Inspirational Freestyle Skiing & Snowboarding

Last weekend I was in Sheffield for SHAFF - the Sheffield Adventure Film Festival. As well as some epic mountain bike footage from Whistler, Fernie and Red Mountain, I was blown away by the skiing and snowboarding on show in the featured films. What with watching much of the the European X Games this week as well, I feel as though I'm suffering from an inferiority complex and desperately want to get to Banff in a couple weeks for Nonstop's freestyle course!

The films on show at SHAFF weren't your typical trick fest spectaluars, rather there were  documentaries and short films with a genuine story to them. A highlight was a documentary of the lives of the ski patrollers at the infamous La Grave in France but my favourite was easily the hair raising exploits of Xavier de la Rue in 'This is my Winter'.  The man truly 'hauls ass' down the steepest and most challenging terrain imaginable; the situations he gets himself into are... well...insane! Check out the trailer below.



Riders like Xavier are extremely rare and few will ever be able to push the boundaries like he does. We mere mortals can however aspire to push ourselves as far as we can and the images of big mountain riding and the wilderness got me thinking of our 6 week Master the Mountain course. This off piste course is designed to train you to ski or ride anything the mountain can throw at you. Fernie is an off piste haven and the 'MTM' builds towards a week long backcountry tour in The Kootenay's. This experience was recently documented in the Guardian newspaper, check it out here.

There are just a couple more Nonstop courses still to start this season and one that I've been wishing I could get involved in is our 2 week freestyle course in Banff. Watching the highlights of this weeks X Games in Tignes got me harking back to my park rat years; these days you'll rarely find me in the park but right now I've got an unbelievable urge to launch myself of a kicker! Broken ribs have left me with a fear of rails, but maybe it's time I face my fear!? Spending two weeks with our pros would definitely sort me out. Whether you can't stop reverting out of 540's or you simply want to introduce yourself to the basics of freestyle, this course will get you to where you want to be. Read all about it here. Maybe one day you'll be able to take these skills out the park and dominate the mountain like Nico Muller below.....