Jonny Moseley’s intriguing story began at Squaw Valley (now Palisades Tahoe). It continues today at the same resort where ski lessons as a young child eventually led to extraordinary fame as a skier and a long, successful career in the business side of the sport.
Moseley is best known for winning a gold medal in the 1998 Winter Olympics, wowing the crowd and a worldwide television audience with his highly innovative Dinner Roll in the men’s mogul event in Nagano, Japan. Eleven years later, Moseley was proudly inducted into the Ski Hall of Fame.
Moseley has traveled everywhere and skied at amazing resorts worldwide, yet Palisades Tahoe remains his special place.
“It’s incredible that my first instructor was still teaching on the mountain decades later when I came back after the Olympics, and even 10 years after that when I was teaching my own kids to ski,” explains Moseley, who has been a Palisades Tahoe ambassador for several decades. “Pat Northrop was my first instructor when I was 5, and she just retired in 2024 after 46 years.”
JONNEY MOSELEY, SKI LEGEND
- 1998 Olympics: Won Olympic gold medal in men’s moguls after successfully landing the Dinner Roll
- US Open Slopestyle: Won 1998 event using the Dinner Roll; that same year, won World Cup Mogul Skiing title
- X Games: Awarded silver medal at 1999 X Games with the Dinner Roll
- 2002 Olympics: Didn’t medal, finishing fourth after landing innovative Dinner Roll in men’s moguls
- Hall of Fame: In 2007, inducted into the Ski Hall of Fame
Tom and Barbara Moseley shown skiing back in the day with their three sons – Jeff, Rick and Jonny.
The Early Years
Moseley was born in Puerto Rico, but after relocating to California, his family lived in the Bay Area and commuted to Tahoe on weekends so he and his two older brothers (Rick, Jeff) could learn to ski.
Jonny first slipped into skis at age 3, and almost immediately demonstrated a natural aptitude. Yet no one could have imagined how he would redefine the ski industry.
Moseley calls Kevin Whiteman, Raymond DeVre, Brad Holmes, and brother Rick his foundation. Whiteman was the overall godfather of freestyle at Palisades in its current form. Raymond served as his coach, counselor, mentor, and friend, while Holmes was his ultimate inspiration.
“And I credit Rick as the technical guru and big brother who made it all possible,” Moseley says.
At Palisades Tahoe, Moseley says you can start your child in a Shooting Stars team at age 4. The access points of the youth program are very user-friendly, whether through instruction or the Mighty Mites program.
“And they’re not just run-of-the-mill beginner programs. You’re getting into a program with coaches who have been there for 30 years,” Moseley said. “As you go through the ranks, each level has these tenured people who have been teaching forever. You get to move through this system that has this cache of knowledge that’s very deep.”
A Career in Skiing
Moseley says he started understanding the ski business at around age 17, making money as a skier and soliciting sponsorship. He calls it a bit of a symbiotic relationship or bargain with ski companies.
“They help you now; you’ll help them sell products later,” he said. “I realized getting exposure was the keystone. As a mogul skier, we didn’t get much exposure compared to Alpine racers. And mogul skiers might have only been on TV twice a year with no social media.”
Although he felt a little insecure about being pigeonholed as just a mogul skier, Moseley was also thinking – “I want to be the best skier in the world.” So, he began devising a multi-pronged strategy to build his brand and legacy and to be known as one of the best pro skiers in the world.
“I was in the right place at the right time a few times,” Moseley said “I’ll give myself some credit for being interested and willing to learn new things. I think this allowed me to move with the sport as it changed and transition to fields that could complement my skills and brand.”
Finding his niche: The Dinner Roll
The Dinner Roll was a trick he developed for the 1999 X-Games. It involves a 720-degree off axis rotation, where you ski off the jump, do two full rotations – one on the horizontal plane and the other on a vertical one.
At the X-Games, the jumps are big and provided Moseley lots of time in the air. However, the Olympic mogul course was quite different – it was steep, had tight turns, and demanded a small narrow technical jump with an unforgiving landing.
The Dinner Roll trick was so new that the 22-year-old Moseley had to appeal to the Olympic Skiing Federation just to do it. He had to show the committee that it fell within their rule stating “no inverted tricks in the moguls and also prove that it was not dangerous.”
“After lobbying and video explanation, we pushed it through by one vote, much to the chagrin of the European countries,” explains Moseley.
Moseley can still see himself standing atop the sun-drenched Nagano Olympic mogul course, running through his mental checklist, confident, anxious, and with the pressure of a nation on his shoulders.
With a shove of his poles he headed down the mogul hill, boldly going over the boulder-sized bumps of snow, his body absorbing each blow and somehow maintaining a fluid rhythm. At the top jump, he threw his skis left, then right, then apart, did a huge double-twister spread, and finished by sticking the landing.
Moseley increased his speed following the Dinner Roll and before he knew it, the bottom jump was upon him.
“I knew I was coming in hot, and I just jumped, and I remember jumping so hard that I felt like my heels came out of my boots, and I just knew right away that I nailed it,” he recalls.
Moseley skidded to a haphazard stop and onto his backside, then quickly sprung to his feet as he went into the padded fencing, where he pulled himself up in a celebratory position. His score came across the large screen – 26.93 – almost a full point higher than Finnish silver medalist Janne Lahtela’s 26.00. The gold medal was his.
Post Ski Career
Although his role for many years as a Palisades Tahoe ambassador is somewhat under the radar, Moseley loves his role at the Lake Tahoe ski resort and is at home meeting with guests and interacting with them on and off the slopes.
He is a key figure for Palisades Tahoe, where he also enjoys spending time with his family and teaching his children to ski. He also partners with the resort for various events.
These days, Moseley might be best known for being the narrator for the annual Warren Miller films, a job he has enjoyed since 2007. He took over the role after Warren Miller’s passing, narrating every film since. He also occasionally appears as one of the featured skiers in the acclaimed action-packed, humorous films.
Moseley has a long history in television hosting and commentary for skiing events on networks like NBC. He was the Olympic and World Cup Freestyle skiing analyst for NBC from 2010 to 2022.
He is also a partner with Baïst gloves and has been instrumental in co-designing new ski gloves for their “Legends Line.”
Sources for this story include information from Tahoe Quarterly writer Sylas Wright and Jackie Brown, a Digital Marketing person at Palisades Tahoe
