During the holidays I watched the snowboarding movie First Descent in which five snowboarding icons go ride the big mountains of Alaska. The movie is not just about big mountain riding, but also an epic story of the history of snowboarding. You might remember that I mentioned this movie earlier in my article on Terje’s first descent of 7601 but have not reviewed it 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 and Nick Perata. Well, I would say that for me only White, Haakonsen and Farmer are icons. They have done something that makes them icons.

First Descent snowboarding movie contains lots of big mountain riding

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 situations and dramatic crashes. The movie can be understood so that Farmer and Perata are there to figure out if they are still able to ride the 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 the history of snowboarding is provided. It gives good information on how snowboarding was born somewhere in the 60s and how it has developed until today. It was interesting to see the early boards, clothing and the radical attitude and riding style. The document also reminded me of the 80s when snowboarding was banned at most of the resorts and skiers and snowboarders were actually in a war. Looking back it was really crazy those days. Although the document also shows how snowboarding as a sport exploded in 90s and became as big industry as skiing, the document part did not interest me that much. I wanted to see more big mountain riding.

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

Lots of blaah blaah in the beginning of First Descent movie..

Back to brew another coffee.. Again, a boring 15 minutes during which Farmer’s background and career information is provided. Come on, I am not much interested in seeing Farmer riding a motorbike or shooting a shotgun, redneck-style. It really looks like Farmer is getting old and it is difficult for him to accept that the youngsters are becoming bigger names. Farmer was a star in the 90s 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 debris. Next they go ride easy mountain faces just to get the feeling. It is nice to see Shaun White doing 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 are 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 kicker. Farmer and Teter mainly hurt themselves, but White and Haakonsen rock again. It is a pleasure to watch White flying 40 meters while doing 720’s. Seeing Farmer crashing big time reminds me of one contest in which I hurt myself in a quarterpipe. On that day I understood that I am way too old for quarterpipe and it seems to be the same for Shawn Farmer.

Finally the movie gets more interesting

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 ride so smoothly without stopping. Travis rides a very nice line and starts a big avalanche. The whole episode is filmed from a helicopter and really looks dramatic. Dudes take a quick break and do another run.

The last episode in the movie really rocks. It is definitely the best part of the whole movie. Terje Haakonsen does the first descent of 7601 which is a super gnarly and untouched mountain. It seems to be 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 proves it.

What is good in this film? Well, I did like the 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 by professional big mountain riders. I also liked seeing the big jump session as well as the 80s snowboarding in the history part.

What did I 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 more big mountain riding, just like at 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 just want to see just good riding, I recommend Yeah Dude Ski Movie. First Descent seems to be pretty cheap right now, so if you are interested, check it out at Amazon. I give this movie 8.5/10 points.