Instagram @jack_kolesch
Freeride skier Jack Kolesch has been ripping down Lake Louise as long as he could walk and competing in both alpine and freeride events and comps as soon as he was allowed to.
“I’ve always been drawn to freeride since I was a kid … I grew up ski racing with the Lake Louise Ski Club, and we would always race train in the morning and then go free ski in the afternoon,” the 20-year-old said. “I always seemed to have more fun just getting out and ripping outside of the gates with my friends.”
Freeride skiing, a discipline of freestyle skiing, sees skiers ski down steep mountains on their own line down the terrain, skiing fast and dropping off cliffs or other obstacles, earning a score from judges.
When we asked Jack what is loves most about freeride, he answered, “It’s a real challenge to narrow it down to just one thing, but If I had to pick I would say it’s the community and social aspect. I don’t so much look forward to the comp run itself, but the group shred that tends to follow. It’s really great to get out with a bunch of really talented people that you don’t often get to ski with and just go tear it up in a big group shred!”
We asked Jack a few more questions:
QUESTION: What does it mean to you to be selected to the Freeride World Tour?
ANSWER: To qualify for the FWT has been my dream since I did my first comp at age 8 or 9, so its obviously a huge honour and I’m super excited see what this opportunity brings!
Q: What is your favourite thing about coaching and why do you do it?
A: Coaching is super rewarding to me, and getting to see the progression of my athletes and their success is a super cool feeling. It feels good to be able to pass on the knowledge that I have to the next generation, and I find it helps me to push my own skiing as well. I seem to find myself doing tricks and skiing lines that I otherwise wouldn’t do, simply because an athlete wants to learn it and wants to see someone do it first.
Q: How do you manage life’s challenges while competing at the highest level?
A: It’s very busy for sure, I am a student at the University of Calgary, so between that, coaching and competing, I definitely have less free time than I would like during the winter months. I work for the BC wildfire service in the summer, which is a seasonal job so I only coach a couple days a week during the winter and try to focus more on school and my own training. Fortunately the athletes I coach are absolute shredders so even when I’m in full blown coach mode I still get a lot of skiing in.
Q: Any advice for young skiers trying to follow your footsteps?
A: As far as advice goes, I think not being too hard on yourself and not putting too much pressure on any one run, especially in a competitive setting is of so much importance. It’s way too easy to stress yourself out with what other people are doing and loose sight of the fact that your skiing is all that matters, not what anybody else is doing. Focus on your skiing and the results will follow, and at the end of the day it’s just skiing so just take a step back and have some fun with it.
Q: Anything that you’d like to add?
A: Yes! There are far too many people to list that I owe a thank you to, but that being said I absolutely wouldn’t be where I am without Jordy, Lou and Eli from Ullr Big Mountain, all my past coaches, both in race and Freeride, the folks at Lake Louise, my friends and family that have believed in me throughout the years.
