Skiing: Family in freestyle fun

Wanaka freestyle skiers Beau-James, Jossi, Jackson and Byron Wells. Photo / Sheena Haywood

If this was frontier times in America, you could kind of imagine them as a cavalier gang.

Jossi, Byron, Beau-James and Jackson Wells, a trail-blazing gang of fun-seekers, seeking fame and fortune on their mountain playgrounds, all the while thumbing their noses at authority.

The Wanaka quartet are fast making a name for themselves in the freestyle skiing world, a very different place from that occupied by 99.99 per cent of the human population.

Take a squiz at the video on Jossi's Facebook page of the brothers at Keystone resort in the Colorado Rockies. Judging by the comments, the moves are "sick", which means neither ill nor perverted but really, really good. (See what I mean about different?) They're also "dope", which means neither a narcotic nor stupid but, yes, really, really, good.

Jossi, 19, we know a fair bit about, because he medalled at the Winter X Games and is a consistent podium performer on the freestyle ski scene. Byron, 17, we're quickly learning more about as he follows his older brother and mentor into the professional ranks. But it is the clips involving Beau-James, 13, and Jackson, 11, that leave the jaw dropped.

Flying through the terrain park as if it was an extension of their backyard, the kids flip, spin, land backwards, ride rails and generally make the whole business look second nature.

"It's starting to get pretty scary," says Byron. "You take ages learning a new trick and next thing, you turn around and see your little brothers are doing it. They're talented athletes."

Family psychologists usually have a field day with middle children and they might do so with Byron.

Not only does he see two young siblings fast gobbling up the ground between them but he has also had to contend with being "Jossi's younger brother".

Not that he seems to mind. Loves it, in fact.

"Everyone needs someone to look up to," he says of Big Bro. "He's been the one. We go skiing every day together. It's great. I'm just starting to step out of his shadow really, and starting to make my own footprint." Or ski trail, as it were.

You won't find any argument from Jossi, who loves nothing better than spending the day "shredding" up the mountain with his clan.

"It's crazy. My little brothers are doing tricks I only started to do a couple of years ago."

If you can spare yourself the painful imagery, the boys might as well have been born with skis attached to their feet. Father Bruce was head ski patroller at Cardrona, where mother Stacey ran the creche. As soon as they could stand, they could slide.

It quickly became apparent that the buttoned-down world of ski racing wasn't for them, although it's not to say they weren't good at it.

"It was the same thing every day. You were told where to race, when to race, what skis to use, what outfit to wear," says Jossi. "That's OK if you're into that sort of thing but I was after a bit more freedom."

Byron is even more blunt.

"There are no rules. You do whatever you want, whenever you want."

It's fair to say the Wells have been encouraged by their parents to think freely.

Withdrawn from school early to homeschool with their mother, Byron says it was because the structured school day and homework "was cutting into family time". Now school fits in around skiing, which is family time, not the other way around.

It never, ever gets boring. "I've yet to experience a day where I've thought, 'Oh no, I've got to go skiing'," says Jossi.

Which is probably just as well because the older two admit they have no desire to do anything other than travel the world skiing. The fact it also potentially affords them a decent living is testament to their sport's burgeoning popularity.

They spend a portion of the New Zealand summer in Europe but most of the time they are going from event to event in North America, where freestyle skiing has a massive following and a bunch of sponsors keen to tap into a whole new generation of thrillseekers. The sport is still gaining traction, so to speak, in New Zealand and competitors like the Wells still rely heavily on private sponsors and benevolent parents.

The profile of the sport will be lifted when the Winter Games begin in the South Island this month.

Beau-James is the youngest competitor listed in the three freestyle disciplines of slopestyle, big air and halfpipe, with his two elder brothers also entered in all three disciplines.

Jossi is coming off an injury-plagued Northern Hemisphere season, where he had to pull out of some events with patella tendinopathy, more commonly referred to as jumper's knee.

"I've had it for four years. There's no real cure for it; it's just a case of managing it the best I can. It's been frustrating, having to pull out of finals events and that but this New Zealand season, I'm trying to relax and not do too much skiing on it."

Jossi says he has no doubt there will come a time when all four will be competing in the same events, chasing the same prizes. It'll also help determine the best time for him to leave the competitive arena.

"The day I'll retire is the day I'm training for an event and my three brothers are all skiing better than me. That will be time for me to stop. I'll be their manager instead."

A family that skis together, it seems, stays together.The first 100 per cent Pure New Zealand Winter Games will be held at Coronet Peak, The Remarkables, Cardrona Alpine Resort, Snow Farm, Naseby and Dunedin and will feature many disciplines of alpine skiing, free skiing, x-country skiing, snowboarding, curling, ice skating and adaptive snow sports. The games are from August 22-30.

Slopestyle will be held at The Remarkables, August 22; Halfpipe at Cardrona, August 28-29; Big Air, Coronet Peak, August 30.