First Hit: Not only does this film show unbelievable extreme skiing, it provides the history and interviews with the people who pioneered this amazing sport.
Bill Briggs of Jackson Hole, WY climbed and skied the Grand Teton, which is a jagged spire of rock so steep and serrated that snow barely sticks to it.
When you see the pictures of his tracks cutting in the brief snow fields, the story he tells comes to life. You get that this is the greatest thing he’ll ever do in his life.
The film leaves the United States and heads to one of the greatest extreme skiing places on earth, Chamonix France. In the 1970s and 1980s this French Alp town becomes the center of the world for extreme skiing.
Anyone and everyone who despises chairlifts to another groomed face of snow, goes to Chamonix to try their hand at carving their own steep trail. It is here one learns just how treacherous this sport is.
The skiers are looking for faces of snow that have angles of 40, 45, and 50% of slope. At this level of steepness, gravity cannot be denied and one has to fall into the pull and head down the mountain.
The movie then takes to you Valdez Alaska. Here the snow is 80 feet deep, clings to the steep rocks like a velveteen blanket, and give skiers the adventure of their lives.
All through this film, we are introduced to some of the wild characters that extreme ski. They are willing to jump into their fear and race the wave of snow that may follow them down these steep mountains always threatening to swallow them up.
Overall: If you like skiing you’ll love this film and you'll see through its pacing and continuity issues. If you go, sit back and enjoy the ride into a different world.