The boys over at Powderwhore Productions sure know how to get a Utah backcountry skier amped up for the upcoming season. Sure the production quality isn’t at the level of MSP or Brain Farm, but the lack of heli shots and superstar skiers mugging for the camera is exactly what makes “Elevation,” the new ski flick from Utah’s own Powderwhore Productions, so damn refreshing.
In the past, the images flickering on the screen at Brewvies in downtown Salt Lake consisted of homegrown footage of Powderwhore friends ripping peak in the Wasatch. But lately, they’ve gone beyond the confines of Utah, spreading out into remote places from Alaska’s Tordrillo Mountains with Andrew McLean, to a Lutheran religious retreat at Holden Village, Washington where Neil Provo, Michele Manning and Noah Howell find a religious experience that doesn’t involve Jesus… or does it?
But along with the beyond-Utah adventures, the Wasatch will always be home, and there’s no shortage of local color.
Salt Lake skimo skiers with mountain goat in their blood, the Dorais brothers, break the car-to-car speed record on the Grand Teton and Mt. Rainer. The Provo Brothers enjoy sibling rivalry while skiing spines in Alaska, and a married couple shows off their Wasatch Back cabin with ski-in/ski-out backcountry turns. You’ll love them, yet jealously hate them at the same time.
But the most memorable scenes in “Elevation” are not of over-the-head powder and sunlit snow towers in Alaska. Bob Athey practically steals the show with his “Backcountry Rules” that are peppered throughout the film. The Wizard of the Wasatch offers tips like where to dig a snow pit, how to set a skin track, and most importantly, sharing your dope. But these tips always devolve into rants that, if you know Bob Athey, are funny as hell. If the next Powderwhore film is a documentary about Bob Athey, I’d be just fine with that.
So if you’re sick and tired of the same old, mega budget, product placement, ski porn, be sure to catch “Elevation” when it rolls through your town. It’s a ski movie with a soul that illustrates why we all take to the backcountry and avoid the lift lines, ropes and rules of ski resorts. As Bob Athey admonishes with his final backcountry rule, “in the backcountry, there are no rules.”
If you’ve already missed Powderwhore’s tour where you live, you can buy the DVD, or check out other tour dates at Powderwhore.com