When professional freeskier and Warren Miller Entertainment ripper Keely Kelleher retired from the US Ski Team in 2010 due to accumulated injuries, she didn’t see an end. Rather, the 27-year old saw only beginnings. It was an opportunity to hone her big mountain skills, have a film career, and to give back to the sport of ski racing and skiing.

Inspiration came quickly. As a coach on Mt Hood, Kelleher noticed something was missing from the camp experience: an all girls ski race program. After that, she knew creating one would be her way to give back to ski racing – and female athletes.

Kelleher moved on making her ski race camp reality right away, with research and design. “I asked a lot of young girls in the sport what they would want in an all girls camp. I also gave the girls a survey at the end of my first camp as to what they liked, learned and would have wanted more of. But honestly, being a female athlete my entire life has given me a lot of the experience I've needed to run the camps. It is very easy for the staff to relate to what these girls are experiencing as female athletes because a lot of us just retired or are still competing.”

Kelleher also chose not just to have female campers, but to stack her staff with solely women. “To have an all female staff of incredible role models and heroes of the sport would have been such an inspiration to me as a little girl,” said Keely.

The camps also emphasize an important issue that young male racers don’t have to deal with – body image. Skiing and ski racing are power sports, and looking strong enough to slay a downhill course is not an image young girls see promoted in the media everyday. So Kelleher added two specific conditioning camps, called ‘Muscles are Pretty,’ and addresses the issue directly in all her camps.

“Muscles are pretty! I want that message sent to the girls. Be proud of your 'thunder thighs' and 'skier’s butt' and embrace your healthy and beautiful athletic self. I tell the girls if they want to pull off a turn going 80 mph they need big, strong muscles,” said Kelleher. “There are enough magazines telling us what’s pretty and what’s not. It falls in line with the message we as female athletes and coaches need to send. It's our responsibility to send this message.”

After the first few camps – four in the first year - it appears Kelleher has hit on something good. She has a keen following among young racers. “Keely’s camp isn't like any other camp,” said 12-year old Katie Hensien of Washington. “The coaches are some of the best skiers in the world. They run the course with you. This is great because you get to talk to them about how it feels and get to see how it is supposed to be done.” 

Skier Sommer Glasgow, 13, agrees and added her appreciation for the single sex model. “What makes Keely's camp different is it's all girls, so no boy drama, which is always good.”

Keely, who is back pursuing an education at Westminster College in her spare time, can finally look back on the work of the past year and feel that something was accomplished. “There is always a lot of risk in going for an idea, but I really believed in it and was ready to take that risk,” said Kelleher. “I think that helped me overcome a lot of doubts and uncertainties I had about whether the idea would bite.”

No one knows better than Kelleher the impact a coach can have on a life, and she hopes her camps will spread a positive impact.  “I had a coach tell me when I was young to ski with a big heart, and freeski your heart out all over the mountain. Those words have helped me persevere through a lot of successes and obstacles in my life, and help me remember to always do things for the right reason. If you love it, then do it and put 100% of your heart into it.”

Chris Davenport, one of Warren Miller Entertainment’s veteran athletes, is gearing up for his ninth annual Ski with the Superstars camp. The week-long camp is held at the iconic South American ski resort of Portillo, Chile, which is also a favorite destination for WME camera crews. We caught up with him just after his overnight hike from Aspen to Crested Butte, CO, with 11-year old son Stian, to find out about the camp, who signs up, and why he keeps going back to Portillo.

The camp evolved out of a project that Davenport was working on with Skiing Magazine. Part of the motivation of the camp was a desire to keep working with the resort. “I had been hosting a photo contest for Skiing Magazine, but that kind of thing gets tired after a few years. So I came up with the idea for an all mountain ski camp,” says Davenport.

It wasn’t hard for Davenport to figure out a coaching staff for the camp; he merely called up a few friends, who happened to be former Olympians, world champions and freeskiing icons. The original staff was Mike Douglas, Shane McConkey, Wendy Fisher, and Chris Anthony. The staff is all the same, says Davenport, excepting the loss of Shane and the addition of freeski star Ingrid Backstrom.

Tapping into the burgeoning popularity of big mountain skiing in the public eye, the camp has been going strong for almost a decade, with a diverse clientele and a lot of repeat guests. 

A big part of big mountain skiing is fitness for hiking and strength to go all day, and Davenport emphasizes that guests arrive in good cardiovascular shape. “The camp is open to all expert skiers looking to take their skiing to the next level. It’s a really fun vibe. We do some drills and work on skills, but mostly we just go out and ski hard in a variety of terrain, and we do a lot of hiking,” he explains. The camp is composed of skiers ranging in age from their teens to their 60’s, about 30% women, and skiers come from all over the globe. 

The camp remains at Chile’s isolated and legendary Portillo year after year, and there are a few reasons, according to Davenport. “I fell in love with Portillo. The ambiance, the authenticity, the nostalgia there. It is all about skiing in Portillo: no shopping, no real estate, nothing! It is the perfect environment for improving skiing.”

According to Davenport, there are still some spots left open for 2012’s session, you can find out more at his website, chrisdavenport.com, and you can get more information on Portillo at skiportillo.com.

In a segment for this year’s flick, Flow State, Warren Miller Entertainment camera crews followed Ted Ligety and his friend Marcus Caston up to Alaska to shred some rowdy powder lines. It was a unique opportunity for both skiers to gain experience in Alaskan-style skiing, as well as Marcus’s first experience filming with Warren Miller.

Ted invited his friend and ski buddy from Salt Lake as the ideal ski partner to have along, for a couple of reasons. “Marcus is a Shred and Slytech athlete, friend and an amazing skier that needed an opportunity to show the world what he could do,” said Ligety.

Both Ligety and Caston come from a racing background, but while Ted is still on the US Ski Team and at the top of the global GS scene, Marcus has branched out to become a big mountain skier based at Alta and Snowbird, Utah, a racer on the Rahlves Banzai Tour, and an action photographer. The two friends headed to Chugach Powder Guides and Alyeska to check out the world of heli-accessed powder slaying.

Neither skier had spent much time on big Alaskan spines, so it was a new experience for both of them. Big mountain veteran and fellow WME athlete Phil Meier gave them an immediate taste of what can happen in big, uncontrolled terrain. Meier cut loose a huge slide on the first run of the first day, and while he pulled his airbag and managed to safely ride it out, it was a hairy introduction for his two protégées.

“Before I got to Alaska, I thought I would have no problem simply stepping out of the heli, and start crushing; it quickly became apparent that there is a learning curve not to be missed out on,” said Caston. “The mountains were much bigger, steeper, and longer than I ever would have thought. Everything in Alaska is on a different level of huge.”

Ligety, who has been heli-skiing in Alaska only once before, was in the same boat as his friend – they mostly followed Phil’s example and advice. “I didn't have any advice for Marcus, he rips powder far more then I do. He found his rhythm right away up there. Phil was really both of our mentors. The guides and Phil were great for helping show newbies like Marcus and I what was possible and getting us safely into gnarly lines,” said Ligety. 

Marcus agreed. “Both Ted and I were total beginners skiing the big Alaska mountains. It’s sickly comforting to see the world’s greatest GS skier just as scared as you are, but it somehow leads to a mutual understanding and trust of one another. Phil was the veteran, and the greatest asset in showing us how it’s done.” 

Despite the unsettling beginning, Marcus stepped up to the plate and showed that he could handle the terrain like a pro. “After a couple runs to get our feet under us, he was sending. It was really fun to watch, said Ligety.

“I definitely walked away from this experience with a whole new respect for skiers that play in mountains like those,” said Caston.

“I feel super honored that Ted and WME would give me an opportunity like this to go to Alaska and show the world how I can ski.  This was my first filming experience of my freeski career, and I’m truly honored it could be with WME.” 

“It's hard not to get hooked after see what is possible in AK,” said Ted. And it looks like it isn’t the last we will hear of Marcus either, thanks to Ligety. Said Marcus, “I am totally hooked on Alaska, and looking forward to making this an annual stop.” 

Ski adventurer, acclaimed polar explorer, and Warren Miller Entertainment guide Doug Stoup is a busy man these days. He spends much of each year guiding ski and snowboard film crews, helping with scientific research projects in far flung mountain ranges, and cementing his status as the world’s foremost polar ski guide -for the North and South pole.

In addition to his other work, Stoup has been an integral part and an indispensable asset in making some of Warren Miller Entertainment’s more exotic ski footage from destinations like the icy mountains of Greenland and Antarctica.

When he began guiding in the polar regions in 1990, he was already at the top of his game. Stoup’s first Antarctic guide mission was a successful attempt to ski Mt. Vinson – the highest point on the continent – with none other than Doug Coombs, Marc Newcomb, Stephen Koch, and photographer Wade McKoy. 

“It was a dream for all of us, and I fell in love as soon as we touched down on the ice runway,” said Stoup. “I saw the potential of Antarctica as a ski destination. It took years to make it happen, though. Since then I have done 10 South Pole expeditions, 27 trips, and now 13 to the North Pole – the first one [north] being in 2004.”

Stoup now runs Ice Axe Expeditions, where the world’s most adventurous skiers, pro or not, can get their fix. Some of WME’s past adventures with him have spanned the ends of the earth as well. Ski filming took place on South Georgia Island in 2002 for the movie Storm. In 2010, filmmakers and athletes headed to both poles–Antarctica and to the Arctic Circle – for the movie Wintervention. This year, Warren Miller Entertainment sent a crew along on the latest Ice Axe endeavor, exploring the unexplored on Norway’s Svalbard Island - from a 62-foot, steel-hulled yacht in the ice-riddled Arctic Ocean.

Skiers Jackie Paaso and Aurelien Ducroz and a crew of cameramen headed out in May to join Stoup in this largely untrammeled skier’s wilderness. Svalbard is a few hours by air north from continental Norway and just 600 miles south of the actual North Pole.

The yacht allows the skiers to access lines that would be difficult to access from land. After scoping lines from the water, the skiers and cameramen are dropped ashore to climb lines that come straight back down to the ocean, making for a spectacular ski. “There were some challenging lines – I doubt some of the lines Jackie and Aurelien skied will ever be skied again,” says Stoup.

“The athletes were awesome, they were so helpful in picking lines, and finding what they wanted to ski. We’d hold meetings, look around, get off and ski,” said Doug. “We had some clients with us who were not part of the film – but it is so easy with a small crew, people can all take their guides and do what they want – the world is their oyster on a trip like this.”

The Ring of Fire ski tour wrapped up in a smashing success a few weeks ago, and showed the world what it is like to go on a ski road-trip with Chris Davenport. Davenport and friends climbed and skied 15 volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest in 14 days, for a total of 78,641’ feet of climbing, and traveled nearly 142 miles on their skis. Along the way, Davenport got local skiers and friends fired up, and involved the larger ski community with great posts and video. He also took along fellow WME skiers Jess McMillan for the whole tour, and Daron Rahlves for a week. 

Although the original plan allowed the whole month of May to complete their objective, thanks to an unexpected stretch of good weather, the skiers were able to bang out the task in half the time. Rest days were originally slotted in as expected bad weather days - but since there wasn’t any weather, the team took advantage of the sunshine and got after it while the going was good. That part was great for the tour, but tough on the legs.

When perpetually fit Davenport asked McMillan to be a part of the trip about 3 weeks beforehand, it prompted McMillan to embark on a serious, accelerated training program. “If anything, my training program mentally prepared me for the trip. It was great to think; okay today we are going to skin/hike 11,000 vertical feet. In my mind I could quantify that by thinking, I am going to skin/hike Jackson Hole Mountain Resort almost three times. While training I skinned JHMR at least 15 times, so I knew I could do it. It was just one more trip up JHMR. The trip was more mentally challenging than physically challenging for me. We only had two rest days. I learned to push myself past my comfort zone."

The trip involved smaller and easier summits, but also offered some extremely challenging moments. The Sisters Traverse, in which the team bagged three summits in one day, included an 18-mile traverse, and 10,000 feet of vertical.

The moral support from the ski community was strong, and those in the area often came to climb one or more days with the Ring of Fire crew. In the morning, McMillan and Davenport would be excited to wake up and see who else was camped outside in the parking lot, ready to hit the trail. An all-time high of friends joining the trip was Mt. Hood, with about 15 skiers joining in the effort.

The team all seems to agree that Mt. Jefferson was one of the standout moments on the tour – and a perfect day. The volcano, above a beautiful forest, with an exciting, steep two-pitch climb to the summit, and some mountain goat companions, rewarded the skiers with a nearly 8,000 foot descent of perfect spring corn. “In my mind, Jefferson was the whole package, a perfect day,” said McMillan, and Davenport agrees.

All told, the trip was an impressive feat of athleticism and endurance, and shone more light on ski mountaineering as part of freesking culture. But, most importantly to those who suffered through just one, or all of the climbs, it was about having fun on skis. Jess sums it up: “It wasn’t about pros going out and skiing the raddest lines. It was about celebrating skiing and friendships.”

Link to Dav’s Ring of fire Blog:

http://chrisdavenport.com/2012/the-ring-of-fire-tour/

Link to Jess’s Blog:

 http://www.jessmcmillan.com

Best known as the Egan Brothers, Dan and John Egan were first spotted by Warren Miller crews at Sugarbush, VT, in 1978. They went on to star in over a dozen Warren Miller films, together and individually, showing that ski bums could make good. In fact, a 1990 clip from Steeper and Deeper of the brothers skiing a huge piece of cornice that broke under Dan, forcing John to make an impossible turn back to solid ground and effectively cheat death, became one of the most-used Warren Miller clips of all time. 

Warren Miller described John Egan as the ‘boldest and most innovative skier,’ and likened the brothers to ATVs on skis: go anywhere, ski anything athletes. After traveling the world, and skiing on five continents, we caught up with John Egan, speaking for the duo, at home near Sugarbush, VT.

I was in my first Warren Miller film in the late 70’s here at Sugarbush, and 

Sugarbush has sponsored me for my whole career, for 36 years. Now, I ski with guests and do leadership conferences, called the Abundance Leadership Workshop.

Dan is in Val d’Isere right now, the lucky bum. Dan still runs Egan Entertainment Network; his latest documentary is on the US Sailing Team. He’s also still a mountain guide; he is guiding some people in France now. 

I have a full-time job as Chief Recreational Officer at Sugarbush. I have two boys, 9 and 14, so to just up and go to Europe for a month isn’t going to happen. “Bye, kids!  There’s some food in a bowl, and get your homework done!”

It was a common request from cameramen to ski in sync with Dan. We used to say we were Siamese twins attached at the soul. It was fun, but hectic. It could go awry pretty quick. But we could probably still do that.

The coolest place I ever skied was the Kamchatka Peninsula, in Siberia. It is the most active place in the Ring of Fire. It is so cold, but there is hot lava, and geyser fields, and the skiing was really cool. But it was funky. If I wasn’t an eastern skier, I might not have attempted some of the skiing, but if you could ski funky snow and make it look good, Warren would call you again.

My favorite place to ski is still Sugarbush, with all the tight trees and runs. If you can ski this stuff, a couloir in Chamonix is not going to bother you. I’ve always been based here, even when I was living at Squaw or traveling around the world. We had a house at Squaw in the early 80’s, called the Vermont house, and to live there you had to be from Vermont, and you couldn’t really have a real job.

I traveled to Europe with Warren Miller, there wasn’t a better way to have it done, to be introduced to that ski world. We stayed after the filming and ski bummed for two-and-half months.

It was so fantastic, maybe ski bumming was more accepted then. One of the reasons I got into ski mountaineering was we’d go sleep in the refuges after skiing, because we didn’t have a place to sleep. So we’d climb the mountain at the end of the day. What a great era. 

I think ski bums are different today. It is harder to make it now; it is so expensive. Ski bums really followed their dreams. But I’d still say get out there and do it! Don’t listen to what other people tell you that you can’t do, that’s just what they can’t do. I drove an eighteen-wheeler for five years, delivering produce all summer, and parked it all winter so I could ski!

You have to be creative – a picture in a magazine isn’t going to pay the mortgage. You have to get out and make it happen. And pick a good resort, too!

Traveling is tough on any sort of routine, but anyone who has tried to keep a workout regimen while on a vacation or a business trip has experienced the difficulty of fitting in training on the road. But for people like Warren Miller Entertainment athlete Jess McMillan, who travels a lot and must stay at the top of her game as far as strength and fitness, on-the-go training is not an option, it is a necessity.

McMillan, who travels for both big mountain competitions and for filming, has been so busy this season that she only spent 37 days at her home resort of Jackson Hole. So she recently adjusted her training schedule to make sure she stays in top shape no matter where she is. The pro skier and Pilates instructor offered us a few tips and insights on how to make the most of your time on the road, and get the training in-without any excuses.

In the past, I’ve just relied on skiing while traveling to stay strong, and supplemented it with some stretching [and a little Pilates].  But this year, I have spent so much time on planes: I went to Europe three times, and then to Alaska, and Revelstoke, Canada, and I spent three weeks in Telluride, CO. I had to do something else. 

I got this iPhone app – it’s actually a mobile workout from Men’s Health magazine. It has different workouts, like a quick 20-minute one, or an elite athlete one, or my favorite, the Spartacus one, which kicks your butt. It doesn’t use any weights or machines, so you can do the in your hotel room, or if you are not to embarrassed, in an airport during layovers. You can always find a quiet spot to do it in an airport.  You feel so much better when you land if you do a little workout.

On planes, I sometimes get up and do like 50 squats in the back, by the flight attendants galley. They might look at you a little funny, but then I don’t show up with creaky knees. What started that idea for me was I was flying to Japan, and I saw a girl doing yoga back there! I figured well, if she can do that, I can get up and do some squats. You have to be okay with yourself – just own it!

You have to use your time. Everyone has 20 minutes a day for a quick workout.  Or if you don’t, get up 20 minutes earlier. I could just sit down and have a cup of coffee, but I stay motivated. I want to make sure I am feeling my best when I get where I am going.

When we are filming, and we have to wait for the camera crew to set-up, or find us a new zone, it would be so easy to just take a nap or sit and chill. But Dav [Chris Davenport] and I have had push-up contests, or we do lunges. Sometimes we’d even find a small boulder and stand back to back, passing it around to each other. That’s an awesome core workout. And then you are ready to go when it is time to ski a big line.

If I only have a little time, the essential exercises are pushups for sure, and squats or squat jumps, and lunges. I also do the pigeon stretch, from yoga, which gets your glutes, and piriformis, IT band; everything that gets super tight on skiers. Lastly, I do something for my core, like T pushups. That uses practically every muscle in your body. It’s awesome.

For more updates from Ted Ligety visit TedLigety.com.

I’ve always fancied myself as a good freeskier and would watch ski movies totally respecting what those guys were doing but thinking that it wouldn’t be a hard transition and I would be comfortable doing comparable lines. It turns out there is a lot more then meets the eye. First off every race I do I get to slide down the course and memorize where I’m going. Obviously you cannot do that on these lines, so you look at them from the bottom, disguise the line, take some pictures and then look at the line from the heli and take some more pics. Yet when you stand at the top of the line you can’t see anything, or the ridges are way bigger then you thought or the “small” cliff is actually huge or you can see anything until you 60 meters down the line. Outside just finding the line you thought was good, you have to deal with you sluff (mini avalanche that’s normal on these steep lines) and often times you have to ski though or land off features that have already sluffed off which look fine but it turns out those patches of not so awesome looking powder have 3 foot deep ruts and are hard-ish snow. Once you’ve made it most of the way down your line you then have to deal with the bergschrund (mini crevasse) that can be a gaping hole or a moderate sized drop off depending on the line.

Luckily Phil Meier is here, who’s a veteran Swiss big mountain skier, as well as Marcus Caston; a Shred athlete awesome skier and winner of Rahlves Banzai races but very green in this realm too. Phil knows what he’s doing and has dispersed a plethora of advice and knowledge to both of us along the way. Our guides Lel and Rich with Chugach Powder Guides have been extremely helpful as well. I cannot give enough credit to them for helping gauge the lines, finding the good snow and talk us out of doing stupid lines and into good lines.

The first day here was a real eye opener. First filming run Phil lined up a big spine, 4 turns in a slab broke off starting an avalanche that swept him off his feet and into the chute. He deployed his ABS pack and was right on the surface and fine when he came back into site at the bottom. I was standing 10 meters from the crown at the top and was sufficiently scared. Needless to say that ended our first day.

After watching a seasoned vet like Phil take a real ride, we took it back a few notches and have been easing our way back into some of the bigger lines. I’ve taken a few tumbles each of which has taught me a lesson, so that I’m not totally naive to this scene, yet I’ll still admit I’m very green.

Phil Meier one turn before the slab broke off

Spine Cell where Phil took his ride

View from the top of the face above

Long leg burner

In 1983, a Warren Miller cameraman filming at Squaw Valley tracked down a ski bum named Scot Schmidt, whose tracks he had seen on some of Squaw’s most intimidating lines. That little mission just happened to open the door for what would become one of the ski world’s biggest legends. Beginning with 1983’s film Warren Miller’s Ski Time, Schmidt went on to star in 8 more Warren Miller movies over the next decade, traveling from Squaw to New Zealand, South America, Europe, Canada, and around the western US to shred for the camera.

Schmidt remains one of the most recognizable names in skiing. He is consistently called the godfather of American freeskiing and the first-ever professional extreme skier, and he has inspired countless skiers to chase their dreams over his three-decade career. We caught up with Schmidt to find out how it all started, what he is up to now, what keeps him going…and the one thing in skiing he didn’t accomplish.

Where are you right now?

I’m living slopeside at the Yellowstone Club, in Montana. I’m really just getting back into skiing [for myself]. After 25 years behind the camera, you just don’t get as much ski time doing that – there is a lot of standing around.

Now at the Yellowstone Club, I’m the resident ski pro; I take members and their guests out and show them around. I’ve met a lot of really amazing people, and the ski experience is pretty amazing too. It just doesn’t get the volume and traffic that other places do.

What are you doing when you are not skiing these days?

I spend my off-seasons in Santa Cruz, CA; I used to windsurf a lot, and now I mostly just surf. We have a place in Mexico that we get down to a lot as well.

How did you get your start?

My family was into skiing when I was young, so I started racing. I was doing well, and I wanted to continue being a ski racer. So I moved to Squaw Valley to chase the race dream. I had the FIS points, but I just didn’t have the money. I couldn’t afford the travel and the entry fees.

So I just took everything that I knew and took it to the cliffs.  I fit in better with the guys skiing the cliffs anyway, than the race scene. I always tried to ski like Ingemar Stenmark, and my World Cup style just transcended nicely into steep skiing. Back then we were skiing 220s; it was the next best thing to a fat ski.

How did you move from being a wishful, would-be racer with no money to travel to events, to being a globe-trotting athlete in films?

One of Warren Miller’s cameramen, Gary Nate, was in Squaw Valley to film, and he figured out who the skiers were hitting the cliffs and leaving tracks. He asked me one night if I wanted to go out and film. I’d never actually seen a Warren Miller film, but we took him out for a day-it was a beautiful bluebird powder day-and then I kind of forgot about it. 

But a few weeks later Warren Miller sent me a letter and asked if I wanted to start traveling and filming with them. Next thing you knew, I was in the magazines and the movies.

Did you have any idea skiing would still be your job, 3 decades later

The most amazing thing is that I am still doing it! Being a freeskier has prolonged my opportunities. I am still a little disappointed that I didn’t get my shot at racing, but…

So what keeps you going now? 

I stay stoked, just the thought of skiing is enough to keep going…it’s a pretty magical sport. I didn’t think it would last this long, but it has; it’s been a pretty amazing ride.