“Joss laying down a stylish blunt disaster on the classic Timberline double kink. Summer skiing on the Palmer Snowfield at Mount Hood, OR, is one of the greatest feelings in the world. Let’s hope we have many more seasons of enjoying such a luxury.” Photo: Andrew Napier L ONG BEF ORE T HE 2014 OLY MPICS , the idea of head-to-head park skiing had been percolating between Chris-tensen and fellow skier Matt Walker, with the pair waiting for the right moment to bring it to fruition. “We just kind of wanted a dif-ferent avenue to help push and build freeskiing,” Christensen says. “[A way] to maybe help kids who didn’t have funding or access to big parks and training.” Their answer was SLVSH, a bracket-style tournament pat-terned after the traditional basketball game HORSE, in which players go toe-to-toe with others matching basketball shot for basketball shot, picking up a letter each time they can’t match their opponent’s bucket. Replicating the format for skiing unleashed a new wave of technical tricks and variations, but more importantly brought skiers together across multiple disciplines and levels. “The main basis of SLVSH was to create our own competi-tion series that’s cheap to run, fun and that can involve any skiers, whether they’re only good at skiing rails to X Games and World Cup level skiers,” Christensen says. With a skeleton crew filming the matchups, SLVSH was able to stack months’ worth of content, releasing edits strategically to give it a tournament feel. The first event took place in the fall of 2015 in Perisher, Australia, and the platform has gained serious momentum since. Its flagship event has become a 16-skier bracket at Grandvalira, Andorra, and the tournaments generate tens of millions of online views, opening up a whole new world for young freeski athletes who compete, like Evan McEachran, Colby Steven-son and Finn Bilous. “The success of SLVSH stems from Joss being very relatable to the majority of kids,” Jaquet says. “Joss is the park-rat kid out there in [Park City’s] Pick ‘n Shovel [terrain park] bell to bell. That’s very relatable. He wasn’t so much a ski star—he was a kid who was always making it work and having enough means to get from one place to the next to keep the dream alive.” “I truly believe that SLVSH is the raddest thing happening in freeskiing right now,” says James Woods, British skier and 2019 FIS slopestyle world champion. “The creative, alternative approach to what we love is incredibly welcome and has been since the concep-tion. The SLVSH cups have blown the minds of everyone in our world and have reached a considerable amount of action sports enthusiasts beyond just skiing.” In past iterations, the tournament has awarded prize money to its top contenders and has featured title sponsors such as Völkl and Monster Energy. Restarting its engines after a few years of COVID delays, SLVSH doesn’t have its details dialed for this season just yet, but Christensen says they could host up to three events this year—one in Austria, possibily another in Park City and the finale in Andorra. For the U.S. event, he hopes to do an all-women’s bracket for the first time. In many ways his personal mission isn’t just surviving, it has staying power. “It’s not about who does the most spins all the time,” Wallisch says. “The longevity that Joss has seen comes down to his per-sonality and his ability to be friends with everybody first, then a competitor and skier second.” Nearly a decade after his Olympic gold, Christensen remains a quiet influencer in the freeski world. When he’s not organizing events, Christensen films with Park City friend and filmer Andrew Napier, laying down edits for sponsors such as K2, Smith and Rockstar Energy, and rolling out exclusive content like 2022’s “Simple Math” on the SLVSH website. He’s even helping K2 with new ski and boot design, and says the experience has given him a behind-the-scenes view of the gear he pushes in the park and pipe. In addition to his longtime buddy Woods, Christensen has surrounded himself with a world-class crew of skiers. Canadian X Games champion Vincent Gagnier, as well as young gun Norwe-gian Olympian Ferdinand Dahl, and Montana native and 2022 X Games knuck huck champion Quinn Wolferman, are all part of his on-hill entourage. “It’s been fun to have some younger kids in my ski group to keep me energized and up to date,” Christensen says. In many ways, the age range of his ski crew is a testament to his staying power in freeskiing’s inner circle. Christensen keeps his Olympic gold and X Games silver in an old beanie from the now-defunct Utah film company 4bi9. In characteristic fashion, he says, “I don’t look at it too often these days, but I’ll break it out to show family and friends when they ask.” He knows the medals are what have given him the opportunity to build a life in skiing, but hopes what he’s helped build since 2014 will outlast his 15 minutes of fame. For Christensen, it’s all about keeping momentum rolling through filming, his work with SLVSH and lifting the next generation with him as he climbs. “In my mind, I don’t want to do anything else,” he says. “So I’ve got to make sure I can be relevant, help out and have a place in the industry—even if I’m not the best skier. I still want to have my foot in the industry. I want to be a part of it.” 078 The Ski Journal
The Ski Journal Volume 16, Issue 4: Page 78
