5'7"
27
Eagle, CO
World Academy (Eagle, Colorado)
Jake Pates has one of snowboarding's most inspiring comeback stories, overcoming a career-threatening brain injury to return to Olympic competition.
Jake Pates grew up immersed in mountain culture as the son of Christopher and Amy Pates. He has an older brother Cole, who competed as a freestyle skier for the U.S. Ski Team, and a younger sister, Charlie Sue. Pates' journey into snowboarding began at age 8 when his mother took him to a local hill, an experience that changed his life forever. He fell in love with the feeling of riding and became inspired by every aspect of the sport, from the adrenaline rush to the culture and camaraderie with friends and fellow snowboarders. Training with Ski & Snowboard Club Vail, Pates earned a spot on U.S. Snowboarding's national rookie team in 2014 and steadily progressed through the competitive ranks.
Pates burst onto the international stage at the Youth Olympic Winter Games Lillehammer 2016, where he captured gold medals in both slopestyle and halfpipe alongside fellow American Chloe Kim, who also swept both events. Heading into the 2017-18 Olympic qualifying season, Pates unveiled a groundbreaking trick at a qualifying event. He became the first rider to land a double McTwist 1260 with a tail grab in competition, a variation of Shaun White's signature trick that caught the attention of legendary commentator Todd Richards. The performance earned Pates a spot on the U.S. roster for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 at just 19 years old. At PyeongChang 2018, he finished eighth in the halfpipe final and continued his upward trajectory, earning a silver medal at the 2020 X Games in Aspen.
In 2019, Pates' career took an unexpected turn when he sustained a concussion at the Mammoth World Cup. Initially lying to medical staff about his condition to avoid missing training, he returned to competition while experiencing severe symptoms including headaches, dizziness and impaired balance. The decision to compete before fully healing exacerbated existing mental health issues stemming from repeated head injuries accumulated over his career, ultimately forcing him to step away from competition. During this difficult period, Pates transformed his personal struggle into a mission to help other athletes. Fortunately, he had undergone a baseline brain scan before the season, which allowed him to track his brain's healing process through four scans over 16 days. Watching his brain recover from concussed to better than baseline gave him the confidence to consider returning to snowboarding.
In March 2020, Pates founded the Happy Healthy Brain Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness about concussion protocols and advancing brain health for athletes through baseline brain scanning. His advocacy work emphasizes the importance of objective measurements in concussion management, noting that without baseline scans, athletes lack a healthy brain profile for comparison after injury. Pates' foundation aims to make baseline brain scans as standard as measuring height, weight and blood pressure during athletic physicals for all high school athletes in contact sports. He also became involved in mental health advocacy through "The Flip Side," a YouTube series focusing on mental wellness themes. When Pates returned to world cup competition, he achieved a NorAm Cup victory in Aspen-Snowmass in March 2024. He earned invitations to the Olympic qualifying events at Copper Mountain and Aspen, where he made finals at both competitions and was ultimately selected to his second Olympic Team through coaches' discretion. The snowboarding community and his fellow USA teammates celebrated his return and resilience in the face of adversity. His advocacy work and devotion to improving mental health for athletes are indicative of Pates’s commitment to what he loves.
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