In 2009, American freestyle skier Simon Dumont launched the first ever Dumont Cup at his home mountain, Sunday River. As a Maine native, Dumont sought to put East Coast skiing on the map, bringing big name athletes and up and coming free-skiers alike to compete on the pro-am stage. Among the crowd at the Dumont Cup was a young Hunter Henderson, a New Hampshire native who was quickly falling in love with freeskiing. Little did he know that years later, the Henderson Invitational would carry on that same East Coast spirit, grit, and passion for the sport – bringing exposure and opportunity back to the birthplace of freestyle skiing: Waterville Valley.

Henderson started skiing at a young age. Just like most young kids, he was put in weekend ski instruction programs by his parents. He never wanted to follow the crowd; instead he was finding all the possible side jumps, moguls and tree skiing he could. Soon enough Hunter joined freestyle skiing programs around age seven. Shortly after that, the Henderson family started skiing at Waterville Valley, where things took off. Both Hunter and his sister Grace did a few years of weekend programs at Waterville before enrolling at the Waterville Valley Academy. Joining in fifth grade, Hunter was the youngest to join the Academy at the time.

Training at the Academy is truly where the Henderson’s success was kickstarted. There were plenty of long, grueling summer days spent at Snow’s Mountain working on jumps and tricks on trampolines and the airbag, before getting on the snow. Henderson explained the process of trying on the trampolines and airbags to “qualify” tricks, trying over and over again, countless times in a summer. “I got obsessed with that process of qualifying tricks, and started to realize my own personal motivation and my success. I was beginning to qualify a lot of tricks past my peers. We do similar training now, but that airbag definitely made me tough,” Henderson shared.

After years of hard work and dedication, Hunter and Grace are now teammates on the United States FK Pro Slopestyle team. Grace competed in her second X Games this January, winning a Silver Medal in Women’s Big Air with her teammate and brother by her side. Since joining the US team in 2021, Hunter has four top-ten finishes at the World Cup, recently placing eighth at the FIS Freeski Slopestyle event in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Helping each other along the way has been crucial to both Grace and Hunter’s success. “As we’ve gotten older we have always coached each other and bounced off each other’s feedback and energy,” Hunter explained. “We motivate each other and that has been happening since we were young kids, it’s been great to have a sister in the sport.”

The inaugural Henderson Invitational will be taking place at Waterville Valley on Saturday, April 5th, where all the hardwork and dedication comes full circle. With this event, Hunter aims to bring the loyal, passionate East Coast skiing community to Waterville Valley. There will be roughly 50 competitors, with a morning practice session, followed by qualifying and final competitions. Hunter is working closely alongside the Waterville Valley grooming team to build a one of a kind, creative course with lots of features in a confined space at the bottom of High Country.

The goal is to have a “jam” atmosphere with competitors going one by one to make for constant action. “We’ve got a couple of pro athletes alongside amateur and semi-pro guys which will be a cool opportunity for people looking for exposure, which is what this is all about.” The Invitational will kick off at 10:30am with Open Practice, with Women’s Qualifications starting at 11:15am and Men’s starting at 12:00pm. Finals will follow at 1:15pm after a reset, with awards at 2:45pm, capped off by an Apres Ski Party on the Freestyle Lounge Deck at 3:00pm.