Schooled 5: Physics Defined Video Review

Pin and Wiggle. Angle of the Dangle. These are new terms from “Schooled 5:Physics Defined.” We’ll get back to this in a moment.

VHS, home system videotapes, I had them, and cassettes, which pumped out the best Journey, Def Leppard, AC/DC and Van Halen tunes.

Many years ago, I was a devoted fan of the early pioneering extreme video series, “Powder Bound.” At the time these videos were cutting edge for backcountry snowmobiling. Powder Bound laid down the concrete for other video producers to tread upon. After several winter seasons, “Powder Bound” was laid to rest – its title not to be seen again.

Here’s a powder video that lets you witness the most talented deep snow, backcountry riders on the planet. “Schooled 5” brings more cameras, new angles, a fleet of drones and another winter spent waist-deep in powder. (Image courtesy of Schooled Film)

After setting aside my Powder Bound VHS series, I became an “Alticity” nerd and began collecting Alticity DVDs. I even had the gall to ask the producers to burn all the videos’ music onto a CD. Every Fall I attended Alticity’s premier viewing at some location in S.E. Idaho and proudly displayed every season in my DVD collection. But, Alticity had a short life span and its owners pursued other interests (such as starting, owning and operating MotorFirst sled wear) and we began collecting other extreme videos.

Before Alticity closed its doors, I often invited its video team to join us at our stock mountain sled shootouts and to our wild-eyed modified mountain sled evaluations; those were great days as Alticity roadies.

When Alticity’s production studio went cold, dark and dry, we began hanging out with Greg Painter, producer “Mountain Mod Mania” (MMM) Again, this publication’s mountain staff and I began collecting MMM DVDs and watching Painter video shoot our stock and mod-stock test drivers as they beat mountain and snowflake. Great days these were.

There are many great extreme snowmobile videos, such as those from “509 Films,” “Slednecks,” “Braaap,” and “Alpine Assassins.” There are other “sick” vids that, too, cause cardiac arrests from the comfy couch.

This late December, the Snowmobile.com mountain crew will join Bret Rasmussen “The Professor” of Ride Rasmussen Style to be “Schooled.” We’ll report our crashes, parking lot fights, physics test results, visits to the principal’s office and details on Rasmussen’s 2014 XM Summit X, “Ride Rasmussen Style.”

This brings me to my topic, evaluating “Schooled 5: Physics Defined” prior to participating in Rasmussen’s frigid classroom.

SCHOOLED 5 Teaser (Official) from Schooled Films on Vimeo.

These past few years, we have joined backcountry artists Dan Adams and Amber Holt for some intense time behind the windshield. Several years prior to our time with Adams and Holt, we spent a long hard day with Chris Burandt at Burandt’s Backcountry Adventures tour in Kremmling, Colo. At one point on a spleen splitting day, this humble author is proud to say I survived Burandt peek-a-boo freak show and received the famous Burandt head butt (actually helmet-to-helmet smack) when I kept up with him through, up and over a ridiculous killer chute.

Anyway, back to Schooled 5. The Schooled series began when Rasmussen and Burandt incubated and hatched a “how-to” video on progressive backcountry riding. Though a video can’t replace hands-on training, a video, such as Schooled can give a rider’s brain synapses the same burn-in knowledge they can use in the backcountry.

Prior to Thanksgiving, I stand in front my plasma or LED big screen television and play the latest Schooled video, zoomed in of course, and watch with great interest Rasmussen’s and Burandt’s foot and hand placement while they wrestle their hillclimbers. Forward and back, forward and back I hit the Blu-Ray’s remote buttons until I’ve memorized every foot, hand, body, shoulder, and head position and every word from the two masters.

After watching the latest, I return to the beginning and view the previous years’ Schooled DVDs (in this case 1 through 4) to refresh my memory. For me, the Schooled DVDs have worked. As I watch, learn and study, and then take to the mountains to practice what I watched, learned and studied, my backcountry confidence inches up each and every year.

The “Schooled” videos showcase the how it’s done so you can learn to get bigger air and ride more confidently.

Throughout the years, the Schooled videos have become sharper in image, content and videography. Gone are the cheesy comments and gosh-golly-wow interviews. This is expected as the production company – film editors and in-field videographers – mature in experience. Furthermore, the costs to produce, market and sell a backcountry snowmobile DVD against the many other competing similar videos drives Rasmussen, Burandt and Deviant Sled Productions (SchooledFilms.com) films to be better, wiser and smarter. Remember too, Schooled Films not only competes against other snowmobile video production companies, but against ATV, UTV, skiing and snowboarding videos, which also want your dollars.

Schooled 5 has excellent helicopter aerial views and the producers have tuned up their use of digital camera mounts; hanging cameras high atop riders, sleds, trees and, I surmise, Sasquatch as he goes running by.

However, gone from Schooled 5 are the in-depth “How To” explanations on foot placement, hand and shoulder positions, throttle and brake control, hill descents, line choosing, and scouting out all possible options when cross cutting a tree-infested slope. These tidbits are a staple for the Schooled series. With this hint, I am a little disappointed in Schooled 5. Here is our recommendation: take the eye-popping videography from Schooled 5 and blend in the instruction advice from the previous years’ Schooled videos and deliver a more intense Schooled 6, “Final Exam” (suggested title). Basically, we feel Deviant Sled Productions should take Schooled back to its roots.

Now as business men, Burandt and Rasmussen are not going to give away all their ideas; we respect that and understand the logic. Schooled 5, though its aerial views are impressive, lacks the instructional sustenance of the previous four “Schooled” seasons have.

You can pick up riding tips for maneuvering through deep powder when by watching the “Schooled” series.

Given that, the rider’s tales about Russia are quite interesting.

So, with “Schooled 5: Physics Defined,” you’ll learn about “Pin and Wiggle,” and “Angle of the Dangle.” For me, I will cue these chapters up, stand in front of the tube and with remote in hand, play, rewind, play and rewind and play again. Then I’ll challenge what I’ve learned to see if the living room classroom setting can translate to the mountain classroom.

To order the Schooled videos, go to SchooledFilms.com or visit your favorite dealer.

To learn more about Ride Rasmussen Style, go to http://www.riderasmussenstyle.com/.

To learn more about Burandt’s Backcountry Adventures, go to http://www.burandtsbackcountryadventure.com/.