‘Tis the sea­son of fresh­ly waxed skis, new­ly pur­chased sea­son pass­es, and—at last!—openings of ski resorts in the North­ern Hemi­sphere. It’s been a long sum­mer for skiers and snow­board­ers, but win­ter is final­ly upon us. A new sea­son brings new gear, new snow and new ski films.

As the ski film genre con­tin­ues to devel­op (hel­lo CGI, doc­u­men­taries, web-based shorts, POV edits and so on), the cal­iber of films seems to be get­ting bet­ter with it. The 2013/2014 crop of ski and snow­board films has not dis­ap­point­ed. Here are sev­en of the lat­est releas­es that you’ll need to screen before the end of the season.

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Into the Mind – Sher­pas Cin­e­ma
Two years ago, the Sher­pas released All.I.Can.—pos­si­bly the best ski film of all time. The high­ly antic­i­pat­ed Into the Mind does not dis­ap­point. Allow your­self to watch the film with­out con­stant­ly com­par­ing it to All.I.Can., and you’ll enjoy it even more. Fea­tur­ing both ski­ing and snow­board­ing, Into the Mind requires at least a few watch­es to ful­ly appreciate.

Into The Mind — Offi­cial Trail­er 2 from Sher­pas Cin­e­ma on Vimeo.

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Super­ven­tion – Field Pro­duc­tion
This Nor­we­gian num­ber is being acclaimed by the mass­es, and for a good rea­son. From tour­ing trips to park ses­sions to big moun­tain rid­ing to urban seg­ments, Super­ven­tion real­ly encom­pass­es the joy that snow sports brings to its par­tic­i­pants. This film is so much more than just a com­pi­la­tion of action shots. It gives the watch­er an idea of what goes into the mak­ing of an epic ski film. This is prob­a­bly the biggest sur­prise stand­out film of the season.

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McConkey – Match­stick Pro­duc­tions and Red Bull Media House
The man, the myth, the leg­end. This doc­u­men­tary fol­lows the all-too-short, yet incred­i­bly ful­filled life of Shane McConkey, the man who rev­o­lu­tion­ized the freeski­ing indus­try, pow skis, and the use of plas­tic saucers. Equal­ly fun­ny as it is touch­ing, McConkey is the per­fect homage to one of the biggest skiers there ever was. 

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Val­hal­la – Sweet­grass Pro­duc­tions
A ski film with a story—don’t wor­ry, it’s not cheesy, it’s awe­some. Whether you’re a bona fide ski bum or a week­end war­rior who pre­tends to be one, you’ll find your­self con­nect­ing with the myth­i­cal and mys­ti­cal Val­hal­la. If you’ve been liv­ing under a rock, there is a nudie seg­ment that has tak­en over the Inter­net. It’s an awe­some scene, but just one of the many stand­outs through­out the ethe­re­al ski film (who ever could have imag­ined that “ethe­re­al” could be used to describe a ski film!).

Sweet­grass Pro­duc­tions’ VALHALLA — Trail­er 2 from Sweet­grass Pro­duc­tions on Vimeo.

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Trac­ing Sky­lines — Poor Boyz Pro­duc­tions & Red Bull Media House
One of the best things about watch­ing ski films is being inspired by the crazy loca­tions fea­tured. Sure, your every­day ski­er might not ever set foot in these exot­ic locales, but it’s nice to imagine.

It turns out that even pro skiers fan­ta­size about their dream ski trips. This film fol­lows five skiers as they embark on their respec­tive epic trips of a lifetime—think liv­ing in a light house in the mid­dle-of-nowhere, Alas­ka; trekking through the Euro­pean Alps; and turn­ing derelict Detroit land­scapes into a crazy urban seg­ment (while dodg­ing the ter­ri­to­r­i­al locals). Trac­ing Sky­lines is for the dream­er in every skier.

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Way of Life – TGR
Ski bums are sali­vat­ing over Way of Life’s “Super­Camp”, a mag­i­cal pop-up town in the mid­dle of the Alaskan back­coun­try fea­tur­ing can­vas tents, a massive—and I mean massive—fire pit, a pop­u­la­tion of the rad­dest skiers around, and a LOT of fire­works. TGR always knocks it out of the park, and Way of Life is def­i­nite­ly among their best work.

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The Lost – Legs of Steel
The Lost is a clas­sic, well-round­ed, all-around sol­id ski film. This is the kind you want to watch the night before a crazy snow storm, when you just know you’re going to wake up to some amaz­ing ski­ing. Every part of this film will pump you up, from the tunes to the cliffs to the grit­ty urban scenes. There’s no nar­ra­tive, no inter­views, no talk­ing. Just sick, sick skiing

Don’t pro­cras­ti­nate on watch­ing these films. Before you know it, the sea­son will be over, and nothing’s worse than watch­ing an incred­i­ble ski film in the sum­mer, know­ing that your next pow­der day is months away…