Interview & photos by Jeff Schmuck

Give us the scoop on your project.

It’s an instructional video for freestyle skiing called Tips for Jibbing and Jumping and it includes instruction that almost everyone on this site can benefit from.

What prompted you to decide to make a film of this sort?

I have a little sister who freestyle skis and I got annoyed because she wasn’t learning things when there wasn’t a coach around, so I decided that an in-depth instructional video was needed for her and anyone else interested in improving their freestyle skiing.

How did it all come about?

Since I wanted to make an instructional movie I figured the best place to do it would be at a summer camp, because there is a lot of coaching going on there. Naturally, I teamed up with Momentum since they have the best coaching crew out there. I also picked up a few more sponsors to help get everything moving: Salomon, Skullcandy, Electric, and SMS Clothing.

And how long have you been working on it for?

I’ve been working on it for a long long time. Since I wanted to make sure that all of the tricks had really good instruction I started scripting the movie last spring as well as gathering sponsors. Then I shot the movie in Whistler for about a month over the summer, and since then I’ve been editing and authoring it. It took longer than I expected, but since I’m a one-man team I wanted to spend a lot of time on it to ensure that it was of the highest quality possible.

Pierson at Momentum

What's your background?

I made my first ski movie a couple of years ago, basically just a learning experience, no budget, barely even knew anyone that skied at the beginning of the season. Last winter I filmed my second ski movie with the help of some sponsors and a small budget. I also studied film last fall at Dartmouth College, got a bit of a formal education on the subject, which was definitely very helpful. It’s funny because I believe that Berman went to school for film at Dartmouth as well.

If this film is a success, do you plan on doing more trick-tip style movies in the future?

I think every freestyle skier will benefit from this movie and therefore, I’d like to make others in the future. The only problem is that it takes up a bunch of time and I would really like to focus in on the action movies because that’s really my passion.

Who's in it this year?

The coaches are: Colby West, Ian Cosco, Mike Riddle, Matt Hayward, Kaya Turski, Frank Raymond, Mike Henituk, John Spriggs, Rosalind Groenewoud, Trennon Paynter, and Dane Tudor. Some other people also make appearances.

GTS'ing with Tanner Rainville

How long is it?

It is a full hour long and then there is a little bonus edit as well.

Have you done anything to spice it up a bit to make it different from other trick tip movies that have come out in the past that are more of a strictly instructional, how-to sort of thing?

It was important to me to make sure that there was a lot of instruction, really as much as possible in this movie so that kids who buy it can really learn something. The music is great and the coaches are pretty funny. Also, there are a lot of action shots in each tip, so it’s not just someone talking, they are out on the box doing and showing you what's up.

The film is available right now correct?

Yes.

Where can kids get their hands on it?

It’s available at my site: http://www.skitricktips.com and you can also check local shops for it, as Ally Distribution is distributing it. It makes a great stocking stuffer!!

Talk about the upcoming contest you're going to do with us on NS.

After looking over all my footage there was a funny shot of you doing a trick tip. I thought it would be fun to see who could make the funniest and most entertaining trick tip. So there will be a trick tip edit contest at Newschoolers sometime in December and the winner will get some glasses and goggles from Electric as well as a couple pairs of headphones from Skullcandy. Be sure to keep an eye out for the contest announcement, as it should be a great contest.

What are your future plans and your plans for this coming winter?

Within the next week you’ll see a trailer for my new action ski movie and there’ll be some release of information on how to get it. Then this winter I have some big plans to film another all east cost action movie. I’m going to be flying many of the east’s best back and working with a bunch of mountains to make some really sick stuff, definitely rivaling some of the west coast’s shoots.

Anything else you want to say about the film?

I can guarantee that almost everyone on this website can learn something from this video. For those of you that are just getting started, this will be an exceptional tool to teach you everything you need to know. And for those of you that have been skiing a while, it will definitely help you through any issues you may have with tricks and give you pointers that will help you get more consistent and confident at tricks. Overall, if you want to get better at freestyle skiing this video is

for you.

Shout-outs and thank-you's?

Thanks to you for doing this interview, and just give a shout-out to all the people that helped make the project possible. Also thanks to Ivan Sharko for designing the dope cover and disc art and my sponsors and skiers for all their help.