“INSPIAAAAAD in two days” My phone bleeped as the alert I set a few weeks earlier popped up. As much as I tried to contain it, I was stoked for this stop of the tour. I’ve never been to a ski movie premier before and the presence of a bunch of people that I have heard of and respected for a while was just icing on the cake.

As I waited in front of the theatre I had no idea what to expect but as seats filled up I became more and more excited. Newschoolers has offered a pretty solid synopsis of the movies already but I was more interested in the context they were presented in.

I don’t think that these are ski movies in the traditional sense. Sure, they were full of great skiing but they weren't put together in the traditional way at all. These movies felt almost more like an expression of the athletes’ stoke rather than the expression of a director’s artistic vision. This attitude carried through the whole premier.

These guys will even sign your nunchucks if you want

The Inspired tour stop didn't feel commercial in the traditional sense. Sure, sponsor logos were prominently displayed and swag was tossed but this felt more like a celebration of a season than a film premier. In the past I may have been a little skeptical and sarcastic about the Inspired “Family” but I think this event gave me a little better understanding.

These guys are really stoked on skiing and it makes them do stuff that people think is stupid. People have joked that the editing can feel like a disorienting home video and I agree to some extent. These movies aren’t edited commercially. They aren’t focused on following the rules of film. These are videos edited by their subjects, by their athletes. These aren’t the kind of movies that are made for big anonymous theaters. The magic of the tour is that it is really an expression of the stoke these guys have. They could just send the movies out to premier across the country and stay comfortably at home.

Instead they travel with it. They bring their stoke to their fans. This is a movie tour where the focus is not on the movies. Instead it is focused on bringing the athletes and their stoke on skiing to the fans. You might not appreciate the music choice or the editing decisions in the movies but I have to respect the joy these guys have.

Fans wrote their thanks to JP on this poster.

After the scheduled movies Tanner Hall came up front with some words for the crowd. With JP Auclair’s passing still weighing heavily he urged the crowd to stop making excuses and get out into the mountains and enjoy skiing. He also screened his self edited highlights from the season. The edit was chock full of bangers, smashed pillows, ripped spines and fat backflips.

I wanted to holler “THAT’S REAL SKIING! ON REAL MOUNTAINS!” Those were some heavy lines and I think it’s safe to say X-Games Tanner is well on his way to reincarnation as a game changing big mountain ripper. I’m stoked to see Tanner top some of those lines this year I’m honestly not sure if he’s going to be able to find a line with steep enough pillows to beat a few of those clips.

Don’t go to the Inspired Tour looking for artistic editing, game changing camera moves or pretty music. Instead be prepared for Henrik to bark enthusiastically and be ready to dodge the reggae CDs Phil aggressively chucks into the crowd. Go ready to laugh at yourself and be stoked, the whole concept of skiing is a little ridiculous, we might as well own it!