Adrenaline packed playlist

OK, as of last night, I've finally made the mental switch to winter. I fight it all autumn, mourning the loss of longer days and warmer temps and of putting my bike away for the winter (my new pink bike that I didn't get to rid that much after I got it!), dreading every extra layer I have to put on, or the fact that I now need gloves when I go outside or that we now need to add shoveling the driveway to our list of duties to be shared (fortunately my DH does it most of the time). 

Every year the transition to winter is aided by the yearly release of the Warren Miller ski film. Once I watch the film, I walk out energized to take out my skis and get out in the snow. (It doesn't hurt that it's been dumping snow for 3 days and more is on the way).

We went to this year's movie last night in Beaver Creek. Living in a ski town, the auditorium was full of newly arrived just out of college skiers/snowboarders who plan on spending a season (or two or four or ten) living the ski-town lifestyle, waiting tables at night for their primary income, with another on-mountain job like a lift-operator (a "liftie" in ski-town jargon) to get their passes so they can ski or snowboard every day (that was kind of me 15 years ago when I began teaching skiing!) It was a rowdy crowd, with hoots and hollers with every amazing stunt, or with every crash (lots of them), or during the scenes of endless pillows of white powder to plow through. 

That white powder is our gold here in Vail, Colorado.

If you've never seen a Warren Miller ski film you might not understand. If you're not a skier, you really won't understand! But if you have, and if you are, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Warren Miller is an icon in the ski industry, making his first ski film back in 1937 I think it was! It's come a long way since then, with adrenaline filled, action packed clips of skiers and boarders hucking themselves off huge cliffs or down steep rocky couloirs in the Rockies, Alaska, Chile, Russia or Europe, double twisting flips with mute grabs in competitions, or plowing through chest deep powder in places all over this planet.

The reason for this post is that music is a huge part of these films and I want to share the soundtrack with you. It's funny, as I sat there watching the movie, my mind often wandered to, "Wow! This would be a great Race Day song!" or "I wonder if my peeps would go for this song?"

Some of the music they use in the films is way too adrenaline packed for me (more for the Gen X snowboard/skateboard crowd), but there are some fun energetic songs that I will be adding to my library.  You might find a lot of great tunes from this list depending on your tastes and your market. 

So, check out this playlist! It includes everything from Sigur Ros and the Foo Fighters, to the older rock of Cream to world music of Afro Celt Soundsystem. This year's movie is called Children of Winter, but on the left side of the page, you'll see the playlists for the past 5 years of movies. 

OK, it's time to go get my skis tuned....