If you haven’t heard of Kai Jones, buckle up. He’s a 10-year-old big mountain skier from Wyoming who puts on a flashy show on snow wherever he goes.
Yes, you can find him skiing off cliffs, throwing backflips, sliding down park rails and launching himself off cabin roofs. Ultimately, though, he rides his sticks to squeeze every bit of enjoyment out of life.
“I ski because it’s a good way to get out into the mountains, and enjoy life to the fullest,” he said in his 2017 season edit, which Teton Gravity Research released on their Facebook page in December.
In the edit, Kai takes on the legendary Corbet’s Couloir, which has been called “America’s scariest ski slope.” The Jackson Hole run was named after mountain guide Barry Cobert, who saw the area decades ago and said, “Someday, someone will ski that.”
In 1967, a ski patroller named Lonnie Ball was the first person to take on the line which features an entrance 10 feet wide that leads to a narrow ski run surrounded by rocks on three sides. In order to get into the couloir, a skier or snowboarder must drop off a 10 to 20-foot cornice (depending on snow level) and point it straight to avoid colliding with a rock face.
Take a look at how Kai navigates the infamous line 32 seconds into the video, and enjoy his big mountain flare.
Kai’s father, Todd Jones, is the co-founder of Teton Gravity Research, which is an action sports media company that fuels progression in sports like skiing, mountain biking and surfing through its films and website.
With that kind of bloodline and exposure, it’s no wonder Kai is progressing on his skis at an incredible rate.
Kai has his own Instagram page, which is definitely worth taking a look at. After all, one day we could be seeing him with Olympic gold around his neck or in the halfpipe at the X Games. The sky’s the limit. But, he already knows that.
