Wells (18) was beaten into second place at the Winter Dew Tour slopestyle competition in Breckenridge, Colorado, by one point by local skier Bobby Brown (17) at the weekend.
The result came at a cost to Wells, who injured his knee in the slopestyle finals and ruled himself out of the halfpipe event.
Wells said he felt good about his runs, top to bottom, and that his rotations came out well but falling snow made for some less than ideal course conditions.
Wells has been at Breckenridge Resort, Colorado, competing with the New Zealand snowboard and freeski teams as they start their winter campaigns.
Wanaka freeskier Lyndon Sheehan was the best of the New Zealanders competing in the halfpipe, where he placed ninth.
Byron Wells (16) - Jossi's younger brother - also competed in the event.
Snowboarder Rebecca Sinclair, of Taupo, made her career debut and came seventh in the women's finals of the halfpipe.
The New Zealand snowsports representatives will contest the two remaining tour stops on January 8-11, at Mount Snow Resort, Vermont, and February 19-22, in Lake Tahoe, California.
Wells is one of four finalists for a sporting scholarship to be presented at the Halberg Awards next year, where he is up against surfer Paige Hareb, Graham Oberlin-Brown, the world under-23 lightweight single sculls rowing champion, and Chris Rahardja (karate).
