{"id":201596,"date":"2026-02-24T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=201596"},"modified":"2026-02-23T14:35:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T22:35:23","slug":"from-a-life-altering-accident-to-skiing-alaskas-biggest-lines-with-kai-jones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/podcasts\/from-a-life-altering-accident-to-skiing-alaskas-biggest-lines-with-kai-jones","title":{"rendered":"From a Life-Altering Accident to Skiing Alaska&#8217;s Biggest Lines with Kai Jones"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"cb-itemprop\" itemprop=\"reviewBody\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" height=\"200px\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https:\/\/player.simplecast.com\/a5d48097-5d84-4596-b0b6-ab685aab3d94?dark=false\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wild-ideas-worth-living.simplecast.com\/episodes\/from-a-life-altering-accident-to-skiing-alaskas-biggest-lines-with-kai-jones\/transcript\">Transcript<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kai Jones is one of the most talented young backcountry skiers in the U.S., turning professional at just 13 years old. In early 2023, he broke both of his legs in a backcountry skiing accident, spending months in a wheelchair and questioning whether he\u2019d ever return to the sport. Last season marked a major comeback, as Kai became the youngest skier to descend the Otter Body route on Grand Teton and released multiple ski films that document his evolution as a big\u2011mountain skier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Connect with Kai:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/kaijonesski\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Instagram<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/outsidedays.outsideonline.com\/cardholderbenefits\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Outside Days Early Bird Pricing<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you to our sponsor:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Capital One and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/membership\/mastercard?trackingId=podcast\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the REI Co-op\u00ae Mastercard\u00ae<\/a><\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Transcript Kai Jones is one of the most talented young backcountry skiers in the U.S., turning professional at just 13 years old. In early 2023, he broke both of his legs in a backcountry skiing accident, spending months in a wheelchair and questioning whether he\u2019d ever return to the sport. Last season marked a major [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32542,"featured_media":201597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1726,1727],"tags":[602,541,473,1452],"internal-tag":[],"class_list":["post-201596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcasts","category-wild-ideas-worth-living","tag-backcountry-skiing","tag-podcast","tag-skiing","tag-wild-ideas-worth-living"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/podcasts\/from-a-life-altering-accident-to-skiing-alaskas-biggest-lines-with-kai-jones","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"From a Life-Altering Accident to Skiing Alaska&#8217;s Biggest Lines with Kai 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