Holy smokes… is this guy for real? Watching this Speed Riding footage taken from MSP’s latest film, CLAIM, is just mind-boggling. I’ve seen snow-kiting and I’ve seen base jumping, but combining the two is absolutely amazing. The thought of simply being able to drop into these unreachable lines and swoop out to the next landing zone just seems crazy to me.
With obviously solid skills, Antoine Montant, lays down some turns on steep, sketchy terrain, triggers an avie and swoops to safety. Pretty cool when he jibs the ridgeline, but then not so cool when he tumbles head-over-teakettle on a 50-degree slope entangled in his parachute. Yikes! Up until that point, you get caught thinking, “Wow, that looks completely safe”. But, then reality sets in. Check it out:
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A Seattle native, Jason developed a love for the outdoors and a thing for mountains. That infatuation continues as he founded
amazing? yes. skiing? no.
every major production company filming today has the “stoke” blinders on. the audience is sick of stupid s**t like “speed riding” (ahem, red bull marketing department?).
let’s see something real, make the story compelling, make it tangible, show us skiing in your ski movie.
Yeah, I hear ya… notice how I didn’t say “nice turns” or “solid turns”… The combination of the two is still amazing.
I agree with you on the Red Bull/MSP marketing hype combo. It’s what got McConkey killed, sadly. Pure skiing is hard to find… did you see the video of Candide Thovex I posted a few months back? Now that’s pure skiing:
http://www.feedthehabit.com/skiing/candide-kamera-candide-thovex-is-a-big-mountain-ripper/
That’s what I’m talking about. I miss winter already. The trailer drags on a bit, but it’s great to see something so low tech, made great by just plain great skiing.
Although I fully agree with the comment about “stoke” fuled ski movies, I was actually pretty impressed with this MSP segment. At least the MSP guys know how to tell a story and edit in order to build suspense and allow the segment to breathe. Compare this to any of the new Warren Miller movies fuled with strobe light editing and I think that the MSP segement rises above such brainless drivel. Of course, the speed skiing segment is out of context of the rest of the picture, so I’ll reserve that judgement until I actually watch “Claim.”
Stunt? Perhaps. Incredible? Absolutely. I don’t believe that this kind of mountain athlete does this because he is thinking like the Red Bull Marketing Dept. The French have pushed the envelope so very far for so many years, accepting much better than Americans the responsibility of ones actions on a mountain, regardless of the manner of ascent or in this case the descent. This is simply amazing and fascinating to watch. Is this skiing? Not so much.
@Ned – does this belong in a ski film? Questionable, but most certainly there to give the “wow” affect which it accomplishes. More suited for the Banff Film Fest me thinks.
I too would rather a ski film company provide skiing and not dance on the edge of the sport with flying that happens to use skis. There is so much talent and so many things being done on skis that is indeed skiing whose stories aren’t being told.
Who gives a rats behind if its “Pure Skiing”. Its nothing short of amazing and your comments only make you look jealous as I am sure you would love to be able to afford to have helicopters and film crews at your whim or even to have the skill and guts to perform in such a manner. as someone who both ski’s and hang glides I can absolutely appreciate what he is doing. It must be absolutely exhilarating and I can guarantee you one thing, he doesn’t care what you guys think about any of it. Antoine Montant has sick skills and I cant wait to see more from him. I completely agree with the author.
@OrangeCrush… agreed. He’s doing some sick, sick things. Definitely pushing the envelope and it’s fun to watch.
Aren’t some of you taking a position similar to sailors in the 1980′s who said ‘a sail doesn’t belong on a surf board’?