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Best GoPro Snowboard Videos

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There are almost as many GoPro videos as traditional videos floating around in today’s extreme sports YouTube ether. A few years ago, GoPros were novel. Now, because of low cost and outstanding visual results, (if the equipment is used properly) every adventurer and his mother seems to be toting one of these low-profile, high-resolution little numbers. A few months ago, we even provided a guide on how to film the best GoPro videos. In perusing recent additions to the adventure video zeitgeist, it seems as though our advice was heeded. In the spirit of the winter season, we’ve selected 5 trick-laden snowboarding videos to prove it.

Single Trick Compilation

This video is what GoPro technology’s all about: low budget productions with high budget results. Just five years ago, it would have been impossible for an amateur filmmaker to accomplish this level of professionalism even if he used top-tier equipment. The game has changed, and anyone anywhere can make their most triumphant moments look as incredible as it felt. Amateur boarder Tanguy Baumberger pulled off his first backflip in this video. It used to be that no one but those watching him in person would’ve cared much about this incredible accomplishment. After all, words can’t explain a joy that’s so visceral. Now, anyone with a YouTube link will care and, very probably, be inspired to set off and document an adventure of his or her own.

Resourceful Compilation

This piece is noteworthy for the same reason that Baumberger’s is. It’s homemade in the purest sense of the word. There are no celebrity boarders, no fancy jumps, no meticulously groomed trails. All we see when we hit play is raw skill, determination and an ardent love of sport. Unlike Baumberger’s it features more than one trick and, in its variety, provides a fantastic endorsement of the GoPro’s versatility when placed in the hands of someone who has an innate understanding of where to point the lens. There’s one more important thing to note: Thiabaut Hayrondelle has some serious skills.

Styled Compilation

Whenever a style of entertainment becomes popular, content creators start to explore and produce material that relies on all derivations of that style. For instance, now that GoPro filmmaking is trending, extreme athletes have pretty much explored every bit of terrain associated with GoPro technique. The bigger a style becomes, the harder it gets to innovate within it. That’s why this piece caught our eye. Though there are certainly other videos out there that employ the self-filming technique at points in their presentation, Tim Humphreys’s prolonged dedication to the physically cumbersome feat is fresh and stylistically impressive.

Creative Compilation

This video of pro boarder, Eric Willett, taking a practice run at 2011′s X Games 15 appears on our list because of its commitment to filmic creativity. More so than any other selection here, the producers of this piece pressed the GoPro device to its breaking point in terms of utility. The angles they captured, the points of view they mixed, the story they told. Each of these elements comes together so seamlessly.  The videos up to this point have redefined DIY filmmaking. This one redefines professional filmmaking and the documentation of professional boarding by proxy. All things considered, this may be the most impressive professional snowboarding GoPro we’ve seen.

Big Air Compilation

What’s the best part about watching snowboarders do tricks while being filmed with a GoPro? If you answered, “watching them fly through the air,” then we’re in agreement. That’s why we picked this X Games 15 Big Air Competition featurette. The great thing about the GoPro is that it gives fillmmakers the ability to give their audiences a first-person POV, to truly make them feel like they’re a part of the action. Nowhere is that more evident than in this video around, say, the 1:12 mark. If you haven’t been snowboarding yet this season, take a peed. After it’s played through, you’ll feel like you took the best run of your life. Nothing beats the real thing, but GoPro takes you about as close as you can get.

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