Welcome to Wicknasty Wild World of Weird and Wacky Wonders, aka “The W.” This will be my monthly column here at The High Route, where I explore the obscure and off-center aspects of the ski world by way of films, books, art, gear, and culture.
Hello and Welcome! The first installment of The W looks at the 1983 French ski film Apocalypse Snow, Le Film by Didier Lefond, starring snowboard pioneer Regis Rolland.
The premise of Apocalypse Snow is this: A band of evil monoskiers attempt to capture a “snow surfer” to steal the secrets of skiing from him. Despite the obvious disconnect, the premise—mono skiers seeking the Truth of Skiing from a snow surfer—is quite spectacular, and the film is a delightful display of hilarious snow-sliding antics and an impressive showing of snow-riding prowess.
French culture and specifically French Cinema in the 1980s was a byproduct of the French Socialist Government undertaking several major social initiatives that had far-reaching implications, including raising the minimum wage, granting more paid vacation time to workers, establishing a 36-hour work week. Along with these more labor oriented initiatives, the government also invested in film and art—an iconic element of French culture. If French government subsidies helped greenlight gravity-fed snow sliding involving monoskis and snowboards, then we’re all for that type of government intervention.
These social factors and the then-current French film style of Cinema du Look, a loud, bright, expensive, and stylized form of filmmaking, deliver us a brilliant piece of ski film. Cinema du Look is meant to be a spectacle, perfect for a film about snow sliders hunting for the secret of skiing, or dare we say life?
To paraphrase French philosopher René Descartes, “I slide on snow; therefore I am.” Ponder that for a minute or five. Wild stuff.
The Test of Time
As a ski film, Apocalypse Snow stands the test of time regarding its snow-riding content. The film is essentially one long edit of people getting super rad, hucking off cornices, straight-lining steep couloirs, and on the edge of control and survival.
The juxtaposition of monoskis and snow surfers is an interesting slice of early 80s snow-riding culture and is still relevant. The battle between which way we stand while sliding on snow goes back to the beginning. Winterstick, one of the film sponsors, claims to have begun manufacturing snow surfing boards in 1972, a solid five years ahead of Jake Burton. Watching Regis Rolland shralp 45-degree couloirs on a board featuring “nylon straps and embedded gravel to aid in traction” is mind-bending and impressive. The heroics performed by the evil monoskiers are equally delightful. And the divide between facing forward vs. standing sideways has not been better highlighted than by watching the monoskiers ply their craft directly adjacent to snow surfers under the guise of the chase.
The Battle and The War (Spoiler Alert—Monoboards lose both)
We know who won the single plank battle for stance. Still, watching monoskiers straight line chutes, arc smooth and stylish turns on powder snow in the style of a longboarder hanging ten, and whipping through moguls like they were going out of style, it is not hard to see why mono skiing still has its diehard practitioners. The film made me want to try standing forward on a single plank despite many knee-cringing moments of impact.
So, what should we take away from Apocalypse Snow? Apart from the inescapable double-helix of clothing fashion and snow conveyance, we see again that skiing/sliding on snow is true to its fundamental roots. The inherent glide, joy, and feeling of flight with planks strapped to our feet transcends all else.
I encourage you to watch this film with an open mind, not only as an artistic and cultural investment by the French Socialists to promote a local ski resort along with art and culture but also as a beautiful reminder of the joy of snow sliding. These takeaway lessons from art and culture on sport are enduring. The convoluted, disharmonious tensions and blatant discord between our perceived values and what we can define as reality remind us that we should be chasing the sacred art of the glide, regardless of which way we face. I, for one, am delighted to be reminded of this from such a fun piece of the snow sports film cannon.
Now, off to search for a functioning mono board. It’s as hard as you imagine—the only prophecy to come to fruition since the release of Apocalypse Snow is that monoboarding’s heartbeat has been flat-lining for decades. That is apocalyptic.
Postscript: Apocalypse Snow is the first in a ski film trilogy produced between 1983 and 1986. Like most things, the subsequent installments (Apocalypse Snow II and III) are not quite as good, in my opinion, as the original, but are still worth pursuing if you find joy in the first film. The second and third editions pivot a bit away from the conceptual and move more towards explicit promotional/marketing films for the ski resort Les Arcs. Yet, the films are full of excellent skiing and snow riding skills along with lots of prototype snow sliding tech (wings, bikes, sleds, mini skis!) that never really caught on. A subsequent reinvigoration of the series is seen with the 2008 release of Apocalypse Snow, Le Retour, for which I have only been able to find extended teasers online. This iteration of the Apocalypse Snow franchise features lots of flying, skis, and skills but has a disturbing lack of monoski content.
