‘Flow State’ to air at USU
World-renowned athletes jump from a helicopter with only skis and the snow around them. Flying at full speed down one of the most dangerous mountains known to man is no intimidation factor. This is what they live for, even get paid to do. This is what they love.
Snowboarding, skiing, extreme racing and freestyle. All different forms of the sport featured in the Warren Miller film, “Flow State.”
“Being in the films is the highlight of my young life,” said Scott Schmidt, a pioneer in extreme skiing. “I was thrilled and shaking. The first time I saw myself on the screen was a big moment. Warren changed my path. He took me down a different road.”
Warren Miller’s 63rd annual film is making it’s debut in Logan on Nov. 1 and 2. Touring in more than 21 states, Logan is one of the first destinations.
Filming in some of the most dangerous and radical sites in the world, this year’s film “Flow State” has taken extreme skiing and boarding to new limits.
“Even though you’re going 50 or 60 miles an hour, for some reason everything slows down for you,” said Gary Nate, a cameraman for Warren Miller for more than 20 years. “It’s really a funny sensation. They call it a flow state. This is actually where the title of the movie came this year.”
Flow State takes the audience through several different infamous ski sites in the United States, including Canyons Resort in Park City.
“Every place I go in the world they always ask, ‘Is this as good as your Utah powder?’ And the answer’s usually ‘No, it’s not,'” Nate said. “Because Utah powder is so light, it dries out and dries out as it comes over the Nevada desert and by the time it drops into Utah, it’s the lightest snow on earth. And it’s really hard to compete with Utah snow.”
From the lightest snow on earth in Utah to the steep, extreme backcountry in Alaska to the uninhabited glaciers of Svalbard, Norway, this film’s destinations are more than ski resorts. These locations mark the greatest skiing and snowboarding the globe has to offer.
“We’ve been to Antarctica, we’ve been to Patagonia, we’ve been in Iran,” Nate said. “Just about any place that you can imagine, we have filmed. It’s not different this year. It’s just like a travel log.”
Most of the ski and snowboard sites in the movie are inaccessible, except by helicopter. There’s a reason these destinations aren’t easy to reach. They’re dangerous.
“The mountains are dangerous,” Nate said. “Alaska is some of the most extreme mountains we ski. It can be spooky if you get caught in an avalanche.”
Warren Miller has only had one athlete die during
filming.
Despite the dangers involved in the sport, the athletes are as dedicated as ever.
“It doesn’t seem dangerous,” Schmidt said. “I’ve got so many miles under my belt, it seems like another day. You have to have your guard up and be aware of your surroundings, but it doesn’t feel like a high risk.”
Nate believes the key to Warren Miller’s success is the idea that doing what you love will bring happiness.
“If you find something that you would do for nothing and figure out how to make a living at it, then you’ll have a really fulfilled career,” Nate said.
Although the film features some of the most extreme skiing caught on tape, it’s a combination of elements that leave the audience wanting more.
“There’s a little bit of everything in this movie for whatever you’re interested in,” Nate said. “Otherwise if you’re a snowboarder, they’ll put enough snowboarding in that it leaves you wanting just a little bit more. Same with skiing or same with comedy or same with travel.” Nate said the key to his success and the reason it’s run for 63 consecutive years is because of the variety. Producers find new limits to push in each year’s new movie.
“It’s just what each person perceives it to be, which is really different than some other filmmakers’ approach,” Nate said. “They’re usually 90 minutes of extreme skiing or something like this and it begins to bore you after 30 minutes of death defying extreme.
Nate said he is surprised at the continuous fan base.
“It’s such a phenomena, it’s unbelievable,” Nate said. “How do we keep this fan base?”
The secret is the variety and new death-defying extreme material.
“Every year we say, ‘What do we do next?'” Nate said. “We always find something new to push the boundaries, always looking for something difficult. People say, ‘What else can they do?’ Just hang on. Something always pops up.”
– daniellekmanley@gmail.com
Twitter: @daniellekmanley