Category: SURF

Warren Miller: A Tribute To His Spirit And Marching On.

on By 1 Comment

It’s January 25th and many of us are opening up our social media feeds before getting on with the day. I often wait until noon to look at anything so that I get some time for myself in the morning.

One of my friends has proposed to his girlfriend of a few years. The next is “in a relationship” with someone new. Another is feeling depressed and I reach out to give a message of hope.

One more scroll down the page and I’ll get back to writing.

“If you don’t do it this year, you will be one year older when you do”
~Warren Miller (ski in peace.)

This last post was followed by a long list of quotes of similar sentiment. I push my finger up the screen to see another post from my ski co. CEO about the passing of Warren Miller, then another from SKI magazine, and another from TGR, all expressing condolences, gratefulness for the impact his dedication gave the community while wishing ski-turns on the other side.

Warren-Miller_mountains.jpg

Photo courtesy of The Seattle Times.

I’m at a loss. I was half-way through writing a piece about Candide Thovex and his impact on both the ski and film industry, and I’m stopped in my tracks. How can I write about Candide in the shadow of this iconic figure passing?

no boundaries warren miller

Warren Miller started his company Warren Miller Entertainment in 1949 and began producing one ski movie every year. From Iconic films like Steep and Deep and Have Skis, Will Travel, to No Boundaries, Ski People, and Endless Winter (these being 3 of my personal favourites).

Every year from 1950 to 2004, a movie was produced that sold out local ski co. showings and theaters alike. Every year ski bums and cinematographers waited in anticipation for the next segment of Warren’s brain to unload on-screen. Each and every onlooker hoping to get the first glimpse of where the industry would turn next, what adventure we may be about to embark upon.

Warren was a storyteller, someone who in his own words, “enjoyed entertaining people…rather than just filming people turning right or left”. That’s one of those traits that separates the few pioneers from the pack. This view that everything is a story waiting to be told rather than merely a viewing of the object and the motion of subjects occupying the frame. A mindset that shaped the way these moments were captured and the way the story of skiing was told.
The Warren Miller attitude to filmmaking is something that has been carried into the 21st century largely by the sheer nature of how well his style of filming has been received. His adventurous spirit is abundant, always lively, and heartfelt. He carried this across more than 500 films involving the outdoors, his other passions including surfing and sailing. He pursued adventure throughout his life, from building his own surfboards in high school to ride the waves of Malibu, ski-bumming in Idaho, to his sailing expeditions from his residence at Orcas Island.

Warren-Miller-Malibu2-506x400

Photo courtesy of Chris Miller.

I was never fortunate enough to meet Warren. He would not have picked me out of a sea of faces, but I would certainly recognize him. He never knew my name nor my nature, but I could single out Warren’s voice from across the room, in the same way I recognize which one of my Patrol buddies is yelling down from the chair lift. It’s this feeling of intimacy littered throughout his films in great abundance that makes the loss of a man I never met feel like the loss of an old friend. He shared his stories with me. He shared those same stories with millions of people. It’s for these reasons that we feel so deeply the loss of our on-screen and in-ear companion. It’s for these reasons that multiple industries share their grief and overwhelming gratitude.

 

He leaves behind the Warren Miller Performing Arts Center in Big Sky MT, the Warren Miller Freedom Foundation for young entrepreneurs, a host of family, and a massive community of loyal followers.

 

As I take a moment to bow my head for our beloved friend, I can’t help but wonder about the future, and how his spirit will live on. Who will pioneer the next age of skiing as we wander into uncertainty?

WarrenAndCamera

Photo courtesy of Warren Miller Co.

There is no replicating the mind of Warren Miller, and for his bountiful life we are forever indebted, but we are thankful that there is a man who can keep that flame ignited. A man who is taking that spirit on its next adventure: Candide Thovex.

 

The writer of Warren Miller’s In Memoriam, suggests that “for those who are able to, ski a favorite run or enjoy another activity you love in Warren’s memory”.

For now, I think that’s just what I’ll do.

“The best place in the world to ski is where you’re skiing that day.”

Stay tuned for Part II: Candide Thovex. Everyone’s Hero.

 

Surfing: a story

on By

img_1149

There’s a lot of things that surfing isn’t and one main thing that it is.

 

See, it’s not necessarily about taking your chances or risking it all, though there are a handful of surfers that do, and they do it very well.

You don’t have to put everything on the line, every time you paddle out.

It’s not about the outdoor, care-free “look” AND it’s not about what it means to anyone else.

 

It’s not about a lot of things, and it’s a lot about one thing..

 

Sending it.

ALL. DAY. LONG.

Ha, kidding.

 

Maybe it’s not about being Laird Hamilton though his passion and dedication are inspiring. Or on the flipside, trying to get on kookslams for your daring stunts stupidity.

Maybe its not about snapping photos or emulating a style.

And maybe it’s not even the nature of what we do when we’re out in the wild, even though we know we’re counting on our raw awareness and inner-primal instinct to pick our way through the madness, the often crowded lineups of our favorite spots.

 

Maybe it is about something much simpler.

img_1147

For me, it’s about the connection.

It’s the connection I feel riding a wave. 2-3ft of crumbling liquid as I glide my 8’ log is just as glorious a day in the summer as that crashing peeler I snag at the end of September on my 5’8” fish, laying into that first bottom turn and looking down the line. It’s not about the size of the waves, nor the looks from the beach. There’s something bigger that I feel when I’m out in the ocean that no one can take away from me.

The beautiful thing about surfing, is that it’s whatever you want it to be.

img_1153

Everyone has a different story with surfing; some are of finding peace; some are stories of healing; others are of simply wanting to enjoy a sport, just beginning to take those first steps into something bigger. Whichever way you cut it, surfing is transformational in the way we experience and grow with the water. In the way we experience nature in the waves.

Whichever way you cut it, surfing is transformational

 

My story is one of living in nature and with nature, following it’s ebbs and flows as it provides. The story of surfing is what you make it, whether you’re taking a long ride or just catching that first crumbler into shore.

 

The story of surfing, is you.

 

 

 

Unknown Substance

on By

 

I don’t know why heavy impacts don’t make me stop doing what I do, but they don’t.

So why do I continue doing what I do? And, is it even about that?

Riding through powdery forests and down pillow lines of unknown rock and undergrowth is ideal. It’s not a thrill-seeking thing, nor is it a death wish. It’s about the substance I’m floating through and nothing else.

Whether I’m on skis or a board, not knowing what lies below is part of why we go out there. You know it’s mainly some sort of liquid, but the earth’s natural contours poke through with bumps and drops, and saplings and stumps.

IMG_0099

Sometimes an edge catches and we’re thrown. And sometimes you slam into a mound of snow that definitely wasn’t there when you saw it 2 seconds before airing out over that tree with the seemingly small yet generous cliff below.

Riding after a foot and a half of snowfall changes how much speed you carry to hit the downslope… Apparently I needed this lesson again.
Now in retrospect, I managed to yell “send it”, so that makes up for the lack of speed, right? Note: it did not. The trauma is always real.

“It’s not dumb. It’s just part of the challenge”

We have a similar feeling in surfing—not knowing what truly lurks beneath us—and I don’t mean your nightmares of Jaws, though fish are always a consideration.

Sometimes a rock pokes through the lineup where you hadn’t seen it before. Sometimes that rock is large driftwood that has up-ended in the sand permanently, always waiting for the day you forget to watch for it at low tide.

There are inherent risks involved with “extreme sports”, and while some think that participating may make them look “cooler” (yes, I’ve been asked if that’s why I surf), that’s not really where I’m going with this.

but… it definitely makes you cooler

IMG_5464

There are many things that riding through the two forms of liquid is not to me, and one very real thing that it is. One very real reason that I get churned up by the ocean and spat back out, and why I narrowly (and sometimes unknowingly) avoid cliffs, dodge trees, and tread carefully in avalanche country: a connection.

It’s a connection to something far greater that we live amongst. And it’s not the only way of finding that feeling, but that’s what it is to me. It’s feeling aware, it’s feeling the rhythm of the earth, it’s taking into account the nature that we so obliviously ignore as we rush around the rest of our time trying to “get places”.

I get an innate, instinctual feeling from floating through this part-solid, part-liquid material that ebbs and flows with the contours of nature. It’s something only the wild could give me. And there’s always a reckoning, as the picture in front of me becomes something it could never have been without somehow being much more powerful than I. Without the reality of a force much more powerful than us…

IMG_2655

That is why I do it. It’s not dumb. And it’s not about risking everything every time. It’s overwhelmingly not about that.
It’s just part of the challenge of finding yourself in this vast world. It’s part of the challenge of finding the connection to the soul.
The risk isn’t why. It’s just part of it.

However you choose to do it, ride the floaty substance—with what may be unknown beneath it—and find what makes you do it.