By Jason Bacaj EDITOR IN CHIEF
Editor’s Note: The US Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame is inaugurating the classes of 2021 and 2022 at Big Sky Resort on March 24th and 25th. To commemorate the event, EBS published a special section with profiles of each initiate. Grab a copy from the shelves to read more about the athletes who have shaped snow sports and help make Big Sky a world-class community.
If you’ve seen a freeski event in recent years, you’ve seen the influence of Kent Kreitler. Grabs, off-axis spins and reverse landings are all elements the Sun Valley resident developed in the formative days of the sport in the 1990s.
Kreitler was both a successful competitor and big mountain skier whose career began with photo shoots and early extreme competitions, which later earned him film roles.
Kreitler was the first skier to be featured in a magazine gripping his skis to further stylize tricks. COURTESY OF US SKI & SNOWBOARD HALL OF FAME
The freeski pioneer’s career began with a family move to Sun Valley when he was 10, where he became passionate about skiing. He discovered his passion for big mountains while studying at Colorado University in Boulder. It was there that Kreitler stayed with the legendary Shane McConkey and Michael Jaquet, the founder of Freeze Magazine. The trio led to Boulder briefly becoming the epicenter of freeskiing as Kreitler and McConkey pushed each other to get bigger and Jaquet documented their growth.
Kreitler is credited with being the first skier to stylize tricks with grabs and the first to land off-axis 360s and 720s, which are now a mainstay in all contemporary skiing, including the Olympics.
Kreitler broke out in 1993 when he won the US Extreme Skiing Championships in Crested Butte, Colorado, a landmark event with then-rare television coverage that put freeskiing in the spotlight. Kreitler became his first big star, moving to Tahoe and launching his film career. During this career he pioneered the great mountain areas around Valdez and Cordova, Alaska, making numerous first descents along the way.
“Helitime was a lot cheaper back then,” Kreitler told EBS. “We didn’t have a huge budget, but we made it work and we went out and just explored, man. It was fun.”
In film, Kreitler was one of the few athletes to have worked with multiple production companies, starring in films by Nick Nixon, Warren Miller, Teton Gravity Research, and Matchstick Productions.
Kreitler sent it in its heyday. COURTESY OF US SKI & SNOWBOARD HALL OF FAME
He was also an early innovator in twin tip and fat ski design. In particular, he was involved in the development of the K2 Poacher – the first twin-tip park ski with a thick waist. Additionally, after a long career at Smith, Kreitler has had four separate pro model skis from K2 and Blizzard, a line of Spyder clothing, and signature eyewear from Zeal Optics.
After 15 years of being professional and pushing freeskiing, Kreitler felt burned out.
“A lot of what I did was pretty dangerous,” Kreitler said. “I’ve just aged so much that I didn’t want to constantly expose myself to these risks.”
Sponsorships dwindled, younger athletes came to the fore, and he wanted to sample what else life had to offer. He moved to San Francisco to live in a city, took a yoga teaching class, rehabilitated his body, bought property in Panama and started surfing. Within a few years, Kreitler was recharged and ready to get back into ski town life.
“We’re lucky to live in these mountain hamlets, but it’s good to look around for a while,” he said.
Kreitler is still enthusiastic about skiing. COURTESY OF US SKI & SNOWBOARD HALL OF FAME
Now based in Sun Valley, he skis powder most winter days and watches the sport evolve with the likes of Idaho’s “Crazy” Karl Fostvedt, who won the inaugural Kings and Queens of Corbet competition in Jackson Hole in 2018.
“I’m still a fanatic skier,” said Kreitler. “I just want to ski powder snow. And this season there’s so much off-piste shoulder country…I don’t know if anyone can ski as much powder as some of my friends and I have.”
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