I recently had the chance to speak with Alex Hall, one of the most decorated slopestyle skiers ever, about his life in and out of skiing. He is best known as “A-Hall” or “your favorite skier’s favorite skier.” Some of his accolades include an Olympic gold medal and eight X Games podiums, half of which were gold. Coming off yet another successful season of competing and filming, he continues to push the creative limits of the sport. Throughout our conversation, we were able to cover some unique topics. Hall discussed his social media presence and the voice it gives him, filming with friends, and some potential career opportunities down the line.
The Fairbanks, Alaska, born skier who typically gets about 300 days on snow per year hasn’t been spending this summer skiing or training. Alex Hall is currently working in New York City as a finance intern. “It’s just six weeks,” he explained, “when I got the internship, it was pretty much right in that time frame that I was willing to give up.” Amidst his annual schedule of competing and filming, the summer is when Hall typically takes some time off. Although many might take this as a hint towards a career change, he said this is not the case.
He noted that many people asked if this meant he was putting skiing behind him. “I still love it,” Hall said. As for his current internship, he stated, “The thought was: is this something I could see myself doing in the future? Let’s find out.” Still, his love for the sport is reflected in many ways, and he has no plans to quit any time soon. The precision and effort reflected in his films and his success in competing are both examples. Additionally, he cares about up-and-coming athletes getting the opportunity to do the same. Hall spoke about some of his own efforts to make that happen.
Voicing FIS Frustrations
Alex Hall has been known to be vocal about the lack of pay in competitive freeskiing. Representing successful companies like Monster Energy and Faction Skis provides him with the opportunity to ski year-round. “I’m grateful not to have to worry about money from competitions,” he stated. “I mean, my sponsors take such good care of me.” However, this has not stopped him from creating much-needed dialogue about income disparities for freeskiers.
Last summer, he put up a series of Instagram stories targeted at FIS, the International Ski and Snowboard Federation, which oversees thousands of skiing competitions annually worldwide. Alex directly called them out in these posts, highlighting that the prize pool for freestyle disciplines was far too small compared to alpine. “A lot of people took it as me complaining about my own winnings,” he said. “I made those posts for a lot of the upcoming skiers who have to count on their prize money. It makes a big difference in what they can afford.”
Most notably, he pointed out that the total combined prize money for all freestyle competitions was just over $605,000, compared to $12 million for alpine. As a result of voicing his concerns, Hall has communicated this issue directly with FIS and other athletes who share his views. The solution is not so simple, unfortunately. According to Alex, several documents provided by FIS explain what goes into allocating all their funds. Nonetheless, he is glad to have created a dialogue for frustrated skiers trying to sustain their professional careers.
Kimbo Sessions: The Best Week of The Year
As we started to talk more about skiing, A-Hall had a lot to say about his favorite event of the year: Kimbo Sessions. For those unfamiliar with Kimbo Sessions, it is a week-long freeskiing event held at Kläppen Snowpark in Sweden. With Kim Boberg as their host, there are innovative park features and a private lift exclusively for the invited athletes. The event isn’t just about the skiing, according to Hall. It allows him and his U.S. Ski Team friends to reconnect with other athletes. “We don’t get to see a lot of these guys until Kimbo every year. It’s a really diverse crowd, which is awesome.”
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The gathering occurs every May, right at the end of the competition season. It’s no wonder why it’s Hall’s favorite time of the year. He showed a lot of enthusiasm reflecting on this year and past years at Kimbo. “We get a month’s worth of skiing in just five days. We start at 2:00 p.m. and finish at 11:00 p.m. with the sun setting so late up there in Scandinavia.”
With his close friends Mac Forehand and Colby Stevenson, they try to keep track of each run they take. “We were trying to calculate how many laps we got over that six-day period—we got something like 600 or 700 laps each, all over the course of the week.” The t-bar takes only a minute or two to return them back to the top. As if Kimbo Sessions wasn’t luxurious enough, there is a chef who comes to the top of the park to prepare lunch and dinner for the athletes each day they ski. It’s a true paradise for freeskiers.
Filming With Owen Dahlberg
Hall noted how happy he was to have his good friends Hunter Hess and Owen Dahlberg with him at this year’s Kimbo Sessions. The trio is best known for Magma, their ski film series. “The three of us are so goal-oriented.” Whether they’re skiing for fun at Brighton in Utah or filming street clips in obscure locations like South Dakota, he said that there’s always a goal in mind.
As Alex would explain, Dahlberg is a lifelong skier but a filmer at heart. Dahlberg dedicates so much time to the combined talents of Alex and Hunter Hess, a half-pipe skier for the U.S. Ski Team, producing “skiing art” with their films. Hall expressed his gratitude for having him around. “The artistic side of skiing into art is more of a passion for Owen than skiing itself,” Hall explained, stating that it allows him and Hunter to push their creative limits with their skiing. Their most recent film, Magma 3, combines three years of street and backcountry clips all over the United States. Alex and Owen have also collaborated on separate projects outside of the Magma series, such as “Security Notice, ” a street skiing film from 2021.
As the 2024-25 season draws closer, A-Hall looks forward to returning to training and riding. At the highest point of his career so far, there’s a lot of success to look back on for the 25-year-old athlete. On top of his accomplishments in competing and filming, Faction released Alex’s latest signature ski last season. The limited edition “Studio A-Hall” is a park and pipe build catered to his own style of skiing and those he’s inspired to do the same. After his time in New York City, he looks forward to getting right back into the groove of things, and he plans to travel to New Zealand in a few weeks. It was truly a dream come true to speak to one of my biggest idols of my favorite sport. I can personally say that Alex is a friendly, down-to-earth dude with a true passion for skiing.
Max you killed this. Such a dope article with such a legend !
Really interesting insights!