Since I first came across skiing on leaves a few years back, I knew I had to try it someday. Especially the amazing videos of Candide Thovex skiing on just about any surface and a "People are awesome" video inspired me.
I do have a history of building a 5 meter tall permanent hill with an artificial skiing surface for my skiing students.
I also invented and organized (and even won) a Danish national skiing competition on the Maxxtracks skiing machine. I am a huge fan of those machines as a fun skiing challenge, but also for serious technical training.
So, I was already quite familiar with skiing on surfaces many would consider a bit odd. Something in me therefore knew that there might be a bit more to skiing on leaves than just being a spectacular stunt. So, the crew and I decided to go explore it on our own.
It was quite a challenge to find the right spot. Eventually we found this amazing forest you see in the video below.
We got our official permission to go skiing there and were finally set to go! It was our plan that, if skiing on leaves was worth it, we would share it with the world to inspire people to explore more and develop their skiing skills in different and fun ways. After a few runs I was getting warm and my head kindda exploded. I felt like we had found a very cool skiing secret almost nobody knew about!
A few days after this video was shot, I brought my skiing students of 36 passionate teenagers aspiring to become ski instructors.
Most of them loved it like I do, but some of them saw it more as a strange and a bit intimidating experience. And that’s how it is with this thing. It is definitely not for everybody.
That day with the students we had a journalist follow us. He did a fun story about the "crazy" kids who couldn't wait for the snow to fall to the weather report on Danish national television. That was an awesome experience to be able to share it with the kids and everybody watching the weather report that night.
Even though skiing leaves is not for everybody, it will be an autumn wonderland for skiing certainly worth exploring for others. But the main message of this story is to go out and explore something you love in a new way, that might bring a positive surprise.
We hope you will enjoy the video we made about my experience with skiing on leaves. It also contains a few tips so you will be well prepared for to go on your own leaf skiing adventure. Enjoy!
Music used in the video: Sappheiros – Moments
DISCLAIMER Skiing on leaves is tried solely at your own risk and responsibility. Inspirational Skiing is not in any way responsible for any injuries, deaths or material damages that might occur from trying any of the things, or something similar, shown or suggested in this video. Always get explicit permission before skiing on any private or public ground.