#6 OF 501
Ten years. A lot can happen in ten years: since 2005 we’ve had face transplants, Rihanna has released seven albums and we’re about to hit ten years of YouTube, but Gigi Ruf‘s part from Absinthe‘s Futureproof could have been released yesterday, to great acclaim.
Yup, for the little guy from Switzerland at least the goals set forth in Futureproof – to shoot a movie that would stand the test of time – have been well and truly accomplished – nothing bar the fuzzy footage has needed upgrading in the last decade – this is still one of the all time greats, as well as the first true all-natural freestyle part.
Little wonder that the great Romain de Marchi called Ruf ‘the most creative snowboarder I have ever seen’, this is how you ride a mountain.
Many will jump to the insane line to slam 36 seconds in as the moment, but as crazy as that is there is so much joy to be found through the section, not least the ultimate ‘face of stoke’ that pops up about every 20 seconds or so.
In fact it’s hard to even choose highlights from this, every shot is that good. Like Nina Simone squalling behind him, Gigi is just playing jazz with the mountains, man. Little wonder that the great Romain de Marchi called Ruf ‘the most creative snowboarder I have ever seen’, that – ladies and gentlemen – is how you ride a mountain.
Click here for more in our series of ‘501 Parts to See Before You Die’.
Video parts are an essential component of the people that love snowboarding. As big as contests are in the moment, these are the artifacts that will survive each generation of rider and be passed down to the next as gospel.
From wearing out favourite sections on VHS, taking great pains to keep treasured DVDs scratch free to counting down the minutes to a new online release, everyone has cherished memories of their favourite era.
In keeping with ethos we present to you 501 video parts that define the length, breadth and depth of snowboarding and its special culture. From park to pipe, urban missions to powder explorations, Betamax to Youtube, Sims to Halldor – these are the parts that form the DNA of shred, miss them at your peril.
