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Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario-native Daniel Cedolia segued two of his favorite hobbies — snowmobiles and moving pictures — into a career. His first go-around was as a pre-teen, when he took an 8mm film camera to the Soo I-500. By 1988, he was filming the race as a professional, cutting together an hour-long television show. After covering several races, he made the transition in the mid-1990s to the home video market and then to snowmobile action movies. He’s the man behind the “Braaap” series, now in its 10th iteration. He works with mega-talented backcountry riders in gorgeous locations such as Togwotee, Wyoming, or Revelstoke, British Columbia, and can say that he snowmobiles for a living.

Snow Goer: How has the “Braaap” series developed?
Daniel Cedolia: “At first, we did a lot of freestyle where riders would hit ramps and do tricks. The first three or four Braaaps have a lot of freestyle. Then it seemed like a lot of people just wanted to see backcountry. We started making a big transition into backcountry footage and by ‘Braap 6’ very little freestyle and 7 was just backcountry riding. It was mountain climbing, cliff dropping, long distance jumping and a lot of wow-factor.”

SG: Where do you find your riders?
DC: “They often find us through our movies or website. A lot of riders who were established would have local riders gravitate toward them, so there would always be new blood. Every new ‘Braaap’ is about half brand new riders. We just love to ride and go out with anyone who has the ability.”
SG: Who have you discovered?
DC:“Jimmy ‘Blaze’ Fejes was really the biggest one. Tim Needles came out of nowhere. Heath Frisby was another that started out with us first.”

SG:What does it take to film these scenes?
DC: “We’ve learned that things get slowed down by having a big group of people, so it’s one or two cameramen with two or three riders at the most. We only have a window of three or four hours before you run out of gas or everyone is tired. We try to get to the location by 11 o’clock so we have the best light.”

SG: Any gruesome accidents?
DC: “I always want to make it as safe as possible for our riders. A lot people say we put our riders in harm’s way. But I can honestly say that we’ve never had someone seriously hurt on one of our shoots. The worst that’s happened is a shattered heel on a big jump. Our thinking behind it is to not push them into something that they’re uncomfortable with. We’re just there to document their ability.”

SG: What’s one of your most memorable filming moments?
DC: “Working with Matt Binon, one of our long time riders, [he] scoped out a tripledrop. Once you commit, you have to hit two other drops in a short transition and then to the landing. You have to do it perfectly to make it happen. If he made a mistake, it would not have been good. We had three cameras on him. He did it, and afterward I turned my camera down to his knees and they were shaking. They call it Kodak Courage, where once they’re in the backcountry and if a camera is there, they step it up a little more than they should.”

SG:What’s your stunt?
DC: “I kind of live vicariously through these guys. I have worked with filmers who are good videographers, who can do the big drops and airs as the riders, but I’m more on the precaution side. I’m a fairly decent rider and I’ve done some little drops and stuff, but nothing compared to what our guys can do.”

Tags: Movie