Customer Reviews

On Snow - A Film on Cross Country Skiing (Documentary) [VHS]

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On snow is a fun video suitable to skiers and non-skiers alike. The opening credits has a funky industrial techno sound and feel with skate skiers doing 360s which sets the tone as a avant garde nordic video. The first two scenes show the evolution from 1930's retro to 2000 techno in cross-country skiing. From then things just take off. There are roughly a dozen scenes which show various aspects of cross country skiing: skating, classic, mountains, forest, touring, racing, kids, pro elite, sprints and loppets. The soundscape and music is great and matches the type of skiing well. Each skiing scene is linked with short black and white non-skiing clips to progress a light storyline. And there are cool rock ski music video stuff for pure entertainment value. The video also includes as a bonus a 10 minute training and technique scene.

Just in time to inspire us all through the agonizing months of waiting for snow, "On Snow" is a new video on cross-country skiing that will appeal to skiers and non-skiers alike... This film introduces the viewer not just to the sport of cross-country skiing, but to the lifestyle of cross-country skiers. The cinematography of David McMahon is incredible. Only someone who loves winter, snow, and skiing could capture as he does the spirit and beauty of the season and the sport. Shot in Canada, in British Columbia and the National Capital Region, the film is a wonderful flow of mountains, skis, rainbows and thunderstorms, kids on skis and in pulks, ski joring, tree skiiing. And, of course, skiing on tracks and trails, through woods and fields, on mountains and back to the log cabin and home. The principal skier, Lise Meloche, is a two-time Canadian Olympian, who competed as a biathlete. If there is a plot, it is watching her rediscover cross-country skiing in Canada, after her career as a world-class athlete. Music and motion are what tell the story. Snippets of conversations appear here and there, some that help elucidate and crystallize the feelings of the time. There is a supporting cast, the you and me's of the sport. These are people you are bound to meet along the way, the people who are the reason you ski, people that you may know already. In interviews they tell their stories, of their crashes and tree hugs, of the kindness of strangers and the reasons they ski."On Snow" is an updated representation of cross-country skiing - with lycra, groomed trails, high tech equipment, waxes, skate skiing and the classic technique, tempered with little kids, a World Class skier, and masters. It has speed and sprints, the two-day Gatineau, and lots of java and great music. This video takes your perception of cross-country skiing from wood skis to the highest tech materials available, and from the backyard to the Olympics and back. It shows you where the sport is here and now, for all levels. If you know someone who is agonizingly waiting for the snow to fall, this video could remind them of the many reasons they are waiting patiently and running outside across a frozen and bare landscape, with ski poles in their hands. - Dorcas D. Wonsavage, 3x Olympian, cross country skiing, 1988, 92, 94.

The authors clearly state that this is not an instructional (how to ski) video, although there is a training/technique montage in the bonus materials. Nonetheless, the skiing is technically superb (Olympic Calibre).

This video is all about motivation and entertainment, and there is plenty of that. The scenery and photography is breathtaking, with impossible high speed camera angles and skiing manoevers set to cool soundtracks... with "how did they do that?"... then the viewer is placed in a scene that they can identify with.

The scenes are paced alternating between fast and slow. There is something for nearly every type of nordic skier: races, tours, kids, music video, sprints, classic and skating, mostly on groomed trails. [The sound on the VHS version was dubbed at a lower volume level than normal, perhaps to accomodate the dynamic range of scenes, so viewers may have to adjust the volume accordingly]

If you are an keen instructor looking for the latest technique tips, you are looking in the wrong place. However, for serious motivational material "On Snow" is one of the best.

I saw "On Snow" at a mountain adventure film festival where it received rave reviews, and just picked up the video version. What it is not, is your typical nordic ski video. My non-skiing friends were glued to the screen. The mountain skate-skiing action scenes were rivoting. The video consists of a dozen scenes which are intended to cover the tastes of every nordic skier: wild Warren-Miller-like rock video on skis, world loppet, national sprint champs, kids, the world's longest ski tour, and a dryland to on snow technique bonus. It is not intended to be a technique video but there is some great skiing by pro elite and olympic skiers, notiably a two-time Olympic biathlete. The sound track is most cool: industrial techno, gothic rock guitar, rave, pop, and jazz. Overall "On Snow" is serious motivating material.

On snow has something for every nordic skier.

I thoroughly enjoyed this video. It is an action-documentary-instructional composition. I found it motivational and superb from a technical standpoint.

RH Nordic Ski Instructor, Greenwood Nordic