Actually, It Is Rocket Science is the new chapter in TGR’s study of the fall line, told through the world’s best skiers as they turn the mountain into a laboratory and every descent into an experiment.

The study spans Bute Inlet, British Columbia; Haines, Alaska; Japan; Finland; Andorra; Montana; Jay Peak, Vermont; and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Different mountains, snowpacks, conditions and approaches—but the same forces are always at work: speed, gravity, instinct, and consequence.

Actually, It Is Rocket Science is a tongue-in-cheek look at the seemingly reckless abandon that many of the world’s best snow athletes display as they push the physics of what is possible. Athletes explore the intricacies of dissecting a big mountain line, the physics and amplitude of a massive gap, calculating transition, and the force of gravity.

So, is it rocket science—or is it not? Watch closely and decide for yourself.