Kate Gray is 'On The Rise'
Born and raised in Mammoth, California, Kate Gray has been skiing since before she can remember. She brought home the bronze in halfpipe at the 2024 Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon, South Korea, and has set her sights on the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games.
Last season, Gray represented the U.S. at World Championships in all three freeski disciplines, became the first woman to land a bone roll in competition and maintained her status as the only athlete named to both the slopestyle/big air and halfpipe teams.
Gray is the latest athlete featured in U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s “On the Rise” series, presented by Zions Bank. Through community service, sponsorships and charitable donations, Zions Bank is committed to fueling economic growth and enhancing quality of life in Idaho, Utah and Wyoming.
We caught up with Grayto dive into his background, reflect on a season of milestones, and look ahead to his goals for 2025-26.
Q: What initially drew you to the sport of freeskiing?
A: It just kind of happened. I was always following my older brothers around, and when they started riding park I followed in their footsteps.
Q: When you were younger and getting into the sport, what were your goals?
A: I wanted to be as good as the boys on my team growing up. I wanted to push the sport and work up the ranks to ski with the pros.
Q: What is your biggest accomplishment?
A: My biggest accomplishment so far has making both the slopestyle and halfpipe teams, and being the first woman to land a bone roll.
Q: What is your ultimate goal?
A: I would love to go to the Olympics one day. But I would also like to be a part of progressing freeskiing in general. Eventually I would love to get into filming in the streets or the backcountry.
Q: Who are your heroes? Both in & out of the sport?
A: My heroes are definitely my parents and my brothers, I look up to all of them a lot. In skiing, I love getting to watch all my teammates. When I was younger, I looked up to Carly Marguiles a lot, as she was a Mammoth Olympian.
Q: You win $5,000 in prize money: What do you do with it?
A: I would try to save as much as possible, but probably end up spending a lot of it to help fund my travel during the season.
Q: Do you budget or follow any structure related to spending?
A: Not really, I try to be thoughtful of what I spend money on and save whenever I can.
Q: What’s one money habit you follow?
A: I track all my expenses throughout the season (equipment, travel, etc.), so next year I can make smarter money decisions in the years to come.
Follow Kate on her social media channels.