That Kid's Got Game: 8-year-old skier from Carmel Valley lands 360

CARMEL VALLEY, Calif. (KTVU) - A young skier from Carmel Valley is having a heck of a snow season: He’s skiing with the Kirkwood JETS and landing difficult tricks. 

Kipton “Kip” Walbrun had a goal to land a 360—one complete airborne rotation—when Kirkwood Mountain Resort opened their runs in late November. Now he’s already working on landing a 540, because the eight-year-old is putting in work every day and it’s landed him on That Kid’s Got Game. 

Kip nailed a 180 during the opening weekend of this winter snow season and from then on, day and night, he practiced the full rotation on the carpet with his skis. Two weeks later, and after roughly 10 tries off a snow jump, Kip landed the 360.

“I don’t think I have ever seen him more excited,” said Carolina Walbrun, Kip’s mom.

Mobile users watch Kip's That Kid's Got Game highlight reel here

After first getting on skis at 18 months old, Kip was riding alongside his mom and sister at two and by three he was jammin’ down the mountain on his own. His mom and dad, who admittedly can no longer keep up with their eight-year-old son, describe him as a focused, determined and goal oriented kid. 

He drops-in off cliffs, too. 

And he’s getting a healthy amount of runs in. Between December and March, the Monterey County family goes skiing every weekend. This year, Kip joined his sister Maddie to ski with the Kirkwood JETS, which is “a season-long, team-driven program for both skiers and snowboarders where athletes demonstrate dramatic improvement in their skiing/snowboarding by season’s end.”

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