Kimbo Sessions Reflections with 'Rider of the Week' Jake Mageau

Born in Hawaii and raised on the slopes of Mt. Bachelor, Oregon, Mageau picked up skiing quickly. After a competitive half-pipe stint, he transitioned into the film side of things, working alongside filmmakers to produce videos that emphasize the free in freeskiing. In a sport where identifying participants from afar is difficult, Mageau's style and trick selection are inimitable.

During a recent phone conversation, I asked Mageau to put Kimbo Sessions into words. "It's pretty darn overwhelming and euphoric," he said. "It's a reunion of people that are so like-minded… it feels like everybody's got the same soul."

Started several years ago by skier Kim Boberg, Kimbo Sessions boasts a purpose-built, transition-focused terrain park in Kläppen Ski Resort, Sweden. Each year, the park contains an array of freestyle features that, Jake says, create "endless" opportunities and facilitate high-caliber skiing. However, unlike many of the events pro skiers attend, the point of Kimbo Sessions isn't to select a winner and award points for each invited rider's performance—it's a gathering, not a competition.

Despite the lack of structure, the involved riders—including everyone from Red Bull-sponsored World Cup competitors to those who haven't donned a bib in years—vote on their favorite skier of the week. Mageau claimed that title at the 2024 Kimbo Sessions event. "It felt better than winning X-Games," Mageau said, explaining that the sensation of receiving recognition from a group of "hand-selected" pros was "pretty legit."

With the promise of a rider of the week title looming, I wondered if skiers at Kimbo Sessions felt the need to "compete" in a more traditional sense. "I don't think so," said Mageau. "It doesn't feel that way, at least. But people just end up feeding off each other and wanting to try tricks. We always talk about the 'antigravity zone.' And it's just like, you feel pretty safe for most of what you're trying to do." At Kimbo, skiers attempt tricks because they want to, not out of competitive obligation, making the event a reprieve from the rigidness of ranked competitions. "It's a free feeling," said Mageau.

That feeling consistently produces some of the year’s best freeskiing. Liberated from the usual two-run competitive format, attendees get weird at Kimbo Sessions, hucking tricks that defy gravity, physics, and convention. The annual output of the gathering proves that you don’t need to cajole pros with medals, and the promise of Olympic qualification. Skiing can be a group project, too.

Kimbo Sessions' community-oriented nature extends beyond the on-slope action. Mageau called the event a "pool of love and appreciation." Fast, new friendships were common among the crowd. "There's just this connection between everybody—even when you don't know somebody too well." 

He also noted that Boberg—Kimbo Sessions' ringleader—treated attendees like they were his children. "If you need to get food, you can go get food—somebody will take us to figure it out," Mageau said. "I'm pretty sure if you were up early and wanted to go skiing, [Boberg] would probably just say, 'Go turn on the chairlift.'" Throughout the Kimbo Sessions week-long event window, skiers had free-range over the park and could take advantage of Sweden's long spring days, usually riding until 10:30 p.m. before it finally got dark. Mageau compared the daily scene at Kimbo Sessions to a busy skatepark. The excitement was hard to track because everybody was "so f**king good."

Kimbo Sessions and similar happenings like Jib League and Sugar Bowl’s Silver Belt have created a fresh opening in the broader tapestry of freeskiing events, which Mageau, unsurprisingly, views positively. "I think that within the last two years, I've seen so many beautiful things," he said, pointing to community-focused rail jam series' conducted by Tall T Dan and Level 1. "This is what needs to happen, especially for kids," Mageau continued. "This internet world is so f**ked up… So it's nice to have this in-person stuff."

For Mageau, Kimbo Sessions probably marked the end of his ski season. While he might sneak off to Mt. Hood, Oregon, to get some summer skiing in, his primary focus is now on his other passion: fly fishing. During the warmer months, Mageau works as a fly-fishing guide in Utah. "That's been a constant in my life, is the water and being on rivers and lakes," he said. Mageau recently scored a coveted USFS river guiding permit, so he has his work cut out.

While Mageau didn't work with good friend and longtime filmmaking collaborator Brady Perron this past season, he participated in a video project that should make the ears of freeskiing fans perk up. "I filmed with Level 1," he said. "We're making a full-length Level 1 movie." The crew filmed in locales like Utah, Alaska, and Finland. Mageau skied some pow in front of the camera and went on a street skiing trip with Parker White and filmmaker Oliver Hoblitzelle: “It was awesome.” 

Level 1’s last full-length ski movie released in 2019 (aside from the documentary Full Circle), which, at the time, was presumed to be the production company’s final full-length offering. “I mean, they said they were done, but they only had a couple year break,” Mageau said with a laugh.

 I’m not sure about you, but I don’t have any issues with the folks at Level 1 changing their minds.