Skiing & Snowboarding: Five inspiring new films for the 2024/25 season, and how to watch them in Scotland
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Whet your appetite for the new winter sports season with an adrenaline-fuelled film or two, online or at selected screenings
Usually at this time of year, as the hills receive their first proper dustings of snow, a press release arrives announcing the latest edition of the Winter Opener. Set up in 2015 by ski guides Blair Aitken and Gavin Carruthers of British Backcountry, and typically held at Edinburgh’s Central Hall in mid-November, the Opener was conceived as a way for the capital’s snow-sliding community to “celebrate the return to the mountains.” Over the course of a long and sociable evening, ski and snowboard films would be screened, illustrated talks would be delivered, the odd unexpected musical interlude might be enjoyed and, in the bar beside the main hall, skiers and boarders who hadn’t seen each other all summer would reconvene to hatch plans for the winter ahead.
Sadly the Opener won't be taking place this autumn, but with good reason: the folks at British Backcountry say they're “flat out” with an exciting new project, details to follow. In the meantime, for snow-sliders looking for a little pre-season inspiration, here are a few freshly-minted films to keep an eye out for in the coming weeks. (Note: there are also some exciting homegrown snowsports films in the pipeline for this winter – more on those soon...)
Warren Miller’s 75 Legendary film-maker Warren Miller began work on his first feature-length ski film, Deep and Light, in 1949, then gave it its first public screening in 1950, having spliced the reels together by hand and borrowed $400 from four public-spirited surfers to pay for a projector. He went on to release a new ski film every year from then until the late 80s, when he handed over the family business to his son Kurt. Miller Sr passed away in 2019 at the age of 93, but a new Warren Miller film still comes out like clockwork every year, with the latest edition will be a very special one, marking the 75th anniversary of the whole endeavour and looking ahead to what the next 75 years of snowsports might be like. Scottish snow fans can catch it at the IMAX cinema at Glasgow Science Centre on 10 November, the Dominion in Edinburgh on 24 November, the Highland Cinema in Fort William on 5 December and the Birks Cinema, Aberfeldy on 8 January. See www.warrenmiller.co.uk/tickets/uk
Of A Lifetime The expression “family holiday” can mean different things to different people; for 18-year-old Mila De Le Rue it typically implies a near-death experience or three. A talented freeride skier and snowboarder in her own right, De Le Rue is also the daughter of Xavier De Le Rue and the niece of Victor De Le Rue – both three-time Freeride World Tour Champions and the kinds of risk-takers who put pure adrenaline on their cornflakes. For their latest vacation the brothers sailed a yacht only slightly bigger than a table tennis table across the treacherous Drake Passage between South America to Antarctica in search of steep, pristine lines, and invited Mila along for the ride. Catch Jérôme Tanon’s film about their adventures at Mountains on Stage events at Glasgow Film Theatre on 3 and 4 December, the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh on 5 December, and Eden Court, Inverness and the Vue Lighthouse, Aberdeen on 10 December. See www.mountainsonstage.com/filmselection
Feel It All Paradoxically, the idyllic ski towns of the Rocky Mountains have some of the worst suicide rates in the United States, to the extent that some now refer to the region as the “suicide belt”. On the surface, professional freeskier Drew Peterson seemed to be living the dream – as he puts it: “I got to travel round the world and ski powder in front of cameras”. In reality, however, he was suffering from severe, suicidal depression. His new film Feel It All, available to view online now, charts his remarkable recovery, which saw him setting himself the goal of running the brutal Leadville Trail 100 ultramarathon. Co-directed by Petersen and Jesse Levine, the film also shows how he combined training for the race with skiing the 14,000-foot peaks surrounding the course. See www.youtube.com/@DrewPetersenSki
Purple Mountains: Live Free or Die In this sequel to his 2022 film Purple Mountains, backcountry snowboard legend-turned environmental activist Jeremy Jones returns to his roots in New Hampshire, revisiting the mountains that shaped him. Also, with the US presidential election fast approaching, he takes the bold step of trying to bridge the divide between those who take man-made climate change seriously and those who would rather believe it isn’t happening. Can the founder of the global Protect Our Winters charity find some common ground with skiers and boarders who believe climate change is a hoax? See www.youtube.com/@ProtectOurWinters
Tre Squad presents: Shorts and Shades Underground The chaotic snowboard collective were supposed to have quit making films, but in Shorts and Shades Underground they’re back, by order of Satan himself, performing silly stunts in all weathers, swearing like troopers, cracking beer cans open with ice axes and keeping their knees bare at all times. A joyous hymn to snow-bound silliness, and available to watch online now. See www.youtube.com/@TRESQUAD
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