Chris Rasman Searching in the Backcountry of British Columbia

We loved the new edit Chris, tell us a bit about the season filming for this part? 

All winters come with their own unique set of challenges and highlights, but last year was a strange one for us. It began with a very challenging snow pack, one that would not be able to heal all season. Local guides were saying this was the worst snowpack since the year Craig Kelly passed away from an avalanche in British Columbia. This meant incredibly dangerous avalanche conditions, which forced us to ride on more conservative, lower angle, or more manageable terrain. To top it off, we had a huge shortage of high pressure systems in the Pacific North West. Minimal sunshine, and pretty unpredictable weather forecasting… because of all this, we filmed way more days in the backcountry than usual, with a lot of them being unsuccessful due to poor visibility. We filmed in cloudy and snowy conditions a lot more, and chose different features because of it. What started as an exhausting process, ended up opening our eyes to a whole different type of riding style. When it finally did get sunny, we really capitalized on those days. Our goal was to use the stormy days to document a close up riding perspective, with lots of follow cams and tightly shot powder moments. We wanted to immerse the viewer so they felt like they were there riding with us, slapping high fives and being a part of the good vibes.

What was a highlight of the year?  

My personal highlight was 2 days spent hiking around in this mind blowing pillow field. Our crew has become so proficient with snowmobile accessed snowboarding, that we tend to avoid hiking these days. It was pretty special to take it back to the roots, slap on a pair of snowshoes and just go walk around in the forest looking for stuff to snowboard on. It slows you down, and makes you really feel like you’re earning each turn or piece of airtime. You see more terrain, have longer to let your imagination decide what to do on it, and get to absorb all the sounds and smells of the backcountry. Not to mention those 2 days were some of the best snow conditions I rode all year. 3 feet of cold blower powder. I have a frontside 7 off of a pillow in my part, and I had to whip the trick around. I land sort of off balance, but managed to use the depth of the snow to my advantage and just pop right out of the landing. Wicked feeling. I’ve gotta tip my hat to Jody on these days as well. For someone who’s generally pretty slow at helping build the jump, I have never seen him hike so fast and excitable. He probably did 7 laps of this huge pillow field in one day. 

What was special about this video project? 

This movie was a special one for us, because it marked the 10 year anniversary of our production crew, the Manboys. The Manboys started in 2014, when a group of friends realized we had limited options amongst a changing snowboard industry. The DVD releases, and large scale production company crews were dissolving. We either start a production company and carve a path ourselves, or watch our snowboard careers disappear in front of our eyes. It’s been so incredible to build this as a group of friends, and watch it evolve into what it is today. 10 years of Manboys, 10 different video projects, and thousands of memories to go with it.

Thanks for your time, Chris! Check out his new edit above, sit back and let Rasman blow your mind again.