Find Your Horizon | Jossi Wells

Just like every freeride line, every skier is different. But it’s in our differences where the essence of freeriding resides. A collective spirit that unites skiers and terrain, together as one.

Wide open trails and a world-class terrain park are two things that stand New Zealand’s Cardrona apart from other resorts, but arguably its biggest features are the Wells brothers. Practically raised in the resort by ski patrol parents, Jossi and his siblings started their lives on snow. And from early memories to formative experiences, it’s responsible for much of Jossi’s sporting foundation.

“Ever since I can remember I was on snow. And I obviously just fell in love with it. From an early age I was surrounded by some of the world’s best skiers. When I was nine years old, the Austrian ski racing team was training at Cardrona, and I had the chance to meet Hermann Maier. I got a photo with him — I still have it today — and I'm like the size of one of his legs.”

Hero worship and ski schools naturally led Jossi towards ski racing and competition. But it wasn’t long before Jossi’s attention shifted — drawn in by the thrill of airtime.

“I love racing because I love the competitive element, but the repetitiveness of going left and right around the gates couldn’t sustain me. The freedom aspect of riding in the terrain park and jumps and freeriding natural terrain… doing tricks and getting in the air was where I put all my focus. And so from the age of 15 I stopped racing and put all my energy into freeskiing.”

It’s here that Jossi’s journey to greatness began. A trip to Italy with his brother Byron — also a world-class athlete — truly turned the tide, opening his eyes to the possibilities of a freesking path.

“In a sense [that trip] was like this new horizon, like I was going into the unknown. That was a pretty pivotal moment, going away for the first time to go skiing. And then over the next few years, we started going to Park City, and that seemed like it happened pretty quick. I was training all the time, learning a bunch of tricks, and getting surrounded by kids that were really good and learning from them.”

All this served as preparation for his early career success. Aged just 16 years old, Jossi was the youngest ever skier to compete at Winter X Games. Then, at 19, he achieved the title of AFP Overall World Champion, which in turn earned him the status of “best freeskier in the world”.

After a decade as one of the world’s top freeski athletes, Jossi represented his home nation at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Soon after, he achieved his goal of winning an X Games gold medal in January 2016. Already the proud owner of five X Games medals, the top step in slopestyle completed the collection.

From competition to world-class video parts, Jossi’s career continues to expand as he chases personal growth. Throughout it all, though, there’s been one constant: Jossi’s steadfast commitment to style. It’s in everything he does, and stands his skiing apart from anyone else on the hill.

“It's not just what you do, but it's how you do it. And I think that that probably resonates through all these different periods of time that I’ve gone through. It kind of started as a bit of a mantra towards how I wanted to ski and how I wanted my skiing to be seen, whether it was in competition or if it was in film. My focus on execution and what we call freeskiing, the style aspect has always been super paramount for me. It also expands beyond the mountain, too. The power to be a positive influence is personal, but it can come from a commitment to your sport."

“I think sport in general teaches you discipline. Because if you want to go into the mountains and do this stuff, there’s a load of things you have to do outside of that in order for it to be successful. I feel like I'm on this constant journey to lead a more disciplined life, because I've found that in every aspect, when I've implemented more discipline, it’s always had a positive outcome. And that's the beautiful thing about this life. When you're able to really focus on that horizon that you want to reach and implement the discipline required to get there, we then have the ability to make our lives what we want.”

Despite all his success, Jossi possesses a unique mentality that keeps him from taking things for granted. After winning at X Games, his focus shifted almost immediately from celebration to getting back on the snow. Favoring instead the journey over the destination, it’s an approach that informs much of Jossi’s outlook — especially when it comes to fostering community and snow culture through his annual Jossi Wells Invitational.

“Without sounding too cheesy, there's always another horizon. You get to the top of a mountain, and then there's another one. And behind that one there's another one. In my transition out of competition, I just sort of realized it's kind of about the journey. It's not just about reaching that accomplishment. The journey is the part where the learning is.”

Speaking of his latest event, which sees some of the world’s top ski talent attend an invite-only weekend of rail jams and jump sessions, Jossi remains focused on the path over the end product. “The journey of creating an event and putting the work in and then watching everyone throw down is such a cool feeling. And that journey is just like, never ending.”

For a career that’s covered so much, it could be easy to rest on your accomplishments. To bow out and fade away. But that’s not Jossi’s style. The funny thing about horizons is that, in truth, you never actually meet them. They shift constantly, and move with you as you progress towards them.

Jossi’s next goals revolve around ski mountaineering, which for him, feels like a logical progression on the skier's skill journey.

“I love spending time in the mountains. It's such an exhilarating and rich experience and I would love to hone my skills to be able to tackle new terrain that I haven't skied yet. This next journey for me is going to be a lot of skill acquisition, doing courses to be able to operate in that terrain effectively and safely. And so I've got a journey ahead of me of applying myself to something that I'm not not great at yet.”

While the terrain might shift and the goals may change, one thing will always remain the same for Jossi. His unwavering ability to maintain positive momentum — in his career, in his community, and on his own personal journey.

“What’s next feels like a pretty big horizon. But with the right vision and the right discipline there's not much that can hold you back. I mean, it sounds super cliche, but in my experience, the more I've applied myself to something the better that outcome. And I think that's pretty transferable to any kind of thing in life. So I'm just going to keep pushing, keep putting one foot in front of the other, and hopefully continue to grow.”