Gnar Wars – Six of the best video parts in snowboard and ski movies

In partnership with Garage Entertainment

Mountainwatch | Alicia Monasso

With the best start to a ski season in years, froth levels for powder are at an all-time high. To send you over the edge though, Garage Entertainment has the best collection of action sports movies, all online and all on demand. We sifted through their epic catalogue of ski and snowboard films and found six of the best individual video parts in snowboard and ski films. From Travis Rice to ten-year-old kids, go to garage.com.au and get some inspiration to take the hills.

Bode Merrill in Dopamine
While Absinthe Films’ Dopamine features the best snowboarders in the world, and Victor De Le Rue part is especially off the scale, it is Bode Merrill who steals the show. Be it with double one-foot attempt or crazy gaps Merrill pushes snowboarding in both urban and backcountry arenas like no other. Absinthe filmer Justin Hostynek, a man who has been making the dopest films for over 16 years said, “In Dopamine Bode defies the laws of physics, gravity, and likeliness in this, his greatest cinematic accomplishment to date.” The whole film is pure stoke, but it is Merrill who takes this 16mm piece of magic and makes it damn historic.

Attack of LaNina
Matchstick’s ski movies are always a big deal. Big budgets, big name riders, big mountains. With Attack of LaNina, they have all that, plus one of the heaviest winters in decades and 19 year-old Sean Pettit. This kid is the future and with an audacious style, terrific control, extrovert personality and huge balls, it is his part in Attack that signaled the start of what will be a mega career.

Alex Tank in Way We Go
Way We Go features all that we have come to expect from the German production crew Isenseven. There is innovative angles, great editing and the signature quirky soundtrack. It’s a simple recipe really, great riding and great film production. All this is seen in the films highlight section featuring Alex Tank, an absolute banger which showcases the German goofyfooter hitting everything from urban rails to huge backcountry spines. Tank has stayed away from the big comps and has instead focused on nailing some badass video parts. With Way We Go he stomped his best yet. The whole movie is amazing, but Tank’s section is the shit.

Desiree Melancon in Brain Dead and Heart Attack
When Jess Burtner, the creative mastermind behind legendary snowboard film company ThinkThank says, “Desiree’s part was great, maybe the best women’s snowboard part of all time,” you know you are sitting on something pretty special. It’s perhaps a big call to say that Desiree Melancon outshines some of the best snowboarders of all time (Brandon Hammid, Jaeger Bailey, Ted Borland, Brandon Reis, Sammy Luebke, Nick Visconti, Curtis Woodman) in ThinkThank’s epic ten year anniversary vid, but fuck it, with power, style, a deep trick bag, an insatiable work ethic and a passion for good times Desiree deserves this star turn and sure makes it pay.

Travis Rice in Neverland
Travis Rice has dominated the sport of snowboarding for a decade, the culmination being his epic Art of Flight movie that transcended the sport. However it is his part in Absinthe Films “Neverland” that showcases just why Travis Rice has transformed the sport.
While Neverland is pure Absinthe with international flair, pristine locations, dynamic cinematography, solid editing and loads of powder, it is Rice who sets the bar. His tech lines, signature double corks, the frightening use of trees on some of huge jumps and even his butters can be watched on loop. While his “Luke Skywalker on a horse” moment has gone down in snowboarding folklore.

Kelly Sildaru in Pour Vous Servir
Okay Pour Vous Servir (At Your Service) is not your average ski film. What other one features Fight Club for ski bums and a naked drag race? That aside, the big budget, solid rider crew and wicked terrain that takes in France, Austria, Canada, USA, Russia and Iceland makes this one of the best ski films of the last five years. However there is one individual’s performance that elevated this film to the must watch category. And that comes from a 10 year old girl. Kelly Sildaru spins 720’s in the park and casually chucks backflips in the powder signaling that she is the very future of the sport. Watch Pour Vous Servir and see where freestyle is headed.