Kicking off his season with a gold medal in Sun Peaks’ Canada Cup, local skier Ryder Mckenzie-White took on his first season with the Freestyle BC team this year.
“The BC team selections happen right at the end of the season…and then I started training with them all summer and we started competing in January,” Mckenzie-White said.
Competing at this level requires significant support, Jason White, Ryder’s dad said.
“Seeing Ryder grow with the coaching that he’s received through Sun Peaks and some of these other coaches, it’s been great,” he told SPIN. “Watching his dedication is unbelievable, and it basically started with a school at the top of the terrain park.”
The Sun Peaks Freestyle Club, which Mckenzie-White was previously on, offers coaching from age seven. As riders progress, they can be selected for provincial and even national teams, Sun Peaks Freestyle club president Trevor Lott explained.
“Ryder got to the point where he was placing well enough that he earned a spot on the BC team,” he said.
Winning the Canada Cup and competing in Calgary
This year marked the second time Mckenzie-White took home gold in front of his home crowd at the Canada Cup, something his father attributes to the quality of coaching in Sun Peaks.
“To win last year at home for the first time was amazing, and then to back it up this year was phenomenal,” White said.
While most of the Freestyle BC team is located in the lower mainland and Whistler, Mckenzie-White is still based out of Sun Peaks, traveling to competitions and events, the most recent taking place in Calgary for the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) 2026 Park and Pipe Junior World Championships.
He placed eighth in the Feb. 28 slopestyle competition, and while he said there were a few corrections he could have made and challenges to overcome, namely the wind, he expressed pride in his riding.
“Calgary’s a pretty windy place, so I think to manage the wind is pretty hard…but I put down a clean run and ended up with a pretty good placement that I’m proud of,” Mckenzie-White said.
“It’s an honour to even be here just competing to make finals.”
Out of just over 80 athletes, White said his son was only expecting to finish in the top 30.
“So to finish eighth was amazing,” he said.
He also qualified for big air finals, competing in that event March 4, where he placed 13th.
“The bar just keeps raising and he just keeps bringing his level up to wherever the bar is, it seems,” White said proudly. “It just relates back to the people that he’s around.”
Again managing the wind proved difficult in training, and ensuring his safety in his tricks was vital.
“When you’re hitting the big jumps and you have a lot of air time… it’s just dangerous,” Mckenzie-White said, adding that it also played with his head a bit during training.
“It gets pretty scary.”
His next competition comes up March 7 with a new FIS rail event when he will participate in qualifiers to see if he will compete in the finals that same day.
“We couldn’t be more proud of him, and that’s what it all boils down to, is when you see these kids work so hard and then all of a sudden, these things come to fruition,” White said of his son.
What’s next?
Following this stretch in Calgary, Mckenzie-White flies to Mammoth Mountain, Calif. for the North American Cup, his first time competing in the United States.
“Then I get back, have about a two-week break, and then I head to Whistler for the last competition of the season, and that’s always a good time,” he said.
After a two-month break in the summer, Mckenzie-White will get right back into the swing of things with air bag camps before heading over to New Zealand or Finland to train on snow again.
To add to an already-busy year, the 17-year-old will graduate in 2027, and said he’s looking forward to focusing on his sport.
“I [won’t] have to worry about focusing on juggling school and skiing,” he said. “I can just focus strictly on skiing and trying to get up to that high level.”
To follow Mckenzie-White’s progress for the remainder of the season, folks can follow him on Instagram at ryderskispark, where he shares updates on competitions.
Looking ahead to his future in skiing, White said his son is always improving and exceeding expectations.
“I’ve never not seen him attain the next goal,” White said when asked if his son has Olympic aspirations. “So I wouldn’t want to say that he can or can’t do it, but if the progression shows, it’s definitely a possibility.”
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