British Columbia, Alaska, the Alps... and Detroit?!? The line-up of shooting locations for this year's ski film from Poorboyz Productions, called "Tracing Skylines," follows a predictable roll call until ending abruptly in urban Michigan. For those not in the know, since the introduction of twin-tip skis in the late 90s, one aspect that skiers talking exploring falls under the oxymoronic title of "urban skiing," where skiers started doing what skateboarder started doing in the late 80's - taking to the streets to grind handrails, jump off of concrete embankments, and clear all kinds of gaps over sidewalks, stairsets, railings, etc. But as the venues closest to home for skiers, like Boulder, Colorado, Salt Lake City, and the Whistler Village became overplayed in ski films, pro skiers and their film crews began looking increasingly farther afield for new places to "ski," like Albany, New York, Omaha, Nebraska, and Kansas City.
Naturally, this vein of skiing would eventually discover Detroit, with the "ruin porn" aesthetic of the city's abandoned factories, churches, and apartment buildings a powerful draw for filmmakers and skiers like Karl Fostvedt, who features in Poorboyz's trailer above and who today released a point-of-view video clip of him being towed by a wakeboard winch into a jump over a pile of industrial refuse in the middle of a hollowed-out factory. Will all this help Detroit's bid for the Summer X Games? It's hard to say, but it looks like dirt bikers had at it on the same jump...