Watch: 16-year-old Jackson Goldstone hit 100ft Fest Series jumps

Lose Fest’s invite-only sessions are always, unreservedly the biggest jumps in mountain biking. With such high stakes, only the best, most experienced freeriders are ever invited. This year, at Malmedy in Belgium, that included 16-year-old Squamish rider Jackson Goldstone.

Goldstone, while half the age of some of the other Fest Sessions riders in Malmedy, has already been hitting big jumps for years. He first caught international attention at the age of 12. He’s won Crankworx whip-off’s, appeared in Nitro Circus and made numerous web edits.

In his first Fest appearance, he’s riding with freeride icons like Andreu Lacondeguy, Malmedy course creator Nico Vink, Szymon Godziek and Adolph Silva. The whole highlights reel is obviously worth watching (and the 10-minute RAW edit below it, if only for the T-Bar antics) and everyone is impressive. Seeing a 16-year-old throwing down with established pros takes it to another level.

For more on what Goldstone is up to, including what it was like riding the Nitro Circus and which riders he’s eyeing for his World Cup downhill debut next year (hint: there’s a few Canadian’s on his list), check out his conversation with the folks at ENVE.

Fest Sessions: Malmedy 2020 Highlights

More details on the event from Fest Series:

By riders for riders, The Fest Series has gained popularity worldwide by pushing freeride forward with massive jumps, insane tricks and heavy metal highlight edits.

The crew is expanding their concept by presenting a new format: Fest Sessions. Fest Sessions take a back to basics approach by exploring all aspects of freeride. With the simple goal of enjoying sessions with friends, this format will take place on big jumps, in bikeparks and throughout the backcountry, bringing a wide variety of terrain to the world’s best and most stylish freeriders.

“Fest was being labeled as guys who ride big jumps, but that’s only a part of what we love and we want to highlight all aspects of riding that we are passionate about. For me, Fest Sessions is going to offer new locations for freeriding and sessions.” – Nico Vink

Fest Sessions Malmedy – RAW

Fest Sessions kicked off in Malmedy, Belgium with the BikePark Ferme Libert Edition. Hosted by Nico Vink, the Sessions approach had Nico focusing on building an entire bikepark and creating a playground for freeriders. By the time the build was complete, BikePark Ferme Libert boasted a new medium jumpline, an enormous double-sided hip and more hidden transfers and gaps than there were people to ride them. While riding the big line is always the cherry on top, Nico knows how wind and weather dependent the world’s biggest jumps are, and with this new approach there wasn’t going to be a single missed day of riding. With a warm and calm September week ahead, the Session brought together a scaled-down crew of 11 riders. They were fortunate enough to get plenty of sessions on the big lines, with veterans like C Dog and Sam Reynolds pulling massive trains while newcomers Ike Klassen, Jackson Goldstone and William Robert brought their unique style to the line. Build crew Red Belge and Kristof Lenssens proved they have just as much fun behind handlebars as they do in a digger.

Nico Vink, Andreau Lacondeguy, Szymon Godziek and Adolf Silva all showed up to enjoy endless sessions, a private setting and jumps you can only find in select locations worldwide. While the rider list of a Fest Session is undeniably smaller than at a Series event, the result was exactly what Nico Vink had been looking for:
“The fact that it’s smaller allowed me to spend more time with the people who came from all over Europe, where in the past we’ve barely had time to chat, hang out and ride. It was very cool to do that this year.”

Fest is a shared vision for freeride focused on progression through riding bikes, building bigger jumps and having good times with friends. It exists to create the ultimate freeride environment by putting riders first and encouraging boundary-pushing.

Hosted by: Nico Vink

Built by: Nico Vink, Jeroen ‘Red Belge’ Meersman, Kristof Lenssens & Alois D’adamo
Ridden by: Andreu Lacondeguy, Szymon Godziek, Nico Vink, Sam Reynolds, Clemens ‘C Dog’ Kaudela, Adolf Silva, William Robert, Ike Klassen, Jackson goldstone, Jeroen ‘Red Belge’ Meersman & Kristof Lenssens

Filmed by: Chris Seager, Bart Cautaerts, Jelle Harnisfeger, Ca Greenwood, Hector Cash, Sam Reynolds, Jan Crommenlinck.
Photographed by:Fernando Marmolejo, Tom B, Hanna Retz, Maurice Tillaard, Ryan Franklin

Held: September 14-20 in Malmedy, Belgium in compliance with all local Covid-19 regulations