Canadians Talking Tech

Top 5 Adventure Sport Movies of 2010

by Noah Bloom Posted in Art, Canada, Movies, Photo/Video, Sports, Travel

It’s that time of year again, to start thinking about sliding on snow. Ski season is just around the corner. But ski movie season is right now.

Sure, we all know the big budget, jaw dropping, pro proportions ski flicks from Matchstick, Teton Gravity Research, Poor Boyz, etc. (for those trailers, skip to the bottom), but we’re also seeing the emergence of a new breed of ski (and sport) action adventures films, proliferating from the professional power of DSLR HD video cameras, portable dolly rigs, and the other side of ski stories out there. They’re perhaps less focused on the massive stunts and moreso on the shot and the story. But they have quite the impact.

Thanks to The Adventure Life, Chris Sacca, Mike Berard, Leslie Anthony, Mike Douglas, Doglotion, etc. for promoting these and helping us curate… the top 5 “other” ski and sports film trailers / shorts / webisodes of 2010. Check out our list of last year’s as well.

NUMBER 5

b4apres media’s “AZADI: Freedom” official trailer, a “cultural documentary as seen through the eyes of skiers. Set in the disputed region of Kashmir, an area deemed the ‘most dangerous place in the world’ during the violent militant insurgency of the 1990’s.”

NUMBER 4

Relentless: Short Stories: Mickey Smith “Dark Side of the Lens”

NUMBER 3

Salomon Freeski TV: their first episode from this new season showed off that there was no scarcity of snow at Whistler during the Olympics, only a scarcity of skiers in it:

By far my favorite Salomon Freeski TV episode was from last year “1-09 Euro Road Trip.” You can’t get much better than watching Mike Douglas and Kaj Zackrisson chasing snow across Europe. I don’t think there are any skiers on the planet who are as technically bombproof and smooth as these two guys:

NUMBER 2

At long last, Life Cycles has just been released. Wow:

NUMBER 1

Jordan Manley travels with a Nikon D3S and a super lightweight setup. His shots, composing, and style is breathtaking. Here’s the latest from his May 2010 tour of the Canadian Rockies:

More from Jordan: Jordan Manley’s episode on La Grave (#2) is also worth embedding here, as it really shows the soul of the mysterious La Grave, but don’t miss the one above from the Rockies. Also, episode 1 is a glimpse into Kashmir.

Considering Mike D, Jordan Manley, and lots of more of that footage comes from Vancouver, BC, Whistler, and the Vancouver North Shore, it’s pretty sweet being out here in this mecca of Vancouver.

Bonus (as long as you’ve watched the ones up top first):

Matchstick’s The Way I See It:

TGR’s Light the Wick:

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  1. 3 Responses to “Top 5 Adventure Sport Movies of 2010”

  2. By Mike on Oct 13, 2010

    Two of these are Webisodes, not movies. That’s like saying that How I Met Your Mother is a movie…

  3. By Noah Bloom on Oct 13, 2010

    Hey Mike, we were being pretty liberal about the format and sports. The mainstream sports movies get a fair amount of attention, but these short films (or webisodes, for lack of a better word, or trailers, etc.) are pretty unique in how creative, genuine, and representative of a different style of adventure sport video they are.

  4. By Daniel on Oct 18, 2010

    Wow. I have no idea how you came up with this order – they are all equally incredible!! I must admit, the Jordan Manley Skier’s Journey are my personal faves, but all are beautiful and inspiring in their own way. Thank you for putting together such an entertaining post!! And to “Mike” above, I’m not sure what “How I Met Your Mother” is, but something tells me this Mike character isn’t one to appreciate these types of videos…

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