During the holidays I watched the snowboarding movie First Descent in which five snowboarding icons go riding the big mountains of Alaska. The movie is not just big mountain riding, but also an epic story of the history of snowboarding. This article is my review of this movie. You might remember that I have mentioned this movie earlier in a clip of Terje’s first descent of 7601, but not reviewed before this moment.

Who are those icons in this movie? According to the marketing text of the movie they are Shaun White, Hannah Teter, Terje Haakonsen, Shawn Farmer, Nick Perata. Well, I would say only White, Haakonsen and Farmer are icons. They have done something that makes them icons.

These five riders are brought to Alaska to ride big mountains. As always in American ski movies filmed in Alaska, you will see good riding, dangerous situtations and dramatic crashes. Movie can be understood so that Farmer and Perata are there to figure out if they are still able to ride big mountains, while White and Teter are newcomers in this field, and Haakonsen.. yeah you know he is a master of this sport and a true icon. He is there just to have some fun.

While these brave riders conquer the big mountains of Alaska, a document of snowboarding history is provided. It gives you information of how snowboarding was born somewhere in 60’s and how it has developed until today. It was interesting to see the early boards, clothing and the radical attitude and style. The document also reminded me the 80’s when snowboarding was banned in most of the resorts and skiers and snowboarders really had a war. When looking back it was really grazy on those days. Although the document also shows how snowboarding as a sport exploded in 1990’s and became as big industry as skiing, the document was not very interesting for me. I wanted to see more big mountain riding.

Movie starts with helicopters and big mountain views combined with radio phone discussions, which really looks good. After the great kickstart there comes a 15 minutes boring blaah blaah. Just go to make some coffee during this time. When you come back the movie turns to more interesting because the riders start planning their descents. After that you see the first really cool and beatiful Alaskan peaks, powder riding, 360’s, huuuuuge powder fields and (of course) avalanches.

Back to take another coffee.. There is again a boring 15 minutes during which Farmer’s background and career information is provided. Come on, I am not much interested to see Farmer riding a motorbike or shooting a shotgun with some redneck-style. It really looks like Farmer is getting old and it is difficult for him to accept that youngster are becoming bigger names. Farmer was a star in 1990’s but now in 2008 he should just step back and stop posing.

Back to the business. Riders prepare by learning how to find a victim from avalanche. Next they go riding easy mountain faces just to get the feeling. It is nice to see Shaun White jumping 30 meter jumps from a cliff. He is a really skillful rider whose riding is a pleasure to watch. Next come Farmer and Teter who seem to have some difficulties but is able to get down. Finally comes Haakonsen who is just so good.. Nice riding, but where are the big mountains?

After introducing Shaun White and some more history of snowboarding, the riders go up. Because it has been snowing and avalanche risk is high, they go and build a big jump. Farmer and Teter mainly hurt themselves, but White and Haakonsen rock again. It is a pleasure to watch White flying 40 meters and doing 720’s. Seeing Farmer crashing big time reminds me of one contest in which I hurt myself in a quarter-pipe. On that day I understood that I am too old to quarter-pipe and it seems to be the same with Shawn Farmer.

After an hour the most interesting part of the movie begins, the big mountain riding. Again, White and Haakonsen show others how to ride steep mountain faces and how to pick up the best lines. I really love watching Terje riding so smoothly without stopping. Travis rides a very nice line and starts a big avalanche. The whole episode is film from a helicopter and it really looks dramatic. Dudes take a quick break and do another ride.

The last episode in the movie really rocks. It is definitely the best part in the whole movie. Terje Haakonsen does the first descent of 7601 which is a super gnarly and untouched mountain. It seems about 60 degrees up there just to drop in. Haakonsen is a pro rider and does a really good looking clean run. Haakonsen is a great snowboarder and this first descent really shows it.

What is good in this film? Well, I did like fabulous big mountain riding, awesome powder fields, helicopters, high peaks and all that. I did like that White and Haakonsen were in this film, although Teter, Farmer and Perata could have been replaced with professional big mountain riders. I also did like seeing 80’s snowboarding in the history part as well as big jump session.

What I did not like so much? There is way too much talking in this movie, too many interviews and too many profiles. Instead of that junk I would like to see big mountain riding, just like in the end of this movie. This movie is a great compilation of snowboarding history combined with today’s hard core big mountain riding. This film is interesting for those who want to know about the history of snowboarding and get a feeling of big mountain riding in Alaska. For those who want to see just good riding, I recommend Yeah Dude Ski Movie - Yet Another Great Ski Movie from Poor Boyz Productions. First Descent seems to be pretty cheap right now, so if you are interested, check it out in Amazon. I give this movie 8.5/10 points.