A Group of Skiers Tried a Real-Life “Third-Person Mode.” It Went How You'd Expect.

Video game fans know the lingo. 

The “first-person” viewpoint, for the most part, is the stuff of action-packed shooters. “Third-person,” on the other hand, hovers above the video game character, a kind of omniscient presence guiding the wizard, soldier, or hero through a digital realm.

Both work seamlessly when you’re using a controller. But what about trying to move your own body from the third-person perspective? And, to step it up a notch, what about skiing?

That’s the question the Sickos, a rowdy group of vloggers with an action sports bent, decided to answer. With some help from one of their friends, they built a contraption that simulated the third-person perspective in real life. 

Then, they went skiing.

The 2026 POWDER Photo Annual is here! Look for a print copy on a newsstand near you, or click here to have a copy shipped directly to your front door.

Watching this video for the first time, you might assume that the Sickos aren’t experienced skiers. Other entries from their YouTube library prove otherwise—they’ve hit X Games jumps and tried double backflips.

It’s not a lack of skill, then, that causes the inevitable wipeouts, crashes, and, towards the end of the video, a fall that breaks the arm of their contraption. 

Instead, it probably has more to do with the fact that humans often don’t do well with out-of-body experiences. For my part, I think I’d throw up if I wore goggles, let alone be able to get on a chairlift. A standard VR headset is enough to make me dizzy.

The highlight, in my perspective, though, happened before they hit the slopes, when one of the Sickos went to buy a lift pass, fumbling through a liability waiver and struggling to give the employee a fist bump. 

What was the person on the other side of the counter thinking, I wonder? After one look at that get-up, I’d assume I was in the company of a confused time traveller before making any other conclusions.

While we wouldn’t recommend trying this set-up at home, there are rigs for Insta360 cameras that recreate the visual effect of third-person skiing you can try—without having to run your mind through a virtual washing machine, that is.

Related: The Making of ORNADA, Armada’s Bold, Two-Year Film Project