2022 "Daymaker" Segment Notes
Sun Valley’s Air Apparent
Sun Valley’s Air Apparent
Sun Valley’s impact on skiing began with the world’s first chairlift in 1936 and hasn’t stopped since. But the Idaho community’s most recent contribution—Crazy Karl Fostvedt—may be its most unique. WME tries to keep up with this freeskiing phenom and a crew of young locals for whom he is both a mentor and a hero—skiers like Toby Rafford, Payton McElhiney, and Kai Van Bueren. Through snowmobile heroics (and the skills of frequent Fostvedt collaborator Thayne Rich), we’ll discover secret stashes that surround Sun Valley, capturing backcountry booters and inventive freestyle that proves the town remains as vital as ever. We’ll also get to know the enigmatic Fostvedt, whose skiing has always spoken louder than his words.
The Deepest Snow of the Year
The Deepest Snow of the Year
The only thing better than skiing neck-deep powder? Skiing neck-deep powder with skiers young enough to have never skied it before. It’s not that 20-year-old Simon Hillis of Rossland, BC, and 19-year-old Marcus Goguen of Whistler haven’t skied powder—it’s that they’ve never encountered powder quite like what they find at the Mustang Lodge. Over the course of a five-day strike mission dictated by strategic weather analysis, the young guns feast on thousands of vertical feet of untracked Monashees steeps. Fortunately 23-year-old “veteran” Maddison Rose Ostergren is on hand to keep them out of trouble.
The Biggest Party of the Winter
The Biggest Party of the Winter
Ask anyone who’s been there when they roll into town: The National Brotherhood of Skiers’ annual summit is a legendary party. This year, WME joins the NBS as it takes over Snowmass and gathers its national network of local ski clubs devoted to celebrating the Black snowsports experience. We’ll meet the leaders who have championed this cause for years in places like Baltimore and Detroit. And we’ll get to know the emerging talent that the NBS supports to further its goal of placing Black skiers and snowboarders on the US Team—riders like Brian Rice, Bryce Welch, and Ava Keenan. Catch them now, before you catch them in Milan Cortina in 2026.
Katie Burrell Goes Pro
Katie Burrell Goes Pro
Over the past few years, Revelstoke, BC’s Katie Burrell has become the Instagram voice of a generation—specifically a generation of wannabe-but-maybe-shouldn’t-be professional skiers. With an invite to shoot for WME burning a hole in her inbox, Katie decides it’s time to prove she has what it takes to step up to the big leagues and enter the Freeride World Tour. What happens next is a comedy of errors, including the FWT stop in Kicking Horse, some of the biggest names in big mountain skiing and snowboarding (including Hanna Beaman and Hedvig Wessel), and some very underwhelming accommodations Katie has to tow behind her for the duration of the shoot.
John Falkiner’s Greece
John Falkiner’s Greece
A key player in the cast of colorful characters who defined the 1970s concept of “extreme skiing” in the Alps, John Falkiner has become one of Europe’s most sought-after mountain guides. But his favorite mountain playground isn’t even in the Alps—it’s in Greece. Michelle Parker and McKenna Peterson join Falkiner to explore the Olympus Range, where a small community of dedicated backcountry skiers has taken root in the last decade. In the shadow of the ancient gods, Parker and Peterson receive perspective and insights from a revered elder of the sport, while helping the locals tackle some of the biggest lines in southeastern Europe.
Adapting to the Backcountry
Adapting to the Backcountry
Last year, WME fans met Pete McAfee, a single leg amputee so full of grit and good humor that he joined on a lark to attempt the first adaptive ski descent of Alaska’s Denali. After succeeding where plenty of able-bodied skiers fail, we felt Pete earned himself a more cush WME segment, with a little less walking and a lot more powder skiing. That’s how Pete and fellow adaptive backcountry rider Dominic Davila find themselves at Weigele’s heli-skiing, with their own helicopter bringing them to steep, deep runs that will change how you think about adaptive skiing and snowboarding.
Your Face Here
Your Face Here
Last winter, we asked Warren Miller fans to nominate their favorite skier or snowboarder to be featured in this year’s film. We received hundreds of convincing responses and could have gone with anyone from a 7-year-old kid to an 86-year-old man. So who did we choose? We’re not spoiling the surprise here, but we’ll give you some hints: Their Instagram feed already suggests a WME skier-in-training, they’re from Utah, and when Jonny Moseley and Marcus Caston intercept them on their way to the lift one spring morning, they never saw it coming. WME skiers live the dream; watch what happens when that dream comes true in real-time.
Crazy Karl Does Haines, AK
Crazy Karl Does Haines, AK
A skier of Karl Fostvedt’s caliber can’t be contained in a single segment! Join Crazy Karl as he takes his Idaho game to some of the biggest mountains he’s ever skied—the towering sea-to-sky peaks surrounding Haines, AK. Fortunately, he’s following the tracks of the greatest US downhiller of all time. Daron Rahlves is no stranger to these mountains; with his experience and Fostvedt’s creative eye, some of the best big mountain skiing WME has captured in years ensues.
The Local Perspective
The Local Perspective
Speaking of Haines, it takes a certain rugged individual to make this remote corner of Alaska home, which is exactly what Ryland Bell did 3 years ago. Riding these mountains all winter long gives him an unfair advantage when big mountain brethren like Jackson Hole’s Cam Fitzpatrick come to visit, but Cam’s happy to play catch up. Their back-and-forth exchanges result in a snowboarding segment that more than rivals what Fostvedt and Rahlves accomplish on skis.
The Ultimate Run (Grass Skiing Edition)
The Ultimate Run (Grass Skiing Edition)
Connery Lundin is tired of getting shown up by his freeskiing peers. They’re out dropping “ultimate run” cuts that seem to last forever and feature all kinds of skiing across whole continents’ worth of vast and varied terrain. That’s why he’s heading to Switzerland. In July. With a pair of grass skis that he may or may not have actually tried before leaving. We don’t know what’s going to happen next, but we’re calling it: This is the Ultimate Grass Skiing Run.