Ski film to speed through Pittsburgh

By Karen Price, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, January 2, 2009

Just try watching a Warren Miller film without getting the overwhelming urge to race to the nearest ski slope. For anyone who’s a ski or snowboard enthusiast, it’s next to impossible.

On Jan. 10, Venture Outdoors is bringing Miller’s most recent offering, “Children of Winter” to the Carnegie Library in Homestead.

“Out West, they’ve had Miller showings forever, but we’ve only done it (in Pittsburgh) once, when the SouthSide works opened,” said Seth Garnot of Venture Outdoors. “We thought it would be good to bring it back here. It’s just fun for people during a snowy January and hopefully will inspire them to go outside and do something.”

Miller started making ski movies on an 8mm camera in 1946 after he was discharged from the Navy. He and his friends filmed each other as a way to improve their skiing, and it wasn’t long before other folks started asking to see the movies. This year marks the 59th annual U.S. Tour, with the movie showing in 240 locations across the United States, in most areas for only one night.

Part of the charm of Miller’s films is the narration told over the footage, an element that has been in place from the start and was initially used to make up for poor cinematography. Although Miller’s films set the foundation for a whole genre of adventure sports films, he stays true to his roots.

“They haven’t gone to the big, huge extremes,” Garnot said. “They’ve stayed more family-friendly, making fun films.”

Chris Anthony, one of the skiers who appears in the film, will be in Pittsburgh to give a talk following the afternoon showing and also participate in a dinner and craft beer tasting in the evening. Some of the more classic ski segments are filmed in Alaska, Colorado, Japan, Iceland and Austria, he said, and there’s also a lot of footage in terrain parks and halfpipes.

“I think what makes the film more unique this year is the positions the cameramen are putting themselves into to get these shots,” said Anthony, a veteran of nine World Extreme Skiing Championships. “It’s pretty phenomenal.”

Anthony’s segment is filmed in Leadville, Colo., where he participates in the town’s annual “skijoring” race and proves that sometimes people in Miller films do some ridiculous things and get hurt.

“It’s this crazy subculture race that’s existed for 60 years,” he said. “They fill the street with snow, build three different jumps and other obstacles and pull you through on a rope at 40 mph being pulled by a horse.

“It’s quite dangerous, and I ended up in the hospital after I landed on my head. But it’s entertaining.”

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