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I spent six years living and riding in Vermont at resorts like Stowe, Sugarbush and Jay Peak, so I like to keep tabs on what’s happening on the east side every once in a while. And today begins the sixth annual Stowe Mountain Film Festival, which showcases the latest and greatest ski/snowboard smut from around the globe.

Not all of the films in this year’s festival had trailers online, but of those available, Sweetgrass Production’s Hand Cut looked to be the clear winner as it combines not only stunning cinematography, great music and word class skiing, but it also has what most ski/snowboarding films do not – a story. Yes, Hand Cut uses the historical transformation of western mining towns into winter playgrounds for skiers & snowboarders as a narrative device to string together a menagerie of beautifully shot back-country ski scenes that are set to a musical score that is refreshingly unique. If I bought ski videos (which I don’t), I would buy this one.

Also among the films featured in this year’s festival are Matchstick Production’s highly anticipated new film, CLAIM, a really boring and low-budget looking Telemark film called Harmless (it would probably be harmless not to watch this one) and 600″, a film that lets us relive the 600 inches of snowfall that Jackson Hole got last season while we in the Sierra Nevadas were riding brown snow and pine tar. Thanks for dredging up the bad memories you a-holes.

For a complete list of the films that made the cut in this year’s festival, check out the Stowe Mountain Film Festival Website.