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It’s the last day of the summer season at Grand Targhee Resort, live music drifts across the base area as mountain bikers roll in, beers in hand.
At the center of it all is a crowd of about 200 people, gathered for Jaelin Kauf. The 28-year-old grew up on this mountain and is now preparing to compete in her third Olympics.
Kauf has over 50 World Cup podiums and has been the top female competitor on the U.S. Mogul Team for a decade.
Kauf knows a lot of people here. They know what she’s been working towards since she was a kid.
She teared up speaking to her fans.
“I’m going to cry up here, but bringing an Olympic medal home to this valley, to this region. I didn’t accomplish it on my own,” Kauf said. “It’s all because of you guys, from the love and support from when I was 10 years old.”
It was a lot of hard work — and that path hasn’t always been clear, said her dad, Scott Kauf. He got emotional, too.
“We weren’t trying to make an Olympian or anything. We just wanted ’em to ski and have fun,” Scott said.
Skiing, though, runs in the family. Scott was a five-time World Pro Mogul Tour champion and Kauf’s mom, Patti Kauf-Melehes, was a three-time moguls champion.
Kauf is Wyoming’s best hope for a gold medal in Cortina, Italy, this winter. She is also one of the best contenders on the entire U.S. Olympic ski team. With her wins in singles and duals at last season’s world championships, and by earning the overall title, she is the only American mogul athlete to have already secured her spot on the 2026 team.
Even after watching her daughter podium for over a decade, Patti still gets butterflies watching.
“Of course, I get nervous when I think about the Olympics because the bigger the stage, it just gets more intense,” she said. “But Jaelin is at a place where she just believes in herself every run.”
It’s easy for anyone to get butterflies watching the freestyle event. It’s a pretty wild ride.
In your typical moguls race, skiers fly down an intentionally bumpy slope. In between thigh-burning stretches, they launch off jumps to twist in the air like gymnasts before landing back on the bumps. In dual moguls, two skiers compete side by side. Judges score skiers on turns, speed and air — how high a skier can jump.
With speeds up to 60 miles per hour, runs take less than a minute — and in Kauf’s case, just 26.37 seconds, the time that earned her a silver medal at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
Dual moguls is debuting in the 2026 games. That means two podium shots for Kauf.
Training is non-stop. Ski season in the northern hemisphere ends in April, and starts back up in the southern hemisphere in June. Kauf’s Targhee celebration was in between training camps in Chile.
The next steps involve sending jumps into pools during a training camp in Park City, Utah, and, of course, hitting the gym. Her dad knows from firsthand experience what this moment means.
“It’s probably the most exciting part of the season because you’re anticipating what’s ahead,” said Scott.
Even with the five rings in sight, Kauf is first focused on the nine competitions before Cortina, starting with the World Cup opener in Finland on Dec. 7.
