Kimbo Sessions prizes are the best prizes. Photo: Tyrolia/Martin Axéll

Kim Boberg

Born: 21 May 1991
Home: Älvdalen, Sweden
Sponsors: Armada Skis, Tyrolia Bindings, Full Tilt, Oakley
Likes: Working out and moving, good food, Älvdalen
Dislikes: Not being healthy, viruses

Hey Kim! This is the first time in years that there’s no Kimbo Sessions. You must be bummed.
For sure. It’s the first time in five years, this would have been the sixth edition. It’s definitely a bummer, but it is what it is and there’s not much I could do. I tried to stay optimistic till the very end, but not much has changed with travel restrictions and stuff. This is much bigger than us, so the same as all the other events, I had to make that call.

Kimbo Sessions has become one of the most looked-to events in skiing. How did it get started?
It started as an Armada shoot back in the day when we were filming for Oil & Water. We got to rebuild one of the jumps and it turned out to be one of the most productive and fun weeks of the season. It was just too good to not keep doing it. Every year after we were like, damn, we need that vibe back. I’m super stoked now that I can invite around 70 people to come for the session, because for the first shoot there were only ten people skiing the park. We just want to have as many people as we can and share the great times with as many as possible.

Crew status: legendary. Photo: Tyrolia/Martin Axéll

Kim’s Picks:3 Segments to Watch
Pep Fujas, Session 1242
Alex Hackel, Elnour
Phil Casabon, Oil & Water

Who has helped you to grow the event over the years?
In the beginning, Kläppen hooked us up with some cat hours. The year after a guy from Monster showed up and was super stoked on the whole vibe, and joined Armada as a partner. A few years ago Tyrolia began to support the event as well. It’s awesome to have my personal sponsors supporting the event. Then we’ve had other partners like Syrup Tree Board Company, who give us some sick powsurfs as prizes for riders of the week. It’s a guy from Michigan who makes his own boards.

What do you think makes Kimbo Sessions special for so many people?
For sure it’s a lot about the crew. But also, skiing a slushy park in the spring is so relatable. It’s a good time to learn new tricks, send stuff in the slush and just enjoy the end of the season to the fullest. I think that’s one of the main reasons. The spring is such a special time of the year when you’ve been skiing the whole season—you feel at your best, the parks are starting to get soft, the weather’s nice, there’s a good vibe. When you bring a crew like that together, there’s not much that can happen besides a good time with crazy skiing.

What Kim didn’t mention: the sun doesn’t set until after 10pm, and the session goes all day and into the night. Photo: Tyrolia/Martin Axéll

Can you walk us through the Tyrolia Attack Diaries, the Kimbo Sessions recap from last season?
It has such a nice vibe, it really makes me miss skiing at Kläppen right now. The whole Tyrolia team is super nice right now, and to be able to have all those guys at the event is sick. Everyone brings something fresh to the table. It’s a good mix of everything, there’s a ton of good style from some of my favorite skiers to watch right now. I’m happy to be a part of such a nice team.

Dozens of big names have flocked to Kimbo over the years. What’s one skier, living or dead, that you wish could come join?
For sure, Adam Delorme, JP Auclair, Stefan Thomas… so many. I’ve reached out to a lot of guys too, and hopefully they come one of these years.

Phil Casabon’s one of the regulars to be seen at Kimbo. Photo: Tyrolia/Martin Axéll

Kim’s Picks: 3 Albums
Metallica, …And Justice for All
KRS-ONE, KRS-One
Iron Maiden, Fear of the Dark

When did you get your first sponsor?
I got my first sponsor the year after I started skiing. I did a contest series in Sweden and if you won overall, you got sponsored by this Swedish ski brand called Extrem Skis. They’re still making skis to this day. That was my first sponsor, after that I rode for a few different ski brands. I was riding for Oakley locally, and the same dudes were doing distribution for Armada at the time. They told me that something big was coming, and then Armada asked me to ride for them. That was the biggest dream of mine—it was the brand I wanted to ski for growing up, all the cool riders that I looked up to rode for Armada. So I got on Armada, and through that I got in touch with Tyrolia as well. I think I’ve been with them now for seven years. I fell in love with the bindings—it felt like a binding I could trust 100 percent and was super happy with.

Skis are often the center of attention, but bindings are an equally important part of a skier’s kit. Why did you choose to commit to Tyrolia?
I felt super confident on Tyrolia bindings from day one. They would never break on me, and I’d never have the little problems like releasing when you’re not supposed to release. They were super durable and could withstand the riding I’m doing. I felt super confident and liked the product, and that’s why I wanted to stick with them. The Attack 16 is my choice of binding and the one I’ve been riding the whole time. I’ve ridden the 16 and the 18, but I’m on the 16 most of the time. That’s more than enough for me.

Kim in his element. Photo: Tyrolia/Martin Axéll

You’re known as an OG in the park and the street, but I don’t recall seeing your name on a contest roster besides Real Ski. Did you compete when you were younger?
I pretty much learned how to ski on the competition side—my first day on skis was a competition. I was around 12 and I was snowboarding at the time. It was the last day of the season, and I found an old pair of skis in the loft at home and figured I’d try it out. There was a big air contest going on at the resort when I showed up, and I really wanted to hit the jump on skis. So I entered the contest and ended up winning. When I went skiing at the resort the year after, the owner of the resort approached me and said, “You know you’re doing a slopestyle competition tomorrow, right?” I ended up doing that one too, and started doing local contests all over Sweden.

Then I won the Swedish Salomon Jib Academy and got to go to Mammoth for the finals. I ended up winning that, so that was the first thing that got me into international competitions. But by that time I was doing so many contests that I couldn’t ski, really—I’d just go from comp to comp and do contest runs. I got super tired of it, all the traveling, and maybe I’d end up crashing or something. So I decided to focus more on skiing in general, filming more and evolving as a skier. That was about seven years ago.

So you won a big air contest your first day on skis?
Yeah, I did a shifty-shifty spread eagle and a daffy tail grab. I won a season pass and a pair of goggles.

You went to Russia with the Bunch last winter.
That was a wild experience. I’d never been to Russia before, but most of the guys from The Bunch have been there multiple times already. We took the ferry from Stockholm to Finland, then a bus from Helsinki to St. Petersburg, then kept going by train in Russia to different places. We ended up down in Sochi for the last week of the trip. It was a wild experience to have with that crew—we were 16 people at the most, traveling across Russia with ski bags on the train. I’d gotten hurt in Quebec, came home and only had one week before we left for Russia. But I decided I was going to send it no matter what. It was going to be such a memorable trip.

Left: arrival in Sochi. Right: sights of Sochi. Photos courtesy of Kim Boberg

Kim’s Picks: 3 Swedish Traditions
Motor & Music Festival in Älvdalen
Midsommar
Valborg

I heard you tore your pectoralis major. how did it happen?
I was really getting into the groove in the street in Quebec for the new Bunch movie. On the second to last day I had this vision that worked out, but I wanted to perfect it and get a bit more speed on it. I ended up going face-first into this stairset and landed on my arm, and it kind of slipped out super fast. I felt that something was wrong, but I didn’t feel anything broken or dislocated. I just felt super weak, and then I got this big bruise on my bicep that I couldn’t figure out what it was. I started to feel a bit better, but wasn’t really getting my strength back. I went to Russia and skied there a little bit, then came back home and had an X-ray. The day before they called me back, I was doing push-ups and feeling fine. Then they called me and said I tore my pec major completely off the bone and needed to have surgery. So it was pretty brutal, but I’m stoked I didn’t break anything else because it was a horrible crash. I had surgery three weeks ago, and now I’m in a sling for another three weeks till I get to start some real rehab. I should be good in about five months or so.

You weren’t in the contest this year, but you helped out Alex Hackel and Peyben on their Real Ski video, which ended up with the bronze medal and fan favorite vote. How’s it been for you to be involved with Real Ski overall?
Real Ski is a crazy thing. It’s so nice every year when the videos come out, and there’s so much effort that goes into it. Since i was in it myself last year, I knew how much went into it. With Hackel getting his first invite, I wanted to help him out as much as possible while also filming for my own clips. I was with Hackel for most of the trips this year. It was so fun to watch him ski—it’s crazy how good he is.

In the streets with Alex Hackel.

What’s one thing you should never forget to bring on an urban mission?
Besides skis and boots, I would say some dry clothes to put on afterwards. That’s my thing that I always bring, an extra shirt or something at least. Get out of your wet clothes straightaway and you’ll get more energy, and maybe go build another spot or something.

Tell us something about your home, Älvdalen.
It’s a typical small Swedish town with a lot of red houses with white trim. I love it there, I have some insane love for my hometown. It’s mostly the nature and freedom that I enjoy, and it’s close to Klappen so it’s perfect. You can walk out the door and you’re in the woods, walking by a creek or going fishing in a lake. It’s just a beautiful place that I still enjoy to this day. I’ve been lucky to go to all these crazy places, but somehow I ended up at home anyway. I’ve got a little farm there that I bought a few years ago that I’m trying to fix up.