When we think of movies about surfing, our minds hark back to such macho movies as 1978’s Big Wednesday and 1966’s The Endless Summer in which bronzed Adonises suit up in primary-coloured Speedos and take on giant breakers with their trusty hand-tooled boards.
Even considering more modern extreme sport-based titles like Point Break, these films play up a mythic quality to the men’s endeavour. But they seldom shift away from the cliché that it’s always men and it’s always the coast of California where the best waves can be found. And, there’s usually some kind of housewife’s favourite / close-harmony combo providing the toe-tapping soundtrack.
But what if surfing wasn’t just about waiting patiently for the big waves, or didn’t require a Zen-like concentration that, supposedly, only a man can muster? Surfing in the Rockies is a new video by Huck magazine which demonstrates that everything we think we know about the limits of surfing is wrong. Okay, if not wrong per se, then it’s certainly up for debate.
The film tells the story of Brittany Parker, who has realised her surfing ambitions by locating a spot some 1,200 miles from their nearest beach (Glenwood Springs, Colorado, to be exact) and just got on with the business at hand. She is a pioneer of a new brand of river surfing which takes the traditional sport and places it within a new and exciting context. Instead of using waves to gain momentum and speed, this type of surfing involves riding between the rapids and rivulets on fast-flowing rivers.
Though it remains something of a niche activity, Parker and her cohorts remain committed to enjoying what the landscape around them has to offer. Indeed, the film Can I Surf That?, directed, shot and edited by another Colorado powerhouse, Heather Jackson, follows Brittany, her best pal Claire Chappell and another local surfer Nadia Almuti, for two years as they explored the world’s best non-ocean waves.
Check out Huck’s three-minute video – directed by surfer Mikey DeTemple and featuring National Geographic explorer Cory Richards to promote Finlandia’s work with 1% For The Planet.
Read more at huckmagazine.com
Published 9 Mar 2016
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