The resort Segment
The lights dim, the crowd quiets and a collective, palpable excitement fills the room. It’s the premiere of the season’s first ski movie, and the theater is buzzing. Athletes, filmmakers and photographers are in attendance. Underage groms sit on the edge of their seats clutching autographed posters. Curious media representatives and wide-eyed ski enthusiasts wait to see the culmination of a year-long project unfold on the silver screen. Everyone is stirring…
As the opening credits roll, audible hoots and hollers echo through the theater. Captured on film: moving images of the sport’s most talented athletes atop awe-inspiring mountains in far-off destinations; carving fast, arching turns down thousands of feet of untouched snow, sending mandatory airs to Mach speed run-outs, stomping tricks that have never been captured on camera and gasping for air in between neck-deep powder turns. High-octane, blood-boiling action defines the modern ski movie.
Production companies put an emphasis on capturing this kind of footage: the shots that leave your jaw on the floor not only because of the confident, hard-charging skiing that’s occurring but because of the remote location in which it’s taking place. As skiing has evolved, top athletes and filmers have consistently sought out the unknown as their new playground, using planes, helicopters, snowmobiles and their own two feet as means of reaching untouched terrain on which to etch turns.
Heading deep into the wilderness, professional skiers and the production crews following them are able to bring extremely faraway places close to home. In that way, we all live vicariously through the athletes we see skiing dream lines in the movies. Yet every skier’s story begins at the resort…
It’s where each of us learn the fundamentals of seeking out fresh snow, arching massive turns, pounding moguls, taking flight and achieving top speed. Backcountry exploits wouldn’t be possible without learning on days inbounds, which is why seeing resort segments on the silver screen resonates so deeply with the entire skiing audience, not just its core. Scenes that take place within the boundary lines of a ski resort have a certain magic to them—they’re relatable in a way that’s tangible and familiar, as if we’re watching everything transpire from the chairlift.
