REVIEW

October 6, 2013

Review: Level 1 Productions Partly Cloudy

Screen Shot 2013-10-06 at 6.14.49 PM

The Meeting 9 kicked off with the showing of Level 1 Productions’ latest movie, Partly Cloudy.   Last year’s film, Sunny, took top honors in Powder Magazine’s “Movie of the Year” category, so expectations were high going in.  All in all, Partly Cloudy is a strong follow up effort.  Though it is unlikely to take “Movie of the Year” again, Level 1 and their riders continue their tradition of unique skiing with top of the line urban segments and well done powder segments to make a fun movie that expands your capacity to see the hill (or wherever you are skiing) in different creative ways.

Partly Cloudy Official Trailer from Level 1 on Vimeo.

The movie opens with a very solid segment from Will Wesson.  Right off the bat, Wesson shows his jibbing versatility by spinning every combination of a 270 on to four consecutive rails (switch right 270, right 270, switch left 270, left 270).   He then shows incredible creativity with a kinked treebranch grind and a rail to butter on ice patch and back on to a rail.  Wesson’s segment is followed by another banger from Ahmet Dadali, who actually puts together a solid all around segment with some mini golf lines to go along with his urban prowess.  But the highlight of Dadali’s segment has to be step up wall ride to 50/50 on a rail.   Dadali’s segment is followed by the impeccable and unique style of Adam Delorme, who brings his polished steeze to the backcountry in a segment that might not match past segments, but is still solid.

The standout segment in the movie comes when Logan Imlach joins the Real Skifi boys in Finland.  The Skifi boys have become an internet sensation for pursuing jibs and tricks that you would not even think to do on skis.  At one point, three of the boys form a train where the leader grinds, grabs a bridle, swings around a tree, and gets back on the rail behind the other two.  Another must see is the backflip to tail stall and 360 out.  The segment is short, sweet, and will blow your mind.

Following the Real Skifi boys, the movie heads to Bralorne for some smooth big mountain skiing from the likes of Parker White, Josh Bibby, and Wiley Miller.  Miller delivers the best big mountain skiing of the movie, sending large and smooth tricks over cliffs and natural features.  While the skiing is very solid, it takes a more playful approach to the terrain.  The big mountain skiing of Partly Cloudy lacks the high consequence lines found in other movies.  The movie returns to the lower forty eight where LJ Strenio and Banks Gilberti crush the streets of Ogden in a fun segment with a few memorable moments before the movie returns back north.  We are treated to Tanner Rainville’s solo segment before he is joined by the usual crew, as well as Riley Leboe and Dan Treadaway, for an amusing pow segment at the Bibby Cabin in BC.

The film winds down with jump sessions in Whistler and Sun Valley, followed by segments by Super Unknown winner LSM and Chris Logan.  Logan’s segment is notable for versatile skiing including mini golf lines, booters, and solid urban, set to the Moody Blues.

All in all, Partly Cloudy continued what we have come to expect from Level 1.  Groundbreaking urban parts complimented by good pow segments make for a great watch.  It did feel long due to the abundance of urban.  However, urban is what Level 1 does best.  Credit to the Josh Berman and Freedle Coty for sticking to their guns and producing another great ski movie.

Follow this link to purchase the movie on Itunes.



About the Author

1. Ed Dujardin
After moving out west for college, Ed took summer school so he could spend winters in Crested Butte. These days, he coaches the Western State Colorado University Freeride Team, and spends as much time as he can fishing the incredible rivers of the area.




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