Freeze Frame: Top 9 Music Videos That Capture Skiing & Snowboarding Culture

Music and mountain culture move to the same beat—rhythm, style, timing, rebellion. From the raw rock anthems of early ski films to punk and hip-hop in the 90s, and the pop-infused edits of today, the high alpine and the recording studio have long complemented each other.

• Related: VIDEO: Ed Sheeran Skiing & Shot Ski Apres In New Music Video | Filmed In Austria

We know the visual shorthand: a music video that flashes to a skateboard clip or a surf break tucked into the B-roll. It’s the classic overlap of music videos and mountain culture. But when a production actually steps into the high alpine, something different happens.

From the sublime to the flat-out ridiculous, these videos capture real terrain, real moments. And—hidden in plain sight behind a costume or a cloud of powder spray—real skiers and riders. They are fragments of mountain history, frozen in real time.

• Related: VIDEO: Alta Skiers Redo John Denver Skiing Music Video & It’s Hilarious

Iconic Music Videos and Mountain Culture Frames

I put this list together with my filmmaker eldest daughter Em, who has a keen eye for visual storytelling. These are the moments where music videos and mountain culture truly collide.

9. Yonder Mountain String Band – “Here I Go” (2024)

Location: Alaskan Backcountry

Frame: The video is almost entirely elite big-mountain B-roll. It is a seamless blend of high-energy bluegrass and high-consequence technical lines.

Spot the Pro: World-renowned artist and freeskier Chris Benchetler delivers the kind of performance usually reserved for dedicated ski films. Simply breathtaking.

8. Karol G – “Latina Foreva” (2025)

Location: Mammoth Mountain, CA

Frame: Features Karol G and her crew being boss babes in the Eastern Sierras. It is currently one of the most-watched modern videos featuring a ski resort.

Spot the Pro: While the aesthetic is high-fashion, the high-level technical stunts are performed by professional freeskiers Maude Raymond and Maia Bickert in Mammoth’s world-renowned Unbound park.

7. The Offspring – “Crossroads” (1995)

Location: Whistler, BC

Frame: While not an official music video, this iconic clip of Kentville, Nova Scotia native Trevor “Trouble” Andrew set to an Offspring deep cut is essential mountain history. We’ve included it because it captures the raw ’90s skate-punk energy better than any studio production—and we’re just big fans.

Spot the Pro: Canadian Olympian Trevor “Trouble” Andrew, delivering heavy Shaun Palmer-era ‘rebel’ style of snowboarding.

6. Jamiroquai – “Light Years” (1994)

Location: St. Anton, Austria

Frame: High-style space-funk shredding in the Arlberg Alps.

Spot the Pro: UK pro DJ BBQ (Christian Stevenson) and fast-paced follow cams by local Arlberg Shredders.

5. Ed Sheeran – “Perfect” (2017)

Location: Hintertux Glacier, Austria

Frame: With nearly 4 billion viewers, this is arguably the most seen ski footage in history. Accordingly, it has become the gold standard for high-alpine production.

Spot the Pro: Features high-level night skiing and technical park hits from Austrian pro session riders.

4. Naughty by Nature – “Feel Me Flow” (1995)

Location: Stratton Mountain, VT

Frame: The definitive hip-hop/snowboard crossover. Stratton was the hub for the original Burton team.

Spot the Pro: Keep your eyes peeled for the “Godfather,” Craig Kelly, and Vermont legend Jeff Brushie; word is a young Terje Haakonsen also appears in the frame. 

3. John Denver – “Dancing with the Mountains” (1980)

Location: Aspen, CO (Original); Alta, UT (Recreation)

Frame: Peak 1980s freestyle and ‘ballet skiing,’ lovingly paid homage to in a brilliant recreation of the video by a group of skiers at Alta. 

Spot the Pro: Denver himself, a ski-obsessed Aspen local, alongside freestyle pioneer Bobbie Burns.

2. The Beatles – “Ticket to Ride” (1965)

Location: Obertauern, Austria

Frame: The foundation of the genre. Though it looks like a staged adventure, it nonetheless remains the “original” mountain-music crossover.

Spot the Pro: Stunt doubles Cliff Diggins and Mick Dillon provided the technical skill the Fab Four obviously lacked.

1. The Police – “Don’t Stand So Close to Me (Christmas Edition)” (1980)

Location: Gray Rocks, Mont-Tremblant, QC

Frame: Filmed after a postponed Montreal concert.  The “Santas” are elite Snow Eagle Ski School instructors. The band later recorded parts of Ghost in the Machine and the entirety of Synchronicity Le Studio in Morin Heights, Quebec. There is a glacial resonance in those harmonics; you can almost hear the Laurentian wind whipping through the tracks like a draft in a stone corridor.

Spot the Pro: Wayne Bradburn served as Sting’s ski double. This is the #1 “sweater-shredding” time capsule.

Do you have a favourite music video featuring skiing / snowboarding in the B reel; what did we miss?