X Games Real Ski has become a true crowd pleaser in recent years. It’s easily one of, if not the most open-ended discipline offered in skiing, leaving the rider/filmer combo in full control. With a loose run time of one minute and 30 seconds, these short flicks pack one hell of a punch—blink and you’ll miss the action. A time crunch like this leaves room for only the best shots that each rider and filmer could capture in the two months spent shooting. There’s no pesky judges here to get in the way of giving the nod to your favorite skier. Vote now or forever hold your peace!
FERDINAND DAHL
Reppin’ the Capeesh Crew, Ferdi Dahl is one hell of a well rounded ripper. Big air, rails, and cheeky maneuvers can be found aplenty. He’s fresh off an X Games Slopestyle silver medal and hungry for more. One of two contestants at the ripe age of double dueces, Ferdinand will no doubt be keeping skiing on its toes in future.
TANNER HALL
Apparently you CAN teach old dogs new tricks. The lion, the sensai, the big dog T. Hall himself is here to show the kids how you really do it. In his 37th year on planet earth, he is looking as fresh on the sticks as ever. The only rider here to feature a healthy dose of backcountry booting, it’s clear that Tanner has many more years of GOAT-type skiing left.
ALEX HACKEL
Hailing from the quant, mountainous ski town that is Boston, Massachusetts, Alex Hackel is a beastly street skier who embodies what personal style can mean in skiing. He teams up with The Bunch’s Pär “Payben” Hägglund behind the lens, and it’s clear that these two have some beautiful cinematography chemistry. Be forewarned, the closing shot of this one will leave your jaw on the basement floor.
LUPE HAGEARTY
Another ice coast killer, Lupe is a rail god amongst mortals. He’s got some steep competition here, though. His UNBELIEVABLE lace up of that roughly one thousand-kink rail is something out of a dream. With OSAP Owen Dahlberg behind the lense, this flick has MAGMA II energy all around it. Also, shout out to upstate Jake Doan supplying the killer tunes.
TAYLOR LUNDQUIST
She is one of the best out there, and it’s clear that Taylor has a hearty bag of tricks to pull from, as is displayed here. We get to see another flowing filmer and rider duo in full force with the toast bitin’ Gavin Rudy working his cinematic magic. Both representing the Strictly hooligans, this is a beautiful creation of two friends excelling in their respective crafts.
ALEX HALL
Last and certainly least, the other member of the double dueces club, who is not related to Tanner so don’t even ask, Alex Hall. This guy obviously just gets by on his looks alone because he’s not very good at the whole two plank slidey thing. In all seriousness, Alex can be seen here doing Alex things. With him along side Ferdinand Dahl, skiing’s present and future are looking as progressive and bountiful as possible.
Click here to check out all the riders on the X Games page.
Lastly, in hopes that someone from X Games will see this, here’s a quick plug, courtesy of one of skiing’s best camera and skier duos, why you should bring back Real Ski Backcountry…
