Kai Jones

Kai Jones has been on skis since he was 18 months old, honing his abilities on the rugged terrain of Wyoming’s Grand Targhee and Jackson Hole resorts. Growing up in Victor, Idaho, the technical and powder-stacked peaks of the Tetons have long been Kai’s playground—he’s been tackling iconic backcountry lines since elementary school. His environment has surely shaped his style; Kai has a prowess years his senior combined with the non-stop energy of youth, and his no-holds-barred approach to sending is front and center in his riding. At age 9, Kai started competing in junior big mountain contests. When he was 11, he was the under-12 champion of the Worldwide Freeride Tour. That same season, he sent it off the infamous Smart Bastard, a 35-foot cliff just beyond the ropes at JHMR. The next year, his cliff drop made it into his first video part in Teton Gravity Research’s Far Out. Since then, he has continued to set his own line on his skis while stacking footage for TGR, showcasing an ever-evolving and uncanny ability to navigate technical terrain. This past winter, while filming for TGR’s Stoke the Fire, Kai stepped to the mountains of Alaska for the first time. Last summer, he summited and skied down the 13,776-foot Grand Teton. What does the future hold for this rising son of the Tetons? At the rate he’s going, anything he wants.