Since 2008 the skiing community has been fascinated by Line’s Traveling Circus. It’s hard to define what they do to say the least. They’re not focused on big competitions or big movie parts, instead they’re focus on the creative side of skiing and for many of us these webisodes make skiing look more approachable. We’re not watching professional skiers throw quad cork 1800’s (a trick the large majority of skiers would never even consider trying), we’re watching a couple young guys from upstate New York travel around the US in a van, while skiing as much as humanly possible.

We get to see a side of skiers that we rarely have the chance to see, their personalities and the way they are in real life. It makes it feel like we’re on the road with them, living an adventure that skiers world wide crave. We’ve watched the TC crew ski everywhere from Mount Hood to Japan to a dangerous summer setup in Andy’s backyard. We’ve seen these guys eat countless slices of pizza, drive thousands of hours on the road, and ski just about everywhere.

This now brings me to my point of discussing season eight. In most seasons of The Traveling Circus previous to season eight there have been anywhere from four to nine episodes a season. With each episode around 13 minutes, but season eight brought something new. The TC crew released three longer episodes that were more similar to other ski films in a sense. Now I know what your thinking, why would this guys favorite season be the season where they released the fewest episodes, well it’s because season eight felt different. Between the episodes 8.1 Fried Ice, 8.2 Swiss Cheese Socks, and 8.3 Cold Turkey we got to see the TC crew traveling all over the world. We got to see new cultures, odd foods, and foreign ski resorts all while watching some of the greatest skiers in the world that we have all come to know and love.

In the first episode, called Fried Ice, the guys are in Beijing, China, a place many of us will never have the opportunity to travel to. The video starts with an introduction introducing each of the skiers, something we’ve seen in big ski movies, but never before in an episode of TC. The intro stars Andy Perry, Will Wesson, LJ Strenio, and Leo Taillefer. The Highlights of this episode for me was when Andy was smoking cigarettes in the hospital, while LJ is getting his finger relocated, the guys riding those snow rollers (which look ridiculously fun), and the classic shot of the crew grinding down the children’s ice slide.

8.1 Fried Ice:

https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/908334/LINE-Traveling-Circus-8-1-Fried-Ice

In the second episode, named Swiss Cheese Socks, the TC crew is in Switzerland and Italy. The video begins with an intro similar to the intro in Fried Ice, but this time the episode features Will Wesson, Andy Perry, Rob Heule, and Sami Ortlieb. My favorite parts of this episode was when Rob Heule rips down the mountain on a monoski, the guys skiing on the old fighter plane, the whole crew laying down their classic weird and creative lines in the woods, and of course when Andy goes grass skiing.

8.2 Swiss Cheese Socks:

https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/908335/LINE-Traveling-Circus-8-2-Swiss-Cheese-Socks

The third and final episode, called Cold Turkey, takes place in Utah. It stars Andy Perry, Will Wesson, LJ Strenio, and more. This would have to be my favorite episode of the three because of the pure creativeness of the episode. It really made me want to go out and ski random woods or send it big off rocks. The highlights of the video for me was when the guys made those wooden features in the woods in true TC fashion, jibbing at Park City with the turkey, and following the subplot of LJ’s leg infection.

8.3 Cold Turkey:

https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/908336/LINE-Traveling-Circus-8-3-Cold-Turkey

To wrap things up season eight is my personal favorite because it was different from any other ski videos I had ever seen. I learned about cultures and places I will probably never be able to afford to go all while watching some of my favorite skiers shred some of the greatest parks around the world. I urge all skiers to watch season eight of The Traveling Circus if their looking for something new and different. I’m excited to see what season 11 of TC brings this year. Let me know what you think of season eight in the comments.