Line's Travelling (Ski) Circus

Decades ago, Warren Miller created, or at least documented, ski-bum culture — skiers who lived on the cheap so they could ski as much as possible. These rough films were popular, and over the years, they evolved to highly-produced ski movies featuring shots of epic powder runs and daring feats with athletes pushing the envelope in remote areas around the world. More recently, a new type of ski film has gained popularity. The work of Line’s Travelling Circus could draw comparison to Miller’s early work — it’s rough, low-budget, grassroots, and chock full of young skiers pushing limits with no pretense and little concern for anything other than fun.

In Line’s Travelling Circus videos, the skiers concentrate on jib-fests at terrain parks as well as in residential backyards. Crash sequences are regular features in the crew’s webisodes, but they aren’t wince-worthy like they can be in other ski-film brethren. They’re funny and fun, and overall the productions strike something like Jackass but without the potty humor. One example: To hit a series of rails in a backyard, the crew finds a free treadmill online and sets it up near the house. They crank up the speed and use it to launch themselves with necessary force toward rails covered by a dusting of snow. Hilarity and crashes ensue. Check it out at www.linetravelingcircus.com. It may be the most fun 15 minutes you spend online before hitting the slopes this season.

—Stephen Krcmar