Warren Miller back with “Line of Descent”
In a segment of this year’s Warren Miller film “Line of Descent,” skier Kevin Giffin strikes a chord sure to resonate deep in the soul of those who experience hunger pangs for powder days or fresh corduroy when our mornings turn chilly and winter approaches.
“The magic of a mountain pulls people in,” says Giffin, a Canadian ski patroller who appears in a segment of the film shot in Norway where the mountains meet the sea. “You just can’t help but love being in the mountains.”
That’s why people have been pulled into Warren Miller films to get revved up for ski seasons since the 1950s. “Line of Descent” holds to the triedandtrue formula that has brought families together for 68 years while finding ways to remain fresh and fun. As if to underscore the point, two segments this year involve Olympic gold medalists who now find excitement while skiing with their small children, Tommy Moe ( 1994, downhill) and Johnny Moseley ( 1998, moguls).
The family theme finds an echo in a segment shot in Steamboat that features Olympic snowboard siblings Taylor and Arielle Gold. And it surely will connect with those who see attendance at the annual Warren Miller offering as a family tradition to uphold year after year.
“Line of Descent” has the usual panoply of slow- motion powder shots and adrenaline- laced descents in exotic locales that have made the brand so successful, but the segment that might generate the most chatter in the lobby after the show involves “powsurfing,” essentially snowboarding without bindings. Powsurfing creator Jeremy Jensen was inspired by surfing and skateboarding to create the sport, and the scenes of “surfing powder” in British Columbia are amazing.
A Jackson Hole segment combines great footage shot in famous Corbet’s Couloir with scenes of Moe cruising with his little girls ( the “Mini- Moes”).
There is a gorgeous segment of summer skiing on a “corn harvest” in the area aroundWyoming’s Beartooth Pass. Snowboarders SethWescott and Rob Kingwill enjoy riding New Zealand’s Mount Cook until an avalanche reminds them of the risks they take to pursue their off- piste passions. There’s also a fun segment shot at Val d’Isere, France.
“The vibe of Val d’Isere is very alluring,” skier Amie Engerbretson says while playing on the slopes that gave the world Jean Claude Killy, the heartthrob of the 1968 Olympics. “It’s less about bagging laps or seeing how much vert you can ski. It’s more about the lifestyle of the mountains.”
At the other extreme of the ski lifestyle is the film’s closing segment, highlighting Colorado’s Silverton Mountain.
“The neat thing about Silverton is, it’s this one chairlift that’s really out here in the middle of nowhere,” skier George Rodney says in the Silverton segment. “No cut runs, it’s all uncontrolled backcountry skiing. There’s no ropes, there’s no closures. It’s just you, the guide and the mountains.”
Rodney, a 24- year- old Basalt resident who grew up in Littleton and trained with Team Summit while growing up, is a bigmountain skier who was the 2015 Free RideWorld Tour champion. Capturing that title was a thrill, but so is making his ski movie debut in aWarren Miller production.
“This was a really exciting thing for me, fully a dream come true,” Rodney said in a telephone interview. “To be with Warren Miller, it might not be the most extreme ( skiing) that people are doing nowadays, but it really gets people to see why they love skiing and why it’s such a generational sport that it’s not even about a sport, it’s a lifestyle that people pass down to their kids. Everyone can identify with the Warren Miller movie, because it’s just showcasing why people love to ski and be outside in wintertime.”