Found this vid on the French state archives of a backcountry ski competition in 1941

http://www.ina.fr/sport/sports-d-hiver/video/AFE85000282/ski-dans-le-parc-de-saint-cloud.fr.html

Strange thing is it is in Paris in Parc St Cloud.

It doesn"t snow that much in Paris anymore.  Looks like us on the golf course on out X-C gear.

Here is a photo skiing the Butte de Montmartre in 1986 after 20cm fell on Paris

Never imagined I’d see skiing in Paris—a failure of imagination: if Paris were at the same latitude in North America it would be a cross-country skiing destination.

Some photos from a skiing after work in a city whose latitude is south of Marseille:
http://www.roberts-1.com/t/s06/ny/k

Same city, bigger tour, different year:
http://www.roberts-1.com/t/xc034/ma/a

(short) Freeride video of more radical “old-time” skiing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUxS9B0IjUQ

But really the first serious “freeride” videos were made already in the 1920s.

Ken