VORTEX - Full Ski Film

Profile and significance

Anton Holter is an American freeski slopestyle and big air specialist emerging from the powerful development pipeline of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation. Born in 2005, he belongs to the new generation of park and pipe athletes who treat national championships, Nor-Am Cups and Australian–New Zealand Cups as normal stops on the calendar. His FIS record already spans multiple seasons of Freeski Slopestyle, Big Air and even early Halfpipe starts, with top-ten finishes at U.S. national championships, Nor-Am Premium events and international ANC contests at Cardrona Alpine Resort. For fans following the next wave of riders who may soon break onto World Cup start lists, Holter is one of the most promising names coming out of Idaho.

Beyond his ranking sheets, Anton is also beginning to appear in the film-oriented side of freeskiing. He is part of the cast for OS Crew’s tenth annual ski movie “Vortex,” a project that tours festivals and screenings and places him alongside established street and backcountry riders. Add in his presence at Woodward Copper camps, local show events like Boise’s New Year’s Idaho Potato Drop jump and his own highlight edits on social media, and you get a picture of a skier who is not just chasing scores but actively carving out a broader role in modern freeski culture.

Competitive arc and key venues

Holter’s competitive arc is textbook “from Futures to Nor-Am.” As a young athlete in the SVSEF Freeski (Park & Pipe) program, he first drew wider attention at the 2021 Futures Tour slopestyle event in Winter Park, Colorado. There he delivered a breakthrough qualifying run that combined clean rail work—front 270 out and a switch-on, unnatural 450 out—with a jump line featuring right-side cork 540 mute, switch misty 900 japan and a left cork 900 blunt, earning a strong score and a spot in the finals of a stacked FIS-level field. That performance confirmed that his trick vocabulary and competition composure were already ahead of his age.

From there, his résumé has filled out quickly. At the 2023 USASA Freeski Nationals at Copper Mountain, his extremely technical switch unnatural 1080 mute in Men’s Open Class Slopestyle secured a place in finals in his first attempt at that level. FIS records show steady progression: a podium-level second place in a 2023 Mammoth FIS slopestyle, top-eleven finishes at Northstar and national championship events, and, more recently, strong Nor-Am results including a top-ten in Nor-Am Premium slopestyle at Aspen Highlands and top-twenty finishes at stops in Copper Mountain, Stoneham and Calgary. Internationally, he has pushed his boundaries at Cardrona Alpine Resort, earning a top-six in ANC slopestyle and solid results in big air and national championship divisions in New Zealand. At home, wins such as his 90-plus-point victory in the Open Class at Dollar Mountain slopestyle and pre-qualified status for the 2025–26 Rev Tour underline his position as a serious contender on the North American circuit.

How they ski: what to watch for

Holter’s skiing is defined by complete slopestyle runs rather than isolated hammers. The Futures Tour description of his Winter Park run tells you a lot: he is comfortable linking technical rail tricks with a jump line stacked with inversions, grabs and both natural and unnatural rotations. Rail features are often approached with confidence-heavy moves—lipslide to front 270, switch-on to 450 out—while his jump game leans on corked and off-axis spins in the 540 to 1080 range, including switch unnatural directions that many riders only add later in their careers. That ability to spin and grab both ways is a key marker of high-level competition freeskiing and explains why coaches repeatedly highlight his “impeccable style and steely determination.”

When you watch his highlight reels or OS Crew’s Woodward Copper edits, look at how early he commits to his edge set before takeoff and how calm his upper body remains in the air. Even on complex tricks like the switch unnatural 1080 mute he used at national championships, his head and shoulders move on clean axes while his lower body handles the rotation and grab adjustments. Landings tend to be placed high on the knuckle or sweet spot of the transition so that he can keep speed into the next feature, a habit that matters as much for big air as for slopestyle. For progressing skiers, the lesson is clear: his hardest tricks are built on excellent timing and alignment, not just bravery.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Resilience has been a theme of Anton Holter’s journey from early SVSEF days to FIS and Nor-Am events. In 2020, his home program named him Athlete of the Week, pointing to his “serious mental resilience” and positive attitude as the key reasons he was progressing so quickly while managing risk. That mindset shows up across his competitive history: he has had days where big Nor-Am fields or tricky conditions pushed him down the result sheet, followed by performances where he rebounded with finals runs and top-ten finishes at national championships or ANC stops. It is precisely that bounce-back ability that coaches emphasize when they talk about athletes who are built for the long term rather than just a hot season or two.

Off the result pages, Holter is slowly building a presence in the film and community side of the sport. His inclusion in OS Crew’s “Vortex” connects him to one of the most visible independent film crews in North American freeskiing, a group that mixes street, backcountry and park segments and tours its movies through festivals and theater premieres. He also appears in OS Crew content from Woodward Copper summer camps and festive events like Boise’s Idaho Potato Drop urban jump show, where he shares airtime and autograph sessions with riders he previously watched online. These appearances, combined with personal highlight edits and clips from training days in Sun Valley and Colorado, give younger athletes a concrete example of how strong competition skiing can dovetail with crew-based filming and local community events.

Geography that built the toolkit

Holter’s skiing is shaped first and foremost by the terrain and culture of Idaho’s Wood River Valley. Training with the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation means splitting time between Dollar Mountain’s slopestyle-friendly layout and the steeper pitches of Bald Mountain above the town of Sun Valley. Dollar’s progressive rail gardens and jump lines are ideal for learning the detailed line construction you see in his Futures and Nor-Am runs, while “Baldy” builds the edge control and speed management needed when courses get bigger and faster. Local open-class events on Dollar’s park features, where he has posted wins with scores over 90 points, offer a relatively low-pressure environment to test new tricks before they appear on national stages.

Season by season, his map has expanded outward. Trips to Copper Mountain and Aspen Highlands in Colorado have exposed him to national-championship and Nor-Am Premium venues, where weather, altitude and long days of training add new layers of difficulty. Stops at Stoneham in Québec and WinSport Calgary bring icy, technical Eastern and Canadian conditions into the mix. Overseas, contests and ANC events at Cardrona Alpine Resort in New Zealand introduce southern-hemisphere winters and different snowpacks to read. Add in summers and early-season laps at Woodward Copper, where he skis alongside OS Crew teammates and campers, and it is clear why his skiing reads as comfortable on everything from local parks to international slopestyle builds.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

On social media, Holter highlights support from Sun Valley–born pole brand Reflex, established ski manufacturer K2 Skis and emerging outerwear label NAM3. It is a setup that makes sense for an athlete whose time is split between icy Nor-Am mornings, sunny ANC training days and long park sessions with friends. Reflex poles are built in the Austrian Alps for durability and feel, which matters when every mis-planted swing can throw a slopestyle run off rhythm. K2’s freestyle-oriented skis give him a platform that can take repeated rail and jump impacts while still feeling lively enough for switch approaches and corked spins. NAM3’s baggy, technically minded outerwear fits both the functional needs of cold training days and the aesthetic expectations of a generation that grew up on urban and park edits.

Holter also benefits from the broader partner ecosystem surrounding his crews and events. OS Crew’s Woodward Copper weeks, where he rides and films, are supported by companies like Dakine, J Skis, Bern Helmets, Roxa Boots and Daymaker touring adapters. Even when those brands are not his personal sponsors, they shape the gear culture around him: lightweight yet strong boots for harsh landings, helmets and goggles that work in variable light and pole and touring systems that allow long days on snow without constant equipment worries. For aspiring slopestyle and big air riders, the practical takeaway is not to copy every logo, but to aim for a coherent kit—durable twintip skis, boots stiff enough to support spins and landings, reliable safety gear and outerwear that keeps you warm and dry through full training blocks.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Fans care about Anton Holter because he embodies the current bridge between regional grassroots programs and the wider international scene. He is still very much in the “emerging” phase—fighting for Nor-Am podiums, building a presence in ANC events and sharing segments in crew films—yet his trick selection and composure already look like those of athletes a few years further along. Supportive coaches in Sun Valley describe him as resilient and stylish, and national-level coverage has singled out his switch unnatural 1080 and well-rounded run construction as indicators of future potential. For viewers who enjoy seeing careers in the making, his name on a start list or a film rider card signals that something worth watching is about to happen.

For progressing skiers, Holter is a useful case study in how to build a modern freeski path. He learned his craft in a strong local program, used Futures Tour events to prove he could handle FIS-level pressure, then stepped into Nor-Am and international ANC contests while simultaneously exploring the film and community side of the sport through OS Crew and Woodward Copper camps. Watching his runs and edits with an analytical eye—spotting how he links rails and jumps, how he manages speed into big tricks, and how he returns after less successful days—can provide a blueprint for anyone aiming to progress from regional contests to bigger stages without losing the joy and creativity that make freeskiing what it is.

Profile and significance

Ben Moxham is an American freeski original who threaded his way from early-2010s slopestyle contests into a long-running career in film segments and deep-snow freeskiing. Born and raised in Boise, Idaho, he started skiing at age two and grew up lapping the parks and powder stashes of Bogus Basin and Tamarack Resort. As he improved, he gravitated toward bigger parks and bigger ranges, eventually basing himself in Breckenridge, Colorado and chasing contests, park shoots and road trips across North America. Along the way he built a reputation for smooth, powerful jump skiing and a willingness to take that same style off-piste into pillows and tree lines.

What makes Moxham significant is not just a single result or viral clip, but how consistently he has shown up in key corners of freeski culture. He has been a visible presence in competition recaps, Armada team edits, Windells summer camp videos and long-form backcountry pieces like “Deep Tracks,” which follows him through interior British Columbia and Idaho. More recently he has shared the screen with modern headliners in projects like SLVSH’s “Peep The Game,” holding his own alongside riders a decade younger. At the same time, he has stitched skiing into his off-snow life as a professional skier for Armada Skis and a fly-fishing guide and co-founder of Teton Anglers, turning the mountains and rivers of the American West into a year-round workspace.

Competitive arc and key venues

Moxham’s competitive arc sits squarely in the heyday of independent slopestyle and big-air events. As a young pro he spent winters traveling from Idaho to Colorado and Utah, entering open events and filming with Poor Boyz Productions. One of the clearest snapshots of his contest level comes from the Aspen Open Ski Slopestyle, where he opened the men’s semifinals with a run that stacked a left 900, switch right 900 and right double cork 1080 mute. That run topped his heat in semis and he finished sixth in the finals, surrounded by names that would go on to World Cup and X Games success. It reinforced what people who rode with him already knew: he had the jump game to match anyone on a good day.

Another notable appearance came at the Nature Valley Challenge Denver Big Air event, a unique team-format contest held in downtown Denver. Getty images from the session show Moxham flying off the massive scaffolding jump in Armada colors and celebrating with teammates Alex Bellemare and Spencer Milbocker as the Armada Skis squad won the team title. Around the same window he was a regular at park-focused gatherings such as the Peak Performance King of Style, Orage Masters and various stop-gap shoots in Breckenridge and Park City, plus an invitation to the Sammy Carlson Invitational at Mount Hood. Although he never turned that presence into a long World Cup career, his competitive years laid the foundation for the film-heavy path he would follow later.

How they ski: what to watch for

On snow, Ben Moxham mixes technical jump tricks with a relaxed, almost effortless upper body. The Aspen Open coverage captures that blend well: big left and switch right 900s followed by a right-side double cork 1080 mute, all done without wild flailing or over-rotated landings. His takeoffs tend to be clean and aligned, which lets him control axis and grab position rather than simply hanging on. When you watch older park edits from Breckenridge or Mount Hood, look for how consistently he lands high on the transition, ready to flow into the next feature instead of fighting to regain speed.

In the backcountry, his skiing shifts into a surfier gear without losing that structure. “Deep Tracks” and his Idaho backcountry edits show him threading trees, mini-golfing pillows and opening up on bigger faces around Retallack and the Idaho mountains. He keeps a slightly forward stance in deep snow, using subtle pole plants and terrain reading to maintain rhythm through consecutive hits. Instead of treating backcountry jumps as one-off stunts, he links them into natural lines, often starting with a fast entry turn, then a poppy three or five, and finishing with a big slash or drift. For viewers trying to learn from him, the key is how he carries park fundamentals—good pop, solid grabs, calm vision—into messy, natural terrain.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Moxham’s influence comes as much from persistence as from peak moments. By the time Freeskier profiled him in 2010, he was already splitting his time between contests, filming with Poor Boyz Productions, and coaching at Windells on Mount Hood. He appeared in Windells “Shedcast” episodes, spring shoot recaps and articles inviting campers to “spend Easter with Ben,” positioning him as both a standout skier and an approachable coach. That dual role gave him a platform to shape how a generation of young park skiers thought about style, work ethic and having fun on snow.

He kept that thread moving through the following decade. Between Idaho backcountry edits, Armada ARcast appearances from Tahoe, and his “Deep Tracks” self edit with support from Oakley and the cat-skiing operation at Retallack, Moxham quietly built a catalog of powder and park footage that resonated with core fans. When SLVSH released “Peep The Game,” he slotted into a shared part with James Woods and Jonah Williams, proof that his riding still belonged in the same conversation as modern contest winners. For many long-time freeski watchers, he represents the archetype of a rider who never chased headlines loudly, but always seemed to turn up when something interesting was being filmed.

Geography that built the toolkit

Understanding Moxham’s skiing means understanding his map. Boise gave him Bogus Basin’s night laps, homegrown park features and straightforward, all-mountain terrain—an ideal testing ground for learning every corner of a small resort. Weekends and trips to Tamarack Resort added more vertical and park variety. Those early experiences encouraged him to ski the whole hill rather than just chasing a single rail line, a habit he still emphasizes when giving advice to younger riders.

As his ambitions grew, his radius expanded. Breckenridge and the rest of Summit County became winter headquarters for a time, with Breck’s world-class park offering nonstop jump and rail mileage. Summers often meant Mount Hood, where he coached and skied at Windells under the shadow of the Palmer Snowfield, and sessions at Schweitzer Mountain in Idaho during Poor Boyz Productions park shoots. A few years later, interior British Columbia and Idaho’s backcountry entered the picture through cat-skiing at Retallack and sled-access missions, which in turn fed the footage for “Deep Tracks” and later edits. Today, his guiding work has him based around Jackson, Wyoming in winter and Stanley, Idaho in the off-season, moving between the Tetons and the river corridors of the Snake and Salmon. Each of those zones has sharpened a different part of his toolkit, from park precision to storm-chasing instincts.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

Throughout his career, Moxham’s skiing has been closely tied to a handful of core partners. Early on he listed Oakley, Dakine, Salomon and Joystick poles among his sponsors, a lineup that matched his focus on park and slopestyle: sharp-tuned twintips, durable outerwear and goggles built for bright spring sessions and flat-light storm days. As his riding leaned more into backcountry and soulful resort skiing, his relationship with Armada Skis became the most visible thread, with team edits, ARcast episodes and “Deep Tracks” all highlighting him on Armada freeride and all-mountain shapes. The British Columbia segments also underline his connection to Retallack, whose cat-skiing tenure provided the snowy canvas for many of his most memorable powder shots.

For skiers looking for practical lessons, the key is not copying exact model names but understanding why this gear works for his style. A versatile, rockered twin or directional twin lets him move seamlessly from park to sidecountry, while a binding and boot setup stiff enough for big jump impacts still allows him to stay nimble in trees and pillows. Outerwear and accessories from companies like Oakley and Dakine are chosen with long, wet storm days and repeated snowmobile laps in mind. If you are building your own setup with Moxham in mind, think about equipment that feels playful in the air, confidence-inspiring on landings and trustworthy when you point it into a steep, deep face.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Fans care about Ben Moxham because he embodies a version of professional skiing that is both aspirational and grounded. He has stood at the top of high-level slopestyle courses and downtown big-air scaffolds, but he has also spent seasons coaching campers, driving snowmobiles in the dark to reach a pillow zone and guiding clients down quiet trout rivers when the snow melts. His edits show real progression and risk, yet his interviews and camp appearances emphasize positivity, all-mountain exploration and having fun with friends. That balance is part of what has earned him a lasting, if low-key, following.

For progressing skiers, Moxham’s story functions as a roadmap. Start on your local hill, ski everything, and build a solid base of technique before worrying about exposure. Use competitions and park laps as a laboratory, but do not be afraid to pivot toward filming, travel or other outdoor work if that path feels more sustainable. When you watch his “Deep Tracks” self edit or his part in “Peep The Game,” look for the through-line from early park clips to mature powder lines: strong basics, an eye for interesting terrain and a clear sense that skiing is part of a bigger life built around mountains and water. That is why his name still resonates whenever freeskiers talk about riders who quietly shaped the look and feel of modern powder and park skiing.

Profile and significance

Carson Sharp is a Canadian freeski filmer and rider whose career sits right at the intersection of park, street and modern backcountry. Growing up in Ontario, he spent his early seasons skiing and filming on city rails before moving west and becoming a Vancouver local, trading Eastern handrails for the deep snow and big terrain of British Columbia. Those twin influences—DIY street culture and high-mountain powder—run through everything he does, from small crew edits to full-length features and international film tours. As both skier and director, he is best known for the video-game-inspired movie “Vertical Vision,” which he created under the Sharp Studios and VVX banner, and for a growing catalogue of projects that explore what skiing means beyond contests and podiums.

Sharp’s breakthrough moment came in 2022 when his segment and direction in “Vertical Vision” earned him the Amateur Skier of the Year title at the iF3 Movie Awards, a festival that functions as a barometer for global freeski film culture. The movie also picked up recognition at Snowvana’s amateur film competition, confirming that his mix of playful editing, strong skiing and early-2000s video game aesthetics resonated with judges and audiences. Since then he has appeared as a finalist at Level 1’s SuperUnknown 20, joined the Boise-based OS Crew in their full-length films “absORB” and “VORTEX,” and stepped into the spotlight again with new titles like “Switch” for outerwear brand Trew Gear and the Japan-based backcountry film “Liminal.” The result is a profile that matters as much for creative direction as for on-snow performance.

Competitive arc and key venues

Unlike traditional slopestyle specialists who build their résumé through World Cup rankings, Sharp’s “competitive arc” runs primarily through film festivals and invited sessions. The iF3 Amateur Skier of the Year award for his role in “Vertical Vision” put him on the map internationally, placing him in the same conversation as other standout up-and-coming skiers who use movies rather than bibs to showcase their level. The film itself screened as part of the iF3 ski category and toured to festivals and events where its SSX On Tour-inspired style—bright graphics, arcade pacing and soundtrack choices that nod to early-2000s culture—set it apart from more traditional powder and urban edits.

In 2023 Sharp was named a finalist for Level 1’s SuperUnknown 20, traveling to Mammoth Mountain’s Unbound park to session with some of the strongest park riders of his generation. That week-long shoot is effectively a proving ground for film-focused freeskiers, and his inclusion confirmed that his technical park abilities match the creativity of his directing. Around the same time, he collaborated with Trew Gear on “Switch,” a British Columbia–shot film later listed in iF3’s ski guide, and began work on “Liminal,” a poetic backcountry journey through Japan that questions the tension between hyper-commercial resorts and the raw core of ski culture. Add in his rider credits in OS Crew’s “absORB” and “VORTEX,” plus appearances at camps and sessions from Whistler and Mount Hood to Woodward Copper, and Sharp’s key venues range from contest-quality parks and North American city streets to Japanese tree runs and big-mountain faces.

How they ski: what to watch for

On snow, Carson Sharp blends the calm precision of a lifelong park skier with the line-reading instincts of an emerging freerider. Early edits like “Carson Sharp – Summer Shred 2015,” filmed at Whistler’s public park and Momentum Camps, show the foundation: clean spins in the three to nine range, solid grabs held through the apex of the arc and rail tricks that favor control and stance over gimmicks. His “Street 16” footage adds another layer, putting those same fundamentals onto handrails and urban ledges with gap-ons, surface swaps and blind 270 exits that stay well within his balance point even when the run-in is short or the landing is firm.

As his focus shifted toward backcountry and hybrid park–pow terrain, Sharp’s skiing evolved rather than reset. In “Vertical Vision” and later in “Liminal” and OS Crew’s “VORTEX,” you see him use playful but deliberate body language in soft snow: slightly forward stance to keep the shovels driving, light pole touches to set rhythm, and spin directions chosen to match the natural flow of the slope. He often links a technical trick with a drawn-out slash or drift, using butters and nose presses on rollers or knuckles to transition between hits. Whether he is lacing a rail in a Vancouver side street or airing off a Japanese wind lip, his hallmark is how relaxed his upper body looks—shoulders quiet, head up, and skis doing the detailed work underneath. For viewers, the key things to watch are how early he sets his edge angle before a takeoff or rail and how much space he gives himself to ride out a landing rather than forcing a stomp.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Sharp’s influence extends well beyond his own part in any given film because he is almost always the one behind the camera, the timeline and the storyboard. “Vertical Vision” was conceived as an attempt to bring the energy of SSX On Tour into real-world skiing, and his Newschoolers description of the project reads like a manifesto for a new wave of DIY production: embrace video-game color, experiment with format and let small crews drive big ideas. Subsequent VVX projects, including releases from Revelstoke-based crews and British Columbia backcountry missions, continue that theme of treating each film as a cohesive creative object rather than just a dump of tricks.

Resilience shows up in how he builds those projects. Street and urban segments demand long nights, repeated winch pulls and more than a few crashes; backcountry films require early alarms, sketchy snowmobile roads and days where the weather never quite cooperates. In raw cuts and behind-the-scenes snippets, you see Sharp working through all of that: lugging cameras and shovels, resetting features after slough or collapse, and recalibrating plans when the light changes or a landable takeoff proves impossible. He is also increasingly visible as a voice in how ski films talk about meaning. “Liminal” uses original poetry and narration from collaborator Kye Matlock to question who gets seen and valued in skiing, and Sharp’s framing invites viewers to think about contribution, not just performance. That willingness to ask bigger questions while still delivering watchable action clips has made his recent work stand out on freeride film tours across North America.

Geography that built the toolkit

Geography is central to understanding Carson Sharp’s skiing. His formative years in Ontario taught him how to turn marginal conditions and small-scale infrastructure into canvas—think early-season city snowbanks, campus rails and the kind of tow rope or t-bar hills where creativity matters more than vertical drop. That upbringing honed his ability to see lines where others see obstacles and to stay motivated when temperatures, light or snow quality are less than ideal.

Relocating to Vancouver opened an entirely different world. Local shoots tap into the urban architecture and occasional snowfalls of the city itself, while the Coast Mountains just up the road provide access to major resorts and serious backcountry. Park and glacier sessions at places like Whistler Blackcomb and summer trips to Mount Hood in Oregon helped keep his rail and jump skills sharp, while filming with crews in interior British Columbia introduced him to pillows, steep tree lines and sled-access zones. More recently, his time in Japan for “Liminal” expanded his map again, swapping North American continental snowpacks for dry, consistent storms and tight hardwood glades. Each region leaves a trace: the scrappy lines of Ontario, the big-mountain and weather-reading skills of British Columbia, and the smooth, flowing pow riding shaped by Japanese terrain.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

Sharp’s equipment choices reflect his desire to move fluidly between park, street and the backcountry without sacrificing the playful feel that defined his early skiing. He appears in partner lists and athlete welcome posts for outerwear brand Trew Gear, whose technical shells and bibs are designed for long days in stormy BC conditions but still fit the style-forward aesthetic of park and street culture. On the touring side, he is featured by Daymaker Touring as one of the skiers using their adapter system to turn downhill setups into climb-ready tools, a logical fit for someone who wants to keep a familiar park-style boot and binding feel while venturing deep into the mountains.

His film projects also highlight a network of supporting brands. “Vertical Vision” is listed as being supported by CAST Touring, eyewear company XSPEX, creative studio Pangea and Ontario craft brewery Full Beard Brewing, illustrating how Sharp mixes core ski brands with small businesses that share his DIY ethic. Later works like “Liminal” add backcountry-focused outerwear and creative partners to that mix, showing a progression toward productions that are as much about storytelling and collaboration as they are about any single product. For skiers watching at home, the practical lesson is that you do not need an entirely separate quiver for every terrain; with smart choices—versatile outerwear, adaptable touring solutions and durable park-capable skis—you can follow a similar path from city rails to remote ridgelines.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Fans gravitate toward Carson Sharp because he represents a modern version of the classic ski-film dream: build a crew, experiment with cameras, ride whatever terrain you can access and slowly level up until your projects share screens with the biggest names in the game. His trajectory from Ontario street kid to Vancouver-based filmmaker winning iF3 awards and touring North America with films like “Vertical Vision,” “Switch” and “Liminal” offers a roadmap that feels attainable yet still aspirational. He shows that attention to editing, music, pacing and narrative can matter just as much as the trick list, and that a personal vision can stand out even in a crowded field of ski content.

For progressing skiers, Sharp’s work is packed with concrete cues. You can study his park lines to see how a relaxed upper body and early edge set lead to clean landings, watch his urban segments to understand how to break a feature into manageable steps, and analyze his backcountry shots to learn how he chooses features that flow naturally with the terrain. Just as importantly, his films encourage viewers to think about why they ski, not only how. By balancing high-level riding with questions about value, access and authenticity, he invites the next generation to build their own scenes, support their local crews and treat filming as both a creative outlet and a way to contribute to the broader freeski community.

Profile and significance

Chris Bechtold is an American freeski rider whose name carries weight in the modern park-and-street scene, especially anywhere the lifts say Sugarbush or the season says spring at Mt. Hood. He first broke wider through Level 1’s SuperUnknown XVIII (2021) as a semifinalist, then kept his momentum with heavy appearances in Ski The East’s “Lappin’” episodes from Sugarbush. A go-to presence in the Keep Standing crew, he was featured in their 2024 street short “Stand Corrected,” one of the year’s most talked-about grassroots films, and he also submitted a personal cut to the 2024 B-Dog Off The Leash video edition. Off-screen, Bechtold’s reputation as the “king of spring pass” at Oregon’s Mt. Hood—logging year-after-year laps at Timberline and Mt. Hood Meadows—has made him a reference for style that reads at real speed. He’s not chasing federation points; he’s shaping how rail-first skiing looks and feels in films and rider-driven showcases.

Competitive arc and key venues

Bechtold’s timeline is anchored by verifiable touchpoints that matter in freeski culture. SuperUnknown XVIII placed him among a select group of finalists and semifinalists whose video résumés set the tone for the season. His east-coast footprint is clearest at Sugarbush, where multiple “Lappin’” installments documented midwinter park lines alongside a deep New England crew. West of the Mississippi, his spring routines at Timberline and Mt. Hood Meadows supplied the high-volume repetitions that make his street tricks look automatic when the camera’s rolling. The Keep Standing film “Stand Corrected” (2024) connected those training grounds to results on the lens: a compact, replayable street project that circulated across core outlets and premiere nights. Earlier edits and appearances around Carinthia’s program at Mount Snow round out a venue list that explains his speed control, jump timing and rail continuity.

How they ski: what to watch for

Bechtold skis with economy and intent. On rails, expect a centered stance and quiet shoulders; spin-ons, swaps and pretzel exits arrive as the logical end of a line rather than a coin flip. He chooses conservative approach angles until the exact moment of commitment, which keeps lock-ins stable through kinks and gaps and preserves glide into the next feature. That momentum management is his signature: nothing dies on the deck, and the ender still has room for meaningful rotation off the final rail.

On jumps—whether a small urban transfer or a maintained park step-down—he prioritizes axis clarity and full-duration grabs. The grab goes in early and stays there, so the trick reads at broadcast speed and in raw film. Rotation is scaled to the speed window available; he won’t force a late cork just to pad numbers. That discipline explains why the same mechanics work across salted morning parks, dusk-cold street in-runs, and spring lanes on the glacier.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Bechtold’s value shows up where the sport actually lives for most fans: in films and rider-driven releases. His SuperUnknown showing proved he could cut a standout video part; Ski The East segments put his park fluency on a consistent, visible stage; the Off The Leash entry underlined that his street lines survive the harsh edit; and Keep Standing’s “Stand Corrected” crystallized the package in a crew format. Those projects also demonstrate process. You can see the scout-shovel-salt-test rhythm, the willingness to take slams while refining approach angles, and the insistence on a make that looks inevitable at full speed. As a result, Bechtold has become a culture connector: east-coast mileage, Mt. Hood repetition, and crew films that many competition skiers watch for inspiration between start lists.

Geography that built the toolkit

Place explains the polish. At Sugarbush, the long park lines and fast laps teach speed conservation and run construction; a single miss can ruin the whole sequence, so habits trend toward clarity. Carinthia at Mount Snow adds denser rail decks and a community that values repeatability as much as banger moments. Come spring, Timberline and Mt. Hood Meadows provide hundreds of controlled repetitions when most of North America is on bikes—perfect conditions for turning both-way spins, pretzel exits and early-grab timing into muscle memory. That triangle—New England midwinter, Vermont/Carinthia rail programs, and Oregon spring—produces skiing that travels from municipal stair sets to glacier booters without losing its shape.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

Bechtold’s projects sit alongside crews supported by core brands, but the useful lesson for progressing skiers is about setup principles, not model names. A true-twin park ski mounted near center supports both-way spins and stable pretzel exits; a consistent edge tune with a careful detune at contact points reduces rail hang-ups without dulling pop for lip-ons; and boots with progressive forward flex plus locked-in heel hold help landings finish stacked when the snow is fast or chattery. Keep release values predictable for repeated impacts, and your tricks will read the same from a Sugarbush rail line to a Timberline spring booter.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Bechtold matters because he converts fundamentals into footage you want to replay. His parts teach how to “read” modern freeskiing: conserve glide through multi-feature rail decks, place and hold the grab so the axis stays obvious, and scale rotation to speed instead of gambling on last-second corks. For viewers, he’s a reliable watch any time a Keep Standing drop circulates or a Ski The East “Lappin’” episode lands. For skiers building their own projects, his workflow is the template: measure the spot, test speed, pick tricks you can reproduce, and landings that look as clean as the takeoff. That blend of style, discipline and venue literacy explains why Chris Bechtold has become a touchstone for rail-dominant freeskiing in the 2020s.

Profile and significance

Danner Brummer is a Midwestern-born skier who has quietly stitched together a life that touches nearly every corner of resort skiing: high school alpine racing, professional instruction, snowmaking and snowcat operations, and now crew-based freeski films. Raised in southeastern Minnesota around Lewiston and Rollingstone, he started skiing young and pursued racing hard enough to lobby his school board so he could join the Rochester high school team as a lone representative from his own district. Years later his Instagram bio reads “Lewiston, MN ➡ Cascade, ID,” a neat summary of a move from small hills and icy courses to the deeper snow and bigger terrain surrounding Cascade and nearby Tamarack Resort.

Brummer’s significance in today’s ski culture does not come from World Cup starts or major slopestyle podiums. Instead, he represents a very current archetype: the skier who keeps lifts turning and snowcats running all night, then appears on screen in independent films once the sun comes up. His work history lists time as a snowmaker and snowcat operator at Tamarack and as a ski instructor at Colorado’s Ski Cooper and its Chicago Ridge snowcat program, and his name appears among the riders in “VORTEX,” the tenth annual street, backcountry and park film from the Boise-rooted OS Crew. That combination of resort worker, instructor and film skier gives him a grounded, real-world profile that many viewers—especially those who have also punched liftie or snowmaking shifts—recognize instantly.

Competitive arc and key venues

Brummer’s competitive arc began on the icy slopes of Minnesota, where high school alpine racing and small-club leagues form the backbone of local ski culture. A Lewiston Journal feature profiled him as a 14-year-old who had been skiing since age five and went before the school board to secure permission for his Lewiston–Altura district to merge with the Rochester High School team, ensuring he could race at a higher level. Section meet results later place him representing Rochester’s John Marshall program at Buck Hill in Burnsville, one of the state’s classic race venues, competing against a deep field of high school athletes fighting for limited state-meet spots.

Those races never turned into a long FIS or college career, but they left important traces. Brummer emerged from Minnesota with a racer’s balance and comfort at speed, then gradually redirected his energy toward freeride, all-mountain and park skiing as his life migrated westward. The move to Colorado and a teaching role at Ski Cooper/Chicago Ridge brought him into contact with a different kind of venue: long, fall-line runs above Leadville and snowcat-access terrain where guiding and guest experience matter more than split-second timing. Later, relocating to Cascade, Idaho placed him at Tamarack Resort, a growing mountain with a strong park program and a reputation for storm skiing in the West Central Mountains. In parallel, his inclusion in OS Crew’s “VORTEX” puts him on the roster for a film that appears in trailer roundups from major outlets and tours through theaters across Idaho and the broader American West, shifting his main stage from timing sheets to the big screen.

How they ski: what to watch for

While Brummer does not yet have a long list of solo edits attached to his name, the outlines of his skiing are visible in the path he has taken. Years of high school racing on narrow, often icy Midwestern slopes fostered strong edging skills, a compact stance and confidence when the snow is less than perfect. That background tends to manifest in skiers who are comfortable driving the front of the ski, committing early to their edges and riding a clean, rounded line even when terrain or visibility are not ideal. Watching for his shots in crew films and resort clips, you can usually spot that race-bred stability: hips stacked over the feet, hands forward and turns that finish cleanly rather than skidding away.

His time teaching at Ski Cooper and working in operations at Tamarack adds a second layer to that foundation. Instructors and snowcat operators spend countless hours on their skis in every imaginable condition—early-season hardpack, storm days with flat light, spring slush and chopped-up trees. That kind of mileage tends to smooth out a skier’s movements. Instead of chasing only big tricks, they learn to read terrain, choose efficient lines and keep speed under control with small, well-timed adjustments. In the context of OS Crew’s “VORTEX,” which mixes street, powder and slushy park builds, Brummer fits the mold of a skier whose contribution is solid, reliable skiing that ties more explosive moments together: carving confidently into features, exiting landings already thinking about the next hit and bringing race discipline into a looser, film-oriented environment.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Resilience has been a theme in Brummer’s story from the start. As a teenager in Minnesota, he did not inherit a ready-made ski program at his school; he had to advocate for it, approaching the board to request a co-op arrangement with Rochester so he could join their team. That sort of initiative is not typical for a middle school student and hints at a willingness to shape his own opportunities. On the hill, that same mindset saw him competing in sectional races at places like Buck Hill where the margins between skiers are tiny and where small errors quickly punish over-ambitious runs.

In his adult life, resilience shows up in less glamorous but equally demanding roles. Snowmaking and snowcat work at Tamarack means long, cold nights, irregular sleep and a constant balancing act between safety, snow quality and guest expectations. Teaching at Ski Cooper required patience and communication skills, often in tough weather, plus enough personal skiing energy left over after work to stay motivated. His PSIA–Central membership listing signals that he has invested in formal professional development as an instructor, another space where resilience—returning to clinics, refining demos, rethinking explanations—matters as much as raw talent. Layer on the realities of filming with a crew like OS, where street features and backcountry zones rarely work first try, and you get a sense of an athlete who understands that most good skiing lives behind the scenes. His influence is still localized, but in resort towns and among crew circles he represents the many skiers who keep mountains running while quietly stacking their own clips.

Geography that built the toolkit

Brummer’s skiing is a map written from the Mississippi bluffs to the Idaho mountains. His early years in southeastern Minnesota meant learning on modest vertical, likely at regional hills and race venues such as Buck Hill near the Twin Cities, where short, intense runs and cold temperatures are the norm. Out there, progression comes from repetition rather than terrain variety; racers drill the same sections over and over until their feet know the course better than their eyes do. That environment builds quick reactions and comfort with firm snow, qualities that stick with a skier long after they leave the Midwest.

The next chapters unfold farther west. In Colorado, Ski Cooper and its Chicago Ridge snowcat terrain near Leadville add altitude, longer descents and softer snow to his experience, plus exposure to guiding and avalanche-aware decision-making. Move again to Cascade, Idaho and Tamarack Resort becomes both workplace and playground, with tree lines, bowls, a developing park program and snowcat routes he likely knows down to each roll and drainage. Trips with OS Crew for “VORTEX” broaden the map yet again, tapping into street spots, backcountry zones and spring builds around the Intermountain West. The result is a toolkit stamped by three very different ski worlds: icy Minnesota training, Rocky Mountain resort and cat-ski experience, and the improvisational, location-hopping rhythm of a film crew.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

Brummer has not been presented publicly as the face of a single ski or outerwear brand, but the circles he moves in say a lot about his gear environment. “VORTEX” is supported by companies including J Skis, Dakine, Roxa Boots, Daymaker Touring and winch maker ReWinch, brands that specialize in durable twintips, dependable boots, tough gloves and packs, and the hardware needed for backcountry access and urban spots. His memberships and roles with PSIA–Central and resorts like Ski Cooper and Tamarack Resort also imply equipment chosen for long days: skis that feel predictable when teaching or grooming as well as when filming, boots that stay comfortable during back-to-back shifts and outerwear that can handle sitting on a snowmobile one night and skiing powder the next morning.

For skiers looking for practical takeaways, the lesson is less about copying exact models and more about building a coherent, workhorse setup. A mid-fat all-mountain or freestyle ski with enough stiffness to hold on hardpack but enough rocker to float in fresh snow matches the mix of racing roots and freeride filming that defines Brummer’s path. Boots should prioritize fit and support; operations staff and instructors are on their feet all day, so anything that causes pain will quickly limit progression. Durable gloves, weatherproof outerwear and reliable safety gear round out the picture. His example underscores that for many serious skiers, the best equipment is not the flashiest, but the gear you trust enough to wear day in, day out in all conditions.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Fans and progressing skiers care about Danner Brummer because he embodies a version of ski life that feels both aspirational and attainable. He is not a household name, but he has carved out a place in one of North America’s most respected independent film crews while also doing the kind of resort jobs that keep chairlifts spinning and trails open. For young racers in small Midwestern programs, his journey from Lewiston–Altura and Buck Hill to Colorado and Idaho demonstrates that you can start on tiny hills and still end up living and skiing in bigger mountains. For park rats and film fans, seeing his name in the “VORTEX” rider list shows that crew-based projects remain open to strong, motivated skiers who are willing to show up, shovel and put their skills on camera.

Perhaps most importantly, Brummer’s story highlights the many ways to build a career around skiing beyond chasing points or medals. He has been a high school racer, a professional instructor, a snowmaker, a snowcat operator and a film skier, all while steadily deepening his connection to the mountains. For viewers and aspiring riders, that breadth offers a realistic roadmap: develop solid technique, be willing to work behind the scenes and treat every role—from teaching beginners to riding in a feature film—as part of the same larger commitment to snow. In an era where authenticity and day-to-day dedication carry as much weight as headline results, Danner Brummer stands as a quietly compelling figure whose turns, tracks and night shifts all tell the same story.

Profile and significance

Graham Gray is a California-born freeski all-rounder whose name shows up wherever Surface Skis, Joystick poles and OS Crew films intersect. Born in 1996 and raised in Shaver Lake, he grew up skiing California’s Sierra resorts before gravitating toward park laps at Palisades Tahoe and night sessions at Boreal. As his skiing matured he built a reputation as a rider who could show up on a West Coast street trip, a Mount Hood park session or a backcountry crew mission and contribute serious clips in each terrain. That versatility earned him a spot on the Surface Skis team and on the athlete roster for Joystick, placing him alongside some of the most respected jib and film skiers in the game.

Gray’s significance inside freeski culture rests on his body of work more than on a single viral moment. He appears as the sole credited skier in the long-form “Graham Gray 2017” edit released by OS Crew, a six-minute mix of jumps, rails, powder and street filmed across the West Coast. In the years since, his name has been attached to Surface Skis team edits, Mount Hood backcountry pieces and the Boise-based OS Crew feature films “Electric,” “absORB” and “VORTEX,” the latter celebrating a decade of OS movie projects and earning spots in international film guides and festivals. Add in his listing on the Freeride World Tour Qualifier rider page and you get a picture of a skier embedded in multiple corners of the sport: street, backcountry, park and freeride competition.

Competitive arc and key venues

Unlike some of his OS Crew teammates, Gray’s story is not defined by slopestyle World Cups or X Games bids. His most formal competitive tie is as a registered Ski Men rider on the Freeride World Tour Qualifier circuit, representing the United States in the 2018 season. The FWT profile confirms his age and nationality but leaves his results understated, which fits a path where the qualifier tour is one chapter among many rather than the central storyline. It suggests that he was willing to test himself between start gates and judging panels, then bring those experiences back into a film-driven career.

The venues that matter most to his skiing are the unofficial ones: the handrails and ledges of West Coast cities, the terrain parks of California and Oregon, and the cat tracks and sidecountry shots that show up in his edits. The Newschoolers “Graham Gray 2017” video lists “West Coast” and tags like Park City, Backcountry, Powder, Park and Street, hinting at a season spent bouncing between urban missions, resort laps and deeper days. In OS Crew’s broader filmography he joins trips across the American West and Canada, contributing to the seventh OS movie “Electric” and returning as part of the rider roster for “absORB,” where his name appears alongside other core OS athletes. By the time “VORTEX,” the crew’s tenth project, reached festival listings and trailer roundups, Gray was firmly established as one of the skiers carrying the crew’s legacy into its second decade.

How they ski: what to watch for

The easiest way to understand how Graham Gray skis is to watch the 2017 edit that bears his name. Across nearly seven minutes he shifts between park jumps, handrails, sidecountry pillows and in-bounds pow lines, but a few constants stand out. On jumps he has a clean, directional style: strong, two-footed pop off the lip, deliberate grabs and landings that stay high on the transition so he keeps his speed. Spins are typically well measured rather than frantic, with three, five and seven rotations that emphasize shape and control over sheer spin count. Even on bigger step-downs and booters, he tends to bring his feet back underneath him early, which makes stomped landings look natural rather than forced.

On rails and street features, Gray takes a confident but not overly loose approach. He often uses gap-on entries and disaster transfers, but stays centered enough that his skis track cleanly along kinks and closeouts instead of skittering. Surface swaps and blind 270s out appear frequently, yet the overall impression remains composed. In backcountry and soft-snow shots, you see him adjust his stance slightly forward, letting the shovels plane while he uses small pole plants to rhythmically link turns. He favors lines that combine a trick and a feeling: a three or five off a natural feature followed by a big slash or drift, or a playful pillow hit wrapped into a longer descent instead of one isolated stunt. For progressing skiers, the takeaway is how much of his style comes from solid basics—centered stance, mellow upper body, precise edge use—rather than from gimmicks.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Gray’s influence flows most clearly through the projects he chooses and the crews he supports. OS Crew is known for showing the full process behind their urban segments, including the shoveling, bails and late-night resets that most highlight reels cut away from. Gray fits seamlessly into that ethic. Whether he is working a rail in a West Coast city or a backcountry booter accessed by sled or snowmobile, he treats the spot as a puzzle worth solving, not just a backdrop for a single trick. The 2017 edit, as well as his appearances in later OS projects, shows plenty of attempts where he comes up short, then returns with small adjustments in speed, trajectory or body position until everything clicks.

Outside of the OS ecosystem, his presence in Surface Skis’ team edits and web series spreads that same mindset. Freeski outlets covering Surface’s “Team Building” project and later Mount Hood backcountry pieces highlight Gray among the company’s riders, emphasizing a crew dynamic where everyone both rides and helps build. That willingness to carry shovels, help shape jumps and assist with filming as much as he skis is part of why brands like Surface and Joystick keep him on their rosters. For younger skiers watching these projects, Gray’s example reinforces the idea that influence in freeskiing is built as much through contribution to films and crews as through individual podiums.

Geography that built the toolkit

Geography has played a big role in shaping Graham Gray’s mix of street, park and freeride skills. Growing up in Shaver Lake placed him within reach of the Sierra Nevada, with plenty of opportunities to explore regional hills before homing in on more specialized terrain at Palisades Tahoe and Boreal. Palisades offers steep fall-line runs, natural features and a deep freestyle history, while Boreal’s compact layout and strong park program make it ideal for stacking laps and experimenting on rails. That combination of big-mountain heritage and high-frequency park laps is visible in his skiing: he looks comfortable both pointing it down steeper pitches and threading technical features in a small-resort park lane.

Summer and shoulder seasons have added more variety. Gray appears in Surface Skis content around Mount Hood, Oregon, joining teammates for both park laps and backcountry sessions in the glacier and volcanic terrain around the mountain. Edits and articles from European freeski media describe the Surface crew enjoying backcountry flights around Hood, underlining his transition from park and street into more complex snow and terrain. Winter film trips with OS Crew extend his map farther north and inland, bringing him to Canadian street spots and deeper continental snowpacks. Each region adds a layer: Sierra resort flow, Oregon’s blend of park and volcano, and the heavier snow and rail variety of Pacific Northwest and Canadian cities.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

As a member of the Surface Skis team, Gray rides skis designed explicitly for the style of skiing you see in his edits. Surface’s park and all-mountain lines are known for a balance of durability and playful flex, with full twin tips, stout edges and shapes that handle both rails and deeper snow. That makes sense for a skier whose clips span street, resort and backcountry. On the pole and accessories side, his spot on the Joystick team ties him to a brand deeply embedded in the jib scene, with products built to withstand repeated urban impacts and cold, long nights filming.

Practical takeaways for progressing skiers lie in how this equipment supports his approach. A moderately soft, jib-oriented twin-tip makes butters, presses and surface swaps easier while still holding up when he opens it up in powder or on bigger jumps. Reliable poles, gloves and goggles matter when you are hiking stairs, shoveling in storms or spending full days lapping to film one feature. Gray’s presence on the Freeride World Tour Qualifier rider list also hints at attention to safety gear and binding choices when stepping into more consequential lines, even if that equipment is less visible on camera. For a viewer trying to emulate his setup, the priority should be a versatile ski that feels comfortable in both the park and off-piste, boots that support solid landings without killing mobility and outerwear that can survive both urban steel and volcanic snow.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Fans of independent ski films care about Graham Gray because he represents a particular type of modern freeski career: crew-driven, multi-terrain and built steadily over years of edits rather than overnight through one contest result. His name connects threads across the scene: OS Crew’s decade-long run of street and backcountry movies, Surface Skis’ revival as a rider-driven brand and Joystick’s deep roots in park and street culture. When his name appears in a trailer’s rider list or in the credits for an OS film, it signals that you can expect versatile, well-crafted skiing rather than a narrow focus on just one discipline.

For progressing skiers, Gray’s story offers a roadmap that feels accessible. He shows that you can grow up at regional resorts, focus on film projects with your crew, experiment across park, street and powder, and still carve out a place on established brand teams and international film lineups. Watching “Graham Gray 2017” alongside later appearances in “Electric,” “absORB” and “VORTEX” makes it clear how far a consistent work ethic and open-minded approach to terrain can take you. Instead of chasing a single pathway, he leans into all of them—jibbing, freeride qualifiers, backcountry missions—and in doing so becomes the kind of skier that film fans remember and aspiring riders can realistically use as inspiration.

Profile and significance

Ian Russell is a street and park-focused freeski athlete who has become one of the newer faces of the OS Crew, the long-running North American urban film collective. Known to many by his handle “skian,” he blends technical rail skiing with a film-maker’s eye for interesting architecture, turning handrails, banks and ledges across the United States and Canada into full-feature playgrounds. Rather than chasing World Cup slopestyle circuits, Russell’s path runs through DIY movie projects, summer camp sessions and raw-cut edits that show every slam and every small adjustment that goes into a heavy clip. His name appears in multiple recent OS Crew milestones, including the full-length films “Electric,” “Magnetic,” “absORB” and “VORTEX,” placing him firmly inside one of the most productive street crews of the last decade.

Russell’s significance comes from how he represents the modern, community-based side of freeskiing. He rides for brands like Vishnu Freeski and K.H. Brand, skis in films backed by partners such as J Skis, Roxa, Northpull Winch, Wear Leathers and Spy Optic, and spends part of each summer riding and hanging with campers at Woodward Copper. Instead of one huge contest win, his impact is cumulative: steady appearances in annual films, standout moments in OS Crew’s “absORB Raw Cut Series” and a constant presence in edits and galleries that document the street and park scene from Minnesota to the Rockies and beyond.

Competitive arc and key venues

Russell’s “competitive arc” is less about bib numbers and more about his role in an evolving line of independent ski movies. He appears in OS Crew’s seventh full-length project “Electric,” filmed on trips through states such as Minnesota, Utah, Colorado, Oregon, Montana, Idaho and Washington, where the crew pushed their rail game on everything from classic Midwest handrails to winch-built gaps in industrial zones. As OS Crew followed up with “Magnetic,” an eighth film that doubled down on urban skiing, Russell’s name remained on the rider list, and behind-the-scenes cuts started highlighting him working through long, technical features.

The momentum continued into “absORB,” the crew’s ninth film and an official selection at major festivals, with Russell again credited among the athletes. OS Crew released “absORB Raw Cut Series: Ep. 4 – Ian Russell” as a standalone edit, giving him a dedicated platform within the project and showing the kind of persistence it takes to make a full part. By the time “VORTEX,” OS Crew’s tenth movie, appeared on film guides and trailer roundups, his name was listed alongside long-time crew members and veteran guests, confirming that he had moved from newer addition to core rider. Away from the streets, recurring appearances in Woodward Copper summer-camp edits and photo galleries demonstrate that he is equally at home on big park jumps and rope-tow laps, using those venues to keep his tricks sharp between winter street trips.

How they ski: what to watch for

Ian Russell’s skiing is defined by how he approaches rails. In OS Crew’s “Magnetic” behind-the-scenes clip focusing on his long S-rail and in the “absORB” raw cut, you see him choose features that demand commitment from the first turn-in: multi-kink S-shapes, elevated close-outs and transfer options where a missed edge means pavement or stairs, not soft snow. He favors lines that use the whole spot rather than a single hit, often setting up with a gap onto the rail, adding a switch-up or surface swap in the middle and exiting with a spin that naturally feeds into the next feature down the stairs or across the street.

Technically, Russell usually skis with a relaxed, centered stance, keeping his shoulders quiet while his lower body does the balancing work. This lets him absorb small imperfections in the rail or the in-run without flailing, a crucial skill when winch speed or narrow run-ins leave little time for correction. On park jumps at Woodward Copper and in spring booters featured in OS Crew edits, his style carries over into the air: measured takeoffs, neat grabs and landings that prioritize flowing into the next hit rather than exaggerating the stomp. For viewers trying to learn from him, the key details are his approach speed, how early he locks in his edge angle before the rail and the way he looks long down the feature instead of staring at his tips.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Street skiing rewards stubborn riders, and Russell’s raw-cut episode is essentially a study in perseverance. The edit shows him exploring an unusual spot in Canada, hauling snow, setting up the in-run and then methodically working through tries that range from almost-there to full blown crashes. Instead of hiding the process, OS Crew leaves the misses in, letting viewers see how often he adjusts the lip, changes his stance or tweaks his spin to finally get the trick dialed. That willingness to show the grind behind a single shot makes his eventual successes feel earned and offers a realistic model for younger skiers who might otherwise think pros land everything first try.

Russell’s influence also comes through his role behind the camera. Crew credits and social posts regularly list him among the people filming, not just skiing, whether it is OS Crew’s own projects or clips for other crews and events. He has filmed and been filmed at Woodward Copper summer camps, Independence Day sessions and jib events, helping document a scene where the line between rider and filmer is intentionally blurry. That shared responsibility for the final product is central to the OS Crew ethos and gives Russell a broader impact: his decisions about angles, lenses and pacing help shape how street skiing looks to thousands of viewers, not just how he personally skis a rail.

Geography that built the toolkit

Russell’s skiing has been shaped by a wide slice of North American terrain. OS Crew’s trip reports and film descriptions place him on handrails and ledges in states like Minnesota, Colorado, Utah, Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington, as well as at spots north of the border in Canada. That mix of dense urban cores, older industrial districts and small-town architecture gives him constant variety: kinked handrails buried in snowbanks after a blizzard, long mellow down rails by river paths and tight gaps between buildings that demand precise speed control.

Summer shifts the focus to high-elevation parks. At Woodward Copper, Russell joins fellow OS riders as a regular presence during OS Weeks, where days are filled with jump laps, creative rail setups and rope-tow progressions, and evenings are spent watching ski movies with campers. That environment lets him experiment on forgiving slush snow, test new trick ideas in a controlled setting and pass along line-selection strategies to young riders. The result is a toolkit that works as well on a pristine park rail in Colorado as it does on a rusty staircase rail in a Midwestern back alley.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

Russell’s gear is tailored to the realities of street and park skiing rather than big-mountain freeride. His Instagram bio links him to Vishnu Freeski, a brand known for soft, playful twin-tips built specifically for jibbing and urban features, which matches the butters, presses and surface swaps he throws down in OS Crew films. Within those projects he also skis under the banners of partners like J Skis, Roxa boots, Wear Leathers gloves and Spy Optic goggles, as well as Northpull Winch, whose winches provide crucial speed for flat in-runs and big gaps in the city.

For progressing park and street skiers, the practical lessons from his setup are clear. Durable, jib-focused skis with full twin tips and robust edges make it easier to commit to surface swaps and disaster transfers without worrying about immediate edge failure. Boots should be stiff enough for control but comfortable enough for long nights shoveling and hiking stairs. Helmets and goggles that stay comfortable in cold, dark conditions help keep focus on the trick rather than on fog or pressure points. Russell’s gear choices show a coherent system: every piece is there to survive repeated impacts on metal and concrete while giving him the confidence to keep trying when a feature takes dozens of attempts.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Fans connect with Ian Russell because his story feels close to the ground. He is not framed as a superstar with a national team behind him; he is a rider who spends winters shoveling city stairs with friends, summers high-fiving campers at Woodward and late nights editing raw-cut segments to share the real process behind OS Crew’s films. His clips in “Magnetic,” “absORB” and “VORTEX” show a skier who is both technically sharp and clearly having fun, whether he is locking into a long S-rail, spinning out of a wallride or cruising a slushy park jump line.

For skiers trying to progress, Russell offers a roadmap that feels achievable. Start with local rails and small parks, build a crew, film everything, and do not be afraid to reveal the crashes and almost-lands alongside the bangers. His work with OS Crew proves that consistent contributions to film projects, edits and camps can build a reputation even without major contest results. In a freeski landscape where street, park and creative filming matter as much as podiums, Ian Russell stands as a clear example of how dedication, community and attention to detail can turn a passion for urban skiing into a role that resonates across the scene.

Profile and significance

Jack Feick is a multi-talented freeski athlete, filmer and coach who connects the dots between big-mountain freeride, street skiing and independent film. Raised around Lake Tahoe in California, he spent his early years competing and later coaching on the Squaw Big Mountain Team at what is now known as Palisades Tahoe, before moving to Bozeman, Montana to study film at Montana State University and ski-instruct at the private Yellowstone Club. That mix of high-level freeride coaching, academic film training and access to some of the most playful terrain in the Rockies has given him a rare, 360-degree view of what skiing can be.

Feick is widely recognized in core circles for his work with two overlapping crews. In Montana, he directs and edits the “Montana Bandits” series, including the 37-minute film “Bandits Unchained,” a rowdy love letter to the state’s backcountry zones that features him both in front of and behind the camera. On the urban and park side, he is a key rider and contributor for Boise-based OS Crew, with standout street segments in their West Coast street project “FUEL” and a “very unique part” in the full-length film “TWENTY TWENTY,” followed by appearances in later OS projects up to and including “VORTEX,” their tenth annual movie. Add in a Freeskier “Photo of the Week” shot of him blasting a grab over sun-baked snow at Mt. Hood and recent travel clips from New Zealand’s Treble Cone, and you have an athlete whose influence spreads through film festivals, editorial features and online edits rather than contest podiums.

Competitive arc and key venues

Unlike many modern freeski names, Feick’s competitive arc runs primarily through big-mountain youth circuits rather than slopestyle and big air tours. As a teenager he skied and competed with the Squaw Big Mountain Team, lining up at events such as Sugar Bowl big-mountain competitions and learning how to pick lines, manage exposure and impress judges who care as much about fluidity and control as they do about tricks. That experience led naturally into coaching; he spent two seasons working with 10–14-year-old athletes on the same team, a sign that his mentors trusted not only his skiing, but also his eye for line choice and risk management.

From there, the venues that matter most become creative rather than strictly competitive. In the OS Crew universe, Feick’s name appears on rider lists and film blurbs for projects like “TWENTY TWENTY” and “FUEL,” where the crew spent a season traveling up and down the West Coast stacking mostly street shots in cities and resort towns. Those films have screened at events like the iF3 FUEL program and in regional tours, putting his skiing in front of live audiences across North America. In Montana, “Bandits Unchained” and earlier Montana Bandits projects cement him as a central figure in a loose collective of riders exploring backcountry terrain around Bozeman and beyond. Season after season, he keeps returning to the same core venues—Tahoe, Montana, Hood, the New Zealand Southern Alps—but each time with a slightly different lens, whether as athlete, director, coach or all three at once.

How they ski: what to watch for

Feick’s skiing blends freeride line sense with a relaxed, freestyle-informed touch. In Montana Bandits footage you see him treating steep bowls, spine-like features and tree lanes as canvases, linking fluid, fall-line turns with well-timed airs off natural lips and rollovers. He tends to favor three-dimensional terrain where he can use small pillows, wind lips and ribbed ridges to add variety, rather than just straightlining open faces. Landings are usually placed where the slope naturally catches him, which keeps his speed manageable and lets him link into the next feature without breaking rhythm.

On park and urban terrain, his Tahoe and OS Crew edits highlight a different but complementary side of his skiing. A 2019 season edit and Squaw park clips show him comfortable on sizeable booters, mixing straightforward spins with clean grabs and landings placed high on the transition. On rails and street features, he prefers lines that work with the spot rather than against it: gap-on entries that respect the run-in, surface swaps that follow the rail’s shape and exits that set him up for the next down, kink or stair set. Across both environments, a few technical traits stand out. He keeps his upper body calm and centered, lets his feet do the micro-adjustments on takeoff and landing, and commits to his edge or rail choice early instead of making last-second corrections.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Resilience is embedded in Feick’s role as both skier and filmmaker. Directing and editing a full-length backcountry film like “Bandits Unchained” means accepting that many days will end without a single usable shot—storms roll in, snowpack changes, sleds break and lines do not always go to plan. Yet the finished project still delivers nearly forty minutes of skiing and humor, a testament to his ability to keep a crew motivated, organized and creative over an entire winter. That same toughness appears in his OS Crew work, where late-night winch sessions, repeated crashes and constant shovel time are just part of getting a few seconds of usable street footage.

His influence also runs through the next generation. At Beartooth Big Mountain Summer Camp, Feick is part of a coaching staff that spends the summer on the Beartooth Pass, using the steep pitches and corn snow of the high plateau to teach teens and young adults how to move safely and confidently in freeride terrain. There he translates years of Squaw competition experience, Montana backcountry travel and OS-style creativity into line-choice lessons, crash analysis and practical guidance on building a sustainable life around skiing. Combined with his film work—including crossover projects like “Road House The Movie” from a summer based at Windells on Mt. Hood and bike pieces such as “End of the Beginning” about Calgary’s B-LINE bike park—this mentoring role means his ideas about style, risk and community travel far beyond his own turns.

Geography that built the toolkit

Feick’s skiing makes immediate sense when you look at the places that shaped him. Growing up around Palisades Tahoe meant cutting his teeth on a mountain famous for its big-mountain competition venues, cliff bands and wind-affected bowls. Those early Sugar Bowl and Squaw contests demanded comfort with variable snow, blind rollovers and judges who expect both aggression and control. Long before he was a filmmaker, he was a competitor and coach on some of North America’s most historic freeride slopes.

His move to Bozeman opened up a different flavor of mountains. Montana’s ski culture is built around places like Bridger Bowl, Big Sky and the surrounding backcountry—zones where long approaches, complex terrain traps and deep mid-winter storms are standard. The Montana Bandits films show him and his friends exploring those spaces, often using snowmobiles and skin tracks to reach pillow zones, couloirs and playful mini-golf faces. Seasonal migrations to Mt. Hood add another layer, with glacier laps and public-park sessions keeping his jump and rail skills sharp in summer. More recently, travel to Treble Cone and other New Zealand spots has introduced him to Southern Hemisphere winters, with their unique mix of big faces, variable snow and dramatic ridgelines. All of these regions leave fingerprints on his turns: Tahoe’s confidence in exposure, Montana’s love of pillows and trees, Hood’s park smoothness and New Zealand’s high-speed, big-arc energy.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

While Feick is not loudly associated with a single ski brand in the way some athletes are, his projects reveal a consistent, practical approach to equipment. In his 2019 season edit, he thanks a friend for lending him a pair of Armada skis for much of the Tahoe filming—a small detail that hints at a preference for versatile, twin-tip designs that feel comfortable both in the park and on natural features. In OS Crew films, he rides under a banner of partners that support the crew as a whole, including J Skis, Dakine, Roxa boots, Daymaker Touring and winch brands like ReWinch. Those credits point to a gear ecosystem built for long days filming: mid-fat twintips that can land on hard snow or deep pow, boots stiff enough for drops and rails but hike-friendly when the approach demands it, outerwear and packs suited to stormy Montana days and avalanche tools that are treated as standard, not optional.

For skiers looking to draw lessons from his setup, the key is coherence rather than brand replication. Feick’s work suggests building a quiver that can handle both big-mountain lines and creative side hits—a ski with enough width and rocker for Montana powder but a tail that still feels natural on takeoffs and landings, boots that balance response with all-day wear, and protective gear that you are willing to wear every session. If you are filming with friends, think in terms of durability and versatility: gear that can survive repeated bails on street rails, long snowmobile shuttles and spring slush at Hood while still letting you ski the way you want.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Fans care about Jack Feick because he embodies a version of freeskiing that feels genuinely full-circle. He has stood in big-mountain start gates in Tahoe, chased street spots across the West Coast, guided viewers through Montana backcountry epics and helped coach the next generation at Beartooth Pass and the Yellowstone Club. His projects balance humor and seriousness, mixing “rowdy crew” antics with careful attention to avalanche terrain, line choice and the realities of long days in the mountains. When his name appears in the credits of an OS Crew film, a Montana Bandits project or a festival listing, viewers know they are about to see skiing that is both thoughtful and fun to watch.

For progressing skiers, Feick offers a concrete roadmap. Build strong fundamentals in whatever terrain you can access, learn to read mountains through freeride competitions or local big-mountain events, and do not be afraid to pick up a camera and start telling your own stories. Use summer parks like Mt. Hood to keep your tricks sharp, but let winter be about exploration as much as progression. Study his films to see how he chooses lines that fit the terrain, how he balances risk and reward and how he turns small crews and regional mountains into work that resonates across the freeski world. In an era where style, storytelling and community matter as much as raw difficulty, Jack Feick stands out as a rider–filmer–coach whose career captures what modern freeskiing is really about.

Profile and significance

Josh Karcher is a Boise-bred street and park skier whose style has been quietly influencing freeski culture for more than a decade. Coming up on the night laps and local contests of Bogus Basin, he turned the hills above Boise and the city’s stair sets into his first laboratory, long before his name started appearing in major edits and films. Early recognition from Windells coaches at Mount Hood and features on core websites singled him out as one of the campers to watch, a rider with smooth rail control and distinctive body language rather than just big numbers on a trick list. That impression stuck: whether he is lacing lines at Woodward Copper, stacking shots with OS Crew or appearing in marketing photos for his home mountain, Karcher brings a recognizable, fully formed identity to the screen.

His significance today is anchored in two spheres. First, he has been a long-time team rider and visual centerpiece for Bloom Outerwear, starring in edits like “Daily Routine” and “Thoro” that helped define the brand’s look during the mid-2010s. Second, he is part of the modern street-skiing backbone of OS Crew, with riding credits in their urban-heavy feature “Magnetic” and again in the festival-listed “absORB” and “VORTEX,” the ninth and tenth films in the Boise-based collective’s catalog. Add to that a history as a Level 1 SuperUnknown finalist and the fact that core media still reference his clips years later, and you get a skier whose impact comes from consistent, stylish presence rather than one viral moment.

Competitive arc and key venues

Karcher’s “competitive arc” has never centered on bibs, podiums and ranking lists, but he has still passed through some of the sport’s most respected proving grounds. As a younger rider he became a finalist in Level 1’s SuperUnknown contest, the long-running video-based talent search that has launched many of freeskiing’s most creative athletes. That nod placed him on the radar of filmers, brands and media well beyond Idaho, confirming what his friends and local scene already knew: he had the technical chops and style to stand out in a stacked field of park skiers.

The true heartbeat of his career, though, is in edits and films rather than organized competitions. Early clips from Mt. Hood and Breckenridge showed a rider equally at home on jump lines and rail setups, while pieces like “Daily Routine” from Bloom Outerwear and short Breck park edits cemented his reputation as a “filmer’s skier” whose shots always read well on camera. As OS Crew grew from a loose Idaho crew into one of the most productive street outfits of the last decade, Karcher’s name started appearing alongside theirs more and more often, culminating in full rider credit in the urban feature “Magnetic” and multi-terrain follow-ups “absORB” and “VORTEX,” which tour to theaters and film festivals each season.

How they ski: what to watch for

Josh Karcher’s skiing is defined by detail. On rails, he favors lines that look deceptively simple until you break them down frame by frame: precise approach speed, early edge set, and a stance that stays relaxed but stacked over his feet from the first tap to the last kink. He is known for long, continuous rail rides that might start with a gap-on or lip-on entry, add a press or subtle surface swap mid-feature and finish with a controlled spin out that lands him already thinking about the next obstacle. Even when the spot is unforgiving—close-out rails, narrow run-ins, concrete everywhere—the impression is of someone drawing a clean line with a pen, not scribbling and hoping it works.

His buttery style on snow shows up in the way he uses terrain transitions. Short edits from Breckenridge and Mt. Hood highlight nosebutters and tailbutters on knuckles, switch landings into side hits and small manuvers that link one feature to another without breaking flow. In park jump lanes, he tends to favor well-shaped spins in the 540–900 range with grabs held long enough to feel deliberate, landing high on the transition so he can keep speed without a scramble. For skiers watching with progression in mind, the key things to study are his calm upper body, the way his eyes track down the rail instead of at his tips, and how early he commits to his edges before leaving the ground.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Street skiing and long-term filming careers both demand resilience, and Karcher has demonstrated it in quiet ways over many seasons. Raw clips and behind-the-scenes snippets from OS Crew projects show the usual mix of shoveling, winch work and heavy slams that come with serious urban features. Karcher is often right in the middle of that process, rebuilding lips, adjusting in-runs and taking multiple tries to lock in a trick that may only appear for a couple of seconds in the final cut. That willingness to show up night after night, year after year, is a big reason his riding remains part of the conversation even as younger names cycle through the scene.

His influence also flows through the brands and communities that continue to center him. Bloom Outerwear has used his photos and footage in lookbooks, social posts and team edits, often presenting him as the embodiment of their clean, detail-focused design ethos. Bogus Basin relies on his image in marketing material that highlights the strength of its terrain parks and night-skiing culture, a nod to how much he represents the mountain’s freestyle identity. Within OS Crew, he is part of an intergenerational mix that links long-time Boise locals, East Coast transplants and newer riders from across the West, helping define what “crew-driven” skiing looks like for the current era.

Geography that built the toolkit

Karcher’s skiing makes sense when you trace it back to Boise. Growing up with Bogus Basin as a home hill meant thousands of laps on modest vertical but high-frequency terrain: night parks under the lights, quick chair rides and a tight community where almost everyone knows each other’s lines. Early edits labeled “Bogus Skiing and Urban Boise Style” captured him bouncing between resort parks and city rails, blending the comfort of a familiar hill with the creative energy of exploring town with a shovel and a camera crew.

As his circle expanded, his map grew to include some of North America’s key progression hubs. Summers at Mt. Hood put him into the mix at world-famous park lanes, where long days of slushy laps sharpened his jump and rail game and brought him to the attention of coaches and filmers. Winters in Colorado—the park lines of Breckenridge, the features at Keystone and sessions at Park City Mountain—added bigger features and new crews. More recently, OS Crew content shows him spending time at Woodward Copper, where rope-tow parks and summer camps let him keep his skills sharp while filming and riding with the next generation. Each zone added a layer to his skiing: Idaho creativity, Hood slush mileage, Colorado jump experience and modern OS-style street missions.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

For years, one constant in Karcher’s public image has been his relationship with Bloom Outerwear. Edits like “Daily Routine” and “Thoro” were released under the Bloom banner and feature him in their bibs and pants, with the brand openly praising his unique, memorable style. That partnership makes sense: Bloom’s focus on durable, park-ready outerwear with clean lines matches a skier whose day often involves sliding metal, hiking stairs and filming in variable spring conditions as much as it does cruising groomers. When local hills or camps have used him in promotional material, he is almost always presented in that same kit, reinforcing the connection between his skiing and a particular visual identity.

Beyond clothing, his setups are built to withstand the abuse of years of park and street focus. While his exact ski and boot choices have varied with time, clips from Mt. Hood, Breckenridge, Bogus Basin and Woodward Copper show consistent themes: twintip park skis tough enough for edge and base hits, bindings mounted for a balanced stance on rails, and helmets and goggles that stay comfortable through long days and longer nights shooting. For skiers looking to learn from his approach, the lesson is less about copying brands and more about building a coherent kit. Durable skis, supportive but forgiving boots, and outerwear that keeps you warm and dry during repetitive street sessions all contribute to the calm, precise style that defines Karcher’s footage.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Fans care about Josh Karcher because he represents a version of freeski success that is rooted in community, longevity and style. He is not a household contest name, but within the circles that pay attention to OS Crew films, Bloom edits and long-running Newschoolers favorites, his skiing is instantly recognizable. When his name appears in the rider list for a project like “Magnetic,” “absORB” or “VORTEX,” viewers expect strong rail lines, thought-out tricks and a relaxed presence that ties segments together. For skiers from smaller hills or non-glamorous cities, his path from Bogus Basin night laps and “urban Boise style” edits to festival-screened street films feels especially relatable.

For progressing riders, Karcher’s career offers a clear, practical template. Start with your local hill, learn to see your town as a spot map, build lines around strong fundamentals and be willing to put in years of work filming with your friends. Use camps, summer parks and occasional trips to bigger mountains to expand your toolkit, but keep your identity tied to how you ski, not just where. Watching his edits—with particular attention to speed control, rail approach, body position and the small style touches in his butters and landings—can provide a masterclass in turning solid technique into a lasting, crew-driven career. In a freeski landscape that values authenticity as much as raw difficulty, Josh Karcher stands out as a rider whose influence is built on details, dedication and the kind of style that stays in your head long after the credits roll.

Profile and significance

Justin “Juice” Kennedy is a Boise, Idaho–raised freeski original whose life revolves around slopestyle, big air and above all, urban street skiing. Growing up hot-lapping the terrain parks at Bogus Basin after school, he developed a high-energy yet surprisingly smooth style that eventually earned him an invite to the Level 1 SuperUnknown event, the global talent showcase that has launched many of freeskiing’s most creative riders. From those night laps he built what became the OS (OnSlaught) Crew, a tight-knit collective that has spent more than a decade traveling in a van, filming rail missions, backcountry booters and storm days, and turning that footage into a yearly ski movie tour.

Kennedy’s significance today spans far beyond his own tricks. He is the driving force behind OS Crew’s film catalog, including the urban-heavy “Magnetic,” the backcountry-and-street blend “Electric,” the widely praised “absORB” and the tenth annual movie “VORTEX,” which was awarded Amateur Film of the Year at the iF3 Movie Awards. Along the way he has become a signature athlete for J Skis, earning his own limited-edition Allplay “Juice Storm” pro model, and a visible partner for brands like Dakine, Roxa Boots and local Boise shop MCU Sports. Whether he is headlining a Mammoth spring park edit, starring in a Level 1 street segment or organizing film premieres in Boise theaters, Juice sits at the center of a crew-driven corner of modern freeski culture.

Competitive arc and key venues

While Justin Kennedy is best known for films rather than FIS rankings, his path still follows a sort of “competitive arc” through iconic venues and projects. His breakout recognition came when his Bogus Basin park skiing earned him a spot at the Level 1 SuperUnknown event, putting him on snow and on screen with many of the strongest young slopestyle and big air riders in the world. Instead of pivoting to World Cups, he doubled down on filming, focusing on building full street and resort segments that could stand alongside contest footage in impact and replay value.

For more than a decade, the primary arenas for his skiing have been OS Crew’s features and film tours. Urban projects across Boise, Calgary and other North American cities have seen him and his crew turning handrails, wall rides and unique concrete architecture into technical, high-consequence lines. Resorts like Bogus Basin, Mammoth Mountain and Copper Mountain provide the park infrastructure for his in-bounds slopestyle and big air shots, as well as the spring jumps where many of his most replayed clips are filmed. The OS film premieres themselves—at venues such as the Egyptian Theatre and Treefort Music Hall in Boise—function like contests in their own right: packed rooms, big screens and an audience eager to see what new level the crew has reached.

How they ski: what to watch for

Juice’s skiing is a blend of high energy and composure, equally at home in a resort park line or on a handrail in the middle of downtown. In his season edits and in the “Speak to That?” Mammoth park feature, you see a skier who hits medium and large jumps with confident speed, sets his rotation early and keeps his axes clean. Spins tend to live in the comfortable but stylish zone—threes, fives, sevens and the occasional bigger trick—anchored by solid grabs and landings that touch down high on the sweet spot of the landing instead of deep and sketchy. He often adds late tweaks, shiftys or small hand drags that accentuate the trick without ever making it look forced.

On urban and park rails, Kennedy’s street pedigree is obvious. OS Crew raw cuts and street compilations show him committing to long, technical features where there is no room for hesitation: multi-kink handrails, close-out setups, wallride transfers and drop-on entries. He approaches these with calculated speed, hops on early and lets his feet do the fine-tuning while his upper body stays comparatively quiet. It is common to see him use surface swaps, tap features and redirects mid-line, but the overall impression remains controlled rather than chaotic. For viewers trying to learn, the key details are his line planning—how one feature sets up the next—and his ability to keep his shoulders and head looking down the rail while the skis do the detailed work underneath.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Behind every polished OS Crew segment is a huge amount of resilience, and Justin “Juice” Kennedy is usually at the center of that grind. He has steered the crew through ten full-length films, including “Magnetic,” “Electric,” “absORB” and “VORTEX,” each combining slopestyle- and big air–inspired tricks with urban street skiing and backcountry missions. The iF3 listing for “absORB” names him as director, highlighting his dual role as lead rider and filmmaker. OS raw cut episodes, including a dedicated deep-dive into his own street shots, reveal the crashes, missed pulls and long nights with the winch that sit behind a single landed trick.

His influence extends well beyond film credits. In Boise, Kennedy helped create and now co-hosts the annual Urban Air big air and rail jam at the Idaho New Year’s Eve Potato Drop, where downtown streets are closed so riders can hit a purpose-built jump under fireworks. J Skis’ write-up of the “Juice Storm” collaboration credits him and the OnSlaught Crew with traveling in a van for years, organizing grassroots film tours and convincing city officials to let them bring freeski-style big air and rails into the heart of town. In summer, he spends time at glacier and snowfield camps around North America, coaching slopestyle and park technique, passing on his knowledge of urban and street skiing and showing younger riders how film projects come together.

Geography that built the toolkit

Kennedy’s ski toolkit is defined first by Boise and Bogus Basin. Growing up there meant countless night-ski sessions, slushy spring laps and storm days where visibility was low but the jumps were soft. That environment pushed him to refine his stance and edging on small-to-medium park features, to learn how to keep flow even when the snow was changing lap to lap, and to treat every piece of terrain—hips, knuckles, rollers—as a potential feature. Bogus’s community-focused park scene also gave him a crew of like-minded skiers willing to dig, shape and film after hours.

As OS Crew’s ambitions grew, so did his map. Urban missions took him to other Idaho cities, then farther afield to places like Calgary, where creative architecture and reliable winter conditions make for prime street-skiing canvases. Resort travel expanded beyond Bogus to include Mammoth Mountain, Copper and other classic slopestyle venues, where he filmed high-tempo park lines that fed both OS movies and stand-alone edits hosted by outlets such as European freeski media. Summer coaching and training trips brought him to glacier parks and seasonal camps, ensuring that his rail and jump skills stayed sharp year-round. Taken together, those geographies produce a skier equally comfortable threading an icy handrail, floating a soft park booter or drawing a playful line down a stormy in-bounds face.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

Juice’s equipment is a direct reflection of his all-terrain, film-heavy approach. His pro model with J Skis, the Allplay “Juice Storm,” is a 97 mm–waisted twin-tip built to handle everything from resort groomers and park jumps to trees and playful powder. The ski is promoted as soft and playful enough for presses and butters, but with enough backbone to stay composed when you are charging into a big air takeoff or lining up a street rail with serious consequences. For a rider who moves constantly between slopestyle-style jump lines, big air features and urban/street skiing, that kind of versatility is essential.

His broader partner ecosystem adds more clues: tags and credits for Dakine, Roxa Boots, Daymaker Touring, Bern Helmets and MCU Sports point to a kit designed for long, hard days rather than just contest runs. Durable outerwear and packs that survive shovel duty and winch sessions, supportive boots that still feel good after a week of urban filming, and touring adapters that let him take a park-style stance into backcountry powder all play a part. For progressing skiers, the practical takeaway is clear: copy the philosophy, not necessarily the exact logos. Look for a playful-but-stable twin-tip, boots that fit perfectly, and protective gear you are happy to wear every session. The goal is to forget about equipment so you can focus on the line, just as Juice does when the camera is rolling.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Fans care about Justin “Juice” Kennedy because he represents a complete, crew-driven vision of freeskiing. He is not just dropping slopestyle, big air and urban tricks; he is also writing the story, directing the films and building the events that showcase his community. Seeing OS Crew’s “VORTEX” win Amateur Film of the Year at iF3 confirmed what years of premieres and edits had already suggested: their mix of street clips, backcountry shots and personality-driven storytelling belongs in the top tier of ski movies, and Juice is one of the main reasons why.

For progressing skiers, his path is both inspiring and approachable. He started by lapping a local hill every day after school, learned to see stairs and handrails as extensions of the terrain park, and gradually turned that obsession into a film series, a city-scale New Year’s Eve big air event and a pro model ski. Watching his segments with a critical eye—how he chooses lines, how he keeps speed consistent, how he mixes creativity with control—offers a masterclass in turning strong basics into distinctive style. Just as importantly, his work with camps and community events shows that giving back is part of the job. In an era where freeski culture is shaped as much by crews and films as by podiums, Juice Kennedy stands out as one of the athletes who builds that culture from the ground up.

Profile and significance

Keegan O’Brien is a North American freeski filmer, editor and street skier whose fingerprints are all over the modern OS Crew era. Often credited simply as “Keegs” or “keegs_ob,” he works both in front of and behind the camera, threading together urban shots, backcountry clips and spring park sessions into some of the most talked-about independent ski films of the last few seasons. His name appears in the rider lists and credits for OS Crew’s ninth and tenth annual movies, “absORB” and “VORTEX,” as well as in standalone projects like “Dirtbag” and multiple “Beavus @ Hood” edits, making him one of the key creative engines in that ecosystem.

O’Brien’s significance is twofold. As a skier, he contributes heavy street and park shots in projects that tour festivals, theaters and online film guides. As a filmer and editor, he shapes how those same projects feel, cutting together footage from crews in Idaho, Washington, Oregon and beyond. Film descriptions and premiere blurbs single him out as the videographer whose eye drives “VORTEX,” while festival write-ups for “absORB” and major trailer roundups list his name alongside long-time OS riders. That combination of creative control and on-snow presence makes him one of the quieter but more influential shapers of today’s core freeski look.

Competitive arc and key venues

O’Brien’s “competitive arc” lives primarily in edits, films and freeride rankings rather than in World Cup bib numbers. In the formal competition world, his name appears on adult men’s freeride ranking lists, confirming that he has tested himself in judged big-mountain venues as well as in the street. He also shows up in multi-rider projects like the 2023 film “BLOWNZONE,” a comp-style edit featuring a roster of emerging freeriders, where he shares screen time with other athletes pushing their line-choice and big-snow skills.

The venues that matter most to his story, though, are creative rather than strictly competitive. On Newschoolers, his “Keegs.” profile lists a growing catalogue of work: multi-rider Hood sessions such as “Beavus @ Hood W/ Homies” and the re-edit “Beavus x OS at Hood,” his reflective short “Dirtbag,” and collaborations where he films and edits for athletes and teams at resorts like Mammoth Mountain. As OS Crew’s films moved from local premieres to entries in international film guides, those same credits grew in stature. “absORB” is recognized as OS Crew’s ninth annual film, and “VORTEX” appears in 2025 trailer roundups and festival lineups with O’Brien named among the featured skiers and primary filmers, marking his transition from homie-edit regular to a central figure in one of skiing’s most respected crew projects.

How they ski: what to watch for

Keegan O’Brien’s skiing is rooted in street and park, with an emphasis on technical rails and thoughtful line construction. A scroll through his clips reveals a rider unafraid of long, multi-kink handrails; one of his own posts highlights a six-kink rail from “absORB,” the kind of feature that demands perfect speed, early commitment and the ability to stay locked in as the rail changes angle again and again. He tends to approach these spots with measured in-run tempo rather than frantic speed, giving himself just enough room to hop on clean and adjust for each kink without looking rushed.

On park and spring builds, particularly in the “Beavus @ Hood” era and various Copper-area projects, his style carries that same calm. Spin directions and grab choices are classic, relying more on clean execution than on escalating spin counts, and he often uses knuckles, side hits and transitions between features to add extra butters or taps that keep a line feeling alive. Watch his skiing with an analytical eye and you will notice a few constants: his upper body stays comparatively quiet, his eyes look down the length of the rail rather than at his feet, and his landings are timed so he rides out with speed ready for the next feature, not fighting to recover balance.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Resilience is baked into O’Brien’s role as a street skier and principal filmer. OS Crew’s urban segments do not happen in a single take; they are built on late-night shovel sessions, repeated winch pulls and a near-endless sequence of tries where the trick is almost there, but not quite. As one of the people most often listed behind the camera for “absORB,” “VORTEX” and clipped-out highlight reels of riders like Justin “Juice” Kennedy, O’Brien is not just dropping into rails; he is also hauling gear, setting angles, reviewing takes and going back again when the shot is not perfect. That willingness to live inside the process is what lets him cut together films that feel cohesive rather than like random trick dumps.

His influence extends well beyond his own name in the rider list. In OS Crew teasers and raw-cut episodes, you will often find “Filmed by: Ian Russell, Keegan O’Brien, Mason Kennedy, Emma Jones and others” in the credits, a quiet acknowledgment that he is one of the people deciding how these projects will look and feel. External write-ups for premiere nights describe “VORTEX” as seen “through the eyes” of Roslyn-based videographer Keegan O’Brien, underlining that his perspective literally frames the movie. For younger skiers and filmers watching from the outside, he represents a path where creative control, patience and a strong sense of story can give you just as much impact as a headline contest result.

Geography that built the toolkit

The geography of O’Brien’s skiing and filming spans many of the places that define modern North American freeski culture. Summer and spring edits place him repeatedly at Mount Hood, Oregon, where public park lanes and camp features create a long season of slushy laps and endless rail options. Multi-rider projects like his “Beavus” edits were built there, taking advantage of forgiving summer snow to push both tricks and creativity. Elsewhere in his filmography he turns up at Copper Mountain and Mammoth, shooting park days and team sessions in some of the most productive terrain parks in the United States.

More recently, premiere descriptions and local event write-ups call him a Roslyn, Washington–based videographer, tying him to the small town near Washington’s central Cascades. That location offers easy access to deep-snow resorts and backcountry passes, feeding OS Crew missions that venture beyond rails into powder, cliffs and natural hits. When you combine that with recurring street trips through Idaho and neighboring states for “absORB” and “VORTEX,” you get a toolkit shaped by urban architecture, resort parks and storm-day tree lines alike. It is a mix that lets O’Brien move comfortably from filming a kinked handrail downtown to capturing big-air sessions in a private spring park build.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

O’Brien’s visible gear choices reflect his focus on rails, film projects and everyday resort laps. On social platforms he tags brands like Vishnu Freeski and Bern Helmets, a pairing that makes sense for someone whose skiing leans hard into urban and park terrain. Vishnu’s soft, jib-oriented twin-tips are built to handle repeated surface swaps, presses and close encounters with concrete, while Bern’s helmet designs are popular among riders who spend long days in the park and on the streets. That combination signals a setup tuned more for creativity and comfort than for pure speed.

He also operates inside the broader sponsor ecosystem that supports OS Crew’s full-length films. Credits for “absORB,” its raw-cut series and “VORTEX” list backing from companies like J Skis, Dakine, Roxa Boots, Northpull or ReWinch winches, Wear Leathers and Spy Optic, shaping the gear environment around him. Durable twintip skis, supportive boots, tough gloves and packs and reliable winch systems all factor into how he and his crew can ski and film day after day. For progressing skiers and aspiring filmers, the practical takeaway is to aim for a coherent kit: skis that feel playful and trustworthy on metal, boots and helmets you are happy to wear for long sessions and outerwear that can survive shovel duty, cold nights and slushy spring afternoons alike.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Fans care about Keegan O’Brien because he embodies a modern, crew-driven version of freeski success. Rather than arriving via a single viral trick, he has gradually built a body of work that stretches from early Hood edits to major roles in “absORB” and “VORTEX.” Each new project adds another layer: more refined filming, more ambitious street features, more depth in how he portrays the highs and lows of a winter. For viewers who follow ski movies as closely as other people follow contest livestreams, his name in the credits has become a quiet stamp of quality.

For progressing skiers and up-and-coming filmers, O’Brien’s path offers a realistic blueprint. Start by filming everything, not just your best tricks; learn how to tell a story about your crew and your hill; and be willing to spend just as much time behind the lens as you do in front of it. Watching his work, you can study both the skiing and the editing: how he or his friends build lines in the park, how the camera moves through spaces, how raw-cut episodes reveal the grind behind a single hammer. In an era where style, authenticity and storytelling increasingly define freeski culture, Keegan O’Brien stands out as one of the people quietly shaping what that culture looks like on screen.

Profile and significance

Kyle Johnston is an American freeski athlete and coach whose name keeps popping up wherever street skiing and community-focused park programs intersect. Raised in Gloversville, New York, he started skiing at age two and spent a decade cutting his teeth in USASA and Revolution Tour contests before shifting his focus toward filming and coaching. Today he is best known as a key member of the Boise-based OS Crew and as the Freeski Futures head coach with the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation in Idaho. That dual identity – heavy urban skier in the crew’s award-winning projects and methodical mentor in a structured development program – makes him an important bridge between core freeski culture and the next generation coming up through organized pathways.

Johnston’s profile has risen quickly as OS Crew’s films have jumped from local premieres to international recognition. He appears as a featured rider in the crew’s recent trilogy of full movies – “Magnetic,” “absORB,” and “VORTEX” – with the last of those taking Amateur Film of the Year honors at the 2025 iF3 Movie Awards and earning him a nomination for Amateur Skier of the Year for his performance. For freeski fans who follow street segments as closely as World Cup rankings, Kyle has become one of the names synonymous with the new wave of creative, do-it-yourself urban skiing coming out of the American Northwest.

Competitive arc and key venues

Before appearing in festival lineups, Johnston’s path ran through the familiar youth-competition grind. According to his coaching biography, he spent roughly ten years on the USASA and Rev Tour circuits, learning to manage speed, pressure and consequence in slopestyle and pipe-style environments. The results sheets from those years won’t show globe trophies, but the repetition of regional and national start gates gave him a strong technical base and a deep understanding of how runs are built under time pressure. That background now informs both his own filming and the way he coaches athletes who still care about bib numbers.

The real turning point, though, is tied to venues that exist off the standard contest map. Through OS Crew, Johnston has become a regular in premieres at Boise’s Egyptian Theatre and Treefort Music Hall, where the crew launches its annual films to sold-out hometown crowds before taking them on tour. His skiing is central to the 8th OS Crew film “Magnetic,” which showcased the crew’s urban focus, and to “absORB,” their 9th outing that mixes backcountry lines with dense street segments. In “VORTEX,” the 10th film, he stands out again as the crew pushes their mix of backcountry hits, spring builds and large-scale street spots – a body of work that led directly to the film’s international awards recognition and his individual iF3 nomination.

How they ski: what to watch for

Johnston’s skiing is defined by rail precision and stubborn persistence. One of the best windows into his approach is the “absORB Raw Cut Series: Ep. 3 – Kyle Johnston,” which shows him locked into a single feature for around six hours and roughly one hundred attempts. The clip he is chasing requires a difficult line-in using a winch, speed management through a long down feature and an unnatural front swap pressed right at the top before lacing the rest of the rail. That kind of trick is all about micro-adjustments, and you can see him refine edge angle, body position and timing over and over until everything lines up for the landed shot.

On film, this translates to a style that looks calm on top of very real risk. Johnston tends to keep his upper body quiet and stacked directly over his feet, which lets him lock into kinks and close-out rails with minimal body drift. He also favors combinations rather than single moves – swapping directions mid-rail, adding surface swaps or spinning off blindside – so a spot rarely gets used for only one trick. Away from the handrails, “VORTEX” shows him comfortable stepping into bigger backcountry-style hits and spring jump builds, where he brings the same measured approach to grabs and spins, focusing on clean axes rather than simply adding rotations.

Resilience, filming, and influence

The raw-cut episode that documents Johnston’s six-hour battle is more than a curiosity; it is a clear statement about how he approaches skiing. Rather than celebrating only first-try stomps, OS Crew highlights the grind it takes to put down high-end tricks, and Kyle embraces that transparency. Watching him crash, hike back up, adjust a rail lip, confer with the winch driver and try again gives aspiring street skiers a realistic picture of the process behind a three-second shot. That willingness to show the work has helped his segment resonate with core audiences on platforms like Newschoolers, where behind-the-scenes edits carry significant weight.

His influence stretches beyond the screen through his coaching role in Idaho’s Wood River Valley. As Freeski Futures head coach with the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation, Johnston is responsible for helping young athletes figure out whether their goals live in contests, film parts or simply in becoming confident lifelong skiers. He brings OS Crew’s DIY film ethos – building spots, managing crews, respecting urban environments – into structured training sessions, while also teaching competition basics such as run construction and mental preparation. That combination of real-world film experience and organized programming is rare, and it means his impact will be seen not only in his own segments, but in the way his athletes design their futures in freeskiing.

Geography that built the toolkit

Johnston’s skiing reflects the geography that shaped him. Growing up in Gloversville in upstate New York meant learning to ski on small hills with firm snow and short laps, the kind of environment that rewards precise edging and creative use of limited terrain. Those early years on icy park rails and quick laps helped him develop the edge control and comfort with variable takeoffs that later show up on handrails and urban drop-ins. When he eventually headed west, he brought that East Coast efficiency with him rather than abandoning it for purely freestyle resort laps.

In adulthood, his map has expanded to include Idaho and Colorado landmarks that now form the backdrop to many OS Crew shots. Boise’s Bogus Basin offers night laps and creative in-bounds terrain, while the city itself provides an endless supply of rails, ledges and gaps for winter street missions. Summer often finds Johnston and the crew at Woodward Copper at Copper Mountain, Colorado, where they session park lanes and rope-tow setups while coaching campers and stacking footage for upcoming projects. In winter, his work with SVSEF keeps him tied to the Sun Valley area’s blend of classic resort runs and modern park features. Taken together, those locations give him a full spectrum of environments – from small-town rope-tow style laps to big-mountain backdrops – that all feed into his riding.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

Johnston’s segments are closely tied to the equipment and partners that support OS Crew’s projects. The teaser and raw-cut releases for “absORB” and “VORTEX” list backing from brands such as J Skis, Roxa Ski Boots, Wear Leathers, Spy Optic and NorthPull Winch. In practical terms, that means you are often seeing him on playful, twin-tip skis designed for park and street work, in boots built to drive rails and jumps while still tolerating long shovel sessions, and in gloves and goggles built for the cold, late-night conditions where many urban spots go down. The winch support is especially important: it allows him and the crew to generate the speed required for large gaps and long approach lines in flat urban zones where gravity alone is not enough.

For progressing skiers watching his segments, the gear takeaway is less about copying exact models and more about understanding why these categories matter. A medium-flex park-oriented ski will make it easier to experiment with surface swaps and presses; boots that still ski strongly but allow some ankle mobility help when absorbing sketchy landings; solid gloves and goggles matter when you are shoveling for hours. Johnston’s skiing shows that thoughtful equipment choices – aligned with the terrain you want to ride and the projects you want to build – can make long sessions more productive and sustainable.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Fans gravitate toward Kyle Johnston because he represents a version of modern freeskiing that feels both aspirational and attainable. He is not defined by Olympic finals or World Cup circuits, but by stacked street clips, long nights under parking-lot lights and premieres where the audience is filled with friends, local kids and shop crews. His nomination for Amateur Skier of the Year alongside the iF3 recognition for “VORTEX” proves that this path can still lead to international respect, even when the main stage is a handrail instead of a halfpipe.

For skiers trying to progress, Johnston offers a clear blueprint. His footage shows exactly how much work lies behind a single standout trick, and his day job as a coach demonstrates that the same patience and structure can be applied to anyone’s skiing, not just to athletes filming for a movie. Watch his raw cuts to understand commitment, his full segments to study line choice and trick variety, and his coaching role to see how crew-based, community-first skiing can coexist with long-term development. In combining heavy urban parts, backcountry adaptability and a serious investment in youth progression, Kyle Johnston has carved out a role that matters both to today’s film-driven freeski culture and to the kids who will shape what comes next.

Profile and significance

Lucas “Sizzla” is part of a new wave of North American freeskiers whose names first show up in crew edits and rail jams before they ever appear on a results sheet. Riding under the handle @_yungsizzla_, he has built a presence through park laps, homie projects and independent films rather than formal competition circuits. His skiing appears in multiple Diesel Drinkers episodes from Copper Mountain’s Woodward park, in the short film “guanson” from variance.ski and in the cast list for “VORTEX,” the tenth annual street, pow and park film from the Boise-based OS Crew. That cluster of appearances places him firmly inside the modern core of park and street skiing, where style, creativity and crew energy matter as much as raw difficulty.

For viewers and progressing skiers, Sizzla’s significance lies in how visible he has become within that world despite still being early in his career. Being credited alongside riders with established reputations in a full-length crew movie, featured in recurring Diesel Drinkers edits and highlighted by filmers and brands on social media shows that his skiing holds up in front of the camera. He represents a pathway that many young skiers recognise: starting with local laps and small edits, then gradually stepping into bigger collaborative projects without trading away the laid-back, friends-first approach that drew them to freeskiing in the first place.

Competitive arc and key venues

Sizzla’s “competitive arc” is unconventional in the sense that it runs through cameras, not official rankings. Rather than chasing Nor-Am points or FIS starts, he has made his mark in open formats and unofficial arenas. Clips from the Jib League Open show him taking part in one of the most creatively focused rail and park series in the sport, an event where invited pros and open-jam qualifiers session the same features and are judged as much on style and awareness as on trick lists. That kind of environment suits riders whose skiing is built around line choice and expression instead of rehearsed contest runs.

His edit history points to a tight cluster of key venues. The Diesel Drinkers series places him repeatedly at Copper Mountain and its Woodward park, from pure park episodes to “all-mountain realm” days where the crew pushes out onto side hits and natural features. Variance.ski’s short “guanson,” described as a last-minute project after Copper’s lifts shut down for the season, again shows him working with the same terrain in a more cinematic format. Most recently, his name in the rider list for OS Crew’s “VORTEX” ties him into a film that tours through theaters and festival-style premieres across the American West, blending street rails, backcountry hits and private spring park builds into a single narrative.

How they ski: what to watch for

Across the edits that feature him, Sizzla comes across first and foremost as a park and jib skier with a strong feel for line flow. The Diesel Drinkers episodes and variance.ski cuts focus on him and his friends moving confidently through rail gardens, jumps and side hits, linking features in ways that prioritise rhythm and fun. Rails and boxes are approached with enough comfort that the skiing looks relaxed rather than rushed, the kind of body language that usually comes from thousands of laps and a deep familiarity with park layouts like the ones at Copper and other Woodward setups.

Viewers who pull up his clips will notice that he tends to use the whole run, not just the headline features. Short reels and homie edits show him making something out of small knuckles, rollers and transition pockets, adding extra butters or late hits between the main rails and kickers. That approach mirrors the broader culture around Jib League and OS Crew, where a line is judged as a whole and the “in-between” skiing matters just as much as the biggest trick. For skiers trying to learn from him, it is worth paying attention to how he keeps his speed consistent from top to bottom, how little his upper body moves when he is balanced on rails and how often he finishes a feature already set up for the next one.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Working primarily through indie films and crew edits demands a particular kind of resilience, and Sizzla’s project list suggests he has embraced that reality. Being part of the Diesel Drinkers crew at Copper Mountain means long days of trial and error in the park, shooting on action cameras and phones, and returning to features until the whole group is satisfied with how an episode feels. Stepping into a variance.ski short like “guanson” adds another layer of pressure, with more deliberate shot planning and a clear desire to produce something that stands out even among the flood of online ski clips each season.

His appearance in OS Crew’s “VORTEX” is another marker of that same persistence. OS have spent a decade building an annual film series that mixes street features, backcountry jumps and spring builds. Every name in the rider list is there because they showed up through slams, shovel sessions and long nights getting winched into handrails or roadside gaps. For a relatively new skier like Sizzla to earn a place in that roster means that he has been willing to put in the less glamorous work that never appears on screen. That behind-the-scenes commitment quietly influences younger skiers who recognise his handle from social clips and then see it resurface in more serious projects.

Geography that built the toolkit

While Sizzla has not fronted a detailed public biography, the spots that recur in his edits tell their own story about the terrain shaping his skiing. Copper Mountain’s combination of Woodward parks and accessible sidecountry has clearly been central; Diesel Drinkers episodes and the guanson project both lean heavily on Copper’s rails, jumps and off-piste pockets. Training and filming in that environment builds a toolkit that balances technical park skills with enough comfort on natural snow to step into “all-mountain” laps when the crew leaves the rope line.

Social clips and reposts hint at a broader map that includes Loveland Pass laps and park time in Utah, with tags like #lovelandpass and references to Park City park sessions implying regular time spent in both Colorado and Utah scenes. That constant movement between resorts, passes and early- or late-season setups is typical for modern park skiers who follow snowfall and park builds rather than staying attached to a single hill. The result is a style that feels portable: whether the crew is on a rope tow, in a full Woodward park or exploring a wind-lip zone by the road, he looks comfortable using whatever snow is available.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

On paper, Sizzla’s world is shaped more by crew-level supporters than by traditional individual sponsorships. Diesel Drinkers episodes from Copper shout out partners like Gilson, an independent ski and snowboard builder based in the United States whose products are detailed on the Gilson Snow site, while OS Crew’s “VORTEX” is backed by companies such as J Skis, Dakine, Roxa boots, Daymaker Touring and winch manufacturer Rewinch. Even when those logos support the crew as a whole rather than him individually, they shape the kind of gear environment he operates in: durable twintip skis, park-focused outerwear, reliable boots and touring or winch setups that allow the group to ski wherever and whenever they can.

For a skier looking to take practical lessons from his situation, the key point is coherence rather than chasing specific brands. The projects he appears in involve everything from rail-heavy park laps to road-accessed hits and winch-powered street clips, so his gear needs to handle a broad range of abuse. A similar path for an aspiring rider would mean choosing a solid pair of freestyle skis that hold up on metal and hard landings, boots that are supportive but still comfortable through long sessions, and clothing that stays functional while the crew is standing around between takes. Sizzla’s trajectory shows that you do not need a wall of pro-model gear to earn a place in respected projects; you need equipment you trust enough to focus fully on skiing and filming.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Fans and progressing skiers care about Lucas “Sizzla” because he illustrates a path that feels reachable yet inspiring. His name is tied to recognisable projects—Diesel Drinkers at Copper, variance.ski’s guanson, OS Crew’s VORTEX and the open-format sessions of Jib League—without him being a conventional contest star. That mix of relatable settings and credible film appearances makes it easy for park skiers to imagine themselves following a similar route: dialling tricks and lines at their local hill, linking up with like-minded filmers and crews, and letting a steady stream of edits gradually lead to bigger opportunities.

As he continues to appear in crew movies, open jams and online cuts, Sizzla offers a living example of how to turn local park energy into something that resonates farther afield. Watch his segments with an eye for how he uses every part of a run, how he fits into the dynamic of each crew and how often the emphasis is on collective fun rather than individual hero shots. In a freeski landscape where authenticity and community are increasingly central, Lucas Sizzla stands out as one of the rising riders whose story is still being written in real time, clip by clip and project by project.

Profile and significance

Mason Kennedy is a street and park-focused freeski athlete and filmmaker from Idaho, best known as a driving force behind the urban film collective OnSlaught, also known as OS Crew. Alongside his brother Justin “Juice” Kennedy, he has spent more than a decade turning a small DIY project into a recognized name in the international freeski film scene. Growing up lapping the lifts at Bogus Basin above Boise before expanding his range across North America, he built his reputation on hand-built rail spots, long stair sets and creative features in places most skiers would only ever walk past. Over time he has balanced multiple roles—rider, filmer, editor, graphic designer and tour organizer—while continuing to stack clips for annual OS Crew movies.

Kennedy’s significance comes less from contest headlines and more from sustained contribution to the culture of urban and park skiing. His recurring appearances as a Level 1 SuperUnknown semi-finalist, the dedicated “Super Unknown Cut” edits released by OS Crew and his central role in films like “Twenty Twenty,” “Electric,” “Magnetic,” “absORB” and “Vortex” have made him a reference point for modern street skiing. OS Crew’s projects have earned backing from core ski media, support from brands and at least one amateur freeski film award on the festival circuit, confirming that their blend of gritty street footage and tight crew energy resonates far beyond their home region.

Competitive arc and key venues

Instead of a traditional path through slopestyle and big air competitions, Mason Kennedy’s “competitive arc” lives in the edit window and on cinema screens. Early OS Crew clips on platforms like Newschoolers showed a young skier grinding out rail sessions at local hills and in town, posting two-hour park edits, backyard setups and early urban missions under the OnSlaught name. Those years of low-budget filming laid the foundation for bigger projects, culminating in a string of full-length movies that became annual events for their community. The 2020 film “Twenty Twenty” marked a turning point, proving that the crew could produce a cohesive, multi-rider street project even in a disrupted season.

From there, the crew pushed further. “Electric,” billed as their seventh feature, followed Mason, Justin and friends as they toured the United States in a van hitting creative urban spots, with a Boise premiere at the historic Egyptian Theatre and additional showings around the region. Later projects like “Magnetic” and “absORB” kept the momentum going, and by the time “Vortex” was announced as OS Crew’s tenth annual ski film, festival listings and trailer roundups were treating the crew as fixtures of the modern freeski movie calendar. Along the way, Mason’s profile grew through Level 1 SuperUnknown semi-finalist edits and appearances at ski film tours, where his name shared billing with riders and crews from around the world.

How they ski: what to watch for

Mason Kennedy’s skiing is rooted in rails and urban features, and you can see that immediately in the way he approaches any setup. He favors long, technical lines where each feature flows into the next rather than isolated single tricks. Watch his “Super Unknown” and “2019” edits and you will see him treating multi-kinks, close-out rails and transfer options as puzzles to be solved with spins on, pretzels, surface swaps and presses instead of just straight slides. A typical line might involve a gap onto a kinked rail, a quick switch up in the middle, then an intentional exit that sets up the next feature down the stairs or across the alley.

Technically, he skis with a relaxed but strongly centered stance, keeping his upper body calm while his legs handle the impact and balance work. That allows him to stay composed on high-consequence spots where a miss means concrete or metal, not soft snow. On park jumps and in late-spring sessions at places like Woodward and Mount Hood, you see the same control in the air: smooth rotations, deliberate grabs and landings that prioritize continuing the line over celebrating a single trick. For viewers trying to learn from his skiing, the most useful details are his approach speed, his early commitment to edges before takeoff and his habit of looking far down the feature rather than staring at the first contact point.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Street skiing demands resilience, and Mason Kennedy’s career is built on it. OS Crew’s films are full of behind-the-scenes glimpses: shoveling snow into the back of a truck, building lips late at night under floodlights, winching into handrails on frozen city streets and taking the inevitable slam before finally locking in the shot. As a co-creator of OnSlaught, he has had to balance the physical toll of skiing with the logistical grind of planning trips, coordinating riders, handling graphic design and editing hours of footage into tight segments. That long-run persistence is one reason the crew has been able to release ten consecutive annual films—an achievement that rivals many larger-budget production houses.

The influence of that work travels through multiple channels. OS Crew has received support from core ski media platforms and grant-style programs aimed at independent crews, boosting their visibility and validating their approach. They have also built a touring model that takes their films to venues around the Pacific Northwest and the Intermountain West, turning premieres into community events rather than quiet online drops. At summer sessions hosted with partners like J Skis, the crew, including Mason, spends a week riding with younger athletes, hosting rail jams and movie nights and showing campers that DIY crews can have a real impact on the sport. The combination of gritty street output and open, community-focused outreach makes him a reference point for aspiring filmers and riders who want to create more than just a one-off season edit.

Geography that built the toolkit

The places Mason Kennedy skis explain a lot about how he rides. Growing up near Boise meant plenty of time at Bogus Basin, a non-profit community mountain with a strong local park and rail scene. Those nights spent sessioning rails under the lights built both his comfort on metal and his appreciation for local mountains as creative spaces, not just training grounds for bigger resorts. As OS Crew’s ambitions grew, his map expanded to include spots across Idaho and the broader West—small-town stair sets, industrial zones and urban architecture that most passersby would never connect with skiing.

Beyond his home hill, Mason has become closely associated with summer and in-season park venues across the United States. OS Crew content shows him and the crew riding places like Woodward Copper and other Woodward parks, Timberline-style spring laps and resort parks from Colorado to Tahoe. More recently, he has appeared in the role of terrain park guide and on-snow presence at Tamarack Resort in Idaho, sharing safety tips and progression advice with visitors while continuing to design and ride features himself. That mix of community hills, major destination resorts and urban landscapes gives his skiing a wide toolkit: he is equally comfortable making the most of a single down rail at home or navigating a complex handrail in an unfamiliar city.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

Kennedy’s equipment choices reflect the realities of street and park-focused freeskiing. For the “Electric” film and surrounding tours, OS Crew listed support from brands including J Skis, Bern Helmets and SPY Optic, alongside other core ski industry partners. In practice, that means a setup built to withstand repeated impacts on metal and concrete as well as variable snow, with durable skis that can handle edge abuse, boots stiff enough for control on heavy landings and helmets and goggles tuned for long nights shooting under artificial light. The emphasis is on reliability—gear that holds up through an entire street trip, not just a few park laps.

For riders looking to draw lessons from his approach, the key point is how well his kit matches his environment. Urban skiing demands thick bases, strong edges, trustworthy bindings and protective gear that a rider will actually wear, even when the session feels casual. Park laps at resorts and summer camps add a different requirement set: all-day comfort, good visibility and layers that work in anything from cold midwinter nights to hot July slush. Mason’s long partnership with OS Crew’s sponsors demonstrates that you do not need the most exotic or backcountry-specific gear to push progression; you need a coherent setup that lets you focus on line choice and execution rather than worrying about whether something will break on the next impact.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Fans care about Mason Kennedy because he embodies a version of freeski success that feels reachable and authentic. Rather than emerging from a national team or big-budget production house, he and his brother built OS Crew from scratch, starting with local edits and growing into a crew whose films premiere in theaters, appear in festival lineups and win awards while still running on van trips, late-night shoveling and a close group of friends. For many young skiers, especially those far from World Cup venues, his path from Bogus Basin local to internationally known street skier shows that dedication to filming, creativity and community-building can open doors.

For progressing riders, watching Mason’s segments is a masterclass in how to link tricks with vision and patience. His lines show careful spot selection, incremental progression and a willingness to put in the unglamorous work required to ski at a high level in the streets. At the same time, his presence at camps, resort events and premieres keeps him approachable; he is not just a name in the credits but someone actively invested in the next generation’s progression. That combination of technical ability, DIY ethic and community focus is exactly why his profile fits comfortably alongside bigger competition stars in any serious conversation about modern freeski culture.

Profile and significance

Nathan Goddard, better known online as “Noddard” or “Coach Noddard,” is a freeski coach, filmer and park skier whose career ties together several influential corners of modern ski culture. For more than a decade he has been releasing edits on community hubs like Newschoolers, starting with early-2010s park films from Timberline on Mt. Hood, Boreal and Summit County, and evolving into more recent projects that spotlight the freeski scenes of Bend, Oregon and the American West. His “Hustle & Snow” edits under The Hoth Fellowship banner, the “Hood January” segment and the “Janky Jump Day” Boreal piece established him early as both skier and filmmaker, someone as comfortable behind the camera as in front of it.

Today, Goddard is best known for balancing three roles: creative force behind “Coach Noddard’s Chronicles of Cork,” a web series documenting the park culture around Bend and Mt. Bachelor; rider and crew member in OS Crew films like “FUEL” and “VORTEX”; and coach for the Durango Winter Sports Club’s freeride program in Colorado. That mix makes him significant less as a contest name and more as a connector. He mentors young riders in the Rockies, showcases the Central Oregon community to a global audience and appears alongside respected street and backcountry skiers in one of North America’s most productive independent crews, tying grassroots scenes together through his lens and his turns.

Competitive arc and key venues

Goddard’s path has never centered on World Cup standings or Dew Tour invites. Instead, his “competitive arc” is told through edits, film credits and the terrain parks and sidecountry zones where he and his crews spend their time. Early work on Newschoolers shows him lapping the public park at Timberline, sliding Timberline’s rail line and midwinter jumps with a close-knit crew of Oregon riders. Throwback pieces like “Noddard Breck 09/10” and Summit County edits add in Colorado’s Breckenridge and nearby resorts, hinting at the seasonal migrations that would later define his life between the Pacific Northwest and the Rockies.

That film-first trajectory sharpened when he linked up with OS Crew, the Boise-based collective behind a long-running line of street and backcountry movies. Goddard appears among the athletes in “FUEL,” which screened in the iF3 film guide, and again in “VORTEX,” OS Crew’s tenth annual release that tours through theaters and festival-style premieres across Idaho, Utah, Nevada and beyond. At the same time, he launched “Coach Noddard’s Chronicles of Cork,” a series focused on the local scene at Bend and the parks of Mt. Bachelor, positioning himself as host, filmer and occasional on-snow star. Add in more recent connections to the Durango Winter Sports Club in Colorado, where he coaches freeride athletes, and his key venues form a triangle of influence: Central Oregon park laps, Intermountain street and backcountry film trips and Southwest Colorado competition training grounds.

How they ski: what to watch for

Across his edits, Goddard’s skiing reads as classic park-rat fundamentals refined over years of mileage. In “Hood January” and similar Mt. Hood clips, he favors medium to large jumps where he can spin smoothly with strong grabs and land high on the transition, keeping speed into the next feature. Rails are approached with a relaxed but deliberate stance, shoulders square over his feet and eyes tracking down the feature rather than at his tips. Many lines are built around clean frontside and blindside spins on and off, with extra style coming from subtle presses or tweaks rather than wild contortions.

What stands out most is how he links features. Whether filming “Janky Jump Day” at Boreal or documenting local laps in Bend, Goddard rarely treats rails and jumps as isolated tricks. Instead, he uses side hits, knuckles and rollers to connect the park into a single flowing run, adding quick butters or small direction changes between major hits. Viewers studying his footage will notice that his edge sets happen early and smoothly, his upper body stays comparatively quiet and he maintains consistent speed from top to bottom. Those are the habits that keep runs looking effortless, and they translate well when he steps into the more complex lines and variable in-runs of OS Crew street and backcountry shoots.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Goddard’s influence is tied as much to his camera work and coaching as to his personal trick list. From the early Hoth Fellowship days through “Chronicles of Cork,” he has consistently taken on the workload of filming, editing and storytelling—sacrificing some of his own time in the spotlight to frame his friends and local scenes in the best possible light. The recent “Chronicles of Cork” episodes push that further, functioning almost like mini-documentaries on the Bend and Mt. Bachelor community rather than simple self-promotional edits. They capture slam-heavy days, strong tricks from unknown locals and the small victories that define grassroots park culture.

Resilience is built into that approach. Street shoots with OS Crew routinely involve night sessions, repeated winch pulls and plenty of frustration before the final clip gets saved. Park and community projects demand similar persistence: long days chasing changing light, weather windows and park rebuilds, followed by hours in the edit bay turning raw footage into cohesive stories. On top of that, coaching freeride athletes in Durango means early mornings, comp-day nerves and the slow, patient process of helping teenagers develop line choice and composure. Together, those roles amplify his influence. Young skiers encounter him as a coach on snow, as a filmer pointing the camera at them and as the voice behind online series that celebrate their home terrain, creating a loop of mentorship that extends far beyond one season.

Geography that built the toolkit

The geography of Goddard’s life explains a lot about his skiing. Mt. Hood and Central Oregon formed his early playground, with Timberline providing year-round access to jumps and rails and Mt. Bachelor’s playful natural terrain layering in wind lips, side hits and tree lines. Edits like “Bachy June-uary” show him squeezing the last ounces of winter out of spring conditions at Bachelor, laying down slushy lines that reward creativity over brute force. That environment bred a comfort with variable snow and a knack for making the most of small features—skills that are obvious in his later work.

As his map expanded, Colorado and the broader Intermountain West added new dimensions. Time in Summit County parks refined his jump game on bigger, more formal features, while connections to brands and crews took him to Woodward Copper, Utah resorts and the street and backcountry zones that OS Crew favors around Idaho and neighboring states. More recently, Durango and the peaks around southwest Colorado have given him daily access to steep freeride terrain through the Durango Winter Sports Club. Moving between these regions, Goddard developed a toolkit that blends Pacific Northwest park looseness with Rocky Mountain line awareness, making him comfortable whether he is filming a laid-back local lap or helping an athlete visualize a competition venue.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

Goddard’s relationship with equipment reflects his dual identity as both athlete and industry insider. A LinkedIn profile lists him as a marketing intern for RMU Skis, connecting him directly to the Colorado-born brand whose freeride and touring models are showcased on the RMU site. That experience bridges skier and company perspectives, giving him insight into how modern freeride and park skis are designed, promoted and tested in the field. In his own edits, he typically rides versatile twin-tip setups that can handle everything from Timberline’s summer rail lines to slushy Central Oregon booters.

His film work with OS Crew places him inside a broader ecosystem of partners. “VORTEX” is supported by outfits such as J Skis, Dakine, Roxa Boots and Daymaker Touring, brands focused respectively on durable twintips, technical packs and gloves, responsive boots and adaptable touring hardware. Daymaker has also highlighted him in a touring edit, showing him using their adapters to bring a park-style stance and ski to backcountry powder laps. For progressing skiers, the practical lesson is not that any one logo is mandatory, but that a coherent setup—twin-tip skis tough enough for rails but trustworthy in variable snow, boots that stay comfortable through long days and outerwear built for real winter—allows a rider to move fluidly between park filming, resort laps and small touring missions.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Fans and progressing skiers gravitate toward Nathan “Noddard” Goddard because his story feels both authentic and attainable. He did not arrive in the spotlight via a single viral trick or a major contest win; instead, he built a body of work piece by piece, from early Timberline edits and Hoth Fellowship projects to OS Crew films and “Chronicles of Cork.” Along the way he added coaching roles and brand-side experience, showing that it is possible to craft a life fully immersed in skiing without fitting into one narrow box.

For young riders at Mt. Bachelor, in Durango or watching online, Goddard offers a model of how to contribute to the sport on multiple levels. You can be the person pressing record as well as the one dropping in, the coach setting course inspection plans and the skier still learning new lines yourself. Studying his footage—how he builds park runs, how he keeps sessions fun and how he uses his platform to highlight the people around him—gives practical cues on style, filming and community building. In an era where freeskiing is as much about storytelling and shared culture as it is about tricks, Nathan Goddard stands out as a low-key but influential figure whose work ties together parks, films and freeride youth in a way that resonates far beyond his home mountains.

Profile and significance

Nikolay Dobrianov is an emerging park and street skier whose name has begun to surface in the independent film world through his work with OS Crew and his laps through the Belmont terrain park at Palisades Tahoe. Under the handle “corkswap” on social media, he has built a small but growing following around short edits that focus on clean, stylish riding rather than big-production gloss. A recent profile video titled “Palisades with Nikolay” from DeathwishDaily follows him through a full park lap in Tahoe, highlighting how comfortable he looks treating a public terrain park like a personal playground. That same season, his name appeared in the rider list for “VORTEX,” the tenth annual full-length film from the Boise-rooted OS Crew, confirming his transition from local ripper to contributing member of a respected crew project.

For now, Dobrianov’s significance sits firmly in the “one to watch” category rather than on the big-contest stage. He does not have a stack of World Cup starts or major slopestyle podiums to point to; instead, his impact comes from being part of a new wave of skiers whose careers begin in small edits, crew films and resort laps that circulate widely online. The fact that his name is included alongside established street and backcountry riders in festival-listed projects like VORTEX means that his skiing is trusted to hold its own on screen. For freeski fans who follow independent movies as closely as they follow results lists, Nikolay is starting to register as a recognizable figure in the credits and in the park.

Competitive arc and key venues

Dobrianov’s “competitive arc” is primarily cinematic rather than based on bib numbers. The clearest sign of his current trajectory is his appearance in OS Crew’s film VORTEX, a project that has been featured in ski media trailer roundups and film guides and that continues a decade-long run of annual OS releases. In those listings, his name appears alongside a deep roster of riders who handle everything from technical street features to backcountry hits, suggesting that he has earned his place within a tight group where every shot counts. VORTEX itself carries the classic OS mix of handrails, urban gaps, sled-access powder and private spring park builds, so simply being part of that cast places him inside a respected corner of the freeski world.

On the resort side, the DeathwishDaily short filmed at Palisades Tahoe is his best-documented “venue” so far. The edit invites viewers to join him for a lap through the Belmont park, a well-known zone of medium-sized jumps and rails that has helped shape the style of many Tahoe riders. That piece, paired with the VORTEX rider credits, underlines how his skiing currently lives at the intersection of everyday resort parks and the more intense, trip-based filming that OS Crew is known for. Rather than chasing a formal contest circuit, he is building a résumé in the places where many modern freeski stories now begin: on film tours, in online video premieres and in resort edits shared among crew members and fans.

How they ski: what to watch for

Dobrianov’s skiing in public edits reads as a blend of relaxed park flow and the deliberate line-building that street crews value. In the Belmont park lap, he moves through the line without obvious hesitation, using a consistent stance and smooth edge changes to keep his speed where he needs it from the first feature to the last. Rails are approached with enough confidence that he can focus on balance and style rather than just survival, and his body language stays calm when he is on the metal, with his shoulders and head aligned over his skis instead of twisting or flailing.

When you look at his inclusion in OS Crew’s work, it is clear that this same approach carries into more complex environments. OS films are built around lines rather than isolated tricks, so riders are expected to treat each feature as part of a bigger picture. For Nikolay, that means thinking about how a rail exit sets up the next hit, how to maintain rhythm through a line of jumps or how to use a park’s side hits and knuckles to add extra moments of expression. For skiers watching his footage, the useful details are his approach speed into features, the way he sets his edges early before takeoff and how he keeps his upper body comparatively quiet while letting his feet handle most of the fine-tuning on landings.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Street and independent park filming demand resilience, even for riders who are just starting to appear in the credits. OS Crew projects are built on long nights, repeated tries and plenty of work with shovels and winches, and every skier involved shares that reality. Dobrianov’s presence in their tenth annual film indicates that he is willing to commit to that process, showing up not only for the “golden hour” shots but also for the less glamorous tasks of building lips, setting up cameras and adjusting in-runs until a spot finally comes together. That background gives his resort edits a certain weight; viewers know that behind a smooth Belmont lap there is a rider who is also learning how to operate in rougher, more unforgiving environments.

Influence at this stage of his career is subtle but real. Being profiled by an independent media outlet that focuses on resort culture, and being named among the riders in a widely anticipated crew film, both help introduce his skiing to fans who care about style and storytelling as much as about results. For younger riders following OS Crew and similar projects, seeing a relatively new name like Nikolay’s appear alongside more established skiers reinforces the idea that consistent, stylish park laps and a willingness to contribute to crew projects can open doors into the broader freeski world.

Geography that built the toolkit

At this point, the clearest geographical anchor in Dobrianov’s skiing is Palisades Tahoe. The Belmont terrain park there has long been a breeding ground for riders who value flow as much as they value technical difficulty, and his filmed lap through that zone suggests many hours spent figuring out how to work with its jumps, rails and side hits. Palisades also offers a mix of big-mountain terrain and groomed park lanes, so even skiers who focus on freestyle get constant exposure to changing snow, natural features and the kind of varied conditions that build a broad toolkit.

Through OS Crew, his map extends beyond a single resort. While VORTEX is a multi-location project rather than a Tahoe-only film, it reflects a lifestyle of chasing winter across different corners of North America, from urban rail zones to backcountry bowls and private park builds. Being part of such a crew means adapting to different snowpacks, weather patterns and resort cultures as the project moves from place to place. That diversity, even if only partially visible so far in his public footage, is what will gradually round out his skiing, turning him from a rider known mainly for one park lap into someone comfortable wherever the crew decides to point the cameras.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

As an emerging skier within a crew environment, Dobrianov’s gear choices are shaped as much by practicality as by sponsorship. OS Crew projects like VORTEX are supported by brands including J Skis, Dakine, Roxa Boots, Daymaker Touring and ReWinch, creating an ecosystem where durable park skis, reliable boots and outerwear, and winches capable of generating repeatable speed are all part of the toolkit. Even when those logos support the crew as a whole rather than any one rider individually, they influence what kind of equipment ends up under his feet and on his back during a season of filming and resort laps.

For everyday skiers looking at his situation and wondering what they can take from it, the main lesson is coherence. A park-focused skier who wants to follow a similar path should think in terms of a setup that survives repeated use on metal and hard landings while still feeling lively enough for creative lines—a twin-tip ski with solid edges, boots stiff enough for control but comfortable for long days, and outerwear that stands up to both lift-served storm days and long sessions standing around between takes. Nikolay’s current path shows that you do not need the flashiest or most specialized gear to make progress; you need equipment you trust enough to focus on your skiing and your crew’s story.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Fans and progressing skiers care about Nikolay Dobrianov because he represents a relatable, modern version of how a freeski career can start. Instead of appearing suddenly with a major contest result, he has emerged gradually through small but visible projects: a featured park lap at a famous resort, rider credit in a long-running independent film series and a recognizable presence online under a consistent handle. His story so far shows that paying attention to style, contributing to crew projects and saying yes to opportunities like a filmed park lap can add up over time.

For skiers who see themselves more in local terrain parks and small film projects than in formal competition gates, his trajectory offers a clear, attainable template. Build smooth, confident lines in your home park, connect with crews that share your vision and be willing to put in the unseen work that makes final cuts possible. Watching Dobrianov’s available footage with an analytical eye—how he moves through a set of features, how he manages speed and how he keeps his skiing fun and welcoming—can provide both inspiration and practical cues. As his role in future OS Crew projects and other edits grows, he will likely become an even stronger reference point for riders who want to turn everyday park laps into something bigger.

Profile and significance

Trevor Hattabaugh is an American freeski athlete who quietly blended high-level halfpipe results with a later pivot toward film projects and all-mountain freeskiing. Raised in Boise, Idaho, he first learned to ski at Bogus Basin, where a strong local freestyle program helped him into moguls, aerials and slopestyle before long. When that program shut down he shifted to the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation, spending his high school years skipping Friday classes to ride the lifts at Sun Valley Resort and refine his park and pipe skills. Those long days paid off: by age nineteen, after moving to Salt Lake City for college, he had climbed to around 20th in the world and inside the top ten in the United States in men’s halfpipe on the AFP rankings, earning invitations to World Cup starts and a spot on the U.S. team for the FIS Freestyle Junior World Ski Championships in Valmalenco, Italy.

Hattabaugh’s significance inside freeski culture comes from the way he used that competitive foundation as a springboard into a broader life in skiing. A serious knee injury at the Mammoth Grand Prix ended his first World Cup chapter just as it began, but instead of walking away he doubled down on coaching, film segments and deep-snow skiing. As a team athlete for boutique ski brand Crosson, with a full segment in OnSlaught’s street-and-park movie “Activate” and later appearances in the crew film “Twenty Twenty” and the OS Crew project “VORTEX,” he became part of the independent film ecosystem that drives much of modern freeski progression. For fans who follow both contest pipelines and DIY movie crews, he stands out as an example of how a racer-style work ethic can coexist with a more creative, film-driven vision of the sport.

Competitive arc and key venues

The competitive arc of Trevor Hattabaugh’s career runs through many of the classic proving grounds in North American freestyle. After switching from Bogus Basin’s cancelled program to the Sun Valley team, he raced through USASA events and regional halfpipe starts, piling up repetitions in the pipe under the guidance of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation. A breakthrough came when he was named to the U.S. team for the 2014 Freestyle Junior World Ski Championships, representing Boise and SVSEF in men’s halfpipe on the Valmalenco, Italy venue against the strongest juniors in the world. Around the same period, he appeared at open events such as the Aspen Snowmass Freeskiing Open, reinforcing his place among the deeper field of North American halfpipe specialists.

By nineteen, now living in Utah and studying at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Hattabaugh’s AFP rankings told the story: roughly 20th in the world and 10th in the United States in men’s halfpipe, with a third-place finish at USASA Nationals in the Men’s Open division creating momentum toward the sport’s highest level. A World Cup invitation followed, but the Mammoth Grand Prix stop turned into a turning point for the wrong reasons when a crash in the pipe tore his ACL and MCL. That injury effectively paused his push toward Olympic-qualifying circuits, but it also opened the door to a different role. He stepped into coaching with Park City Ski & Snowboard, sharing his expertise with younger park and pipe athletes while quietly rebuilding his own confidence and redefining what success in skiing would look like.

How they ski: what to watch for

In clips from his competitive years, Hattabaugh skis the halfpipe with a classic, technically sound style that still reads well today. He approaches hits with measured speed rather than desperate pumping, staying tall and stacked over his boots as he climbs the wall. His spins emphasize clean axes and solid grabs over sheer spin count, with left- and right-side hits showing a willingness to work on both directions rather than relying only on a strong side. Landings are typically placed high enough on the wall to maintain flow into the next hit, a detail that judges appreciate and that viewers can study when learning how to keep a pipe run fluid instead of stalling between tricks.

As his focus shifted away from rankings, his skiing became less about scoring formula and more about expression across the mountain. Season edits show him taking that same pipe discipline into jump lines and all-mountain features, using solid pop and stable body position to keep rotations on axis even when the takeoff is less than perfect. When you watch his older segment in “Activate” or his shots in “Twenty Twenty” and “VORTEX,” look closely at how he manages speed into hand-built jumps, keeps his shoulders calm during spins and maintains a centered stance on landings so he can immediately link into the next feature. It is the same toolkit that carried him into the top twenty of the AFP rankings, repurposed for a looser, more creative format.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Resilience is a throughline in Hattabaugh’s story. Tearing a knee at a major Grand Prix just as a World Cup career is beginning is the sort of setback that convinces many athletes to step away for good. Instead, he used recovery time to reassess his goals and came back to the sport in multiple roles: coach, film skier and later big-snow explorer. Taking a job as a halfpipe coach with Park City Ski & Snowboard, he spent four winters helping younger athletes navigate the same terrain he had just left, bringing an insider’s understanding of run construction, pressure management and the realities of balancing school, training and travel.

Parallel to that structured coaching life, Hattabaugh kept a foot firmly planted in the independent film world. His Crosson athlete biography highlights a full segment in the OnSlaught movie “Activate,” and his name appears again in the iF3-listed “Twenty Twenty” project that followed the crew through a chaotic season. More recently, he joined Boise-based OS Crew for their tenth annual film “VORTEX,” a street-and-powder mix supported by companies such as J Skis, Dakine and Roxa Boots. Those projects do more than simply showcase tricks; they connect his story back to Boise and the Idaho–Utah corridor, giving younger riders from smaller markets a tangible example of someone who carried contest experience into long-form creative skiing.

Geography that built the toolkit

The geography of Hattabaugh’s life in skiing explains much of how he rides. Growing up in Boise meant that Bogus Basin was his laboratory, a community-focused hill where a strong freestyle program once gave local kids access to jumps, rails and coaching without the atmosphere of a mega-resort. When that program ended, weekend and Friday-off pilgrimages to Sun Valley Resort took over, exposing him to longer vertical, higher-spec parks and a culture of serious yet playful skiing that has shaped generations of Idaho freestylers. Those drives between Boise and Sun Valley became central to his teenage years, and it shows in the mix of work ethic and joy he brings to the hill.

Later chapters added more maps to his internal atlas. Moving to Salt Lake City immersed him in the Wasatch, with world-class terrain at Park City Mountain, Brighton and other nearby resorts feeding his training days while he studied at the University of Utah. A standout memory he often cites is skiing late-winter pipe laps at Cardrona Alpine Resort in New Zealand, discovering the uncanny sensation of mid-August winter in the Southern Hemisphere. He has also looked toward Montana—specifically Whitefish—as a base for a more powder-and-film-oriented phase of life, a natural progression for someone who has already checked the boxes of junior worlds, Grand Prix starts and coaching in one of North America’s core park-and-pipe hubs.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

As a member of the Crosson athlete team, Hattabaugh rides equipment that reflects both his park roots and his newer all-mountain ambitions. His favorite model, the Imperium 177, is described as a lightweight yet durable ski built to handle rails, rocks and big jumps without sacrificing the low-weight feel you want when boot-packing a couloir or hiking for a late-day lap. That balance between toughness and touring-friendly weight is unusually important for a skier whose time is split between resort park laps, sidecountry lines and film trips where carrying skis on the back is part of most days.

The practical takeaway for progressing skiers is less about the exact model and more about the philosophy behind his gear choices. Hattabaugh values skis that are forgiving enough to survive abuse but precise enough to reward good technique, paired with boots and bindings that hold up to halfpipe transitions and hard park landings. On the safety side, his backcountry-oriented plans presuppose a full avalanche kit and the training to use it, especially as independent film crews push deeper into off-piste terrain. For anyone building their own setup, his example argues for coherent quivers: a primary ski that truly matches the terrain and style you ride most often, and an equipment strategy that lets you explore powder, park and travel without constantly worrying about gear failure.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Fans of freeskiing care about Trevor Hattabaugh because his path illustrates more than one way to “make it” in the sport. He never became an Olympic headliner, but he reached a level—top-twenty in the world in halfpipe, Junior Worlds selection, Grand Prix starts—that proves how far dedication and regional programs can take a motivated skier from Boise. When injury closed the door on a straightforward World Cup career, he redirected that same drive into coaching the next generation and stacking film clips with independent crews rather than walking away from skiing altogether. That resilience resonates with riders who understand that not every career follows a straight line from youth team to podiums.

For progressing skiers, his story provides a practical template. Master the basics in whatever pipe or park you can access, seek out strong coaching when possible, and be willing to pivot—toward film, coaching or new terrain—when circumstances change. Watch his older halfpipe edits to study clean, repeatable trick mechanics, then follow his movie segments in “Activate,” “Twenty Twenty” and “VORTEX” to see how those same fundamentals translate to urban setups and creative jump lines. In doing so, you get a fuller picture of what a lifelong relationship with freeskiing can look like: technically grounded, geographically adventurous and open to new roles as the sport, and the skier, evolves.