As is tradition our 10 Finalists cast their votes, awarding points for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place results that were added up and tallied… and when all the numbers were crunched Remco Kayser sat on top by the narrowest of margins- a single point.
Tell us about this year’s SuperUnknown event!
Remco: This year was crazy! We first all met at evo in Denver, where I directly realized how fun the week was going to be. It’s awesome to see people from all over the globe that never met each other, reunited over the same passion.
After a cool welcome party with a good meal and beers, we drove to Winter Park, where the rest of the week took place. We were super lucky with the weather, the sun was shining almost every day and we could ride in t-shirts most of the time. That made the vibes extremely crunchy.
We stayed at a nice hotel at the bottom of the ski area, and were usually skiing from 1pm to 8pm, so we had some time to have a few beers and play “hockey” with everyone in the evening. It was one of the best weeks of my life, no doubt!!!
What was it like working with Winter Park?
I’ve never had the opportunity to work with a park crew as motivated as they were in Winter Park. Every day, they asked us what kind of features we wanted to modify, or if we wanted to have new ones added in the park and the next day, all the changes/new features magically appeared. The boys worked very hard and I want to big up the whole Winter Park crew one more time!!!
Photo: Gavin Rudy
Tell us about the other Finalists- lots of different skiers with different styles?
Everyone straight killed it. I think I’ve never been this inspired in my life. Every single rider had a different personality, skiing style, lifestyle, and approach to every feature. It was sick to watch them and create some new ideas out of all the different things happening.
I definitely enjoyed skiing and chilling with Simon and Jessy as we have been riding Mammoth before Superunknown and crossed a good part of the USA together. They both skied very well in Winter Park and I’m looking forward on shredding with them it the future.
Jacob had one of the illest style during this week. And considering he just turned 18, I am excited to see what he’s going to offer us in the next years. His skiing and personality are mad mature for his age, and it was one of the guys that inspired me the most.
Joel was my favorite skier. I like this guy so much. Every trick he did, I was blown away. On the jumps he went super big with mad style, on the rails he was stomping everything he tried, definitely an incredibly talented skier. (Plus he’s got that Swedish vibe/swag, they are all so good over there, it’s crazy.) Looking forward on shredding Kläppen with him in the future!
But yeah, all the boys killed it, I’ll never forget you guys and hope to shred with you again soon!
Remco (Switzerland) with his fellow European finalists Šimon Bartík (Czech Republic) and Joel Magnusson (Sweden)
From my perspective this year’s Finals was a VERY tight race. Was voting hard? Did you have any expectation that you might win?
Holy kebab, yes, voting was very hard. We had to pick our 3 favorite skiers, which was a very tight call.
I personally never skied as good as I did this week… I normally ski pretty mellow when I’m in a park, just have fun cruising around and send it harder in the streets and backcountry when trying to get good shots.
But it was different here, there were cameras everywhere and crazy boys throwing crazy tricks all the time, so I just had to adapt kinda… hahah. But no, I didn’t expect to win, I taught it would be Joel or Jacob, they destroyed every single feature, it was awesome to see.
It’s crazy to think there was only 1 point separating Joel and myself. I voted for him and he voted for me… I still think he definitely could have deserved to take it instead of me… Destroy Kimbo Sessions Joel!!!! I want to see Jacob and Joel back at Superunknown next year, they both deserve another chance!!!
What does it mean to you to win SuperUnknown XV and have your name added to a list of those that have won in the past?
It feels super crazy and pretty weird actually. I just checked the list again and it feels even crazier. Some of the guys in that list are the reason I actually started freestyle skiing. And the most recent winners are to me, part of the guys that keep freestyle skiing real/alive and push it to the next level. I’m slowly starting to realize my name is going to be added next to all these huge names and it feels super weird.
Winning SuperUnknown means a lot to me and changes my ski carreer and expectations totally. Last season I didn’t ski due to a knee injury and thought I might stop skiing as much and concentrate more on university life… I went travelling in South America and I was feeling pretty good without skiing… But than as soon as I skied with my crew again (@buldozlife), I immediately knew I couldn’t stop and loved this thing way to much. And here I am, winning the SuperUnknownXV… it’s really unbelievable and I want to thank all of the riders for choosing me as a winner.
Well, it’s a good question, I’m trying to figure it out actually. I’m a student at the university of Geneva and I’m going to try to put as many exams as I can during the summer in order to be able to ski as much as I can during the winter. I actually have 6 exams planed in 3 weeks, but Level 1 just invited me to a video-shoot in Canada next week… ahah. So I have been sending/receiving a lot of e-mails to/from my university these past days… but it’s gonna work out fine in the end!!!
Other than that, I want to continue skiing as much as I can. I haven’t talked a lot about it with Level 1 yet, but I am very motivated to join my homie Laurent DM and the others on some backcountry and street missions and try to produce a cool part. I also want to continue skiing and filming with my boys back home and continue posting a bunch of funny clips on insta and present a full movie at the end of the winter.
I also hope some brands are going to contact me in order to support me. Until now I’ve never had a better deal than just ski-gear and we’ll see where that will bring me. Skiing and travelling are pretty damn expensive for a skier-student.
But yeah, most of all, I want to continue smiling on my skis, having fun, keep meeting awesome people/skiers all around the globe and try to bring as much positivity as I can into the ski world.
Aaaand, this is not part of the questions but I would like to give a S/O to all the people that helped me get here! All my friends from Geneva, Los Pavos, my Buldoz boys, my parents, my cool sister, Head Skis, all the Swiss skiers + snowboarders and every other cool person I have in my life! LOVE YOU!
Level 1 has been documenting skiing since 1999 through feature-length films, event experiences, and short movies and edits. We're a family of talented filmmakers, athletes, and designers, trekking the globe to capture compelling images of the best skiing action, cutting it up and delivering premium content to your screen! We’re all passionate about what we do – determined to stay true to our vision through the media we produce and the merchandise we put the Level 1 stamp on.
