Last Sunday marked the end of the 9th annual Kimbo Sessions event, where over 70 of the world’s best park skiers, filmers, and photographers gathered at Sweden’s Kläppen Snowpark for a week of no-rules, free reign spring park sessions set against the backdrop of Sweden’s midnight sun.
With a dizzying array of content still trickling in from the riders and photographers via Instagram and YouTube, this year’s park looks to be one of the most unique and inspiring designs in recent memory.
Henrik Harlaut, Colby Stevenson, Alex Hall, Phil Casabon, and dozens of others icons of the sport shared short-form edits and clips featuring the dramatic, dream-like construction of the park at Kläppen. For the second consecutive year, Jake Mageau was awarded Kimbo Sessions "Rider of The Week" for his unique style and line selections.
For many of the riders attending the event, Kimbo Sessions is a welcome relief from a long season of competitions, filming, and constant travel. It allows skiers from all over the world, many of whom do not have the chance to ride with one another, the opportunity to ideate, experiment and be inspired by the wide variety of creative skiing styles present. From its inception, Kimbo Sessions has always been an event for skiers, by skiers. It’s not a competition, not a head-to-head battle, it’s a celebration. It embodies the essence of what park skiing is; friends enjoying each other's company, and a week of complete freedom.
Kimbo Sessions is the brainchild of Swedish rider Kim Boberg. In 2014 Kim, Henrik Harlaut, and Phil Casabon were filming for the video project Oil and Water. Their season consisted mostly of powder, backcountry, and street skiing days. But as the winter drew to a close, the team felt a springtime park shoot was missing from the project. So they called up Kläppen Snowpark, Kim’s childhood ski hill, to coordinate a park day. Not only did Kläppen agree to host, but they hooked them up with housing, gave them the keys to the lifts, and told the team, “If you need anything let us know, otherwise we’ll see you in a week.”
It quickly became every skier's dream: Keys to the lift. Private park. Ski as long as you want.
In a 2018 interview, Boberg recalled the time as being, "one of the most productive and fun weeks ever. Just a good crew, and a good vibe that was too good to not continue. It allowed us the opportunity to watch somebody doing something you had never seen before. And people would just sit and watch."
Boberg grew up in the 1990’s, during the formative days of park skiing. Inspired by footage from spring park segments that he saw in the movies, he dreamed of one day having all of his favorite skiers gathered at the same place, and throwing down tricks at the end of the season.
In the modern era of skiing where sponsorship dollars are hard to come by, and park shoots with more than one crew of skiers became more and more difficult to organize, Boberg recognized the value in the creative freedom that skiing at Kläppen Snowpark provided. He noticed that everyone seemed to do whatever trick came into their minds there and then. No pressure from judges, film crews, or other skiers.
In the years following, Boberg was able to rebuild more features in the park, and invite more and more skiers. Kimbo Sessions became an annual event, drawing athletes from all over the world to the little known Swedish snowpark.
What came from that week in 2014 is one of each year's most anticipated and beloved events in the sport. Kimbo Sessions allows the best skiers in the world the opportunity to build their own park, and ski it how they want. Free from the rules and conventions of traditional competition formats. It shows us what can happen when riders of different backgrounds and styles converge on the same park, and simply ski.
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