Jump to content
Note to New Members ×

All time favorite ski/snowboard movie?


waypastfast

Recommended Posts

Well with the snow coming there is no better way than to get super excited for the up coming season than to pop in that favorite ski/snowboard movie!! I just put mine in for the first time this year....THE BLIZZARD OF AAHHH's from Greg Stump starring Scot Schmidt and Glen Plake!! So what movie gets you ready for the season? This is definitely an annual ritual for me.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"The Source" - I barely remember this but i do remember it had SICK powder scenes

"Critical Condition" - all around amazing, but the Damian scene at Hood...DAMN that dude flowed! EDIT: IT WAS BACHELOR! I ALWAYS THOUGHT IT WAS HOOD. Watching this on Youtube right now

Last snowboard vid I watched was around 1996. I've seen footage since...but I lost touch with "the culture"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would bet that I watched Critical Condition a hundred times or more back in the day. It was almost like a turning point in snowboarding, for me anyway. It seemed like snowboarding really went main stream right about then. Skateboarders took over, here anyway. It wasn't just a few of us anymore, but herds. I still get the shivers when I think of Perata's battle with the boulders. The knee to the tree, not good. Chris Roaches air to broken femur, priceless. Loved the movie. Absoltely loved it.

If anyone knows where to get it on DVD please let me know.

Hot Dog is a whole other can of worms, but I loved that movie growing up for a couple of reasons. Extremely cheesey, but unforgetable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Warren Miller flick (cheesy porn flick music) that had footy that Burton used as a promo film under another title. Usual suspects, Brushie, Coghlan (?), Karol, Nerva, Bauer, Keith Wallace, ISM publisher (I think it was Tom Hsieh) and an unforgettable scene featuring (Craig) Kelly in Russia. Set to Joe Satriani (Flying In A Blue Dream) music (song: The Forgotten Part 2) and a scene featuring Kelly surfing a side-lit ridgeline with a high-wind gust pushing wake into his face. Defining moment in snowboarding for me. I realized that snowboarding was going to be big and I wanted to ride like Kelly. What an inspiration.

Mark

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Without a doubt my favorite is Dr. Arnold Fanck's 1931 classic Der Weisse Rausch released in the US as The White Ecstacy, The White Rapture, The White Intoxication, The White Frenzy, and The White Flame.

It stars Leni Riefenstahl and Hannes Schneider. The quality of the footage is amazing and the ability of the skiers is hard to believe. These freeheelers huck it off cliffs, cornices, and rooftops. There's even a plot (sort of).

Leni Riefenstahl died a couple of years ago at the age of 103 and had five successful careers in her life. Her propaganda films for Hitler with the long rows of troops inspired George Lucas' Star Wars Storm Troopers.

I bought the video on VHS from the New England Ski Museum and finally got around to burning it onto a DVD. You might be able to download a clip from here.

30kpmba.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

it's all about the stoke

Whistler/Maui/Portland, Maine....not necessarily in that order :cool:

"Maine ski filmmaker Greg Stump achieves fame"

November 28, 2004

“License to Thrill,” “Dr Strange Glove,” and “Blizzard of AAHHHHS” are a few of the titles. Sounds like a spoof on legendary films, but these are actual big screen ski productions in their own right.

These are three of 11 ski films by Maine’s own Greg Stump. A sense of humor is clearly one of Stump’s gifts, but his talents run deeper than witty play on words, bigger than snow-drifted cornices to launch off.

Last month, Greg Stump was inducted into Maine’s Ski Hall of Fame, in its second year of recognizing individuals who have contributed to the sport. Stump was honored as a champion freestyle skier and as a prolific ski movie producer who has brought daredevil skiing and spine-tingling mountain scenes to the masses.

Dave Irons, chairman of the Maine Ski Hall of Fame said, “Greg Stump introduced extreme skiing on film, showing skiing beyond the boundaries of ski areas. His use of the latest music for soundtracks appealed to a new, younger set of skiers and non-skiers alike.”

Stump’s skiing career snowballed from his start at Pleasant Mountain, now Shawnee Peak. He won his first freestyle competition at Sugarloaf at age nine.

“I remember at age 10 wondering what I was going to be,” said Stump. “I knew then that I wanted to make a life of skiing. My time at Pleasant was such a confidence builder. I took so much pride in being part of the freestyle team. We had a great coach, Bruce Cole. There were 60 or 70 of us, many of whom went on to national championships, like the Rand brothers, Peter Young and Frank Howell.”

In 1979, Stump was awarded the overall Junior National Freestyle title and two years later won the first ever International Freestyle Championship with his unique ballet moves on snow. His siblings, Kim and Geoff Stump, were also winning titles in the 1970’s. Greg’s father, Walter Stump said, “I overheard people talking about the Stump kids at Sugarloaf, saying that they always win, and their Dad owns the ski area.”

Greg’s skiing talent caught the attention of Ski Magazine’s editor; Doug Pfeifer invited him to perform at ski shows. “I would demonstrate ballet moves, 720’s on a revolving carpet at the Boston Ski Show,” said Stump. That traveling show led to an introduction to filmmaker Dick Barrymore, an opportunity he admits he pursued eagerly. “I really wanted to be in his films, so I sold him on me, I have always been pretty good at that.”

Stump’s first ski film appearance was ironically Barrymore’s last, “Vagabond Skier” filmed in Sun Valley and New Zealand. Stump went on to appear in Warren Miller movies. “Through that process, I saw it was just a guy with a rucksack and an 18-millimeter camera. I knew I could put better music to the footage, I had been a disc jockey at WBLM,” Stump said.

Stump released his first ski movie in 1985. “Time Waits for Snowman” featured rock music, snowboarders and extreme skiing footage. Stump went on a 100-college tour to promote his creation, much the way Warren Miller had for decades personally narrating his films at ski clubs around the country.

Stump admits that Miller provided inspiration and support in his early days. Stump said, “I love Warren, he’s like the preacher of skiing.”

Stump’s 1988 “Blizzard of AAHHHH’s” starred skiing icons Glenn Plake and Scot Schmidt. This popular film introduced these hot shots skiing super steep chutes and jumping cliffs. Stump said, “The word extreme was not used until Blizzard. In fairness, I stole it from the French who were doing some radical skiing on new terrain.”

To say Stump pushed the envelope is cliché. By using edgy camera angles, rock music, and vivid footage of daring skiing by Plake and Schmidt in Alaska, Europe, and Siberia, Stump created a new genre of ski flicks which has since been mimicked.

Of Stump’s eleven feature ski movies, he says “P-Tex, Lies and Ducktape” is probably his happiest movie, which opened at Portland’s State Theatre in 1994.

Stump now resides in Maui, with a home in Whistler, B.C. His latest projects include a documentary on Willie Nelson, producing music videos and commercials like Picabo Street’s Chapstick ads.

Greg Stump said, “I am terribly flattered to be inducted into the Maine Ski Hall of Fame. It is such an honor to be included with other hall of fame members like Russ Haggett who used to caution me not to go too high off the jumps. I love the State of Maine, it is where I learned to ski. I like to think there is a Maine ambiance in all of my work.”

Pick up a copy of Greg Stump’s ski flicks, perhaps “Groove Requiem in the Key of Ski” or “The Good, the Rad and the Gnarly” to see the famous Maine filmmaker in action.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Stump also did Burton's 1989 "Snow Rules", which if you watch it today is almost painful to watch, but back then it was epic. Nearly wore out my VCR playing it, and repeatedly rewinding the scene of Peter Bauer making perfect powder turns with a style as distinguished as Craig Kelly's.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would bet that I watched Critical Condition a hundred times or more back in the day. It was almost like a turning point in snowboarding, for me anyway. It seemed like snowboarding really went main stream right about then. Skateboarders took over, here anyway. It wasn't just a few of us anymore, but herds. I still get the shivers when I think of Perata's battle with the boulders. The knee to the tree, not good. Chris Roaches air to broken femur, priceless. Loved the movie. Absoltely loved it.

If anyone knows where to get it on DVD please let me know.

Hot Dog is a whole other can of worms, but I loved that movie growing up for a couple of reasons. Extremely cheesey, but unforgetable.

Broken Femur? Thought that was Steve Graham ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...