NEXUS – A Conversation with Aaron Durlester & Kai Martin

Nexus began unintentionally. What started as a few fun days filming in New Zealand turned into a full solo part for skier Aaron Durlester, who entered the 2024/25 season focused on competitions; yet found himself pulled toward filming instead. With longtime friend Kai Martin behind the lens, the two pieced together a film that mixes halfpipe, street, backcountry, and skate influence into a single vision. We sat down with both of them to talk about where Nexus came from, how the project took shape, and what they hope it inspires within freeskiing.

Aaron: I started last season in New Zealand, hungry to put all my effort into competing. I knew I wanted to film a little, but I didn’t want to put any pressure on making anything. In New Zealand, I filmed a couple of days in the pipe with Kai Martian and Andrew Herman just for fun and ended up getting some of my favorite shots of the video. Kai was making a New Zealand edit for the Chef Skiing crew at the time, and his creativity and approach blew me away. That kind of got the wheels spinning around in my thoughts to collaborate on a video with Kai. After my New Zealand trip last year is when the idea got in my head.

Aaron: Last season, I wanted to focus on competing and try to make a push for the Olympics. As the season started to unfold, I just ended up filming more than I expected. I slowly started to realize I would go to these contests and have the best time, but when it got to competition day, I just wasn’t having fun on my skis. Instead of thinking about training, I just wanted to film and ski the way that made me happy.

Aaron: Mammoth has it all; from great skiing to some of the best jumps and rails in the world, not to mention my favorite halfpipe. I grew up skiing everything, just wanting to become the best skier I could be. I skied with snowboarders like Dusty Henricksen, Denver Orr, and Kolman LeCroy, who hugely influenced my style and how I look at skiing. Growing up watching Parker White and countless pros skiing everything so well, including halfpipe, I always envied the people who could do it all and have fun doing it. I’ve always wanted to bring that to my skiing. I hope it shined through. I also had three street clips filmed in Mammoth, and they were some of my favorites.

Aaron: I think halfpipe is in an interesting spot. I got into halfpipe not because I wanted to do dub 12s; I probably didn’t even know what that was. I got into halfpipe because I was watching the snowboarders and skiers float above the wall, doing fives and nines, and I just thought it was so cool. I’ve always liked being in the air. If you don’t have the luxury of growing up watching people ride halfpipe for fun, it can look insane and unachievable; especially where the sport is today. I wanted to show that there are many ways to ski a halfpipe and have fun. There’s nothing better to me than skiing a spring pipe with your friends, whether it’s trying a dub 12 or working on a handplant. I wanted to show that you can have just as much fun in the pipe as skiing anything else.

Aaron: I always put pressure on my skiing; on skiing the best I can and the way I want to show my skiing, not changing it for a contest or a person. I’m excited to shift my focus from halfpipe to different aspects of skiing. I still want to ride and film halfpipe, but I’m ready and excited to put the same effort I put into halfpipe into other areas of my skiing.

Aaron: It’s not easy competing and filming. It’s hard to find good conditions to film in between contests, especially when you have a budget. I started filming with no intention, so I didn’t know I was doing a solo video until I already had most of the shots. It’s a lot of pressure making something by yourself because it really is a video reflecting you and your skiing at this point in time.

Aaron: Pretty much the whole video. I filmed with a lot of different people on a lot of different cameras; street, backcountry, and halfpipe, plus some skateboarding. There were so many different elements that I wasn’t sure would come together. But if anyone could do it, Kai could; and he did. This is definitely my favorite project I’ve made yet.

Aaron: Kai is one of the most creative and innovative people I’ve ever met. He has such an eye; he’s insightful, he knows what looks good, and he’s one of my favorite skiers in the world. He’s constantly toying with different ideas, so I knew if anyone could get creative and make something out of all these shots, it would be him. I’m so grateful for his help creating this video.

Aaron: Connection. Nexus means the connection between things. It also sounds like “next,” like a new chapter. I wanted to show that skiing everything is a great way to keep skiing fun and interesting. I wanted something that shows my halfpipe skiing and where it is in my life right now, especially as I start to focus on other aspects of my skiing.

Kai: When Aaron called me up to ask about working on this project, I was immediately drawn to the idea of making a video showcasing every facet of freeskiing; from halfpipe all the way to street. That’s the coolest part of this project, and Aaron is one of the few skiers who can make something like this. He’s also such a good friend of mine, so I was just stoked to help bring his vision to life.

Kai: Aaron told me to be as creative as I wanted, so I kind of just ran with that. We’re both inspired by skate videos, so I tried to bring some of that style into the project while also keeping it unique from the other stuff being released. I’ve only worked on a few videos, so I was also trying to bring my own style into it.

Kai: It was definitely challenging to make the video feel coherent since it was filmed by so many different people on so many different cameras; but that was also fun to figure out. The coloring ended up being really important to how unified it felt. I’m most proud of the intro. I really enjoyed just throwing stuff together in a way I liked, and I think it helped dictate the feel of the rest of the video.

Kai: I think it really shows how special of a skier Aaron is. Very few skiers could put together a halfpipe segment of that caliber while also having street and pow in the same video; although I wish this wasn’t so rare. I hope this video inspires more people to get in the stunt ditch and make videos, because it’s such a sick part of freeskiing that feels like it needs that culture to bring some life back into it.

In the end, Nexus is a portrait of progression; not just in skiing, but in perspective. Aaron and Kai created something that mixes styles, eras, and influences into a project that feels personal and refreshing. If this film represents what’s “next,” the future is looking bright.

Watch the full Nexus video linked below and experience the project for yourself.