Stian Hagen is a Norwegian-born professional skier for the German ski manufacturer Völkl, and has contributed to the design of several Völkl ski models, the most recent being the Kuro, which is a powder fatski with a rocker design. He is best known for his graceful big mountain lines and fluid turns. He is often featured in films by Matchstick Productions. His latest feature with MSP, was in their 2008 release "Claim", which shows Hagen and Chris Davenport climb and ski the Matterhorn in Switzerland.
Matchstick Productions, also known as MSP Films, is a film production company based in Crested Butte, Colorado that specializes in content creation and expert cinematography. Steve Winter and Murray Wais founded the company in 1992. According to MSP’s website, “Matchstick aims to create entertaining films that not only are stunning visually but on the cutting edge of action sports.”
Candide Thovex is a French professional skier, filmmaker and entrepreneur. He is known for his creative freestyle skiing movies and professional accomplishments. He first caught the attention of the world of outdoor and action sports by jumping Chad's Gap, a massive transfer jump of 120 feet (37 m) from take-off to landing over a 40 feet (12 m) deep gully in Alta, Utah, US. His point of view videos routinely go viral on the internet and are viewed by tens of millions. He is widely considered to be one of the best freeskiers in the history of the sport.
Seth Morrison is a professional skier. He has won many competitions and has appeared in a number of ski movies. He is best known for jumping off cliffs from extreme heights.
Shane McConkey was a professional skier and BASE jumper. He was born in Vancouver, British Columbia and eventually based himself in Olympic Valley, California. Due to an itinerant childhood, he never identified with a single place, but he was said to come from Boulder, Colorado. It was from here that he started his professional skiing career. He did so after dropping out of the University of Colorado Boulder to pursue his dreams.
A ski film is a motion picture with sequences of expedition, recreation, competition, or acrobatic exhibition on snow skis. These non-fiction action sport films capture the experience of an athletic outdoor snow sporting culture. Ski films typically present one or more techniques, locations, or skiers. Categories include the feature, documentary of competition or other event coverage, instruction or technique demonstration, retrospective history, travel guide showcasing a region, or a short subject. More than 200 such videos debuted in 2006. Notable examples are listed at the Ski and Snowboard Film Institute, or have received awards from the International Ski Film Festival, X-Dance Action Sports Film Festival, IF3 International Freeski Film Festival, Cold Smoke Winter Film, Powder magazine, or similar.
4FRNT Skis is an independent brand of alpine ski equipment that helped to pioneer the development of the freeskiing movement. 4FRNT introduced the model of a rider-owned and operated ski company to the sport.
Eric Hjorleifson is a professional freeskier. He was born and raised in Canmore, Alberta. Hjorleifson contributes yearly to ski movies made by the film company Matchstick Productions. Eric creates the design and graphics for a line of skis for 4FRNT.
Joe Tyler - born 1 April 1982 in Halifax, West Yorkshire is a Freestyle skier. He has appeared as a Free rider in various ski movies and skied in the first London Freeze Festival at Battersea Power Station's 2008 snow event. He appeared on Turkish media in 2007 skiing in Erzurum, Turkey. He has spent 2009 living in Mayrhofen in March he travelled to Kashmir with photographer Camilla Stoddart for some extreme skiing(see New Zealand AdventureFall magazine issue 154 & Fall Line Skiing magazine November 2009.) He also travelled to Georgia - ERISTOFF originates from the wild and untamed landscape of Georgia originally named Virshan by the Persians meaning the country of the wolf. Eristoff took professional skier Joe Tyler to the Caucasus mountains of Georgia to sample the slopes and the local hospitality. More information can be found on http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3419799/eristoff_vodka_ski_film_joe_tyler/ He is also in the latest 2009 Run Jump Fly production ski movie "Falling Skies" https://web.archive.org/web/20091027042211/http://www.downdays.eu/en/whitepaper/falling-skies-download
Ingrid Backstrom is an internationally ranked professional skier from Seattle, Washington, United States. Backstrom graduated from Highline High School in Burien, Washington as a straight-A student, three-sport varsity athlete, and co-valedictorian. In 2000, Backstrom graduated from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington with a Bachelor of Arts in Geology. Her brother, Arne Backstrom, died in a skiing accident in 2010 at the age of 29.
Lynsey Dyer is an American freestyle skier and big mountain skier. She grew up and learned to ski in Sun Valley, Idaho. Dyer co-founded the non-profit SheJumps.org and founded the movie production and apparel company Unicorn Picnic, encouraging girls and women to participate in the outdoors through mentorship.
Sean Martin Pettit is a Canadian freeskier born in Ottawa, Ontario. He grew up in Chelsea, Quebec until the age of 7. He now resides in Pemberton, British Columbia.
Chris Davenport, of Aspen, Colorado, is considered one of the world's most accomplished big-mountain skiers and mountaineers. He has been called "one of North America's top 25 skiers by Skiing Magazine" and is a "two-time extreme skiing world champion"
Dane Tudor is an Australian / American freeskier born in Sydney, Australia. He spent his time growing up between Palmer, Alaska and Rossland, British Columbia. Tudor still resides in both British Columbia and Alaska.
Ultimate Rush is a 2011/2012 documentary television series produced by the Red Bull Media House in association with Matchstick Productions, and marketed as a combination of stupendous action sports endeavour, coupled with a cinematic-approach to storytelling. Through its wide distribution in the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Denmark, Austria and other territories, the series is evidence of the acceptance of extreme sports into mainstream television, and one of the most complete accounts thereof. The series focuses on the outrageous exploits of some of the best athletes in the world, and how they explore the fine line between extreme sports, philosophy and art. Most of the filming was conducted in the rugged backcountry of British Columbia, Alaska, the Rocky Mountains, the French Alps, the Himalayas and the Andes, but not at official events or secured sites.
Poor Boyz Productions is a North American entertainment company which specializes on Freeskiing, Wind surfing and Standup paddleboarding films. The company was formed in 1994 by Johnny Decesare and is headquartered in Redondo Beach, California. In 2012 Poor Boyz began producing freeskiing videos in association with Red Bull Media House.
Rory Bushfield is a Canadian professional skier, filmmaker, and reality show star.
Alexis "Lexi" duPont is an American professional big mountain freeskier. She is a Freeskiing World Tour contender and former Junior Olympics competitor, who has been featured in several films such as Warren Miller’s Wintervention and Tracing Skylines. Her mother, freestyle skier Holley duPont, was one of the first women to land a backflip on skis.
Michelle Parker is a pro-skier from Truckee, California, USA. She started skiing in her home resort Squaw Valley Ski Resort. At the age of 15, she started dedicating herself to freeskiing. She has subsequently competed in the U.S. Freeskiing open, X-games and Red Bull Cold Rush.
"Sick" Rick Armstrong is a professional skier, freeskiing pioneer, mountaineer, paraglider, businessman and serial entrepreneur based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He was a pioneering guide in the early years of Alaska Heli-skiing while working as a lead guide for Valdez Heli-skiing and Doug Coombs as chronicled in the 2007 feature film Steep. He was a member of the ultra-elite group of skiers called the Jackson Hole Airforce who transformed skiing in the 1990s and 2000s. He is known for having skied unskied lines such as his first and unrepeated massive drop into the left side of the notorious Corbet's Couloir at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. He was the first person to have both skied and snowboarded the Grand Teton in Teton National Park. He has many first ski descents in China, Alaska, Europe, Antarctica, South America, and South Georgia Island. He was an athlete in the 1998 and 1999 Winter X-Games in Crested Butte. He was Awarded sponsorships by The North Face and Salomon. He also became an athlete talent scout for The North Face building a world-class ski team by discovering soon to be ski stars such as Sage-Cattabriga-Alosa, Ingrid Backstrom, Kitt Deslauries, Griffen Post, and Hillary Nelson. Armstrong was also a co-founder of the Teton Gravity Research film production company. He served on the board of directors for Intrawest from 2012 to 2017.
