Despite the group’s speed, the smell keeps wafting through the air around them — a familiar odour recognizable to most backcountry enthusiasts. The crew blasts up a logging road to access the cliffs and pillow zone they’ve shot the past few days. As they park the machines, the smell further engulfs them. But the familiar aroma is not two-stroke engine oil wafting from snowmobiles; it’s the distinct fragrance of campfire-cooked sausages. However, it’s 6 a.m., the campfire is a snowmobile engine, and the team’s chef extraordinaire is Jordy Kidner, who asks — in a chipper voice unbecoming of a 5 a.m. wake-up call — if anyone wants to share one of his steaming-hot breakfast sausages. Among a primarily vegetarian group, he stands out with his offer. But when you see him ski, you understand that standing out isn’t new to 27-year-old Kidner.
Raised in Canmore, Alberta, by ski-centric parents, Jordy and his twin brother Jake (two minutes the elder) were immersed in Bow Valley ski culture from the age of two. Within a few years, they made tracks around Lake Louise as a family. This went on for years without much formal training or any race experience, an odd situation when the local mountain hosts a World Cup ski race every year.
Around the age of 14, everything changed when Kidner became one of the youngest members of the Rocky Mountain Freeriders, a famous local freeski program run by the likes of Kevin Hjertaas and Drew Wittstock, with notable alumni such as Chris Rubens and Eric (Hoji) Hjorleifson. With coaching from these local legends, Kidner gained confidence in competitions across British Columbia and Alberta and began to pursue broader ski ambitions.
Jordy Kidner
Fast forward a few years later, and a then 23-year-old Kidner received a call from Rubens to shoot with the Blank Collective, a film crew from Whistler that would be filming in Revelstoke, B.C. The call was last-minute, and Kidner already had date plans with his now long-term girlfriend, Tonje Kvivik, founding member of The Blondes. True to form, Kidner stayed out late courting the comely Norwegian and then rose early to shoot with Blank, subsequently tomahawking both of his lines that day. Yet he impressed the crew enough to get invited on another trip just days later and has been a stalwart performer in each of the crew’s subsequent films.
Jordy Kidner
In winter 2021, Kidner finally lived out his teenage dream skiing with Rubens, Hoji, Rey, and Godbout for several weeks at Golden Alpine Holidays — a renowned Mecca for sweet, soft pillow lines — in B.C.’s Selkirk Mountains. While skiing pillows have become Kidner’s strong suit, he is eager to learn new skills, particularly in big mountain skiing. “I want to get more comfortable in bigger terrain,” Kidner says. “When you first start looking at those faces, it’s hard to piece together how big everything is.” By tapping into his crew’s knowledge, he is gradually building the knowledge and confidence to thrive in more consequential terrain.
In the off season, Kidner — now affectionately known as “Dozer” — works as a heavy machine operator for a construction company to feed his ski addiction each winter. He and Kvivik own a house together in Squamish, and when asked about what it’s like having two pro skiers under the same roof, he says it works out great.
Jordy Kidner
With that attitude and professional atmosphere in the house, there’s no doubt Kidner will enjoy the sweet smell of success as his ski career continues … including the scent of breakfast sausages cooking on his sled.
