Phrases: Walter Wooden
Walter Wooden has been part of the freeski group for years. As each a competitor, advertiser and fan, he’s solid a singular perspective and love for the sport. FREESKIER is proud to function this lower from his time at Jib League Copper this winter. Try the total edit and some phrases from Wooden beneath.
Freeskiing didn’t hook us due to podiums, excellent runs, or attempting to go viral. It grabbed us as a result of it made us really feel one thing. Not for medals. Not for likes. Not for some coach holding a clipboard on the sideline. Freeskiing caught us by the guts—and Jib League is bringing that feeling again.
As a result of right here’s the reality: all of us fall in love with freeskiing for a similar cause—one thing or somebody strikes a deep nerve inside us. However it’s not till we notice we’re not alone in that feeling by discovering group that our obsession really takes root.
For me, it was watching “Snowboarding’s Final Stand” on VHS as a toddler whereas my dad and mom argued within the subsequent room. Even now, I nonetheless return to these jittery 16mm frames and title tag title playing cards in my reminiscence to calm my anxiousness. I gained the film from a slopestyle competitors I had forerun at Berthoud Move—the mountain the place my dad and mom labored as ski patrollers, and, coincidentally, the positioning of Tanner Corridor’s first slopestyle look. That second lit the spark for a dream I might later credit score for almost each alternative in my life. From itemizing ‘X Video games Competitor’ on job functions to waking up every morning to my Spotify playlist fittingly titled “Classes 1242”, freeskiing has formed almost the whole lot about who I’m.
After I confirmed up at Jib League, the very first thing I observed was Ferdi enjoying tracks from Poor Boyz Productions’ “Completely satisfied Dayz,” Kya Bamba from the “Candide Kamera” movies, and Cali P from Iberg’s classics. My coronary heart truthfully fluttered. It felt like house—however I nonetheless hesitated, retreating into my neck gaiter just like the social recluse I’ve all the time been. I’m shy at coronary heart.
From YouTube:
Just a few laps with Torm, B-Dan, Wyatt, Simon, Rylie and mates throughout Jib League’s second cease of 2025 at Woodward Copper. Shot and edited by the lens of considered one of freeskiing’s best, Walter Wooden.
Skiers: Tormod Frostad, Daniel Bacher, Wyatt Dorman, Simon Miller, Rylie Warnick
Movie, Edit, Sound & Graphic Design: Walter Wooden
Jib League: James Woodsy, Øystein Bråten, Ferdinand Dahl
After spending the previous few years in San Francisco—going to high school, residing life, and doing the whole lot however snowboarding—the very last thing I anticipated was a hug. In any case that point, I felt like a stranger in my very own ski boots. However there it was: the identical heat embrace I felt as a child, rewatching Mike Hornbeck after-bang like he by no means left the bottom, slipping into my first outsized Jiberish hoodie, Siver jacket, or Destiny pants. The mountain radiated with familiarity, development, and smiles.
Between Woodsy’s infectious charisma echoing by the mic, Øystein’s disarming heat as he gave tips to youngsters, and Ferdi’s calm vitality as he approached a frightening function with awe-inspiring creativity—it felt like I used to be 4 once more, starstruck as Tanner Corridor walked previous together with his Rossignol Scratches slung over his shoulder and gave me a excessive 5 at Berthoud Move.
That feeling—so deep and electrical—got here dashing again. And if it hit me this difficult, after so lengthy away, I’ve little doubt Jib League is igniting that very same obsessive ardour in others. The identical fireplace all of us felt the primary time we noticed Henrik cap blunt, JP tweak mute, or TJ shoot a bow-and-arrow on the display screen.
Jib League carries that factor—the intangible magic all of us crave in snowboarding. And what makes it totally different is what makes it obligatory.
I used to assume being totally different was one thing to repair. Sponsors would ask for another spin so FIS would give me a pat on the again. Mother and father would inform me to be extra like that skier over there if I needed to afford to maintain snowboarding subsequent season. I spent a lot time attempting to ski just like the individual in entrance of me, I forgot find out how to ski like myself. Big mistake.
What Jib League will get proper—what so many people overlook—is that distinction is gorgeous. They have fun the bizarre. The artistic. The “free” in freeskiing.
Jib League isn’t only a new competitors format. It’s not a brand new course. It’s the one course that issues. It displays the soul of freeskiing. Like the game itself, it’s fluid—not a rulebook, however a motion. At all times evolving. At all times in movement. That’s what Jib League is doing: transferring ahead, and reminding us—alongside the way in which—why we fell in love with freeskiing within the first place.
