Trevor Kennison likes to push boundaries — or, more accurately, blow right past them on the way to new achievements.
He was the first sit skier to launch off the nose of the cornice into Corbet’s Couloir at Jackson Hole in 2019, then the first adaptive athlete to hit the Big Air jump at the X Games in Aspen last winter.
He’s also the first to successfully land a double backflip in a sit ski, a feat documented in the recently-released film “Full Circle” that’s screening at two Roaring Fork Valley venues this week.
The 5Point Summer Film Series kicks off Tuesday with an event at the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen, then another on Wednesday at The Arts Campus at Willits (TACAW) in Basalt; Kennison will be at both events for live Q-
“I just want to go live my life to the fullest and see actually what's possible and see what's to come from it,” Kennison said in a phone interview with Aspen Public Radio.
Kennison believes the film will impact lives well beyond a fanbase of skiers and snowboarders.
“There's been just a lot of ups and downs. … but just looking at it like, being positive and looking at the glass half full versus half empty, has gotten me a lot further than being negative,” he said.
His first sit ski experience after the accident was with Challenge Aspen in Snowmass Village. And though he’s based in Winter Park, Kennison still visits Aspen’s slopes from time to time — with a crew of support, he ascended and skied the Highland Bowl at Aspen Highlands this past winter.
Kennison returned to the backcountry of Vail Pass for the double-backflip effort in 2020; it’s the same place he was paralyzed in a snowboarding accident in 2014. On the big day of his return, Kennison said he was focused on the moment and the goal, not the past that brought him to that point. It’s a fitting mindset for the focal point of “Full Circle,” marketed as “a story of post-traumatic growth.
“Being up Vail Pass and breaking my back up there and getting a spinal cord injury, it sucks, but at the same time, I wouldn't change my injury for the world,” Kennison said. “I've met so many amazing people, and friends, family and partners. … I'm just so thankful [for] where I'm at in my life.”
At the time of his spinal cord injury, Kennison was just a recreational rider, but his advocacy, skill and ambition as an adaptive skier have propelled him to professional athlete status.
He’s sponsored by companies like GoPro, Eddie Bauer and the adaptive sports nonprofit the High Fives Foundation. He showcases his talent at events like the X Games and the Kings and Queens of Corbet’s. And he shares plenty of stoke with 95,000 followers on Instagram.
“No way, no way I thought this is like where my life was gonna turn out,” Kennison said.
“Full Circle” follows Kennison’s story in parallel with that of the late Barry Corbet, namesake of Corbet’s Couloir and a pioneering skier and climber. Corbet also sustained a spinal cord injury — his, in a helicopter crash near Aspen in 1968.
In different generations, Corbet and Kennison both recovered at Craig Hospital in Denver, then pursued new endeavors as adaptive athletes and advocates.
Kennison said he and the film’s director Josh Berman worked with books, films and archives to find the connections between the two athletes.
“It just uncovered such a bigger story than just myself,” Kennison said.
