“In order to understand this ongoing process of learning from powder snow, it is necessary to realize that when one rides in deep powder, there is absolutely nothing there—no resistance whatsoever….”
Thus begins Powder Souls, a new short film by Matthew Bruhns featuring Timmy Taussig and friends in search of that hard-won, beyond-rewarding feeling of “nothingness” found only in the deepest and freshest powder snow.
We’ve found this “nothing is anything but” theme in other snow films new this season. Take the recent Patagonia/Sweetgrass Productions release The Meaningless Pursuit of Snow, for just one example.
As both films show, “nothingness” (or “meaninglessness”) is, in the context of snow, the very force that draws athletes or any powder seekers like a magnet.
You might also like:
And as the on-screen narration points out later in Powder Souls, “In general, the idea of nothingness or ‘no-thing’ in our culture is frightening. However in Chinese Taoist thought, this idea is called ‘The fullness of the void’ out of which all things come.” And that explains a lot…
In search of that fullness of the void, seven riders—Taussig, Hagen Kearney, Marie-France Roy, Garrett Warnick, Tailer Gray, Harry Kearney and Michael Hoy—showcase some truly unequaled shredding. (Check out the insanely exposed line beginning at 10:25 and try not to gasp.) To a diversely upbeat soundtrack, the splitboarders tirelessly chase massive storms, brave sweaty skintracks and finesse the planet’s sickest pillows from the Coast Mountains of British Columbia to the record-shattering snowfalls of Tahoe. These souls are wandering waist-deep in some beautiful nothingness.
Related:
Check the ML Podcast!
