Pushing the limits over land and sea

As New Hampshire Day continues we head from the mountains to the ocean and back again with Just Another Ski Movie, Granite Stoke and Think Thank Almanac.

Just Another Ski Movie comes straight out of Londonderry High School. As a senior in May, Jon Klutsch submitted the film to the New Hampshire High School Short Film Festival and left as runner-up in the Jury Award category. Just Another Ski Movie follows snowboarders in unexpected terrain – over building, railings, stairs, bridges – and a few snowy mountains. Urban snowboarding, the feature of both Just Another Ski Movie and Think Thank Almanac, is an adrenaline rush in itself. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to fly – ask a snowboarder.

Think Thank Almanac, directed by Sean Lucey, follows several snowboarders from the Northeast to the Pacific Southwest as they push the limits of the sport. Broken bones and broken boards do not deter them. In Just Another Ski Movie, we see a rider break his ankle and remark nonchalantly that it comes with the territory. Snowboards aren’t built for that environment and as such it takes a toll on your body and your equipment; throughout Think Thank Almanac, a few boards snap from the force of a landing.

That doesn’t stop them. They push on.

When pressed on whether or not they look at a location and think about out how they’re going to do it, snowboarder Brandon Reis, featured in Think Thank Almanac, responded with a smile, “Are you asking if we think about it before we do it? Absolutely not.” He went on to explain that the approach is more, “Hell with it, here we go!”

The same spirit rings through in Dylan Ladd and Ryan Scura’s Granite Stoke – with only 13 miles of coastline, frigid winter temperatures and inconsistent surf, it’s not unusual to wonder how a thriving surfing community can possibly have come to be. For them, there is no ‘surfing season’. When temperatures dip and New Englanders head to the mountains, this community pulls out their thick wetsuits and paddles out.

Granite Stoke is more than a testament to the devotion of the community to the sport. It is a testament to the power of the ever-changing and growing New Hampshire surfing community.

When Buck Rowlee’s daughter, Molly was diagnosed with cancer, the community rallied around him offering help in any way they could. When she passed away, he started the Molly Rowlee Fund in her honor and continues to pay it forward, helping other families in need. He credits surfing with helping him throughout Molly’s fight and even after, “Surfing heals all wounds.”

From the snow covered mountains to the white-capped swells, these New Hampshire natives are a reminder that anything is possible with enough heart.

We’ll continue celebrating New Hampshire as the night goes on and bring you all of the updates. Join us tonight for the NHPTV New Hampshire Awards followed by the UNH After Party at Flatbread.