Warren Miller Ski Flick Pays Tribute To The Legend

Jill Adler Leave a comment

In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes…and Warren Miller Ski Movies.

With winter around the corner, the Warren Miller Entertainment team (WME) will once again kick off the season with its 69^th installment. The new ski and snowboard film, Face of Winter, however, will be different. It won’t be simply a recycling of traditional ski porn. This one- the first produced since the iconic Miller’s death earlier this year- promises to tug on our nostalgic ski heartstrings.

Photo cred. Warren Miller Co.

FOW celebrates the man who became known as the father of ski bums. Miller cultivated the skier mentality, the industry, and the places and people he met along the way. He was 93 when he passed in January 2018 and through those years he not only witnessed the impressive growth of the ski industry but documented the best athletes in the world who led the charge. He covered through film, art, books and articles, outdoor pursuits and water sports like surfing and sailing in addition to his passion for snowsports.

He produced more than 500 films that spanned six decades and inspired countless men, women and children to ditch normalcy and seek a life of extreme adventure; myself included. He set the tempo with tales like braving 100 days in Sun Valley, Idaho, living out of a teardrop trailer on $18 bucks.

Warren Miller Ski Films Leave Their Mark

“I will say that without Warren Miller I wouldn’t lead the incredible life I do!” freeskier Amie Engerbretson told the film crew at Teton Gravity Research, one of the first film production companies to follow in WME’s footsteps. “Warren inspired my grandfather, my father and myself to pursue a life of skiing, chasing mountains and making films! He will live in my heart forever!”

The Warren Miller name became synonymous with the sport of skiing but Miller himself was also a World War II veteran, a ski instructor and ski racer, an accomplished surfer, and a champion sailor. He also provided entrepreneurial training to thousands of kids nationwide, emphasizing hard work, ingenuity, and creativity.

New and veteran athletes have come together in Face of Winter to pay tribute to the man who started it all. Jonny Moseley, Marcus Caston, Seth Wescott, Forrest Jillson, Kaylin Richardson, Dash Longe, Anna Segal, Michael “Bird” Shaffer, and featured athletes of the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team, including gold medalist, Jessie Diggins visit some of Warren’s favorite places from Engleberg to Chamonix, British Columbia to Alaska, Chile, Iceland, New Zealand and more.

“The film is for anyone whose life (whether they realize it) was impacted by Warren Miller,” says WME Managing Director Andy Hawk. “We are all the face of winter—from the athletes to the audience to the locals in far-off destinations or even at our home mountain. Warren recognized this, and this year’s film celebrates that.”

I will admit that I’m hesitant to see this year’s WM flick. It’ll be interesting to see how the other resorts fared and the footage gathered last season after the crappy snow we all had in North America. But it’s not because I think the snow will look meh. It’s because of the void that is left by the ski storyteller. I hate crying in public and I know I will.

I grew up on Warren Miller movies. They launched me into each ski season. And it was that infamous quote – “If you don’t do it this year, you’ll be one year older when you do” – that moved me to Mammoth as a junior in college, Aspen after graduation, Park City after Aspen and I finally booked that bucketlist trip to Hokkaido, Japan, this coming January 2019.

As long as WME keeps making these ski movies, the spirit of the ski bum will live on but this season’s edition can’t help but be more poignant than ever.

Warren Miller Ski Film Screenings

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Face of Winter, presented by Volkswagen, will premiered worldwide in Portland, Ore., on October 12 before heading to Utah on Oct. 17. Screenings will then sweep across the U.S., from the Pacific Northwest to the East Cost from October to December. Click here for tour dates and detes.

BTW< If you are attending in Utah, this year’s screenings will be at the Rose Wagner Theater rather than Abravanel Hall. The $23 tickets also include a BOGO day pass to Jackson Hole and $50 off a Mountain Collective Pass. [But if you already have the Mountain Collective (comes with a Snowbird or Alta season pass) you already get half off in Jackson.]