Progression in action sports is such an interesting and multi-faceted subject. For many of us, it’s a large part of why we ski, ride, or climb in the first place – pushing our limits is part of the fulfillment we get from these activities. Then there’s the next level: the elite athletes pushing their pursuits, and perhaps action sports as a whole, to greater heights.
One such location where limits are being pushed is Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Every winter for the past six years, professional skiers and snowboarders have gathered at the legendary couloir for the annual Kings and Queens of Corbet’s event, hucking the biggest and wildest tricks they can from the top, with an emphasis on sticking the landing and laying down a clean run.
Jake Hopfinger stomped a huge double-backflip this year. When will we see the elusive triple? Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
It’s a very fine line between playing it too safe and doing something potentially sport-changing – or going too big, with the consequences of that being a massive and potentially dangerous wipeout.
The first few years of the Kings and Queens of Corbet’s saw unparalleled progression. In 2019, Trevor Kennison sent Corbet’s on a sit-ski. In 2020, Jake Hopfinger and Parkin Costain threw first-ever double-backflips. “We had to build our own ramps that year to get the necessary air time. Everyone thought we were crazy, but now they’re all building lips, too,” said Parkin. That was the year Veronica Paulsen stomped the first women’s backflip into Corbet’s. Then 2021 saw Hans Mindnich’s internet-breaking wall-ride while 2022 was a survival game with a lack of fresh snow, making for “extremely firm” conditions (the couloir was basically a sheet of ice).
Piper Kunst drops off of the west wall of Corbet’s, a significantly gnarlier feat than the normal entry point. Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
This year there was plenty of fresh snow. I was curious to see how the athletes would up the ante. I wasn’t disappointed. Veronica went for the first women’s double backflip, twice, and almost rode away clean from the second. Colby Stevenson entered the couloir switch on both of his runs, attempting a huge “switch dub nine” on his second. Piper dropped in off the west wall with a bit of a rock tap to boot. There was plenty of crazy to go around.
Familiar faces Parkin Costain, Jake Hopfinger, and Karl Fostvedt went huge themselves, but none of the three were able to cleanly stick their landings. Parkin especially got lit up on the landing of his tweaked-out flat spin, losing both skis in the “bomb hole” left behind by Jake’s massive double backflip attempt a few runs earlier.
I sat down with all three and last year’s people’s choice award winner, Corey Jackson, to get their thoughts on where the next progression at Corbet’s would come from. I was curious to know if the elusive triple backflip was on any of their minds. In short? No. “Two hours after we first stomped the doubles (in 2020), Jake and I were like ‘we’re doing triples next year, we got this.’” said Parkin “Then we started actually thinking about it and we were like ‘I don’t know if I actually want to do that.’ But some kid with something to prove is gonna come through and try one.” Emphasis on “try.”
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Karl was pretty confident we’re going to see a triple attempt soon. “Yeah, we’ll probably see a triple backie in the next year or two. Either someone with an early draw who’s feeling it, or some psycho with a late draw,” he said with a laugh.
“The airtime’s certainly there,” said Corey. “But you can say it all you want until you stand up there at the top.”
Colby Stevenson gets inverted on his attempt at a switch double backflip (with a few rotations, to boot). Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
“Colby (Stevenson)’s switch double attempt might push some people to perfect that,” said Jake. “That could be the next big trick.”
“Three more feet of airtime, maybe if he’d tucked a little harder, and it would have worked,” said Corey.
While new and mind-boggling tricks off the top of the couloir will always be on the table, where the athletes really see opportunity for progression at Corbet’s is in new features, both at the top and in the couloir itself. “There’s been some talk about a rail off the top,” said Corey.
“They could also put a sheet of plexiglass on the wall where Hans tapped it, for a more predictable surface to hit,” said Parkin. “Or even bolt a rail on that you could grind off of.” As you can tell, things got a little… speculative. “Who would even step to that?” Corey wondered aloud. Other speculations included a second park jump at the bottom (the real problem being running out of room at the base of the couloir) and a quarter pipe (which was apparently built last year but taken down before the comp as it would have blocked the spectator’s view of the “crowd pleaser” jump).
The Crowd Pleaser, and a crowd of fans, await the athletes at the bottom of Corbet’s. Photo: Brett Wilhelm//Red Bull Content Pool
“I want to see unlimited runs, if you want it,” said Karl. “If everyone’s gone twice, and you want to go for it, the snow will be all chewed up but you should have that opportunity. Like if Veronica wanted to try for the dub again. That’s how we did it the first year, but no one wanted to take a third run, and since then it’s just been two runs.”
“One thing is for sure, we’ve got to be careful that Crowd Pleaser doesn’t get too much more legitimate,” said Karl. “Or it’s just going to turn into a Big Air park contest.”
I got a hold of Veronica as well to chat about her double backflip attempts. She is determined to land the double, and thinks she’ll do so next year (I’m fairly confident she will, too). However, when I asked if she was thinking of trying her double into Corbet’s sometime before next year’s event, she brought up an interesting point.
“We only have the conditions to practice our tricks into Corbet’s when the event is running,” she told me. To get the necessary ‘pop’ for tricks like a double backflip, athletes build kickers and ramps on the lip of the couloir, which she pointed out is not allowed outside of the competition. Then there’s the pre-event closure of the couloir that lets fresh snow build up and pad the landing. “I think I’m going to take the rest of the year and just practice doubles off of every feature I can get my hands on, and then wait to do it into Corbet’s next year.”
Nial Romanek and Parkin Costain get the down-low from Jess McMillan at the pre-event athlete meeting at the top of the Jackson Hole Tram. Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
I also got event founder and coordinator Jess McMillan’s perspective on progression at Corbet’s. For Jess, the magic of the event comes from the blending of disciplines. “It’s so cool to create something for athletes to be able to show off what they’re really good at, and push their limits at the same time. Whether they’re an X Games gold medalist who people haven’t truly seen ‘in the wild’ or it’s someone who’s always skiing in Alaska and all of a sudden you see them doing a park jump. I think that’s pretty neat. And I think it rewards really well-rounded athletes… I like melding sports, melding people, melding genders, all of that. I think that’s what’s really cool about the event.”
In that vein, a big goal of hers is for the event to feature an equal number of men and women. Prize money is the same, but currently twice as many men compete as women. Twenty-four skiers and riders are invited each year, and this year saw eight women and 16 men. And Jess feels like the women have so much room to grow at Corbet’s right now. “The progression is happening,” she told me. “Women are doing some amazing things like Veronica’s double backflip — that was progression. Now she just needs to clean it up for next year.”
Veronica Paulsen went for the first women’s double-backflip into Corbet’s, took a heavy wipeout, spent two hours at the top visualizing the trick, and then sent it again. Respect. Brett Wilhelm//Red Bull Content Pool
Veronica echoed much of what Jess said. “The men always have the guys that go huge and the guys that do weird funky stuff that’s still really impressive. And now we’re getting both sides of that with the women, which is really cool to see.”
Jess also mentioned that there’s been some discussion around merging the event with the current Freeride World Tour, and while the idea of a stop in Jackson Hole sounds awesome, to Jess it would take away a lot of what makes the event itself special as a, “celebration of mountain people, in the mountains… It would be hard to set something up within that existing framework and still have it be its own thing,” she said. “We don’t want to just join someone else’s party.”
There’s been talk of a grom division (Jackson’s own Kai Jones in particular seems keen on the idea), and hopes of bringing back the livestream next year (it was nixed due to production costs associated with live streaming an event in below-freezing temperatures).
In other words, to anyone wondering if Corbet’s has reached any sort of limit to possible progression, that would be a solid, “no.” The women are going off and the elusive triple backflip is somewhere out there on the horizon. In other words, the future seems bright for North America’s wildest freeride huckfest.
