If we told you that a big air competition was held on London’s Hampstead Heath back in the 1950s, you’d probably think we were having you on.

However, as this archive footage from a London County Council (LCC) film entitled “London’s Green Heritage” shows, people were very much into the idea of watching guys send it over a kicker in London back in the day.

Over 45 tons of snow was shipped from Norway to Hampstead Heath in wooden boxes insulated with dry ice and packed onto a sketchy looking scaffold structure that bears a striking resemblance to the one constructed every year for the London Freeze Festival. And look at the size of that crowd… It certainly rivals the turnout at Freeze!

Seriously though, how rad is this? We’d love to see a modern day big air contest where the run out is so short that riders are stopped at full pelt by an enormous pile of hay and dug out by willing marshals armed with pitchforks…