'Falling Skies' Trailer

The Trailer for Run Jump Fly Productions new documentary film 'Falling Skies'

'falling skies' film trailer Run Jump Fly

Season Over. 'The Archives'

The winter season is gone and we are now back in the UK now for a while. Before the filming year is over we will be shooting over the summer in Saas Fee and other european glacier resorts. Not long now, but until then its time to edit the next movie. It is being released in October 2008 and is named The Archives! Keep checking back for the trailer that is going to be released in the next month!

Enjoy the sun
Nic

British Columbia

I got the chance to head to Canada with Jamie and Gavin Mackay on a heli skiing trip for Columbia. We landed into Vancouver then drove 4 hours on this sketchy gravel road with a death drop into a river on one side, it took us to a remote lodge deep in British Columbia. For the three days we had the heli there was constant cloud cover! We had to stay in the lower gladed trees to be able to see anything at all. The terrain was relatively mellow but we managed to get some nice shots.

We drove back to Whistler where the weather was nicer but there wasn’t much snow. I met up with British skier Leigh Powis who is currently living over there. It was my first time shooting with Leigh and I got some great shots of him hitting rails and the enormous kickers they had at the Blackcomb park! The trip didn’t turn out exactly as planned but we had an awesome time and got some great footage.
Nic


Drive to Whistler

The Wildcat

A pika that Jamie caught

Jamie dropping

Jamie cruising

Leigh 270 on down rail

Leigh cork 9 true tail

Mayrhofen

Me and Joe headed over to Mayrhofen to meet up with JT, slave, Andy Collin and Ted Foster. After the 8 hour drive to Austria we were disappointed to find it was raining heavily in the resort. It rained and snowed for the next three days solid so all we could do was go up high and find some trees above the snow line. We had a couple of alright days in the trees but the depth wasn’t really there. On the last day the sun appeared through gaps in clouds and we were able to go hit the park. JT had unfortunately broken his wrist a few days earlier at the European open so was taking is pretty easy, we still got some cool shots of him, Joe Murrell and Ted Foster for another cool park section!
Nic


Jt shredding with a broken wrist

Slave enjoying the pow

Ted 7 double true nose

Joe bio 7

JT Tail 7

Thyon with Joe Murrell

After flying back to London from Japan we had a few days to chill before driving back out to Verbier. Joe Murrell had just come back from Northstar so headed over with us. We had three days shooting with Joe in the Thyon park and we got some sick off the jump follow cams! Check out the pics!
Nic


Bio 7 double grab

Switch cork 7 bone

Japan!!!

As the snow was getting worse in Europe we were ecstatic that we were getting the chance to go to Japan with Gav and Jamie Mackay and photographer Camilla Stoddart. Me, Camilla and Nick drove back to London to meet up with Gav to fly to Tokyo then on to Sapporo where Jamie was meeting us.
Our first destination was Niseko where we were staying in the Prince hotel right next to the mountain. The resort was small but had awesome tree skiing and pillow lines. The first day the snow wasn’t so great so we just scouted lines and waited for the inevitable snowfall! It came over the next few days and we got some great shots in the trees. One day we headed to a small face that went straight down into rocks then into the freezing cold ocean! It was such a sick shooting location.
After Niseko we were heading 6 hours across Hokkaido to Furano, snow was falling heavily throughout the whole journey and cars were sliding and crashing all over the place. We were glad to get into Furano alive but more importantly with so much new snow on the ground.
High winds and heavy snowfall meant that the resort was closed on our first day. We decided to take a truck out and look for some avalanche barriers we passed on the way over. We found some sick barrier lines that came straight back onto the road and we could just lap with our van. It was an awesome and very unique day skiing!
The next two days we spent in Tokatchi daki were we did a few small lines but mainly had to keep in the trees because of low vis. The peaks surrounded a small mountain hostel and resturant that we had lunch in after skiing, the Owners were so friendly to us and there were wild foxes running around outside while we ate. It was an amazing experience.
On our last day we went skiing at the local mountain, Furano. Most of the tree skiing there is out of bounds but we were lucky to be accompanied by a ski patroller who showed us some awesome locations. The snow was deeper than it had been all trip and we had the best day skiing untracked trees that went right back to the chairlifts! A perfect last day!
Before flying back to London we got the chance to see Tokyo, we went to the temples and Electric City but it was really the fish Market that was the most incredible experience! The craziness and the size of it all was insane. An amazing trip with an eye opening finish. This trip will without a doubt be my favourite part of the film!


The two best things in Japan, Snow and Hello Kitty

Gav back off pillow

Nick riding a tree

Gav ripping the quarry

Jamie dropping into the abyss

Old man playing in the snow

Jamie dropping in at night skiing

Nick 3 off pillow

Me in Furano

Me on the avalanche barriers

Big Tunas At the Fish Market

Super St Bernard

After the success of Nax we decided we would have another day trip to one of the small resorts near Verbier. We went to Super St Benard right on the Italian boarder. Unfortunately the resort had been closed for the last 2 days due to high winds at the top. We explored the mountain to see what we could do but anything high up was either completely wind blown or dangerously wind loaded. We turned our attention to the smaller pitches with Nick doing a few small lines and straight lines while I took advantage of the ridges they have in their lower areas surrounded by bushes. The skiing was relatively mellow but it was a good day with some really fun lines!
Nic

Nax

There had just been some new snow in most areas of Switzerland but we heard that a Nax had got more than most. Nick Southwell, Phil Hopper and myself took the hour drive over to the small resort to see what we could find. The mountain was not steep but was covered in boulders forming pillow lines all over. We had so much fun doing lots of small lines with multiple drops in and got some great footage. My favourite skiing day of the season so far!
Nic

Winning Columbia Ride Courchevel, Heli Filming!!!

It was time again for the Columbia Ride in Courchevel, a riding and filming contest that Scottish riders Jamie and Gavin Mackay and myself were invited to. We arrived in Courchevel 2 days before the comp to scout some lines before filming. Conditions were once again less than ideal. It had rained almost to the top for a couple of days before. The only snow that was still remotely intact was in the shade. We were very sceptical about where we could shoot over the next week. The temperature over the next 2 days slowly rose so we were able to film a few small lines and drops in spring like conditions. The resort had estimated 6cm on the second day of the comp. When we woke up the next morning we were amazed to find it had snowed 20cm in the town. With the snow still going strong and high winds at the top we went to the trees for some cover. The snow was really deep in places and we got some great shots of tree skiing and small pillow lines. We went to sleep that night with extremely high expectations of the next day, so much of what the guys wanted to ski would now be possible! The next day was filled with true big mountain lines and big drops with inverts involved. We had also heard that we would get some heli shooting time! After an hour of Jamie and Gav waiting at the top of what I thought were truly terrifying lines the heli finally arrived. We all got into position and Jamie dropped first. His line was going to be a very technical one that involved dropping 2 areas of cliffs that led into a band of 30, to 80ft rock faces. After dropping the first rock the sheet he landed on slid away from him, he managed to stay above it and it all slid below him, he continues while the heli buzzed above him and I kept rolling. As he dropped of the second band his landing platform once again ripped out and began to carry him down towards the 80ft section of rock that had more clearance than would be possible to make. Luckily just before the drop he managed to get his edges in and make a turn towards the other side where he finished the line with a 30fter into a clean open area. Gavin was next to drop. His line began with a few big open turns that led into an enormous double cliff drop into a chute with another mandatory drop beneath it. The footage from the helicopter shows this world class line perfectly and is without a doubt the best shot we have ever captured. The following 2 days of the competition were just as exciting with many massive lines and technical airs. After the one night of editing we had on the final day to produce the movie we were mentally and physically exhausted. We tried to rest a bit before the screenings but it never really worked. 8 movies were produced, some featuring world class athletes Manu Geidet, Thomas diet and Seb Collomb Gros. The standard was extremely high but our movie came on last and received a variety of gasps and cheers from the large crowd at the local cinema. Prize giving was 30 minutes later at le kalico bar, after the 3rd and 2nd places were given to the French and Austrian teams it was all or nothing. The anticipation was tremendous and as our names were called out over the microphone we were ecstatic! We jumped up onto the podium to a massive applause! After spraying litres of champagne and alcohol over the crowd and each other we were still shocked and delighted with the results. It was an amazing and emotional week that gave us a great experience, a huge amount of top level footage for the new film and 6000 euros in cash! It was the best 7 days filming of my life! Thanks to Jamie and Gavin for the whole thing!

To watch our winning video go to http://www.courchevel.com/rideweek/editorial.php?Rub=53
And click on the UK team video!
Enjoy, there is much more of that which will be in the film!
Nic

Verbier Ride 08

With the Verbier Ride taking place 18th-20th January we had Andy Bennett and James Woods coming into town for the competition. Woodsy on his birthday quailfied strongly into finals before sadly crashing out. Andy was without doubt one of the stand out riders in the competition and qualified first for the finals before eventually coming out a hugely credible 3rd. Andy in particular got some great shots for our first bit of park action of the season.
Nick

The arrival of the sun and bigger faces!

After quite a long period of snow and bad weather it all cleared up and we went out to get some big lines. The snow was pretty unstable so we started of in small areas and filmed some drops until we found the more safe areas. We managed to get some really nice shots on Verbiers big faces and it was great to do some serious skiing this early on in the season. A good show of things to come after such a dry winter last year!

4 days in the trees!

After a couple of weeks of warm and dry conditions it started to snow again. It was very light but kept going for 3 days and the weather stayed closed in for almost 5. During the heavy snow Nick, his brother Chris and I stayed in the trees and found some short pitches and drops to keep us entertained until the weather cleared. It stayed bad for 2 days after the snow so we stayed in the trees just taking advantage of the new snow until we could go out to find some bigger lines.

Getting to Verbier and getting straight back into it!

When we arrived into Verbier the scene was very different from the year before. We were amazed to see the whole valley covered in the white stuff! It had been snowing continuously for days and the mountain was kept shut but on our first day in town they opened the whole mountain and we went out to get straight back into it. We couldn’t fully giv’er as there wasn’t much of a base and we hadn’t got our skiing legs back, but we had a great first few days and got some awesome early pow shots for the film. If this is a sign of things to come it’s going to be a sick year! Be back with more soon!
Nic