition, not just a style accessory. It shows that a run is judged as a whole, and that speed management between features is often the hidden difference between a podium and the middle of the pack. And it shows that creative projects—building features, filming technical concepts, and refining tricks outside formal courses—can feed directly into contest readiness. Whether you’re watching him for Olympic history or for the craft of clean slopestyle, Bråten remains a reference point for how modern freeski can be both disciplined and inventive.