Pro Skier Attends The Event That's "Redefining Ski Culture"

Founded by skiers Ferdinand Dahl, James Woods, and Øystein Bråten, Jib League functions in two parts.

First, there's an open jam, where up-and-coming skiers have the opportunity to qualify for the event proper.

During the open jam, anyone—yes, that means you—can participate. This is a marked departure from pretty much every pro-level freeskiing competition series.

I couldn't arrive at the X-Games or Freeride World Tour hoping for a chance to show my stuff and qualify for the big show. Everyone is initially on an even playing field at Jib League, even if you haven't heard of them.

Then, the second part of the event—the pro sessions—begins, featuring a mixture of invited, established professional skiers and qualified riders from the open jam.

The pro sessions comprise three jams centered on different freestyle features. At the end of each, every involved athlete votes on their favorite skier of the day. The skier who receives the most points over the three sessions takes home the overall win. The pro sessions are entirely athlete-judged.

During Hackel's tour of the Jib League Innsbruck stop, he chatted with skier and certified FIS judge Remco Kayser. Hackel wanted to know if Kayser, who was competing in Jib League, used his hard-earned FIS-level judging skills to determine his favorite skiers of the day.

His answer? "No. I go full subjective."

That response speaks volumes. Instead of a rigid rulebook, every competitor's unique perspective combines to decide what "winning" skiing looks like at Jib League.

For some, that might be slow, styled-out spins. Others might prefer the type of skiing that tends to appear atop FIS podiums: massive flips and spins.

Either way, unlike a traditionally judged event, there's no singular path to victory at Jib League—it's not about stomping the cleanest trick with the most rotations.

Instead, riders are encouraged to ski how they like, carving a path forward for competitive skiing free from the mold imposed by many event circuits.

The jam format, too, presents riders with the opportunity to experiment. Many of them are used to having, say, two to three attempts during a competition. Due to this constraint, every single jump and rail counts, punishing risk-taking and creativity. One bobble on one rail could tank the score of an entire run.

In contrast, anything goes during Jib League's jams, which offer unlimited attempts during a pre-established window of time. Crash trying a wacky trick? No big deal. Go up for another lap.

These combined elements—the inclusive open jam, rider judging, and jam format—mean that at any given Jib League, you'll likely see a wider variety of tricks and skiing styles than your standard FIS slopestyle competition. And skiing, whether you're talking about brands, people, opinions, or styles, thrives on diversity.