July 2008 Archives

Last week I caught up with Daron Rahlves at Mt. Hood for a little bit of winter in July. With Timberline still holding ample snow, Daron and I found some sweet pockets of sugary goodness off to the west and proceeded to lay trenches down to the length of the Palmer lift. It was no mid-winter pow day, but for it being nearly August, well, let's just say we were both stoked to be back on snow.

Catch the quick interview with Daron here!

Check out the full gallery here!

This week's webisode from the making of Tanner Hall's "The Massive," captures in three minutes all the months of hard work and planning that came together perfectly for three days of an epic hip session up at Timberline in June. The last shoot of the season brought together an all-star crew, guru feature builder Frank Wells, a helicopter for filming, and of course Tanner himself for what went down as an appropriately off the hook cap to what's going to be an off the hook ski movie come fall. Check out the exclusive video!

Up next we have Poor Boyz Productions latest joint, "Reasons." The heavy hitting crew featured in "Reasons" is made up partially by  some of Red Bull Skiing's heavy hitters: Tanner Hall, Simon Dumont, and Jon Olsson. Johnny Decesare, and the rest of PBP's talented film and production crew, is no stranger to putting out critically acclaimed flicks, so make sure to keep an eye out for this one come fall.

We're in the thick of it. Summer. While you're chillin' at the river or shredding trail on your mountain bike, the movie makers, who's jobs you're violently jealous of, are tucked away in their dark, dank dens of edit. Many won't see sunlight until the September premieres, and will only emerge at night to seek out "my precious," aka cans of Red Bull.

First up, we have Matchstick Productions "Claim." They say it's the greatest ski movie ever. We don't know, we haven't seen it, but when a movie features Red Bull skiers Simon Dumont, Jon Olsson, Sean Pettit, and Shane McConkey, well, let's just say it's a damn good start.

Our weekly episodes of the making of "The Massive" are entering epic terrain as we catch up with Tanner and crew up in Haines, Alaska. Led by the guide to end all heli-guides, Tom Burt, Tanner Hall and Dana Flahr piece together some killer runs in huge terrain. You'll see here that heli-skiing isn't all unicorns and magic fairy dust, you do have to put a bit of time and effort into the run of a lifetime.

Click in here for the exclusive video!

The AST just announced dates for the innaugural winter Dew Tour. Why do you care? Well for starters the 1.5 million dollars in podium dough is going to attract the biggest names in the sport of skiing including Red Bull's Simon Dumont and...wait for it...Tanner Hall. Yes, Tanner is saying he'll ski the Superpipe portion of the tour at every stop. Last season Simon dominated nearly every Superpipe event he entered except for the Winter X Men's Superpipe--the only Superpipe competition Tanner entered last season. Both Red Bull rider are on top of the sport and finally spectators will get the head-to-head, multi-stop forum they've been wishing for to see who will best the other to dominate the sport.

From the AST: NEW YORK - July 14, 2008 - The AST, the umbrella brand and organization of today's most prestigious action sports events, today announced the host resorts and dates for the three stops of the inaugural AST Winter Dew Tour. The Winter Tour, which will feature freeskiing and snowboarding disciplines for both men and women, kicks off at Breckenridge Ski Resort in Breckenridge, Colo., Dec. 18-21, 2008 continues at Mount Snow Resort in West Dover, Vt., Jan. 8-11, 2009 and concludes at Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort in Lake Tahoe, Calif., Feb. 19-22, 2009.

“We’re entering unprecedented territory for a ski movie,” CP says as we roll up to the Log Cabin in Big Bear, California. It’s early in the morning and Tanner is still asleep back at Marc Frank Montoya’s The Block Hotel. He doesn’t need to be here yet, the crew of 12 still has a couple hours of setting up probably half a million dollars worth of rented lighting, dolly, sound, and camera equipment. Grips, gaffers, and boom operators—all dudes who regularly work in Hollywood—are slinging jargon faster then us bro-brahs can comprehend. When’s the last time you saw an effort like this to film a few seconds of opening scene for a ski movie. Never is the right answer.

Spending more money in one day—not even on shooting skiing—than most film companies spend in an entire season maybe gives you some kind of idea the scale that Tanner’s movie, “The Massive”, is on. The day wasn’t easy. The closed down diner had no A/C and the doors had to be shut to keep out traffic noise. Tanner goes through countless take and camera angles, and handles it like the handles the heat of the X Games Superpipe—like a champ.

Check out the rest of the shots from the day!

Speaking of hot, heard about Red Bull’s The Experiment? Going down Friday on the Santa Monica Pier. Check it!

This is the webisode you've been waiting for all season. "The Massive" is finally up in Alaska, and Tanner Hall is ready to drop in to some heli-accessed powdery goodness. So kick back and put up your flip-flopped dogs, cause there's nothing quite like some fresh footage in the midst of the July heat.

And how about all these "Behind the Scenes" webisodes? By now we've giving you over a half hour of footage and interviews with Tanner Hall and all those behind the making of "The Massive" this past winter. Better than just a two-minute trailer, eh? Click here to go back and see them all.

All the preparation and all the practice came down to one day, really. CP flew an A-Star fitted with a Tyler mount down from Seattle. Based on thoughts from credible sources, this was the first time Mt. Hood had ever seen a helicopter used for ski or snowboard shoot.

It's difficult to fathom what needs to go on for a heli shoot to be a success. The chaos is nearly indescribable. We sat on the in-run up by the skiers while the Red Bull Skiing team manager Pete did his best to relay commands from CP over the roar of the rotors sitting in the shotgun seat. Those little Motorola radios provided little more fidelity than indecipherable bursts of muddled shouting. Nevertheless as the heli dropped low over the top of the in run, and our gloves skipped away across the glacier like bunnies across a field, order somehow manifested itself from madness and the shoot was a resounding success.

See all 25 shots from the massive gallery of the final action shoot for Tanner Hall's film, "The Massive!"