{"id":36573,"date":"2018-07-24T08:20:02","date_gmt":"2018-07-24T15:20:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=36573"},"modified":"2025-11-20T18:58:44","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T02:58:44","slug":"kai-jones-the-12-year-old-son-of-teton-gravity-research-founder-todd-jones-to-star-in-2018-film-far-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/snowsports\/kai-jones-the-12-year-old-son-of-teton-gravity-research-founder-todd-jones-to-star-in-2018-film-far-out","title":{"rendered":"The World\u2019s Next Great Skier is a 12-Year-Old Named Kai Jones"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s late March 2018 and Kai Jones<\/a>, a pint-sized skier from Victor, Idaho, is in the middle of his spring break from sixth grade. But unlike his peers, Kai isn\u2019t spending his week off from school playing video games or visiting a theme park. Instead, he\u2019s in the backcountry surrounding Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, in Wyoming, filming a segment for Teton Gravity Research\u2019s fall 2018 film, <\/span>Far Out<\/span><\/i><\/a>, presented by REI<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kai and the TGR film crew are at Smart Bastard, a classic and notoriously bold line outside the gates of Jackson Hole that requires skiing above an exposed cliff, then launching a mandatory 35-foot air into an apron of snow. Kai is standing at the top, waiting for his cue to go. \u201cYou see the edge of the cliff and it\u2019s super intimidating,\u201d he said later. \u201cAt one point, I was like, I don\u2019t know about this.\u201d But then his friend and mentor Tim Durtschi, a pro skier and longtime TGR athlete, gave him a pep talk. \u201cYou\u2019re Kai Jones,\u201d Durtschi said to him. \u201cYou go bigger than Tim Durtschi.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

With that, Kai was off, nailing the line in one clean, fast sweep. At the bottom, he borrowed a cellphone to make a call. \u201cMom, I stomped Smart Bastard,\u201d he said proudly into the phone. They chatted for a few minutes about the rest of his day, then he hung up. \u201cI don\u2019t think she knows what Smart Bastard is,\u201d he told the others around him with a laugh.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Kai Jones and his dad, TGR co-founder Todd Jones. (Photo Credit: TGR)<\/p><\/div>\n

Here\u2019s what you need to know about Kai Jones. He just turned 12 years old, and already, he\u2019s one of the most promising young skiers in the country right now. Last winter, he won the under-12 overall title on the International Freeskier Association\u2019s big-mountain competition circuit. <\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s also the son of TGR co-founder Todd Jones, who started TGR with his brother, Steve, and friends Dirk Collins and Corey Gavitt in 1995, in Jackson, Wyoming, compiling money they earned ski guiding and commercial fishing to buy camera equipment to film their friends on skis. \u201cWe were dirtbag ski bums, trying to find a way to continue doing what we were doing,\u201d Todd said. Now 23 years later, they\u2019ve made dozens of movies, won heaps of awards and are one of the leading action sports media companies in the country.<\/span><\/p>\n