Athletes

Alaska Sphinx, Go Behind the Scenes of 65 with Chris Anthony

Chris Anthony checks in during a shoot for #65 in Alaska’s Chugach Mountains.

Chris Anthony checks in while filming in Alaska’s Chugach Mountains for the 2014 Warren Miller film. In the clip, athletes Ingrid Backstrom and Jess McMillan wait for the perfect conditions before they rip their lines.

From Chris:

The Group arrived at 10:30 AM and started the long set up. By the time the girls got to ski it was near 2:30. The girls sat on top for more than two and half hours waiting for everything to be perfect. This was after going through full safety checks.

This was one of those epic moments that will take maybe a few minutes in the film, but took almost all day to nail. The entire group admitted this day was meant for this to happen, as conditions could not have been more perfect. Moments like this are not planned. They are gifted. The crew sat for 6 days than had 3 days of amazing filming.

Warren Miller's Olympic Medalists

When we say that we seek out the world's best athletes for our movies, we're not kidding. Take a look at clips from past Warren Miller films that feature Sochi Olympic Medalists Bode Miller, David Wise, Julia Mancuso and Ted Ligety.

Bode Miller in 2003's Journey

 

Ted Ligety in 2012's Flow State

 

Julia Mancuso in 2013's Ticket to Ride

 

David Wise in 2012's Flow State

Eight Questions For Jeremy Bloom from SnoWorld 2010

The dual-sports phenom on the Olympics, old people and who to cheer for in the NFL.

An excerpt from SnoWorld magazine 2010.

Jeremy Bloom was just your typical Colorado kid-until he was 15, anyway. That's when he became the youngest member of the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team, and he's lived a charmed athletic life ever since. Never mind that he's a three-time World Champion mogul skier; Bloom is perhaps best known for his legal struggles with the NCAA, the famously byzantine organization that forced to abandon his role as a star wide receiver and punt returner with the University of Colorado football team because he was simultaneously pursuing a spot at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games as a sponsored skier. In the years since, Bloom has quit skiing, played in the NFL, started a business and a charity, and finally returned to skiing. We caught up with him as he was gearing up for a shot at his third Olympic Team and the 2010 Games in Vancouver.

How did growing up in Colorado shape who you are?
Growing up here was everything. I went to a normal high school with a great football program and then on weekends, two hours away, was fantastic, world-class skiing. The landscape alone made me. I'm a Colorado native, and for the few people who get to say that it always feels like a sacred title.

Do you consider yourself a Colorado lifer?
Absolutely. My friends are here. My family is here.

We heard that after the '06 Winter Games, you left all your ski gear in your hotel room in order to make it to the NFL camps on time. Did you think your skiing career was over at that point?
Yes. I thought I was completely done.

Yet here you are, training for your third Olympic team. If you qualify for Vancouver, do you think any of the shine will have come off being an Olympian?
Oh yea. It's not that I've lost any admiration for the Games. They're still the Olympics. But you go through a progression as an athlete. When I was 12, I thought the Games were the pinnacle of achievement, but the magic of that has changed. It doesn't occupy as much of my passion as it used to. That doesn't mean I'm going to slack - I've always been very goal-driven, so getting after it will come back pretty easily.

You have a reputation for involved training practices. What's the strongest thing you've done to train?
When I was preparing for the 2002 Olympics, I was living in the basement of my trainer's house, and I would have him do things such as wake me up at one in the morning so I could hike a mountain or go through a helacious plyometrics routine. I wanted to learn how to do my best when I felt my worst.

Your pro football career lasted two seasons and featured short stints with the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now that it's over, how do you see your time in the NFL?
If I could change anything, I would have started training for football earlier. The way it went down, I flew from the Torino Olympics directly to the football combine. Before the NCAA ruling, I was bouncing back and forth between sports and it was easier to stay healthy. But when I went from skiing directly to into football it was hard on my body. At training camp, you sprint about 10 miles a week. My body couldn't handle the switch. I tore my hamstring my rookie season. Then I broke my toe the next training camp and struggled the rest of the way. But just the experience of being on a team, of working with those guys, I wouldn't trade that for any gold medal in the world.

Explain your Wish-of-a-Lifetime Foundation.
It's the most important thing I've done in my life. I started it about a year and a half ago. The goal is to enrich the lives of low-income seniors, to grant them a wish. Sometimes these are simple but incredibly meaningful wishes. We flew one woman from her home in Colorado to Arizona so she could spend time with her daughter who is dying of cancer. Right now we have a woman who wants to go skydiving, and we're working with the Air Force to make it happen.

Last question. Eagles are playing the Steelers: Who do you root for? The Broncos?
That's a tough question. I'll tell you this. The Steelers have the best organization and head coach in all of sports. Philly has the craziest fans. And the Broncos had the best quarterback in history.

Thank you for your measured response, Mr. Senator.

Seth Wescott: Surgery to Sochi

Seth Wescott suffered a serious ACL injury last April and has been striving to comeback and claim his 3rd snowboard cross gold medal in the Sochi 2014 Olympics. These webisodes document his battle.

In April of 2013, Seth Wescott stared down an untouched, powder-filled line on a bluebird day in Alaska. He had no idea that the journey before him would include a torn ACL, possibly de-railing his 2014 Olympic aspirations. Nine months later, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association will decide this week if he’s on the team. To support Seth, we'd like to feature these webisodes that document his battle to comeback and claim his 3rd snowboard cross gold medal in Sochi.

TEASER - Seth Wescott: Surgery to Sochi from Sugarloaf on Vimeo.

Episode 1: Surgery to Sochi from Sugarloaf on Vimeo.

Surgery to Sochi: Episode 2 from Sugarloaf on Vimeo.

Chris Anthony's Youth Initiative Project

The Mission of the Chris Anthony Youth Initiative Project is to improve quality of life through introducing youth to educational enrichment opportunities.

Warren Miller Entertainment is proud to partner up with Warren Miller Athlete Chris Anthony and his Youth Initiative Project. Do you have a 4th or 5th Grader? Set up a school visit with Chris Anthony. In his school visits, Chris calls upon segments from Warren Miller films he has appeared in over the last 24 years to take kids on a global journey with a simple message: if you can dream it, than set a goal for yourself and reach for it.

To learn more about his Youth Initiative Project which includes school visits, visit ChrisAnthony.com/youth-initiative

The Chris Anthony Youth Initiative Project will launch it’s scholarship program in 2013/2014. The goal is to provide financial assistance or scholarship through relationships with creditable organizations to deserving youth who have an interest in educational enrichment opportunities or courses in the field of athletics, music, academics, and arts.


Would you like to support this opportunity? Be part of the Project’s Scholarship Fund. Make a tax-deductible donation here:
Dontate

 

Booking Contact: Kelly – Skidynamic@hotmail.com


Keely Kelleher and Crystal Wright in Montana

Keely Kelleher and Crystal Wright film a segment in Montana for the upcoming film, Ticket to Ride. We caught up with these natives of the west to find out why Montana is so special, not just for the skiing, but also for the people and the beautiful landscape.

The ladies of next year’s Montana segment are no strangers to skiing in the west: Keely Kelleher grew up on a ranch near Big Sky, Montana, and Crystal Wright is a Jackson Hole, Wyoming native and accomplished rodeo rider. With their skiing and cowgirl skills, they may as well be the poster girls for Western ski culture, so it is only fitting that they show Alaska-native Elyse Saugstad around their dual stomping grounds – ranches and ski mountains - in Ticket to Ride.

The trip takes the three athletes back to where Keely grew up and Crystal attended college, skiing both Bridger Bowl and Big Sky. According to Keely who, like Crystal and Elyse, has skied all over the world, coming home to ski is like nothing else. “It’s hard to describe skiing in Montana. Everything feels bigger, the sky, the mountains, the kindness you find in the locals,” said Keely. “I think it’s something everyone in his or her lifetime has to experience and not just for the skiing, but for the people you’ll meet and the beauty you’ll see.”

Wild west adventures, from runaway pickup trucks to powder stashes punctuated the trip. “I think this was good initiation into the cowgirl skier world for Elyse,” said Keely. “Even though Elyse is a badass Alaskan woman, I’m sure she had a chuckle and eye opening experience on the Lazy Shamrock Ranch [the name given to their land by Keely’s dad].

“We had a ton of fun. We got to bounce around in an old truck and sing "save a horse, ride a cowgirl," which was pretty funny! I used to love that song when I was on the rodeo team for Montana State, so it brought back good memories,” said Crystal.

Her love for the state and the skiing creates a conundrum for Keely. “I want to keep my home a secret but I find its hard not to tell people about how beautiful and remarkable it is here,” she explains. “You have the big resorts and big skiing in Big Sky or Whitefish Mountain, but then you’ll get on back roads on your way to places like Maverick ski area, or ride the slow double chairlifts at Showdown ski area, where you’ll meet the old rancher with skis out of the 70’s who tears up moguls better than anyone you’ve seen. But he’ll never tell you that!”

Even with globe-trotting ski trips behind them, the charms of western skiing keeps a strong hold on the two skiers. “The big thing about skiing in places like Montana and Jackson is there are not as many people and the resorts are not as built up,” Crystal said. “It is truly big sky country. It is definitely different skiing than in the Alps or the Andes, but it has its own special small town feel with still amazing mountains that I love.”

Keely concurs, and while she may say she wants to keep it a secret, she can’t help but tell everyone how wonderful the local culture and mountains are. “Montana ski culture is never a scene or a proving ground; the people simply enjoy skiing and their way of life and they want to share it with you,” she said. “My favorite part is they’ll never be too caught up in themselves to forget to wave to you on the road to the ski hill.”

Snowboarders Rob Kingwill and Seth Wescott Team Up in Valdez

Some of snowboarding’s best come out to film with WME each season. This year, veteran pro-snowboarder Rob Kingwill and Olympic gold medalist Seth Wescott went to Alaska with Valdez Heli-Ski Guides to film an all-snowboard big mountain segment for Ticket to Ride. We caught up with Rob to get all the details of their epic trip.

Since Warren Miller’s first film came out in 1949, things have changed a lot in snowsports – most notably with the addition of snowboarding. With Warren Miller Entertainment still documenting the best, most fun, and most inspiring things that can be done on snow, no film is complete these days without including both skiers and snowboarders. While WME films are still heavily weighted in favor of skiing, some of snowboarding’s best and brightest come out each season to represent the sport and connect with the audience. Veteran pro snowboarder, big mountain athlete and entrepreneur Rob Kingwill has ridden in four WME films, including a trip to Alaska this past year to film an all-snowboard big mountain segment with Olympic gold medalist Seth Wescott. Although the trip didn’t come together until the last minute, everything fell into place perfectly, according to Rob. “Seth is one of my best friends and favorite people to ride with, and we have been trying to organize a good AK trip for years,” he said. “This time, everything finally fell into place and we crushed it up there!” For snowboarders like Rob, who is an extremely enthusiastic ambassador of the sport, being able to share his vision of snowboarding to a broader audience, and even inspire skiers to give the sport a try is one of best things about filming with WME. “I love sharing my passion for snowboarding with the world. I hope that the audience can see how fun and graceful snowboarding is,” he says. This trip, the two athletes and the crew lucked out with incredibly cooperative conditions and nailed a great shoot. They flew with Valdez Heli Ski Guides, and based themselves out of the spectacular new Tsaina Lodge. “We were blessed with a ton of sunny days, which is quite unusual on Thompson Pass! Sometimes you can sit for weeks with no sun,” said Rob. “And the snow was stable and the lightest I have ever ridden in AK. I rode some of the biggest steepest couloirs of my life while we were filming this year- and we had so many good days in a row, it started to wear on my nerves a little bit!” According to Rob, this was actually one of the biggest challenges of the trip: stepping it up for the camera and maintaining such a high level of focus for so many days in a row with no break due to weather. That, however, is a problem of the sort that every film and athlete crew would like to have on a trip. The conditions were matched by the good pairing of athletes, as athlete chemistry is also a really important part of a trip going well. “Seth is one of my favorite people to ride with, and we just feed off the stoke from each other and try to push our limits. We both have a ton of AK experience, so it is nice to have someone you really trust to assess the dangers involved in riding some of the lines up there, and have confidence that we have each others backs,” said Rob. All in all, it sounds as though the snowboarders will sneak in under the radar with what will be one of the all around best segments of next year’s film. Rob sums it up, saying “It is always an honor and pleasure to film with WME, because they make sure everything is set up so you can focus on the riding and creating a great segment – and it really was one of the best trips of my life!”

FEATURED ATHLETE: Scot Schmidt 

 

Name a person who inspires you to be a better skier?

Ingemar Stenmark.

 

What would you do if you won the lottery?

Ski and Surf a lot.

 

Favorite chairlift and why?

The Tram at Big Sky. Euro style to the summit with big descents.

  

Ideal down day?

Snowbiking in powder fields forever.

 

Highlight memory from filming with WME for this year's film?

 

Reuniting with long time friends (Tom Day and the Egan brothers) in an awesome place (Big Sky). 

Don't miss Scot in our 71st film, Future Retro, dropping Fall 2020

Name a person who inspires you to be a better skier/rider?
My little bro Nic, he is stepping his game up so he keeps me on my toes.

In lieu of our 70th film, what’s your most memorable or favorite Warren Miller film or segment – past or present?
I can't remember the movie but the segment they did the wingsuits in France I think was insane. It was when they were first coming out and the guy set a world record for the longest flight. I was a kid and my mind was blown!

What would you do if you won the lottery?
A seaplane for sure. I want to be able to park it right at my dock, pack up and fly anywhere I want.

Best meal you can cook?
TACOS!!!

Favorite chairlift and why?
High Campbell aka Chair 6 at Crystal, goes right next to an iconic cliff called Hollywood. Only in rare cases does it have enough snow to send it. I have been lucky enough to send it right next to the chair. Always fun to ride that chair and think about it every year.

The most interesting thing you’ve read or seen this year? (books, podcasts, TV shows)
Amie's Long Underwear podcast has been really funny and interesting to hear different skiers stories and perspectives. I don't have a favorite.

Fictitious character you most identify with from a book, movie, etc. and why?
Shoot... no idea.

Highlight memory from filming with WME for this year's film?
The lodge we stayed at was extremely off the grid but massive. The whole story behind it was amazing as well. The family build it all and actually helped build the highway that connected the interior to Bella Coola. That alone was an awesome experience.

Gear you are loving right now, on or off the ski slopes, and why?
My Garmin Tracker. I've been using it to track output on bike rides and its awesome for training and just seeing how your body works.

Do you have any sponsors, if yes, who?
K2 Skis, Full Tilt Boots, Smith Optics, Crystal Mountain, Discrete

Name a person who inspires you to be a better skier/rider?
Travis Rice
 

In lieu of our 70th film, what’s your most memorable or favorite Warren Miller film or segment – past or present?
Our Nepal segment from Chasing Shadows. That was one epic adventure!

What would you do if you won the lottery?
The same thing I'm doing now; snowboarding and trying to inspire people!

Best meal you can cook?
Tom kha gai soup.

Favorite chairlift and why?
Thunder Chairlift at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. I could lap the Mushroom Chutes forever.

The most interesting thing you’ve read or seen this year? (books, podcasts, TV shows)
Recently I've been watching a lot of stuff from an amazing teacher named SadhGuru. His mission to raise the vibration of the world is inspiring. 

Fictitious character you most identify with from a book, movie, etc. and why?
Howard Roark. He is someone who created his life around the idea of who he truly, authentically was.

Highlight memory from filming with WME for this year's film?
Following Ryland Bell up some seriously steep couloirs. That kid has no fear and is beyond stoked on snowboarding. 

Gear you are loving right now, on or off the ski slopes, and why?
My Winterstick pro-model snowboard the ARK. It is my favorite board of all time. I also can't go on the mountain without rocking my AVALON7 balaclava and mesh facemask system.

What is a cause you care about that you'd love to share with the Warren Miller audience?
Protect Our Winters and the Futurepositiv Project.

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