Kai Jones, Wyatt Gentry, and Tucker Carr grew up together skiing Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. If there were ever as solid a testimony for the saying, “You are the company you keep,” they are it — three athletes raised on the same mountain, riding and competing together, and all growing into world-class freeride skiers.
So, what’s it like growing up in one America’s greatest ski towns? Access to some of the best off-piste terrain in North America. Corbet’s Couloir in your backyard. And most winters filled with incredible powder. But besides that…
“I think, for all the boys, the weirdest part (was) the social awkwardness from not going to school and just skiing too much,” Jones jokes.
Speaking of school, Gentry attended a preschool that was underneath the gondola in Jackson. His mom has worked at JHMR for almost 30 years. Tucker Carr’s dad was a sheriff. All three, as Jones puts it plainly, are second-generation ski bums, so the trio are about as ingrained in the life of a destination ski town as they come.
It goes without saying that three individuals growing up in a sport and culture together are likely to become incredible athletes. But in TGR’s new film, “Actually, It Is Rocket Science,” their relationship is shown with all the quirks and funny memories that come with it.
“Growing up in Jackson is like being in a movie 24-7, I feel like,” says Carr. “My Dad’s the sheriff, so we’ve gotta keep it between some lines. But we’re constantly finding fun.”
