BROTHERS IN ARMS For a small NZ town, Wanaka has produced an uncanny number of talented freeskiing brothers who are all achieving big things on the world stage. Meet the Wells, Porteous & Bilous brothers.
THE WELLS BROTHERS Jossi, Byron, Beau-James & Jackson
Possibly the most famous freeskiing brothers in the world, the Wells boys were practically raised at Cardrona. Their parents, Bruce & Stacey, started working at the resort in the 1990s & the boys learnt to ski as toddlers. Before long they were regular faces in Cardrona’s pipe & park & quickly rose in the world rankings. The brothers have represented NZ in World Cups, X Games & the Winter Olympics. All four brothers are freeskiing all-rounders, with oldest brother Jossi having achieved massive results in halfpipe, slopestyle & big air. When Jossi won an X Games gold in slopestyle in 2016, Cardrona celebrated by launching the Jossi Wells Invitational event – which is back for a third year in 2018. Byron & Beau-James are both major competitors in halfpipe, while youngest Wacko (Jackson) gravitated to slopestyle/big air. Wacko was the first skier in the world to land a quad cork, at Cardrona in Winter 2016. He also took home bronze in Big Air at X Games Norway in 2017. All four Wells brothers were selected to represent NZ in PyeongChang. Disappointment followed for Jossi who had to withdraw his slopestyle entry due to a niggly knee injury. Jackson went on to represent the family on the slopestyle course. After the top rail section didn’t go his way, Wacko paid tribute to Jossi with a run of zero-spins. Byron & Beau-James qualified 4th & 5th respectively in the halfpipe qualifiers. In one NZ’s most heart-breaking Olympic moments, Byron broke his patella in practice. The unflappable Beau-James took on the final in true Wells fashion, putting down an absolute banger of a run that saw him narrowly miss out on the podium in 4th place. The Wells boys are such a dominant force in world freeskiing – they are an inspiration to an entire generation of skiers! We can’t wait to see what they bring next.
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