LED Snowboarding Is Strangely Breathtaking (VIDEO)

Jacob Sutton's haunting video of pro snowboarder William Hughes cutting through the Alps in an LED-charged snowsuit is one of the internet's most beautiful surprises. John Spatcher's custom-built (and "temperamental") suit makes Hughes look like a modern imagining of the Yeti, glowing ethereally as he slides through the Rhones-Alpes region at night. "I've always been excited by unusual ways of lighting things, so it seemed like an exciting idea to make the subject of the film the only light source," Sutton wrote in a post on their site. “I was really drawn to the idea of a lone character made of light surfing through darkness."

In the same post, Hughes calls the experience "the most surreal thing I’ve done in 20 years of snowboarding."

WATCH:

Comments

[MichaelFroemel]

05:24 AM on 02/21/2012

The Silver Surfer. Epic.

[DungBeetle]

09:06 AM on 02/19/2012

My...breath...I...can't...breathe.

[american-dolt]

09:01 AM on 02/19/2012

Wouldn't be as good in real time.

[AustinMainiac]

07:51 AM on 02/19/2012

HP, please stop the drama headlines...i don't consider this "breathtaking". i find this to be a disturbing trend on your site since you were bought to get more click throughs. as a result i bypass the majority of articles like this and stick with the real news items.

[BrianHMB]

08:06 AM on 02/19/2012

I was just thinking the same thing. If HP put your post on the front page, the headline would say:

"Most Epic Post Ever?" or "Shocking Post By AustinMainiac!"

Seriously HP, take it down a notch and stop trying to be TMZ.

[AndyWright68]

06:39 AM on 02/19/2012

Looks awfully dark. I'm surprised he didn't smack into a tree.

[Out to Lunch]

02:58 AM on 02/19/2012

Liked it, but think the camera shots/angles could be better.

[Chipher]

02:57 AM on 02/19/2012

What do you call a lone LED surfer catching the midnight break at Redondo?

Dinner.

See what I just did?

[TazoWolf]

02:14 AM on 02/19/2012

... and people think _I'M_ nuts for the light show I put on with my bicycle in the dark?? It's quite fun, actually, and having been hit by a car (hit & run, and I wasn't the one running a stop sign), I say you can't be TOO visible!

[jennielake]

01:47 AM on 02/19/2012

... that was cool

[one1byke]

12:54 AM on 02/19/2012

where was the snowboardING?! TRUE, he/she was ON a snowboard.

[MRLeavey]

11:53 PM on 02/18/2012

I saw this the other day on nowness.com.

Check the Devendra Banhart video for his song Brindo on that site. The girl in that video is the most beautiful woman in the world for my money.

[BraveYusuf]

11:44 PM on 02/18/2012

I started snowboarding this year. The only thing I have been asking myself is: what took me so long! I love it!

[jeremyv1980]

10:23 PM on 02/18/2012

Now make the LED's infrared and use NVG. Steath ski unit.

[DrakeUnlimited]

09:45 PM on 02/18/2012

I implore every snowboard fan here to watch 'The Art of Flight'. Amazing documentary...

[MichaelMcKLA]

09:39 PM on 02/18/2012

Man, that is just wicked-cool. I'd love to have a car wrapped in LEDs. :)