Industry News
Number Five: Denver, Colorado
Some of the most legendary ski segments have been filmed in Denver, Colorado. These include segments from Tanner Hall’s new short film “Eternal” and Ahmet Dadali’s opening segment in Level 1‘s 2010 flick “Eye Trip.” Ahmet closes with a famous S-rail transfer in Denver that helped him win IF3’s (International Freeski Film Fest) Best Male Performance. Denver averages 60.2 inches of snowfall per year.
Number Four: Boston, Massachusetts
Boston may not have the most ski segments filmed there, but plenty of skiers there would argue this is one of the premier urban ski destinations on the East Coast. Cam Riley and Clayton Vila filmed most of Teton Gravity Research’s 2015 urban ski film “For Lack of Better” in the streets of Boston. Boston receives 48 inches of snow on average.
Number Three: Helsinki, Finland
Most Scandinavian countries have legendary urban skiers and segments and Helsinki is no exception to this. A few Scandinavian urban skiers include Henrick Harlaut, Magnus Granier, and Jesper Tjäder. Will Wesson’s 2017 X-Games Real Ski video was primarily filmed in Finland. In the 2017 X-Games Real Ski show, Will says, “people are a lot more open-minded and kinda down with you just skiing in the streets there.” You can find more Scandinavian urban skiing in Good Company’s Baltic Ski. Helsinki averages 29.1″ of snowfall per year.
Number Two: Duluth, Minnesota
Of the cities in Minnesota, Duluth often comes to the top for urban skiing for its slight changes in elevation and variety of handrails. In Good Company’s “Crossing Paths – Minnesota”, Tom Wallisch remarks, “I feel like I have been to Minnesota 10 times in the last 8 years to hit urban rails.” If the pretzel man himself is saying this, it is definitely one of the best places in the world to urban ski. Duluth averages 70 inches of snowfall per year.
Number One: Québec City, Québec (well, Québec as a whole)
There is no question that the best urban skiing and best urban skiers in the world have come out of Québec. Phil Casabon, Alex Beaulieu-Marchand (ABM), JF Houle, the Gagnier brothers, and more have come out of Québec. ABM’s “Avenue” showcases Québec’s urban potential at its finest. Many skiers look at this Canadian city as the birthplace of urban skiing. There are iconic segments, spots, and athletes from this region. Québec City averages 124 inches of snowfall per year.
Honorable Mentions:
There are so many cities around the world where talented athletes have left their mark. Some of these locations include:
- Oslo, Norway
- Salt Lake City, Utah
- Detroit, Michigan
- Moscow, Russia
Check out Poor Boyz Productions “Tracing Skylines” Detroit Segment:
