NOVEMBER 2004
Cowell Theater
From Alaska to Alberta, Canada and Colorado to Chamonix,
France, the winter sports season has arrived. For inspiration
to get out there and start shredding the slopes, see Impact
at the Cowell this November. Currently on a US tour, Impact
is the latest global adventure film from Warren Miller.
Miller’s intense new movie travels from the jagged peaks
of the Alps and the Alaskan Chugach range to remote backcountry
in Montana, California, Utah, Bulgaria, and other famed ski
zones. World-class skiers and snowboarders rip through rough
terrain in pulse-pounding action sequences set to music by
Cold Play and The Dandy Warhols.
“The top was like a knife edge,” says skier Stefan
Dan in Impact, describing the ski route in Chamonix.
Footage of incredible maneuvers shows skiers flying over
cliffs and crevasses, skirting razor-sharp ridgelines, carving
chutes and tight turns, racing through lofty snow bowls, and
floating in powder so deep they need snorkels to breathe.
Several interludes feature champion women skiers testing their
skills on the world’s trickiest courses.
Impact presents a diverse winter sports world where
all kinds of athletes strap on gear and aim for the heights.
Competitors at a Park City, UT championship range from four
to 90 years in age. Para-Olympian and adaptive skier Sarah
Will takes a turn through the half-pipe in Vail, CO on a sit
ski.
“It’s really nice that people stare at us for our
ability and not our disability,” Will says in the film.
An exhilarating collage of snowboarding styles highlights
gap jumps, powder turns, log slides, urban rail riding, backcountry
cruising, and lots of time in the air. There’s even a
water skiing sequence to show how skiers stay stoked in the
tropics. Miller includes vintage 1962 footage from Vail as
a reminder that he’s been filming winter sports for 55
years.
Get ready for a wild winter with Warren Miller and Impact.
All those who attend the screening get free mid-week Heavenly
Valley lift tickets and discounts on gear at REI. For more
information, refer to November
18 and www.warrenmiller.com.
– Claudia Willen
Image: Chris Rubens in mid-rotation with cameraman Tom Day,
Photo Dan Hudson
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