The freeskiing world has watched Kai Jones grow up. We’ve seen him from pre-teen phenom to surviving a backcountry accident that could have ended his career before he was old enough to vote, and now to a full-fledged adult on the other side of it all. With a full season back under his belt after injury, and another one on the horizon, the 19-year-old Jones has released a new edit that’s fairly mind-blowing.
As mentioned, Jones took a notable spill two seasons ago. At just 16, he was left with two broken legs, he’d torn both his medial and lateral meniscus, and went straight into a same-day surgery that turned out to be just the first of three more to come. He walked for the first time two months later and miraculously got back on the hill by the following winter. Jones didn’t hold back when admitting that the journey back wasn’t fun, even to the point that it was “hard to love skiing” at times.
“For kids trying to progress, I’d say it’s crucial to remember why you’re doing it,” Jones said in 2024. “Keep your intentions pure and have fun — don’t let outside pressure take that away. Sage and Ian taught me an important lesson: ‘Go slow to go fast.’ It’s easy to get ahead of yourself in big mountain terrain, but if you slow down, absorb your environment, and stay present, you can make better decisions and achieve your goals.”
Fast forward to 2025 and the release of Origin, his latest compilation, and it’s hard to see somebody who’d once struggled to find joy in skiing. The lines are insane and his commitment is crystal clear from the first run to the last.
“After getting hurt two years ago, I was motivated to get back to the sport I love,” Jones says now. “I put my blood, sweat, and tears into this project to prove to myself that I could come back from my injury. I couldn’t be more proud of how it turned out.”
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