One of the most unique personalities in action sports joins the show! UNLEASHED welcomes 33-year-old freeski innovator Jossi Wells from Wanaka, New Zealand. In his exclusive interview with The Dingo, Danny, and Brittney, the three-time World Champion and X Games gold medalist lays out the philosophy behind his style-driven approach to freestyle skiing.
Recognized as a true snow sports trailblazer, Jossi Wells has impacted the world of freeski with boundary-pushing trick innovations and one-of-a-kind contest performances. The native New Zealander has won every marquee competition at least once, including milestones such as the World Superpipe Championship (2008), AFP World Championship (2010), and X Games Aspen (2016). Oozing with style, Jossi’s video parts – including 2022’s ‘Good Luck’ – are the stuff of legend. Plus, the innovator shines a light on the world’s top talent with the annual Jossi Wells Invitational freeski competition hosted at his local mountain in NZ. Hear about the past, present, and future of freeski from Wells himself – only on UNLEASHED!
Press the play button (and hit Like) on the new episode of UNLEASHED with The Dingo, Danny, and Brittney.
Make sure to subscribe and stay tuned for more UNLEASHED episodes. Regular editions of the show are recorded live inside Studio M at Monster Energy headquarters in Corona, California and published bi-weekly. Also follow @monsterenergy for updates.
One of the most unique personalities in action sports joins the show! UNLEASHED welcomes 33-year-old freeski innovator Jossi Wells from Wanaka, New Zealand. In his exclusive interview with The Dingo, Danny, and Brittney, the three-time World Champion and X Games gold medalist lays out the philosophy behind his style-driven approach to freestyle skiing.
Recognized as a true snow sports trailblazer, Jossi Wells has impacted the world of freeski with boundary-pushing trick innovations and one-of-a-kind contest performances. The native New Zealander has won every marquee competition at least once, including milestones such as the World Superpipe Championship (2008), AFP World Championship (2010), and X Games Aspen (2016). Oozing with style, Jossi’s video parts – including 2022’s ‘Good Luck’ – are the stuff of legend. Plus, the innovator shines a light on the world’s top talent with the annual Jossi Wells Invitational freeski competition hosted at his local mountain in NZ. Hear about the past, present, and future of freeski from Wells himself – only on UNLEASHED!
Press the play button (and hit Like) on the new episode of UNLEASHED with The Dingo, Danny, and Brittney.
Make sure to subscribe and stay tuned for more UNLEASHED episodes. Regular editions of the show are recorded live inside Studio M at Monster Energy headquarters in Corona, California and published bi-weekly. Also follow @monsterenergy for updates.
I mean, it's like you go to the X Games, right? And like, you win and it's like the 3 hours after you win, like the the podium and this and that it’s like sick! And you’re back at the hotel you’re seeing everyone in the lobby, you're like, yeah, sick! And then that night’s sweet, you celebrate and then you wake up and you're like, Word. Well, that's over. Like onto the next thing. And like, chasing the, comp results just is kind of this never ending, like, When’s enough? Now we have a guest, guys. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we do. Are we on. We're on. We're on. I mean, I've. Right on. We started right around when we found out. Danny Airplane. Danny Airplane. Airplane mode. It is on airplane mode. She's. Look at you. Yeah. Oh, professional. I'm just trying to injure, injure your mushroom hat, and it's cool. I bought this on Instagram. Okay, cool. It seems like you bought a lot on Instagram. I did. I got that Rodman's shirt. She you get off Instagram, I always worry about like Instagram. If you buy something, if it's going to show up or not. Actually, one time I ordered this like really cheesy couples mug, one of those color changing ones. And I tried to get it because it was like a Valentine's Day ad that they sent me and I was like, Oh, sick. That's super easy. Like six weeks from Valentine's Day. Like, I'll upload this photo of me and my girlfriend and I get this cool heat changing mug where it looks like a normal mug. But when you fill it up in hot water, the photo appears. So yeah, except it didn't come for Valentine's Day. And then I was staying. It was like six months later it showed up and just this ball, it looked like literally, like narcotics was shipped in. Like the people I was, like, staying out were like, You got some package from China. They're like, Is that like fentanyl or something? And she said, Oh, it's my color changing mug six months ago. Still have it. It's gorgeous. Wow. So I've had good luck. That's good. So I guess today Jesse Wells at a one in New Zealand, six X-Games medals, one gold, three silver, two bronze. Big silver guy over here. That's right. Represented New Zealand in the 2014 Olympics. World super pipe champion in 2008. It's crazy because your brother is now kind of the pipe guy. Not any more. But he was. He was. Yeah. Who was better out of the two of you? Well, in the beginning, yeah, I was. But then he got better. Yeah, you got better. He got good. And then I bailed out of pipe because I was over it. Yeah, Crazy. I saw him bigger than he kind of did both of them at the same time. We all did. I mean, you know, we've had that conversation with the few athletes about how, like, we were lucky in our generation to be able to, like, actually compete in a few things. And now the schedules are so split between like big air pipe slopestyle that you kind of like can't really just show up to a mega weekend and get to do all three. Yeah, totally. I feel like when I grew up that was just kind of part and parcel. Everyone was doing all three disciplines if you were a bad ass. Oh yeah. It was like, you know, people are throwing pots and they were competing and they were competing in every discipline there was. And then as things got more and more specialized, people got writer riders were like, okay, I'm just going to focus on that's just going to focus on that. So it became really difficult to try and like kind of ruin everything. Yeah, I mean, it's just the nature of isolation, like progression. Progression, progression ruins everything. Yeah. Thanks, Danny. I'm not the one who overly progressed it. I just kind of was like the first people to do, like, 1080s back to back the definition of, like, what? Like, is hard. What I will. And then I'll do one and then all the other to know what it was doing it. I was like, Why don't doing this? All right. Crazy. You actually. Yeah. Wow. You fucked everybody, Dan But I believe I believe that within progression, especially like in our sports of skiing and snowboarding, there's a big major like regression and like style becomes more important than what is just like spinning to win or whatever, right? And people start to view these other tricks again as like holy grails, right? Like cool caught five forties and three sixties can actually like look way cooler now because people are spinning so much that a lot of people who watch it, even really good writers don't know what they're doing. Hang on, hang on. I don't know what they're doing. I don't think I could call a snowball. I couldn't call. I there's no way I could legitimately call slopestyle contest run, not without training. I mean, it's tough. I like I mean, I did ski big it for like, I don't know, 15 years. Yeah and watching the last Olympics ski But yeah I was like struggling knowing what tricks they were doing and I'd been out of the game for like three years. I was like, Hey, it's getting crazy. And you probably brought some big rotation into there. Totally. I mean, yeah, but then I feel like you really look back to, like, you're, like, kind of, like the style monster. Well, I mean, I think, like, you know, the essence of these sports, you know, kind of across the board style and individuality has always been such an important factor. Um, and at least that was for me, because the people that I grew up looking up to, that it was clear that that was their path, you know what I mean? And that's always been tough. If you're doing the contest scene and you're trying to like obviously get good results and put down your best runs and you're at the end of the day, you're kind of skiing for a panel of judges. So you can't do exactly I mean, you can do what you want to do, but if you want to end up on the top of the podium, there's like sort of the lose formula on how to get there. So that's kind of the age old battle of like the the competitive action sports athlete. We like. You know, it's like your art form, but then it's being judged in like this scientific box and you're like trying to fit into it. It's weird. It's such a crazy point to say, because we're there at that point where it's the Olympics are around every four years. So it gets this like international eyeballs, more so, you know, than once a year that core people on X Games or whatever kind of major other events there are. But like educating, I think it's hard to educate people that aren't in the sport now because it is like that. It's what they're doing. Like us three here have would all, you know, kind of look at ourselves, at verified and knowing what we know within our industry. Um, but then again it goes back to being a judged sport. So it's like you're too what you're doing is different to what the other guys are doing. So trying to like showcase or trying to tell people that don't know anything about it that will know the reason why this person won is because he did this, this and this. But really, it goes back to the judge's opinion, which isn't always right either. I mean, that's that's that's the age old battle that, you know, if you're going to take up a career in professional action sports, you're going to have to get comfortable with the fact that, like sometimes you're going to get hooked up with scores and sometimes going to get screwed over. And you just have to stay level through it. Like, yeah, all of it. You can't be like too gassed when you've won, when you maybe shouldn't have. You shouldn't be too bummed when you get screwed over. It's like you've just got to become pretty level and like, just show up, do the best that you can and be like, I learned to just focus on my writing and be try to be hot in my writing. And then if I was happy in my writing, whatever else was like a bonus. Yeah. Where do you think like and this is like kind of now like, you know, like I feel like you've gone into that second stage of your career per se, or whatever, that kind of next. What's been the most exciting part about that? Like not having to be like, Shit, man, I got to go and buckle in and do some 1080s or 1260s or 16 whatever. They are just frickin, you know, you have to be not waking up and having to focus on that. I mean, the best parts probably like not having to show up to like 730 in the morning practices and that slopestyle course when it's still dark. You've got finals coming up in like half an hour. You know, I was pretty loose. But I think for me, my my favorite part about moving into the film realm is like getting to have complete control over like when and where I perform and also like having complete creative control of how your writing is being presented. You know what I mean? When you're when you're at a contest, you're kind of you're trying to add some individual flavor, but you're also trying to like complete the formula to get on the podium. Whereas with the film side, you have complete control over the music, the editing, the the spot choice, how you build the job, like what crew you're with and getting to hit it. And I really learned to enjoy like the entire process of a season of like being out in the backcountry with the homies, enjoying like every moment it takes to like, make that film at the end of the year. Whereas like with competing, it's like it can become very like result focused or like outcome focused. And then I feel like on the other side of the filming, it's like the journey Peace. BE The journey, Yeah. You know, And also it's like, like you're saying with the event focus just kind of rolling through that season. It's like there's an event the next weekend and it kind of like sometimes washes away what happened the weekend before. Even if you had a great weekend or a bad weekend. And I think one thing that really stands out is when you get to spend that whole time, you know, a year filming with a crew and you're like building up this whole video part and video and then you get to release it at the end of the year because then it's like all eyes, you know, get to watch it at the same time. And it has such a like meaningful, you know, like language to that sport, right? Where it's like everyone gets to watch it and they're like, all right, next winter, like I'm going to do like this, which RC did and like, I'm going to make it my own by maybe adding I go 180 or taking a 180 off, you know, And I think that's like a it's huge to be able to work on something for so long and then just like get to release it totally. It's such a fulfilling feeling. I mean, it's like you go to the X Games, right? And like you win and it's like the 3 hours after, after you win, like the the podium and this that is like second year back at the hotel and you seeing everyone in the lobby, you're like, yes. And then that night, sweet, you celebrate and then you wake up and you're like, word, Well, that's over, like on the X thing and like chasing the like the the court results just is kind of this never ending like wins enough. And it was an interesting time when I decided I was going to bail from competing and move into the film route and I'm like, damn, like, I have to right now. I have to be okay with the fact that I am not going to have a chance to win another X Games medal because I'm choosing to go a different path. And that when your whole like life has been based around like that being the pinnacle every year of what you're working towards, to then be like step away from it was like a super weird feeling to be comfortable with. And as soon as I became comfortable with that, it was like this kind of weight was lifted off like, Oh, okay, So like now my whole winter can be focused on every day that I'm out there getting to pursue my passion with the people I love and working towards a common goal. It's like super dope. Um, but yeah, the competition thing is like, it's such a I love competition. I've done it, you know, for a long, long period of my life. And it's brought me so much. But stepping away from it was also like really fulfilling to. I love the idea. No, but I sorry. I love the idea that not only like, you know, the sport inside it out. So when you're producing something, you can produce it from the eyes of a skier or snowboarder like, you know, I mean, you can tell always if there's someone that's inauthentic and making anything, you're like, they don't really know what they're doing. But like you, since you've been there, you know the angles to do and like what you'd want to see as a writer and like, what would help you, I think as a skier or, you know, like the younger you, you know, it's like you're creating something for the youth of what you were. So it's automatically just an advantage. Yeah, totally. Having been able to be out in the backcountry and have like a team of film filmmakers and a team of writers and we're all working towards this like common goal and you have a lot of time to work on this stuff, right? And so it's like you just have this amazing opportunity to craft exactly what you want and put the time into making it exactly how you want. And sometimes when you're competing, it's like so on the fly and you're adapting to runs and you may, you know, like, say for instance, like the year that I won X-Games slopestyle, like there's a couple of tricks in there that I'm like, oh, they were like, aren't really that lit, but it was the best on the day at the time. And so you look back, I mean, like I see that run, like, I wish I wish I did that a little better or that a little bit. Whereas in the film side you can be like, Oh, just try it again. I'll get better, You know what I mean? But yeah, I mean, I think like both sides of the sport, a super amazing. It's really, it's, it is cool that we as athletes have the ability to like experience both sides of our industry. Um, and that was always kind of the goal as a kid was like, I'm going to do the comps as long as I can. And then when I feel like it's time to switch, I'll go into the film route. I like that you like you're talking there about, you know, everyone reaching a common goal. And I think the difference between like filming and competing is that common goal is you have a team, your film is your photographer is whoever else is, they're part of it and you guys are in that together. That's like a journey that you guys are in. And yeah, you talk about like the 530 or the or they're having to ski in a final or an icy thing, but it's the same, uh, you know, objective. There's a goal. It, you know, the goal is to go out, compete and win, and the goal is to go out and film an amazing video part. But that takes a whole season to do that correctly, sometimes more. I mean, it's way harder work making a film way home in a video part than it is like contests. Like when you switch, you're like, Oh, this is be sick. Six can be way more relaxing. I don't know the pressure of of the finals final run like it's all on your shoulders. I'm going to like step away from that. It's gonna be sick. And then all of a sudden you're like, Damn, dude, I'm getting up at, like, 430 and, like, going to have to learn how to ride a snowmobile only shoveling all the snow. Really? That's crazy. Two days boating job and then a rag doll ten times and then going to get one clip and you're like, Wow, that's a week, a week in the life, you know, hard work, you know. But it's really fulfilling work, too. So, I mean, you know, yeah, moving away from contests, it's definitely not more like the the work intensity ramps up because it's very like you have to like self-driven, right? I mean, obviously you're out there and you really do in the trick. It's in your mind or off this jump, whatever is the best you can do or however you built it. But it's really for like you and maybe the filmer. That was a hard part for me to wrap my head around where I was like, I don't even really like this film today. I was like, Wait, why am I out here snowboarding if this guy's going to do like a people and I know who one of them is and the guy like, he may not even be impressed or whatever, maybe he'll miss it. It's on 16 millimeter at this time, so you can't even really watch it for him. But did you feel much on 16 or was that you were a little bit after that? After that, Yeah. The first movie we did with Slater and those guys, it was all in 16. And you never know. They never knew like what shots they got or it didn't until the end of the season. Oh no, it's over like back. And we're like, wow, the make is not. That's how it used to go to hell. Yeah, it was definitely like, you have to find it within you. And I think but at the end of the year, being able to tour a video around and I mean maybe speak a little of that because that's probably one of the funnier things you can do is like a real video premier tour, right? Totally. I mean, I got a little like, unlucky, to be honest, because we when I started making films a few years ago, I was kind of just before COVID had kicked off. And so we started like got these films done and then we couldn't do them around the world. I'm like, Wait, So like the best part about, Oh, you filming? Yeah, we just hang out with everyone and show everyone like you won X games every night. Yeah, you get to celebrate with everyone every night. You show it for the work you did the whole year before you ever saw those ones. You were stuck in New Zealand that whole time, huh? I came out and did X Games Knuckle Hog, and because I like was able to get in through Homeland Security for X Games, I was like, Word? I'm staying for three months. Yeah. So I stayed and we filmed another film. Um, and then I did come out the year after. So I did these like short kind of trips during that, what you had to go through Homeland Security to get clearance to leave New Zealand to come into the US? Wow. Yeah. So ESPN like you gave them? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But it was crazy to going back home to New Zealand after I had to do two weeks locked in a hotel room when I landed in Auckland. Crazy. That was loose. It's weird because you guys are going back to this. Your dad was ski patrol actor Jonah, your mum. Is this correct? Work childcare center? Mm hmm. And you started ski racing? It, too? I saw it skiing at two stars. Skiing? It's here. And then I started ski racing at about age seven. And then so there's Byron, Beau, and Jaxon is for you. It's four of us chiefs and Bruce and Bruce. Bruce is the dad. He's like, Bruce is your dad. I've met Bruce. I've smoked a cigaret with him, probably several. That's a real ski family. And like from the heart of New Zealand, we bout about it. Is there no more core ski family in in in in. I was going to say neutral in skiing I mean there's a few you're you're a family man you got the Lenox chief ski family. Yep and then I even like within Wanaka we have the Porteous family and the Billy's family. Um and coming up now, the Harrington family, like, there's, there's these families with family. There's like, Yeah, yeah, that's crazy. But snowboarding, Bjorn, Linus and Eric, their dad was ski patrol at Brighton. Yeah. And now I guess I think beyond the ski patrol there now, too. I could be wrong if I said that incorrectly, but I think I saw him something that's following his dad's footsteps. Something weird like that. Maybe I'm fucking off with the Rockies, but their father was definitely ski patrol. That's cool. Like, that's like, real. That's real ski talk. Yeah. So, like, I mean, mum and dad from the Central Coast over in Oz, and they moved to Wanaka to work at Cardrona. And then after a couple of seasons when they were going to start a family that like Wanaka, would be a place to raise a family at. Yeah, still today they posted up and Dad was around the ski patrol. Mom was working up there as well. And then once we were school age, um, mum started homeschooling us and so we would go out there who would dead shred, shred for the day, come home to our school, work at night. If we didn't do our schoolwork at night, we couldn't go up the next day. Yeah, that's good incentive. My mom kind of, like, instilled this, like, self, like intrinsic motivation. Um, that kind of work throughout the rest of the school years. Um, yeah. So we just had this, like, amazing opportunity to spend a lot of time on snow, and yet by the age of 13 and 11, Byron and myself went to Italy for our first like northern hemisphere season, the way we did three months where in Italy we're going to play school. Prato Nervosa. He's a homeowner in Italy now, working on it, working on it like an hour from Torino. Oh, very cool. I know Torino well. Oh, yeah. It's where you got an Olympic medal, right? It's the first Olympic silver medal. Yeah. Some good memories. Did. Yeah, really good memories. I wish I could remember them, but talking about New Zealand, this is like, what I'm kind of interested about, because, you know, I feel like when you grew up. And one thing I want to say real quick about the ski patrol lifestyle, I feel like all the parents who are listening at any ski resort is like the most perfect day care for a kid without hiring babysitters. You just get them a season's pass and then they have like ski patrol lifts. They're pretty much taken care of from maybe seven or eight years on. But what was the scene like in New Zealand? Because it just froze moms out there listening, trying to save their money. As far as like the resort's. Duly noted, duly noted. But like, Britney needs a daycare system. I do just put some put a snowboard on a kid and just let them go. And that's something she's she's she's super into snowboarding. Actually. She she does Park City's her local. That is my local it's a good spot she her outfit on point. Oh it's about the outfit. Yeah. He knows this guy is more important than anyone out there. Yeah. Yeah. This is. He's like the man in black. This guy has got a style unlike many other. But I feel like there really wasn't many people before. You like, kind of pushing the way into, like, the scope of New Zealand, right? And in Australia, like, I feel when I started competing, the scene was obviously there and there's a really strong snow culture, but it wasn't like there was many names like in the competitive scenes in skiing and snowboarding in New Zealand, in Australia at that time. Yeah, I mean there's definitely a crew of guys that I grew up skiing with and looking up to that were older than me and they it was a, it was a really healthy freeski scene. Um, yeah, they used to be an event in Wanaka called the Rip Curl World Heli Challenge. Gnarliest competition ever used to be on the regular news in Australia. Heli Challenge. Yeah, that was helicopter, heli ski and snowboard like big mountain freestyle event that Tony Harrington would put on and so Wanaka had always kind of been from that point onwards, Wanaka had been a bit of a kind of hub for these kind of new sports snowboarding and free skiing, these new sports that were kind of coming through. So there was definitely crew around New Zealand, Wanaka, Queenstown, specifically that that were really crushing. And I looked up to a lot of guys that were were really amazing and some of them would hit overseas and do winters in Whistler and here and there. And so those guys like really pushed me and who I was looking up to, um, when I was, when I was really young. And then it was like really quickly I started coming over the US for Winters. How old were you first started coming over here? I was 14. My first trip, Yeah. Yeah. And then, I don't know, like couple of years and then I was at X-Games at 16 Rising then kind of like blew it and blew my collarbone to pieces. And then like the next season is when I got my first medal and it all happened super quick. It was like I was looking up to all these guys. I was like trying to learn all these tricks. And then all of a sudden, like all I was focused on was like getting good at skiing and learning how to do tricks. And then all of a sudden it's like, Oh, you just win comps by doing the tricks really well. Yeah, it all started clicking right and you just get in this flow state where you like, you almost get this green light. You're like, Oh, I do, I can do it. Okay, well, I'm going to do it then. And yeah, it all just happened. So quick. It was like from, from one year I was asking Simon Dumont for his autograph and then the next year I was like next to him at a signing while trying to figure out my signature on people's posters, like trying to trying a different one every time. Like, I don't know about this one. I don't know about. That's wild. And did you grow up watching X Games? Was that a goal when you were in New Zealand or was it? Yeah, I mean, that's like I that was that was the dream when I was younger, being from New Zealand. Like we're a pretty long way away from where the scene was and anything going on. So like we would get to the ski and snowboard films, you know, six months after that would come out here or something or you'd hear someone, they had a VHS of like the latest one and go go over to the house and check that out. Um, and then we would we didn't have I don't have Sky sport like in New Zealand. Um, they got three cable channels over there to like to watch X Games. So we would find like copies of the X games that were like super old, like I was never like tuned in live, but I knew that like X Games was the spot where it all went down. And then obviously once I came over here at 14, then I started to see it in like real life. It was like, okay, so like, that's the goal. It's crazy what you said though, to like of there being locals, like some came over same as Australia, but it definitely some local snowboarders and skiers from New Zealand Australia that never made it over here that fucking rip. Oh yeah but you know but yeah, I mean the facilities down south have been so good for so long. I mean, especially with Snow Park. Um, you know, what Frank Wells did down there was Sam, and they, like, they made basically the best place in the world to ride, park and pipe. That's crazy. Was in my backyard. Yeah, that's Travis, right. Kind of at the helm to fly down. They just blew it up like that. They had. They brought with them, like, all the media, all the attention, everything. And they had all the equipment to make the best features. And all of a sudden, like 40 minutes from my house was like the the most pop and place in all of ski and snowboard. Did you make the destination? Did you make the news down there? Did couple times. What? Okay, how did that happen? You know, let's don't skate or that. Didn't you try and drive the van up to the mountains? Yeah. I had a life goal and, you know, everyone's got to have crazy goals, you know, And for me, big audacious goal. One of my one of my dreams was like going to a foreign country and buying a van and just like having a van. That's that was one of my goals. And then and then, well, then they got a little tiny van and there was a little miss a miss scheduling of events where I was supposed to drive a van to the mountain, and they were going to tow it up to the half pipe or the jump and we were going to jump over it. And I just fell in love with driving down there in New Zealand. And you put chains on the tires and you should have seen this 1985 Toyota with chains make it all the way to the top of Cardrona. Oh, like on a groomed run
at 9:15 a.m. when the motorway 35, it had only been open for 5 minutes and my dad being in hit a ski patrol at the time he was was to deal with Danny. What did you. That's when they became boys. Well, they knew about the shoot, but obviously I drove like there is a line, invisible line that I obviously crossed. Yeah. Like the snow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This was the lodge, and I crossed that line and went really far up. And then when I got off of the groom trail, that's where the van hit a soft spot and sunk. And if I didn't go off trail, I would have been fine. Anyways, it cost me a lot of money. Not the van. The van only cost $900, but the, um. The ticket. The ticket, the lawyer, the fines, everything was like. It's like $12,000 invested. Did you get the shot? We didn't even get the shot. I didn't get the shot. I got. I got. Well, I got a mug shot. Yeah, but it was on the news in Australia. My dad's multiple times. But what was really cool about sale and Frank Wells was literally two days later, they let me drive the van all over Snow Park, however we wanted. The van became famous. The van became pretty famous. Yeah. The thing is, all spray paint it up. It's cool that shark's teeth on it. Yeah, it was. It was a sight just rolling around little Wanaka for like 5000 people living in Wanaka at the time. It's crazy for you. Like I did a junior world's competition there. Me and Danny may or may not have hooked up with Team New Zealand. I remember Mitch Brown. Maybe it was like you saying we made out with the same chick or we hooked up. We made everything. We've been dating that long. It's a long relationship we're in. We have been dating a long time. We're up over 20 years. Did. Yeah. Crazy. But the Wanaka scene is special and it's like if anyone's into skiing, snowboarding and just sightseeing in general, it's definitely like one of the coolest places in the world. What about this now? You had the the Wells Invitational, you had your event there every year. Now, after everything you went through, there was, you know, obviously when you grew up there, it was small and then it became like the hub of snowboarding and skiing just in general. Action sports. Ken BLOCK Fucking down there, isn't that right? Jumped the car. Yeah. Like pretty nice. He got away with it. Yeah. He never got charged. You paved the way. I paved the way. You're right. I do. I think he saw me. Oh, wait. I could do this better. You walk so he could run. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We have to look on the timeline and whether he did it first or not. But it definitely did. He definitely. He inspired me, you know, But then it became like it became bigger than Mount Hood ever was. It became bigger than any, you know, any summer thing in Europe, any bigger than Whistler. It became like if you're a pro skier or snowboarder in the summertime, you're in New Zealand. And they had the best park set up. They had the whole afterwards with is there a bit of a down like was a bit of a like it kind of recluse? I don't really think so. I mean like Cardrona really stepped up once. Snow Park kind of folded Cardrona stepped up their park and like started making their offering really amazing as far as the park parks go. Um, and so, and then we were already on the map down there. So people were still like, especially with the sports becoming more and more specialized and people needed to ride more and more and more people just kept migrating to and there's been people, a flood of people from national teams to people just coming down to like shoot some video, get on Ellis Kelly's into the southern Alps there, whatever. Like it's become such a hub for that kind of October, September time when, you know, the summer camps over here are kind of wrapped up. You know, the the early season stuff in Europe isn't popping yet. And so we've kind of got this this time down in New Zealand. We're like, if you want to ride on snow, this is like where it's happening. Yeah, I got it, I got it. I want to visit. What would you say, like if there was like a shred pilgrimage you would take besides just obviously I know the Wanaka area, but there's probably two or three of the other resorts or club fields. Totally. I mean, the the riding in New Zealand is super unique. Like you've been a lot of times you don't go there for neck deep powder, but you go there for a great experience knowing that deep powder. Definitely not. No, not even like Arthurs Pass. I mean, we get good snow, but because of where Like because it's a little island there, snow patches it wet, it depending on the storm but it but it changes quickly because because of the like the humidity there and stuff so like you know it snows a couple days after the storm. It's popping and then the snow kind of starts to change. So throughout New Zealand, there's a bunch of amazing resorts. You go up into Canterbury and there's what they call the club fields up there, and they're all these kind of they're not private fields that you go by lift tickets, but it's a club that runs them and they've got these roped ties that are like running on old tractors from the sixties. And it's this really, really authentic ski culture that that I love to go ski up there. It's pretty red. I'm going to try to spend a lot more time up there this season with my brothers. It's a pretty amazing terrain even in the North Island up at Ruapehu. But again, because it's a Long Island and especially the North Island is pretty flat except for real pages, massive volcanoes sticking out so that cops and law the weather. So like really active volcanoes there, too. Yeah. I mean I think the I think the last time that Ruapehu exploded was maybe 95, something like that. Isn't there a documentary on one that just exploded? Oh, yeah. I saw that the tourists one. Oh, yeah, that was Lucy. I don't want to create a battle or anything but want to throw the knife in the ring. And why is it that new New Zealand has such a, like, strong park scene? And I feel like Australia just like dozen easy did mountains are kind of flat We're we're pop dogs Yeah I mean I think like or border crossing a really fun run Aussies don't like but it gets like springtime always all season it's like springtime all season It's very damp and like wet. You don't get fluffy powder if you're going to get like that kind of snow style, you got to get it in that day. Like Thredbo. Perisher But yeah, we they both, you know, they go to their own office. These guys are a little knowledgeable. We get we get more Olympic medals than they do. I don't know about that. I'm just reading that Zoe. Zoe got her first Olympic medal for New Zealand in 2018. Yeah. And then she got a bunch of gold in 2022. Yeah. What was she at your event last year? What. She didn't. We'll pull it up in the, in the. There'll be a video pop up. What did she do. She did a first which she did a first Switchback ten. I think there was either a switchback 12 double or a forward back 12 though I think it was switched. Was it switched. Yeah. Yeah it was lit. She was crushing. So she's so gnarly. It's crazy. She is so gnarly. How she rides by watching her at natural selection was insane. She just. I mean, yeah, anything that she touches, I feel like she's got such a good writing, fundamental, like, baseline of knowing how to ride a snowboard and then has a unique style that that paired with like her absolute fearlessness is like the crazy combo. She's like, she's unstoppable. Yeah, it's really cool. I mean, I felt like I got pretty good at slopestyle or jumping in my day. But to watch what the females are doing now, it's like tricks that I'd never even dreamed of doing and they're like doing on the regular. You're like, Wow, totally. I mean, I think it's across ski and snowboard women's big year for those two events. My favorite events at X Games right now, I think they're the most exciting. The progression is like very exciting and you can still kind of understand what they're doing. Where does it go exactly? Like that looked good. You know, the different like if female like versus male, what is the difference in your opinion, of their style? Like how or how is it different or why so many questions not like the style. What he's saying is like when you enjoy watching it is because it's like tricks. We can we still understand. You can kind of conceive and you relate to them. Yeah. I mean like the woman in the in big year for ski and snowboard now and I mean at least on the ski side, they're doing tricks that I was doing when I was doing big. And now they're like surpassing that sort of what sort of watch So watch Megan this year do her triple. I'm like, That's loose. I did that. I did that once word and then I didn't do it again. Yeah. And she's like just going back to back to back at X Games. I'll put it this way. Like you'll watch like a mike McMorris run or a max Perrow. And literally they take over Cleveland, they take off the lip and you do this, you go one, two, three, four, because you're just watching them rotate. You're you just see that women's women's freestyle in general is just growing. And they're just getting there on the point. They're Yeah, yeah. They're on like this awesome trajectory where like, they're all they're all progressing each other and they're all like one upping each other at these contests. And so yeah, so the progression is like that's super rapid and really exciting, right? And then on the men's side, I mean, it's just, is exciting. It's insane, but it's, it is harder to they're so good now and they're doing so many rotations that it's like it's very hard to differentiate like with what's different. You know they're a lot of the same tricks on the guys and you know, the women are really like catapulting into these bigger, more tech tricks at a really cool level where a lot of the guys have kind of like not maxed out, but they're like maybe adding a 180 or a little unique grab. And on the women's side, it's like, wow, like making history. Almost like every other event. It's always seen us. Old, old heads will be watching the girls. We won't know what they're doing either. So yeah, but my question 100 my question is where does it, where does it end? Does it not end? I'm I'm confused. It's tricky because there's no finish line, really. It's not a race. It's incredible. I've got asked that question quite a lot. It's and it's a I think it's something that everybody that's interested in, in our sport because it's not going to stop. Right. Like if you watch our willy the BMX kid from Australia, the duties a freak, absolute fucking freak. And you watch his progression on what he's doing in the level and he's got this ramp and this airbag and he can see it in his mind and then he can take it to the airbag and then he'll bring it to like the concrete or the, like the whatever, whatever he brings it to. And I'm like, watching this guy. And this is more of an overall for action sports, but I think he's kind of the leader right now. I would say like correct some I'm wrong and like maybe we can name a skier or snowboarder that's equivalent to that. You know, it's you look at you know, McMorris or Cleveland or Red or, you know, Elaine Gu Yeah, yeah, I guess so. Some skiers who are. Yeah, doing some boxing, I would say I'd say Burke rude on the inside like I think the answer your question is like I think that it's things that the tricks are just going to become more and more refined because like as far as of the spins and the grabs go, it does feel like for the size of the jumps and the way that the format is set up and stuff, it feels like it's kind of at this point where like, are they really going to add another one? 80? Are they really going to add another flip? I don't know. Like there's so many already, but the way that they're done is just going to become more and more refined. And you watch somebody like Burke Rood Ski and that dude is straight, refined right away. That's Dusty Hendrickson on a snowboard, refining the coolness of it and making it look cool in a different way. It's crazy. The style aspect is is, you know, it's it's basically the essence of these sports. And so I think like I as the technicality is like almost getting kind of max like it's going to be a really cool time the next like five years or so because that's what's going to win competitions is the like refinement and the individual flair and style that's that's done with them almost more so than like in the past kind of. And that's a, that's a tricky. Julie when you're spending like five times you can't go any higher out of the half pipe now, right? Like there's a like I don't know do you say you mean. Yeah. Yeah. I mean I use you guys. You definitely set the bar very high, but even Scotty James, another Australian. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Valentino Valentine Valentino's loose. I love watching that kid right out of his mind, Scotty. I mean, and now Scotty's Scott. He's geared in like he's ready, you know, he's going for his, you know, potentially third Olympic medal. He wants gold. He's like, I'm going for it. But he's like, Fuck, this is. I'm the oldest have ever been against the gnarliest competition I've ever been. You know it's only getting harder for him is as he goes. I even want to go back to like YouTube. You know, when you originally the back to back tens and made it look cool that was what 22 doesn't want 22 and then for you like it went from you went from you know being like on the era of doubles and now there's triples you like I did one triple and I was you know out and then for you like I never like you were the era of the back to back tens and then it went to doubles and that was at the end of your career you're like for me like, oh, one kids, fuck that, I'm out of here. Yeah, well, I mean, we didn't have as like, it's progressed now. There's been so much progression within training opportunities and now we have air bags and now we have foam pits and now you have these safer ways to learn tricks. But the fact is, it's pretty crazy that these people are doing tricks into like an air bag or a foam pit 50, 60 times four. They ever go to snow and they're just sitting there like visualizing like, that's how it's going to go. That's how it's going to go. And then like, go to try it, which is pretty scary, you know. So there's definitely a safer way to learn some of these bigger things. But it's also pushing people in to this level that makes it so scary. Totally. I mean, I think if you look back on the trajectory of the sports like this, these kind of defined progression points where back to back switch tornadoes in slopestyle was like, that's right. When I was kind of right in the mix. That's how that's how I got my first X Games medal, was being able to do that because there's only a few of us at the time. And then it moved into the double corks. And it's like every time you go into that next thing, it's like, Well, the first ones aren't done super, super well. And you're like, Oh man, doubles. Like, there's no way that they could be stylish. And then it's like, you give it a bit of time and people refine it and then all of a sudden like doubles of the rad thing, because our people are doing triples and everyone wants to see a stylish double. And now it's in this realm where like people are doing triple corks, but they're also doing like double cork, 20/100 crazy. And it's it's nuts. But, but what these training opportunities like that's that's given rise to the ability for these riders to be able to hone these crazy rotations and without the risk of just like hiking on snow all the time. And so I think as as we go forward, you're just going to see these tricks get more and more refined. Like I was saying before, when there was a couple of tricks in my X-Games run in 2016, and I was like, That wasn't so great. Like, you're not going to see people on podiums with like, little bubbles like that, you know what I mean? It's just it's going to become more and more and more refined to like I mean, I don't know, you want to me did you watch back route and the do you look it looks like he's never going to crash. Yeah I know a bubble like he's just so on point and he's setting the bar right now, so everyone's just going to catch up and then it is going to be the next could come around and whatever, whatever that is, he's going to push that next phase. Like, I don't know what that looks like right now, but I think if you look back on old footage of X Games all the way through, like the one common denominator is like, yeah, there's more spins and stuff, but it's like the refinement of the way that was done all the way through, you know, whether that's like skateboarding, BMX, if it makes snowboard ski, like everything's just become more and more refined, equipment gets better, the training facilities get better. It's like, do you think that the knuckle hawk had so much success in skiing and snowboarding because it's easier for the everyday person to understand? I think there's a I think so. The question for a friend, I think there's a mixture. I mean, he's asking it for me. I think there's a mix of that, plus the fact that it it gives the riders an opportunity to really express their individual taste with their skiing, because there's right now it's what there's been four years, it maybe five like, yeah, it's pretty fresh, right? And so there is it's not in the Olympics yet. Yeah. Plus it probably will be soon plus the way they're judging like it's not a score every run and so they just award who they reckon ripped the hardest at the end of it. And so it's judged on overall impression. But right now there's no formula on how to win it. Do you know what I mean? Like, you can't show up to Knucklehead and be like, All right, I know that if I had this trick, this trick in this trick that's going to get me on the podium, it's like it's more this free flowing thing where, like, the riders are all You got a rough idea of what you want to do. But then when the when the session starts popping off and you see people like it becomes this like adapting thing, we're like, okay, I need to do this, or I think I could probably do this and all might just do this. So I'm going to try and hock this new thing. I've never tried, but I think it's popular because a lot of the people that like watching these sports like to watch them because of the individual people, you know? Yeah, the style. And that's why it's always been like that. Totally. You know, growing up as a kid, I looked up to Trevor Andrews, you know, he had the headphones in the bag and his But other people looked up to you know, whether it was Kier, Dylan or Terry or Daniel, Frank, whatever it may be. There are those people from our world and then skiing as well. Glen Plank Man. Glen Blake's still a fucking legend. I know you know what I mean? Like, you see that guy on the hill and you're like, there's a legend. Yeah, You know, And he's still running the same game, sleeping in the parking lot. He's boss, like, Yeah, that's a fucking. That's a ski lord right there. Oh, yeah. So, yeah, I think like, knuckle Hawk really brought something fresh for X games that was like, really needed. I think just as fans, like, we all just wanted that right? We wanted to be able to see our favorite writers do their thing without trying to like, adapt to a formula to get on a podium and just give us a great show and it's popped off people. Yeah, yeah, I think it's awesome. I think it's really cool too, because it's like not really meant to be a feature or a jump and you get to watch like people adapt to it the way like a normal person would be riding the mountain and find like a little side hit and spin off it or butter and then spin off it. So it really like gives everyone like this baseline of like how fun our sports really are and how wild they can be. Like on the improv and creativity wise. Yeah, And speaking of creativity, and I just wanted to pivot here for a second, but you know, obviously you've got a big influence in skateboarding and snowboarding and, and man, I'm like, fuck, sad year for a lot of reasons, but we lost a really, you know, cool person this year and one of your best friends and somebody me and Danny known a long time you know I repeated Jordan how much influence did did Jordan have on you, you know, your kind of outlook and style and where you're at in life now. Yeah. I mean, Jordan Brown, Such a special guy. I mean, you guys that know, both of us will have no doubt seen the influence that he had on me. Um, I mean, I actually Danny introduced me while you connected Jordan my first win. I mean, it was probably I would have been maybe 17 or something. And Danny was like, Yo, we want to get you on grenade. I'm going to put you in contact with my team manager, Jordan, and so he linked us on an email, and then I was like, This is a pretty funny story. When I met Jordan, I'm like, standing in the lift line at Keystone and this dude behind me, this guy's Hijazi. I look around and it's just Jordan blacked out, has got like this much of his face shined and he's like, I'm Jordan Brown. We've been emailing. Danny, put us in contact. I was like, Oh yeah, sick man. And he's like, Yeah, we should we should figure out getting you on the grenade. I was like, Oh, I'd love that, man. I've got an agent. I'll send you, get you information. Jordan's like, I don't deal with agent right? I was like, All right, man. Well, cool. You're like, I'll just do the deal. Then they that yeah, from that moment, like, we just, like, kept linking up obviously, like we just within the same, we'd see each other around and whatnot and then we just became really, really close friends. And then he started working for Monster Energy and, uh, yeah, he was running the skate program over here for a long time. And, you know, obviously they had all the events together and then getting to, to hang out outside of our kind of retrospective work situations, we just became really, really close. And he's someone that I really looked up to. Um, he was kind of kind of like a big brother to me, and I never had I three younger brothers. Um, and yeah, Jordan was kind of this, this older brother figure who was, you know, kind of show me what was what showing what was sweet coming from kind of a skate and snowboard background. He always had really cool insight and advice for me when it came to, like my skiing and it'd be like, Yo, I've seen this. This I saw this trick from the skateboarder the other day, like, check this out. I think you could do something like similar like this or would watch a snowboard pod and it'd be like, Dude, what if you did something like this with this type of music? And he was he is really influential to me. And he was the first dude that, like, would just wear black every day. And I saw him. Yeah. And I'd been through like my teenage hood and it was like very publicized on the internet. And I went through a few phases like, Yeah, Road I did. I was a skier. Yeah, it's a game. Like that was like Tanner Hole like that. Like you guys were raised by the toll tee. It's still there, right? Colors rose crazy. And then, you know, after I don't know the first few times that I chilling with Jordan, like dude always looks tired he's got 60 and then I was like we're I'm just going to it's going to run black Jordan He's like yeah you should And then I was just like man psyllium Yeah you should Yeah he should run. Yeah, his knee was on point, man. And he'd always have like, kind of, like, just enough little gel in the hair, kind of a vibe, but, like, very cool. Before, like, the GQ kind of, like, scene came about. And he was a cool guy, man. And then, you know, as we grow grew up over the last 15 years, you know, he had a really bad knee injury snowboarding and had like a big rehab process that took him, you know, a year and a half, two years. And then I had a knee injury as well. And like he we were kind of like going through these things, you know, similar time. And so, like, he was riding, I rode bike a lot to rehab from his knee and and he kind of like motivated me to get a bike. And then I ended up by my knee, like right after I got out. So of it's kind of perfect. So I started riding bikes and like Jordan, he, he, like, he really helped, like, focus me on like if I want to continue doing the sport that I love to do and to be able to get out there and ski whenever I want to be able to go skating, when I want to jump on my snowboard, when I want like I have to be, I have to be healthy and I have to be able to like my body has to withstand that. You know, I've given it an absolute beating over the last 20 years. Um, and so he was a big, big instigator in kind of my journey of, of starting to look after myself a lot better as well so I can continue doing the stuff I love. So, yeah, man, really, really influential guy to me. One of my dear friends, I had I had the privilege of marrying him and his wife, Jessica. Um, like three years ago. I've had, um, birth had passed. Just the three of us have we hiked up. I married them at the top, and then we just ripped pal for a couple of laps, and it's like, perfect sunny day. And in the backcountry, it was amazing. Um, and his beautiful daughter, Esther, she's about nine months old now. Um, and also godfather. So, um. Yeah, man, really rough time. This, the start of this year is super weird, but, you know, going through, going through that process with him and his family, um, yeah, it's like, there's, like a kind of a weird beauty and, and the whole thing, you know? I mean, we're all going to catch it at some point, you know, we're all we've got a finite existence walking here on this earth. And so to be able to be like, confronted with that, something that's pretty interesting to go through and there is kind of a beauty in it, um, along with the grief and the, I don't know anyone that's, that's lost someone close. Like, it's just, it's just weird, man. Yeah, it's just a weird thing, man. He meant so much to so many people. So many people in this industry, from the snowboarding industry to the skateboard industry and and on, you know, and it was one of those things that just happened really quick, you know. So I didn't mean to deter, but I thought it'd be good that, you know, we spoke about John a little bit. So he's the first time I met him. It was on a yacht on Bill's yacht. And Danny's like, This guy's working for us. And he walked out, takes all his clothes off and just jumps in the ocean butt naked. And I was like, this guy? Yeah, Yeah. I think one special thing about Jordan to that really kind of, like, left a mark on me that I'll always carry forward was like about having, like, really meaningful relationship chips and not just always like, you know, catering to the masses or the mass groups of your friends, but really making those connections within like the group you're with and, you know, the small conversations and like real connections. So definitely a good reminder, you know, to always take fans, friends, family and love serious. Yeah, totally. I mean, he was always so good at that communication and like getting on the phone and getting a call. Sending you a text. Yeah. Photos of what he was up to and stuff, I think. I think partly it was because he was like despite social media so he wasn't on it. Yeah. And so like for him to connect with his friends, it was like direct. It's real sometimes because like, you know, I see what you guys are up to online, so I don't call you all the time. Not because you see the world as you see everyone all the time. You know exactly what everyone's doing. You know, their routines. Yeah, it's fucking crazy. And you cannot see someone for a year, two years, and it's like you see them and nothing's changed because you're watching their life. Yeah. So the ones that aren't on social media are not partaking in that. And, you know, and I think it's better that you build a better bond when you're actually like talking with your friends, you know? I mean, he was really good at doing that. Yeah. Um, yeah. I mean, we could go on forever about, you know, the, the great man that he was and the influence that he had. But I think, you know, like all the, you know, he, he had a big influence through, you know, a whole industry for sure, all the different industries and you know those people listening that that Jordan know how special he was. Yeah. And then ah I to religion man. Yeah. Have you brother. For sure. All right well we're going to finish with Danny's. Um he's got his lightning round right here. Lightning round. We appreciate you, Jossy. Thank you for hanging course. Hit me. Okay, So real quick and precursor, I know there's a huge, uh, hatred between Australia and New Zealand, but we won't get into that because I don't take for a whole nother episode. But who has better slang? Oh, Australia and New Zealand Aussie slang is probably probably goes harder, I think. Yeah, we got a bit on that. Yeah. All right. What's the best part though? I don't think we can use any one of the slang words on this news. They're all we're going to beat them all. They're all bloody blank, bloody blank, bloody blank. Noddy blank. What's the best part about being the oldest of four brothers? Uh, having three best friends built in? What's the worst part? Uh, literally nothing. What about. Okay, go to air to throw over a big air jump. Let's go to your warm up. What's your warm up on a big air jump? Uh, probably hit like a zero spin would be the go to. I think that's my go. If you were going to hit the X-Games big air this year and show off a little bit, what would you throw down? I'd probably those air speed. That's a zero right under breath up to Australia. That's kind of gnarly. Yeah, but it's my favorite trick. Switch trade air. Yeah. Okay. If you are going to have a writer's dream session, what writers would be there? Oh, like. Like a heli session or what are we talking? Um, yeah, yeah, heli session session. Uh, I mean, my brother's, you know, in there. Then I'm like my brothers and dad. That's what I want in the air. What's the key to a lasting career in Snowsports? Taking care of your frame frame? Yeah, the rig. The rig? Yeah. You still do a lot of cycling. I do a lot of cycling. I see. You do, like, savage cycling missions. Yeah, I like cycling. I like doing bike packing. Um, got into running. Yeah, I just, like, move, dude, when I'm able to. When you had so many injuries doing these types of sports that like, you don't get to move like, quite right. Yeah. So like when I have learned just to like not take it for granted when you're healthy enough to be able to cycle and run and ski and skate whatever, like just being able to really just take advantage of it. I think also, like we spend our time in a lot of cars and traveling and train so fast that you see the world a lot differently when you are on a bike or running. It's like a different pace. Bikepacking is like the best way to travel. You're fast enough, you covered good ground, but you're slow enough that you just get to experience places like, Yeah, wow, it's such a unique pace, you know? Do you have a personal doomsday bunker? A doomsday bunker? No, but there's a whole bunch of them in Queenstown, apparently. I've heard. Okay, so it's a doomsday. Yeah. There's like a there's a vice doc on a do that like came down from New York because they heard about all these doomsday bunkers from all the elite, like around the world that aren't the only spots in Queenstown and he like did this like talking trying to find out where they were. It didn't didn't find any you're not going to know everyone was there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What are people worried about for Doomsday in New Zealand? I feel like it's pretty I think I think you're off the beaten path enough to where? Like, if they're going to come for you, you got plenty of warning. I feel like all of New Zealand is a doomsday bunker. Yeah. Like it's just the spot to go. Yeah. Good. You know? Yeah. It doesn't need to be made it concrete. Like you will grow some growth and it's going to take a lot to get there to fight off a few million Australian people when shit hits the fan. We are. We got our own doomsday bunker. Oh, yeah. It's all built under Ayres Rock. Yeah, No, it's in Ayres Rock. There's a there's a secret door. I'll keep those. All right, Dan, the lightning questions I have, but Britney might have. I'll give you the code. Are you just coming in just off the whim, give you a lightning question? Well, I'm going to repeat. What's on your playlist right now? Oh, my playlist. I've been listening to a lot of Fred again lately. Okay, Uh, let's do Jay Monty. Pretty sick lyricist. Um, do you do you like when you hear these? Are you are you taking, like, notes for your movies? You're just like, Oh, that song. Yeah, that would be my favorite part about creating movies. Like making the music. Yeah, it's really fun. When you, like, hear a song, you're like, Oh, this would be so cool. Whether they get to snowboard or this person's playlist. Yeah, Slam section. Yeah. It's either like a really fun process or like, really stressful finding the right music. You want to start early? Sure, But definitely go to a playlist where you just kind of like add stuff every now and then. That's what's that's a nice one. Um, yeah, that's on my headphones. There you go. That's a wrap. That's right. Yeah. Thank you, Justin. Thanks. I think you did