Videos of the Week #10 2025/26 | Christmas Edition

Video #1: POPS by CROMAT

This is the Christmas spirit. The current best freerider, Sam Kuch, Nelson's poster boy, has become a father. His wife Jade and him are accompanied here by filmmaker CROMAT through their pregnancy, joint tours and their first snow excursions with their son Waylon. So cute - and in between there's some impressive ski action from Sam, around Whitewater.

I met the family myself on Closing Day at Whitewater - so cool! All with sunglasses and big smiles on their faces. Check it out and experience what it means to have a pro skier for a father and husband - it warms the heart.

There are also more sneak peeks of Sam's new pro model, the Mindbender SK. I stood on it myself one day: a cool ski, a bit more freestyle-oriented, but still very stable.

Riders: Sam Kuch, Jade Jeffers and Waylon

Video #2: Evening in Chile | Dennis Ranalter, Bobby Brown, Benni Solomon

He's back: Bobby Brown. He is the last representative of an era of skiing from the 2010s, probably one of the best-paid freeskiers in the golden age of freeskiing. Last season Bobby was seriously injured, but now he's back and delivers a killer segment from Chile - together with Dennis and Benni.

The cinematography is cinematic for a video that is only a few minutes long. All the cooler to see more of Dennis - an incredibly stylish skier.

Riders: Dennis Ranalter, Bobby Brown, Benni Solomon

Video #3: Arc'teryx Presents: Between Days

I saw the movie of the Arc'teryx snowboard team in Paris on the big screen. Jared, Elena, Severin and the others dance through the deep snow in Japan and make the most of stormskiing.

They also meet Japanese legend Tadashi Fuse, who has been in the sport for almost 30 years and remains one of the coolest snowboarders to watch.

Riders: Elena Hight, Jared Elston, Joe Lax, Robin Van Gyn, Sean Miskiman, Severin Van Der Meer, Spencer O'Brien, Tadashi Fuse, Victor Daviet

Video #4: Slackers by Line Skis

Jake Strassman, who is normally behind the Traveling Circus videos, creates a short film with the same atmosphere here - except that what is shown has real movie quality. Backcountry kickers, sidehits, haphazardness with a plan and one of the best pond skim sessions I've ever seen. Hats off to Will and Mitchell.

An amalgamation of Line's OGs with newcomers Jed and Liam.

Riders: Mitchell Brower, Will Wesson, Kale Cimperman, Jed Waters, Liam Baxter, Taylor Lundquist, Val Festavan and "People of Brighton"

Classics of the Past:

Blizzard of Aahhh's (1988) - Opening Credits
Greg Stump

Unfortunately, the complete movie is not available on YouTube, but at least three parts are available online. The Blizzard of Aahhh's represents the moment when skiing became cool, wild and free. When the movie was released in 1988, it changed skiing forever. With Glen Plake as the face of an entire generation, it showed a new attitude: loud, free and uncompromising. The film inspired generations of skiers and snowboarders to no longer see the mountain as a slope, but as a playground. Skiing broke away from pure piste thinking and became freeriding - a mindset, not a competition.

Apocalypse Snow, the movie (1983)

Apocalypse Snow is for snowboarding what every great story needs at the beginning. Here begins a new generation that didn't want to adopt existing rules, but created their own. The mountain was used playfully, surfy and freely. From a ridiculed experiment, snowboarding developed into a culture of its own.

Guatemalan Persuader (2003) by Inspired Media

Guatemalan Persuader marks the moment in 2003 when freestyle skiing really became visible. No longer just away from the piste, but towards style, tricks and new rotations. The film combines the spirit of freeriding with the demand for progression. Skiing becomes creative and playful and is suddenly on a par with snowboarding. Many see the film as the point at which freestyle skiing was given its own language: less chaos, more control, more style and a clear perspective for the future.

Afterbang | Robot Food | 2002

Afterbang is to snowboarding what Guatemalan Persuader was to freestyle skiing. Not just bigger or crazier, but cleaner, more stylish and more controlled. Tricks take on meaning, style becomes the currency. Snowboarding finds its modern language here.

Days of My Youth (2014)

Days of My Youth brings skiing back to feeling. Less pathos, more lightness and friendship. Freeriding becomes personal instead of heroic, skiing becomes playful again. It is the film of the 2010s that is emblematic of this era of skiing. The resort segment with Cody Townsend has long since become a cult classic.

The Art of Flight (2011)

The Art of Flight takes snowboarding to a new level. Bigger, further and more cinematic than anything before. The mountain becomes a stage, progression becomes cinema. Snowboarding no longer thinks small. It is the pinnacle of snowboarding in the 2010s - and perhaps the benchmark by which everything must be measured to this day.

And what's the current situation? Is there a snowboard or ski film that represents the 2020s? I haven't come to a clear conclusion yet. The sport has become so much more diverse, fragmented and niche that there might not even be ONE movie anymore.

In snowboarding you could name "The Return" by Torstein Horgmo, in skiing perhaps "Mountains of the Moon" by Chris Benchetler or "Ornada" by Armada. Maybe you have other ideas - write them in the comments.