With blood smeared across his cheeks and down his chin and congealing under his nose, 15-year-old freeskier Kai Jones looked at fellow pro Tim Durtschi and declared, “Best day of my life.”
Durtschi, Jones and another surging young skier, 21-year-old Parkin Costain, had escaped into the backcountry around Cooke City, Montana, last winter to shoot a segment for Teton Gravity Research’s latest ski film “Stoke the Fire,” which will air in Salt Lake City on Monday. Sizing up his crew, Durtschi, 35, immediately recognized his role. Though his ability to bring big tricks to the backcountry has earned him an appearance in nearly 20 ski flicks since 2008 — and he can still throw down — this time he had been cast as the mentor.