Someplace on the facet of Mt. Hood, Oregon, Hunter Hess wanted some braveness, so he began screaming at himself.
Then, a hiker wandered by. “You gonna attempt one thing scary?” he requested. Hess mentioned sure, that was the plan, which was an understatement. The hiker provided some phrases of encouragement earlier than ambling off. Hess dropped into the quarterpipe and went for the triple.
He blacked out within the air, flipped 3 times, and landed on his ft. The subsequent factor he remembered was regaining his consciousness simply quick sufficient to tear his skis off earlier than his buddy charged him for a hug. Yet another shot stacked, and it was a giant one. That evening, Hess and the remainder of the crew ate on the Huckleberry Inn, a beloved diner in Authorities Camp, earlier than falling asleep of their automobiles. Regardless of the win, there have been extra jumps to construct the following day.
It was one second, amongst many, that led to the creation of MAGMA, a DIY ski film effort from Hess and his good good friend, Alex Corridor. The 2 are members of the U.S. Freeski Staff, and their skilled calls for are rigorous. However virtually each ski season since 2019, when MAGMA launched, they’ve managed to squeeze a joint film undertaking into the margins of their packed schedules, studiously making artwork as they push for the following podium with their devoted filmer, Owen Dahlberg, in tow. They hit handrails within the streets, scout the backcountry for locations to construct jumps, and spend time in sudden ski locales, like Kansas or North Dakota. Neither appears fascinated by slowing down.The 2026 POWDER Photograph Annual is right here! Search for a print copy on a newsstand close to you, or click on right here to have a duplicate shipped on to your entrance door.
Owen Dahlberg
Years in the past, Corridor and Hess met, unsurprisingly, by means of snowboarding. As burgeoning freeskiers typically do, they hatched plans to make a film collectively, ultimately recruiting Dahlberg.
These aspirations led them to Oregon in July 2019, the place they relied on the state’s lingering snowpack. It wasn’t a effectively organized manufacturing. They’d no sponsor funding, so Corridor and Hess paid Dahlberg out of their very own pockets.
“We did not know what we have been doing, and we have been all making an attempt to entrance like we did,” mentioned Hess.
Nonetheless, they figured the ensuing film, MAGMA, was sturdy, with Hess’ triple changing into an ideal finish word. What they didn’t anticipate, nevertheless, was that that they had created a cult basic. The web shortly instructed them in any other case. Dahlberg’s swooping footage and the boys’ skilled snowboarding struck a chord, incomes lots of of 1000’s of views on YouTube—no small feat for an underground ski video constructed with no expectations.
“It simply blew up instantly,” mentioned Dahlberg. “After getting that huge of a response, it positively lit a hearth, I feel, in all of us to maintain going.”
The subsequent season, they adopted MAGMA up with an aptly named sequel, MAGMA 2. Extra motion pictures underneath the Magma title—their adopted crew name signal—adopted, culminating with their newest undertaking, TKO, which dropped final fall.
Concurrently, Corridor and Hess’ athletic standing and public profiles have risen.
Corridor claimed gold in slopestyle on the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. He counts the posh model Moncler amongst his sponsors, and modeled for a current Vogue shoot in London, wanting very a lot in his factor.
Hess, in the meantime, took his first X Video games halfpipe medal in 2024, snagging bronze, and kicked off the 2025-26 season with back-to-back World Cup podiums. A slew of manufacturers now again the Magma motion pictures, providing a journey funds.
Ezra Shaw/Getty Pictures
The scrappy ethos that drove MAGMA stays, although. Corridor and Hess ski and throw tips. Dahlberg movies them, typically with some extra assist. Then, he spends all summer time sifting by means of the footage. “We nonetheless do it the identical fashion,” mentioned Corridor. “We’re nonetheless simply as hungry.” After they step off the airplane from a far-flung competitors in China or France, they’re ski bums once more.
That makes for some humorous contrasts. As soon as, Corridor went from roughing it on a movie journey to staying at a flowery resort in Jackson for a Moncler shoot. He doesn’t assume that he’s straddling two worlds, although.
“I by no means must assume an excessive amount of about how I’m strolling this rope,” he mentioned. As a substitute, Corridor sees himself as a bridge between the handrails and the rarefied areas he typically occupies.
“Simply now, as a result of I am in a Vogue magazine or I am sponsored by Moncler, there is not any motive for me to not exit and nonetheless hit avenue,” he continued. “It is cool to do each.” He desires to point out these retailers and sorts of sponsors that snowboarding includes greater than high-profile competitions.
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Rising recognition hasn’t granted Corridor and Hess extra time, although. Coaching, competing, and different skilled snowboarding obligations depend as a job. Making a killer ski film can, too.
At most accessible home windows, the 2 be a part of Dahlberg to eke out a bit extra footage. A four-second clip of 1 difficult rail slide, per Corridor’s estimation, can take eight hours to supply, factoring in all of the work concerned, not to mention touchdown the trick. For context, TKO has a runtime of about 20 minutes, with minimal b-roll.
“If we’re each getting a clip daily—Hunter will get a clip, I get a clip every day—we’re actually hyped,” mentioned Corridor.
Avenue skiers want two issues: snow in city areas and spots. The primary issue is comparatively straightforward—they simply watch the forecast. Spots, which are sometimes handrails however is likely to be bridges or concrete partitions, take extra looking out. That’s the place Dahlberg and Corridor’s penchant for Google Earth is available in. They cruise the digital globe for architectural preparations that look enjoyable to ski. Then, when storms arrive, they’ll begin ticking off their guidelines.
“Alex has an precise obsession with Google Earthing,” mentioned Hess, explaining, with a chuckle, that his good friend makes use of a color-coordinated map that features “perhaps each spot ever.”
Owen Dahlberg
The hunt extends to the winter holidays. When most are kicking again and enjoyable with their household, Hess and Corridor are sometimes filming, profiting from the pause of their competitors schedules.
Through the Christmas of 2024, whereas filming TKO, the three bounced from Utah to Canada. They drove in Dahlberg’s van, which was filled with smelly ski gear and, as an alternative of a fourth seat, had a eating room chair strapped to the wall. “It was a scene in that factor,” mentioned Hess. “It positively smelled like shit.” There wasn’t any duck or ham on Christmas Eve. As a substitute, they ate on the solely open restaurant they might discover: McDonald’s.
A bit of the U.S. Freeski Staff, together with Colby Stevenson and Mac Forehand, additionally compete and movie. Figures from the previous struck this stability, too, just like the Swedish famous person Henrik Harlaut. However Corridor and Hess don’t must throw tips in entrance of the digicam each winter, and loads of freeskiers aiming for Olympic {hardware} can’t be bothered.
For now, nevertheless, they wouldn’t have it every other approach. Corridor put it succinctly. In the event that they ever begin slacking or lose motivation, he mentioned, perhaps they’ll attempt a distinct strategy. However that second hasn’t come but. The journey, the promise of one other trick, and provoking the following technology of children retains Corridor and Hess coming again. The individuals do, too.
“We’re so fortunate to do what we do on the competitors facet, however we got here from the dirty facet of it,” mentioned Hess, turning to the forged of characters they meet on the street. Every season, a roving group of avenue skiers traverses the continent, similar to the duo, filming their subsequent video. They aren’t all X Video games or Olympic medalists, although.
“A whole lot of these guys, they do not get paid,” mentioned Hess. “They work summer time jobs, and so they’re doing it as a result of they like it. And if you’re in that realm, you discover individuals which are so appreciative of what they’ve and simply the game itself.”
Take a look at the newest from Magma, TKO, proper right here, or watch beneath.
Watch: TKO by MAGMA
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