Snowboarding doesn't often make the silver screen. However, when the sport does make it on TV, it's usually for halfpipe and slopestyle contests that display riders performing dizzying spins and flips off towering mounds of snow.

Backcountry riding is a snowboarding discipline that gets even less publicity, but it requires just as much skill as double cork 1440s, one-footed backflips, and other famed snowboarding maneuvers.


These five backcountry snowboarding lines are ones that reign supreme as the most death-defying in history.

1. The Crack -- Travis Rice, 2014

You may have seen it on the news. In 2014, skier Cody Townsend descended a famous backcountry line in Alaska known as, "The Crack." He skied one of the gnarliest, straight vertical drops in the world. It was broadcast all over mainstream media as the, "Line of the Year," and "The Most Insane Ski Line Ever." Townsend won the title for Best Line at the Powder Awards, and the YouTube footage of his descent now has more than 4.6 million views on YouTube.

The kicker is that Travis Rice rode the same line three months before Townsend while filming the follow-up film to his acclaimed snowboard movie "The Art of Flight." Rice even chipped away at the cornice at the top of line for hours to make it possible for a snowboarder (or skier) to ride. Townsend admits that Rice tackled the line first, but it has become obvious that the snowboarder will probably never receive the fame that Townsend did.

The footage of Travis Rice riding the crack still hasn't been released, but you can see his view from the top here.

2. AK Line -- Johan Olofsson, 1996

Johan Olofsson, a young freestyle rider in 1996, was taken to Alaska by Standard Films to record some insane backcountry riding for the film TB5. Olofsson's part ended with a line that made him famous and landed him a spot in the 1996 Guinness Book of World Records. The "AK Line" was the descent of a 3,000 foot stretch of terrain at a 50-degree angle in roughly 35 seconds. His straight-line approach made it look like he was falling off the side of the mountain.

Watch Johan Olofsson's part in TB5 here.

3. Shangri-la First Descent -- Jeremy Jones, 2014

Jeremy Jones is known as one of the most daring and skillful backcountry riders of all time. He has proven his abilities on numerous occasions, but his Himalayan "Shrangri-la" descent in March of 2014, really demonstrate why he's considered the master of tackling the world's most death-defying drops before anyone else. Jones described his "Shangri-la First Descent" as the hardest thing he's ever done, and remarked that it was as steep as any others he has performed but much, much bigger.

Watch Jeremy Jones' descent here.

4. Cordova Peak -- Tom Burt, 1997

Some of the most epic snowboarding lines of all time happened in the sport's early years, and they still impress the most daring of today's backcountry rippers. Tom Burt's snowboarding career lasted roughly 40 years, and his descent of Alaska's Cordova Peak is likely his greatest feat. He tore down the 54-degree slope with reckless abandon and made maneuvering through avalanche-prone sections, off cliffs, and over black and blue ice look easy. Burt remains snowboarding's master of technical riding on steep terrain at hair-raising speeds.

Watch Tom Burt's insane line here.

5. Antarctic Lines -- Xavier de le Rue, 2014

It's no wonder that the world's best backcountry riders keep searching for steeper, faster, and more dangerous lines. World-renowned big mountain daredevil Xavier de le Rue told Red Bull that the steepest lines of his career were ridden in Antarctica for the making of the Mission Steeps film released in 2014. Watch the film, and you might have to cover your eyes at a few points when de le Rue cheats death on some of the world's most secluded and steepest terrain.

Watch the Mission Steeps trailer here.