INSANE Big Mountain Skiing – KAI JONES “ORIGIN”
Kai Jones
Profile and significance
Kai Jones is an American big-mountain freeskier raised in the Tetons whose early film parts with Teton Gravity Research turned a junior freeride phenom into one of the most-watched young riders in the sport. Growing up just over Teton Pass from Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, he moved quickly from IFSA junior wins to full-length segments that showcased composure on consequential terrain long before most athletes leave the park. By his mid-teens he had multiple TGR credits, a fast-growing profile, and a style built on calm approaches, clean rotations, and landings driven back to the fall line. He now anchors projects that pair high-alpine filming with mainstream storytelling—most notably the 2024 comeback documentary “Falling Into Place,” produced with Red Bull, and the 2025 TGR season slate culminating in “Pressure Drop” and the short project “ORIGIN.” Jones matters because he makes truly big skiing readable: a clear speed floor, tricks placed only where the terrain invites them, and a through-line that fans can follow at full speed.
Competitive arc and key venues
Before films, Jones established himself on the junior freeride circuit with North American titles and wins that came, fittingly, on steep Western faces. Those starts taught him to link features under pressure and to choose lines that judges and viewers can parse in real time. On camera, his home venue became the classroom. The inbounds chutes and tram laps at Jackson Hole led naturally into the adjacent backcountry, where classic features and long couloirs demanded early decisions and sluff management. As travel widened, he added high-glacier and coastal terrain to the map in Alaska and the interior Northwest, filming for TGR alongside seasoned crew members who value flow over stunt work. The recent projects broadened the canvas again, from storm-day pillows to spring spine walls, all built on the same race-like timing and simple, decisive trick placement. The result is a résumé anchored less by podium lists than by venues that define modern freeride and by segments that replay well because they are easy to understand.
How they ski: what to watch for
Jones skis with an “approach quiet, exit decisive” philosophy. Watch how flat and calm the skis stay on the run-in—bases neutral, hands relaxed, ankles doing the work—until he builds a firm platform and pops cleanly. In the air, rotations are axis-honest and chosen to fit the takeoff: deep backflips and tidy 360s appear as punctuation marks, not decoration. Landings are driven to the fall line with an immediate re-center, preserving speed into the next feature rather than bleeding it across the slope. On spines and convex roll-overs he sheds moving snow early with short cross-fall-line cuts, then recommits once the sluff runs. Pole plants are sparse and purposeful, mainly as timing cues before blind takeoffs. The overall effect is skiing that looks inevitable—a line you can storyboard, with each move advancing the sequence rather than distracting from it.
Resilience, filming, and influence
The defining chapter so far is resilience. In March 2023 Jones suffered a major crash in the Jackson backcountry, breaking both legs and ending his season. The comeback—documented in the feature “Falling Into Place” released with Red Bull and amplified across TGR channels—traces the unglamorous work behind returning to speed: surgeries, physical therapy, rebuilt confidence, and the discipline to re-learn habits under consequence. By 2024–25 he was filming full-strength again, contributing to TGR’s annual film program and dropping the short “ORIGIN,” a concentrated look at a winter spent chasing windows and stacking clean clips. The influence goes beyond the highlight reel. Because his lines are readable, coaches and progressing skiers use them to teach pacing, platform building, and risk calibration—why a trick belongs on that feature, from that speed, with that landing in mind. It is a modern template for combining ambition with process.
Geography that built the toolkit
Place explains much of Jones’s style. The lift-served steeps and sidecountry around Jackson Hole deliver maritime-influenced storms, chalky wind-buff, and spring corn within a compact radius, so platform management and sluff control become second nature. Long, consequential fall-lines force early decisions: keep bases flat until the lip, set the edge once, then commit. Travel added contrasting textures—interior chalk, coastal powder with moving surface snow, and glaciated runouts—so the same decision tree gets rehearsed on very different canvases. The throughline is transferable timing: build speed you can live with, let the terrain choose the trick, and land back to the fall line so momentum survives the air.
Equipment and partners: practical takeaways
Jones’s kit is built for reliability. As an athlete with Red Bull and a team rider for Atomic, he favors freeride platforms with enough surface area and supportive flex to accept imperfect landings without surprise hook-ups. The tuning philosophy is simple and instructive: keep edges honest underfoot for chalk, smooth the very ends so they stay friendly in three-dimensional snow, and maintain a consistent base finish so speed is predictable into big takeoffs. Boots and bindings should prioritize support and retention over novelty—set forward pressure correctly and avoid loose, progressive setups that fold under deep landings. On the safety side, the non-negotiables remain beacon, shovel, and probe when he’s outside the ropes, plus the unglamorous habits of spacing, communication, and terrain pacing. For skiers trying to copy the feel rather than the sticker pack, the message is to pick a stable ski you can center confidently and keep the tune and intentions consistent across conditions.
Why fans and progressing skiers care
Fans care about Kai Jones because his skiing tells clear stories on very big canvases. He doesn’t overload a face; he edits—set a speed floor, choose features that escalate, put the trick where the takeoff invites it, and drive the landing to the fall line so the narrative keeps moving. That clarity is why his TGR segments replay well and why his comeback film resonated beyond core audiences. For skiers looking to progress from storm-day resort laps to short backcountry missions, the takeaways are concrete and immediately useful: keep approaches quiet, pop from a clean platform, manage moving snow early, and think two features ahead. Grounded in the daily reality of Jackson Hole and sharpened on the biggest filming stages with Teton Gravity Research, Jones stands as a textbook example of contemporary big-mountain freeskiing—credible to peers, inspiring to audiences, and practical for anyone trying to turn highlight-reel habits into repeatable skills.
Red Bull
Brand overview and significance
Red Bull is not a ski manufacturer—it is a global sports and media powerhouse whose fingerprints are everywhere modern freeskiing is progressing. From urban slopestyle through big-mountain showpieces, the brand has built formats, funded crews, amplified athletes, and staged some of the sport’s most recognizable events. Flagship properties such as Red Bull PlayStreets in Austria’s Bad Gastein (a city-center slopestyle through streets and rooftops), Red Bull Infinite Lines in Avoriaz (a creative all-mountain face contest), the backcountry-freestyle invitational Red Bull Linecatcher in Les Arcs, and legacy backcountry classic Red Bull Cold Rush in Revelstoke have shaped how skiers ride, film, and watch the sport. For a skipowd.tv audience, Red Bull matters because it turns ideas into venues and edits, underwrites athlete ambition, and packages ski culture for a worldwide stage without losing the on-snow feel that riders trust.
Product lines and key technologies
Red Bull’s “products” for skiing are event concepts, athlete programs, and media platforms rather than hardgoods. The event slate spans urban slopestyle (PlayStreets), natural-feature freeride/freestyle (Infinite Lines), big-mountain/backcountry multi-day formats (Cold Rush), and past backcountry-slopestyle hybrids (Linecatcher). Each format solves a specific problem: bring skiing to city streets and viewers up close; unshackle pros from traditional rulebooks and let style/line choice decide; or move cameras and athletes into consequential snow and light where filmed freeride actually happens. Production lives across Red Bull TV and the brand’s digital ecosystem, where multi-angle, follow-cam, and broadcast-grade edits land quickly while the weather window is still part of the story.
The “tech” here is operational: course building in tight towns, avalanche-aware venue management on alpine faces, robust communications to thread start gates through wind and light, and editorial pipelines that turn a bluebird window into a cut viewers can watch that same week. It is also access: Red Bull’s Content Pool and event hubs make highlights and athlete assets globally available, which helps skiers, resorts, and brands extend the lifespan of a session beyond premiere night.
Ride feel: who it’s for (terrains & use-cases)
Red Bull’s ski footprint speaks most directly to park, street, and freeride skiers who care about progression as a lived, visible process. If your winter revolves around jib lines, creative slopestyle, or hunting natural airs on storm-cleaned faces, these events and films mirror the way you actually ride. PlayStreets reads like rope-tow nights and rail gardens elevated to town-square scale. Infinite Lines rewards the big-mountain skier who can link freestyle moves on a natural canvas. Cold Rush is the dream week for backcountry crews: steep, deep, and filmed as if the viewer were on the ridge with the athletes. For the all-mountain skier who just loves watching clean technique and line design, Red Bull’s edits are a library of how approach speed, pop timing, and landing management look when the stakes are real.
Team presence, competitions, and reputation
Red Bull’s credibility in skiing is two-fold: consistent delivery of high-end events, and a deep roster of athletes whose results and parts define eras. The brand’s freeski output routinely features X Games and Olympic medalists alongside backcountry icons, and it partners with resorts and park programs that can support both creativity and safety. Across seasons, the PlayStreets course has wound through Bad Gastein’s center while Infinite Lines carved a contest face above Avoriaz; Linecatcher’s Les Arcs iterations were a touchstone of the early-2010s backcountry-freestyle blend, and Cold Rush in British Columbia set a template for multi-discipline freeride showcases. Reputation-wise, riders and organizers value that these projects prioritize athlete voice and on-snow truth—courses are judged by speed, sight-lines, and how naturally features ask for tricks, not by a logo’s size on a bib.
Geography and hubs (heritage, testing, venues)
Red Bull’s ski calendar threads iconic European and North American hubs. In Austria, Bad Gastein’s historic town center hosts PlayStreets on a custom urban slopestyle track; local context and visitor guidance live on the region’s official site at Gastein. In France, Avoriaz’s pedestrian, clifftop village and Portes du Soleil terrain provide the amphitheater for Infinite Lines; resort information sits at Avoriaz. Les Arcs’ high alpine bowl and access to natural takeoffs framed Linecatcher; see skipowd.tv’s guide to Les Arcs for a rider’s context. In Canada, Revelstoke’s long pitches and storm cycles made Cold Rush believable; for trip planning and big-mountain background, start with Revelstoke BC. Beyond marquee stops, athlete filming and media happen wherever snow and light cooperate—Verbier’s steep itineraries and freeride pedigree are a frequent touchpoint (see Verbier), and Andorra’s park culture often anchors jib-forward shoots (see Andorra).
Construction, durability, and sustainability
In a media/events context, “construction” means building venues that ski well and film well, then leaving a clean footprint. Urban tracks like PlayStreets demand woodworking, scaffolding, snow transport, and municipal logistics that still ride like a real slopestyle; mountain-face events need route setting, snow safety, and closure plans aligned with resort ops. Durability shows up as formats that return over years and edits that age well because the skiing is genuine. Sustainability is practical: align shoots with lift-served access where possible, compress travel around event clusters, use existing resort infrastructure, and collaborate with local crews who know wind, snowpack, and neighborhood rhythm. Transparency varies by project, but the pattern is visible on the ground—small teams when feasible, tight weather windows, and an emphasis on quality over quantity so each day on snow counts.
How to choose within the lineup
Viewers and skiers: Use Red Bull’s event pages and Red Bull TV to study how elite riders solve features you’ll encounter at home—approach angles on urban-style rails, speed checks on natural hips, or line choices on wind-buffed faces. For park focus, start with PlayStreets recaps to see creative transfers and compact lines. For all-mountain inspiration, explore Infinite Lines highlights and listen for how riders talk about sight-lines and landings on a contest face. If you’re a backcountry skier, rewatch Cold Rush/Linecatcher features to read how snow quality and light windows drive decision-making.
Resorts and destinations: If you’re developing a freestyle identity, study how Avoriaz, Bad Gastein, Les Arcs, and Revelstoke collaborate on venue design and community experience. Urban-adjacent formats can energize town centers between peak weeks; mountain-face contests can spotlight terrain character and safety professionalism. The litmus test is whether locals would want to lap the setup after the cameras leave.
Athletes and crews: Red Bull’s ecosystem rewards authored projects and credible on-snow execution. If you’re pitching, focus on ideas that translate to a venue people can ski, a cut people will replay, and a story that holds beyond a single drop. For logistics, think like a shaper: is the line safe at speed, can you film it cleanly, and does it fit the weather window you’re likely to get?
Team presence, competitions, and reputation
Event pedigree aside, Red Bull’s athlete network is one reason its logo appears at the sport’s biggest moments. The roster touches slopestyle, big air, street, and freeride; many of the riders who headline X Games, World Cups, and film tours also star in Red Bull-backed specials and edits. That cross-pollination stabilizes the culture: contest athletes show their style beyond scores, while film riders step into structured formats without losing personality. For the public, that means a calendar where heavy clips, creative lines, and community jams are never far apart.
Why riders care
Because skiing advances when talent, terrain, and timing line up—and Red Bull is unusually effective at creating that alignment. The brand’s projects move the camera close without faking the ride, build courses that feel like the laps you want to take, and put skiers in positions where style and decision-making are visible. For park crews, that looks like rail gardens and transfers you can actually copy; for big-mountain skiers, it looks like line choices on faces that ride like your home range when a storm clears. For destinations, it’s a template for how to showcase character without turning the hill into a billboard. If your winter is measured in laps, lines, and the edits you queue up before first chair, Red Bull’s ski footprint is already part of your routine—and likely part of why the sport keeps finding new ways to be fun.
Teton Gravity Research
Brand overview and significance
Teton Gravity Research (TGR) is one of skiing’s definitive storytellers. Founded in 1995 in Jackson Hole/Wilson, Wyoming by brothers Steve and Todd Jones alongside early collaborator Dirk Collins, TGR helped shape the language of modern big-mountain and freestyle filmmaking—long, honest line shots, athlete-driven risk management, and tour nights that mark the start of winter. Three decades on, the brand spans feature films, a global fall film tour, VIP “WhiSKI Series” screenings, a streaming platform (TGR TV), and a growing optics program. On Skipowd, our dedicated hub for Teton Gravity Research pulls the films and places together for easy discovery.
In 2025, TGR’s 30th-anniversary film Pressure Drop underlined the company’s endurance and scale: a 200-stop world tour hitting core mountain towns and big-city theaters, with athletes on stage and community raffles fueling the stoke. For skiers, TGR matters because it has consistently documented—and pushed—progression from Alaska spines to interior British Columbia pillows while keeping the riding legible enough to learn from.
Product lines and key technologies
Feature films & tours. Each fall, TGR drops a marquee ski/snowboard film and takes it on the road via the TGR Film Tour, with a premium, small-batch WhiSKI Series for intimate Q&A and athlete meetups. Films are later available on TGR’s streaming apps at TGR TV.
Optics. TGR Optics goggles (Uprising, Further) use Carl Zeiss Vision lenses and magnetic swap systems to keep visibility sharp when storms roll through (TGR Optics). ZEISS Sonar tints target contrast and depth perception in flat light—useful if you actually ski the zones you watch on screen.
Cinematography. TGR is known for stabilized aerials (gyro-stabilized helicopter platforms), long-lens sled and tram work, and now a blend of FPV drones and cable-cams—all deployed to show real speed and terrain context. The look is deliberate: full-line capture with enough perspective to read hazard and flow.
Ride feel: who it’s for (terrains & use-cases)
Translate “ride feel” to viewing and doing. TGR films serve three skier profiles. Storm chasers and big-mountain fans watch to pattern speed control, sluff management, and safe islands of relief on steep faces—skills that carry to in-bounds chalk and sidecountry steeps. Park-to-peaks riders borrow jump timing and axis control from cast members who blend comp pedigrees with natural features. Everyday resort skiers use the films as terrain study guides before trips to the same mountains—glade rhythms, wind features, and traverse etiquette are all visible if you look.
Want to make it practical? Queue a segment, then take those cues to your hill. If you ski deep interior BC, watch pillow lines filmed around Revelstoke BC; if you ride windy ridgelines and tram laps, study Jackson Hole and Grand Targhee segments for storm-day decision-making; if you’re AK-curious, Alaska pieces on Alaska reveal spine entries, hang-fire awareness, and exit ramps.
Team presence, competitions, and reputation
TGR’s casts have long mixed icons and next-gen talent. The Pressure Drop roster features names like Sage Cattabriga-Alosa, Ian McIntosh, Nick McNutt, Kai Jones, Parkin Costain, McRae Williams, Maggie Voisin, Colter Hinchliffe, Jim Ryan, Molly Armanino, Kirsty Muir, Grace Henderson, Troy Podmilsak, Teal Harle, Kelly Hilleke, Madison Rose Ostergren, Simon Hillis, and more across ski and snowboard cameos. Over thirty seasons, TGR riders have stacked major contest résumés, first descents, and film awards; the unifying thread is credible, high-speed riding captured with enough context to be useful, not just flashy.
Within the culture, premiere night remains a ritual—part reunion, part fundraiser, part weather dance. That consistency, plus a steady pipeline of athlete documentaries and comeback stories on TGR TV, keeps the brand central to how freeskiing talks to itself and to newcomers.
Geography and hubs (heritage, testing, venues)
TGR’s home is the Tetons—headquarters and retail live in Wilson/Jackson Hole, with filming that naturally cycles through the tram, Corbet’s, and neighboring Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and Grand Targhee. Alaska remains the north-star canvas—Valdez, Haines, and the Chugach deliver the spines and ribs that define modern big-mountain aesthetic. The 30th-anniversary film itinerary adds Norway’s Lofoten Islands and California’s Palisades Tahoe to interior British Columbia staples, reflecting a “follow the snow” approach that makes sense to any storm chaser.
For a Skipowd-first map of common venues, explore Revelstoke BC for deep forests and long fall-lines, Grand Targhee for refill storms and mellow-to-spicy progression, and the big-mountain overview of Alaska. If you’re targeting a spring film-and-ride trip in the Coast Mountains, the official resort hub for Whistler-Blackcomb outlines the long windows that suit shoot weeks.
Construction, durability, and sustainability
Production durability. Cold, remote locations demand robust gear and workflow. TGR’s stabilized aerial systems, weather-proof camera packages, and practiced field routines exist so that the full line gets captured—safely—when a 30-minute weather window opens. It’s not just image quality; it’s repeatability under stress.
Environmental stance. At tour stops and online, TGR aligns with groups like Protect Our Winters and 1% for the Planet, using screenings to raise funds and awareness. The films themselves increasingly engage with snowpack change and land stewardship—useful prompts for local action when the credits roll.
Product longevity. On the hardgoods side, TGR Optics favors proven ZEISS lens chemistry, magnetic swaps, and replaceable parts so goggles survive seasons of travel. It’s a small line by design, focused on clarity and ease of use rather than gadgetry.
How to choose within the lineup
Films & experience. Want a culture-wide “state of the union”? Start with the annual feature—this year it’s Pressure Drop. Prefer smaller rooms and deeper chat? Book a WhiSKI Series stop. Traveling or snowed-in? Stream classics and athlete docs on TGR TV and build a watchlist by terrain (AK spines, BC pillows, Tetons).
Optics. If you want a simple two-lens quiver, start with an Uprising or Further goggle in a mid-light Sonar tint, then add a storm lens. The magnetic interface makes lift-line swaps trivial. Prioritize helmet/goggle fit and brow seal if you ski wet climates.
Trip planning by place. Studying a destination? Use the film segments as line-reading homework, then pair them with official resort pages for operations and safety. For example, match Revelstoke’s bowls and trees with the resort’s snow/ops feed, or combine Grand Targhee’s storm rhythm with local event calendars. Alaska requires guide, weather, and avalanche homework; treat TGR segments as inspiration, not instruction, and prep appropriately.
Why riders care
TGR sits at the intersection of inspiration and practical learning. The films honor real terrain and speed; the tour makes winter feel communal; the streaming platform keeps progression stories close; and the optics line lets you bring a piece of that clarity to your own laps. Rooted in the Tetons and roaming from Norway to Alaska to British Columbia, TGR continues to document skiing in a way that’s both beautiful and useful—the kind of media you watch on Friday, then reference subconsciously on Saturday when you drop into something that finally looks familiar.
Recommended Videos
