It’s Miller time again, with his latest ski film

  • Sharon Wootton / Outbound Columnist
  • Friday, November 2, 2001 9:00pm
  • Life

It’s not all about snow in Warren Miller’s 52nd annual ski film, "Cold Fusion," showing Thursday in Everett.

Jumper Dave Barlia needed only a high cliff, a parachute and his flying suit to set a world record of 41 seconds in freefall before pulling the cord.

Picture Batman gliding through the air with the earth rushing by, catching air with a special webbing under his arms and between his upper legs, fighting the pull of gravity.

But snow riding is the theme of the 90-minute film. Miller’s extreme snow riders and photographers wander the planet in search of unexplored challenges.

Switzerland. Kenya. Colorado. British Columbia. Michigan. Alaska. Would you believe Iran?

"Cold Fusion," as most Miller films do, breaks down into several parts:

Spectacular scenery: Armchair travel never had it so good. Switzerland provided jagged peaks and steep lines. Colorado’s Wolverine Cirque starred with exposed cliffs and chutes (and the backflips weren’t bad, either). Justine Von Houte and Kristin Lignell spent five days bushwhacking through the jungle, bamboo forest and above-treeline hardpan to ski the glacier on 17,000-foot Mount Kenya.

Extreme skiing and snowboarding: Alaska offered unimaginable peaks and descents, colorful specks against a whitewash of snow, big mountain snowboarders racing ahead of avalanches.

Well, usually ahead of avalanches. Julie Zell disappeared for long seconds before tumbling out unharmed.

"I glanced out of the corner of my eye and saw this big freight train of snow barreling at me. I don’t recommend that for a thrill," Zell said.

At Mount Waddington, deep in the heart of British Columbia, the extreme team lugs skis up 4,000 feet of ice in 12 hours, a two-ice-axe event, and skis back among crevasses and avalanche chutes.

History: There’s always Warren Miller, of course, skiing down the slopes at 76, reminiscing about 63 years of downhill, fussing a little about his 14-year-old kid trapped in a senior citizen’s body.

"Cold Fusion" is dotted with old film clips of long pre-lift hikes to peaks, a younger Warren Miller, old-style skiing, and the building of Boyne Mountain ski area in 1947 with a $2,000 used Sun Valley lift and 40 acres bought for $1.

Humor: Sometimes it’s a throwback to junior-high-school days of limited ability to string sentences together that are remotely interesting.

At other times, as in the compilation of skiers’ exits off the chairlifts, it turns into slapstick comedy.

Exhibition: The Nissan Big Air Exhibition at Winter Park, Colo., includes Matt Chojnacki breaking the record with a quad-quad (four back flips with four twists) and the U.S. Freestyle Team jumping through their choreographed maneuvers.

Crash scenes: A snowboarder jumping across an icy creek misses, plows into the side of the snowbank and slides down into the creek. A sickening face plant off a jump that didn’t finish well. A snow rider nearly landing on top of a photographer. One man on a very long tumbling slide down Mount Waddington.

A few great words: Julie Zell stands atop an Alaskan peak and surveys her world. No matter what we paid for Alaska, she said, it was "a ripping deal."

Is "Cold Fusion" formulaic?

Yes, but why fight it?

Generations have seen the Miller formula and they’ve come back for more, bringing their kids. And maybe their grandkids.

"Cold Fusion’" shows at the Historic Everett Theatre at 6 and 9 p.m. Thursday. Tickets $13.50 and $14.50, on sale in advance at GI Joe’s, Mount Pilchuck Ski &Sports and Ticketmaster outlets, 206-628-0888. For more information, check the Web site, www.warrenmiller.com.

Long-time Snohomish County resident Bill Bates e-mails: "Good story on Ann Marshall, Signpost and Pack ‘n Paddle. Sorry to see it winding up. I have a special place in my memory bank for the Marshalls, especially Louise. They used to have Signpost printed at Snohomish Publishing Co., where I was a co-owner for 33 years.

"I remember picking up copy and delivering the finished magazines to their unique wooded property, a tribute to the preservation of wetlands long before that came into vogue."

Columnist Sharon Wootton can be reached at P.O. Box 860, Shaw Island, WA 98286. E-mail her at songandword@rockisland.com. Or call 360-468-3964.

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