Yuki Kadono with a steezy hand-drag from 2022. Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
The powers that be at Jackson Hole have called The Kings and Queens of Corbet’s on for Tuesday, February 7. That’s tomorrow as of posting time Monday evening, but when most of you read this, it’ll be today. So don’t get it twisted.
Kings and Queens is an inspirational yearly event at Jackson Hole, featuring freeskiers and boarders, X-Games medalists, Olympians, and up-and-coming talent in a no-holds barred showdown at the infamous Corbet’s Couloir in Jackson Hole. Skiers and boarders launch into the couloir in whatever way they can imagine, and are then treated to a variety of features both in the couloir and of the man-made variety to showcase their talents. In years past we’ve seen wall-rides, backflips, double-backflips, and more. The athletes themselves then vote for their favorite rides: the winners will be announced this Saturday, February 12.
2022 People’s Choice Award Corey Jackson, with the stoke. Photo: Jackson Hole Mountain Resort
This year marks the event’s sixth year. Unlike some years past, the event won’t be live-streamed, but fear not, we’ll be on the ground to keep you up to date with all the insanity as things get underway tomorrow morning. Throughout this week, clips, athlete rides, and more will be filtering in to you from The Inertia, Jackson Hole, and Red Bull, and the People’s Choice voting award will let you weigh in on who you think should take the cake, with real money on the line for the award. The athletes will vote for the winners on February 11, and the full Kings and Queens edit will be released February 14.
The near-perfect conditions (a recent dump of 50 inches along with 10-plus more on Sunday in a year that’s being described as “one of the best in decades”) have set quite the stage for returning favorites such as Karl Fostvedt, Yuki Kadono, Cheryl Maas, and Piper Kunst, as well as new faces such as Olympian Sarka Pancochova and X-Games medalist Alex Hackel who’s here on his first trip to Jackson Hole. He drew the first drop into the couloir at the bib draw this past Saturday, where athletes roll ping-pong balls with lineup numbers out of a bingo cage.
Veronica Paulsen went big in 2020. What will she have up her sleeve this year? Photo: JHMR
“I’m doing as much thinking about it as I can so I can sleep better tonight,” he told me at the top of Corbet’s. “I’m the test dummy, but I think it’s looking good.” He’ll be followed by Jake Hopfinger who landed the first double backflip in 2020, Olympic alternate Summer Fenton, and 2020 Queen of Corbet’s champ Veronica Paulsen, who landed the first women’s backflip that year.
Stay tuned for more, both here and on our Instagram feed as the event gets under way at 10:00am MST tomorrow.
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