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No new Miller film, but still plenty of cinematic stoke in snow sports in 2023

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January 25, 2023, 2:03 pm
Corbet’s Couloir (Jackson Hole Mountain Resort photo).

With the sad news that Outdoor Inc. is pulling the plug on shooting new Warren Miller movies — at least for this season — it’s good to know so many others — like Teton Gravity Research — have taken the snow sports film baton and run so far with it over the years.

I’ve got a special place in my heart for the late, great Miller, who lived in Vail for 10 years and started his syndicated column at the Vail Daily, where I used to edit it.

So now that Outside has junked SKI Magazine, relegating it to digital-only status, and scrapped new versions of the Miller film (although supposedly they’ll use archival footage for a “new” 2023 film and shoot something new for 2024), I have a special, dark place in my heart for the god-awful media conglomerate.

I’m sure those films were expensive (reportedly approaching close to eight figures to shoot), and COVID-19 changed how we go to theaters, but there has to be a way to better honor a nearly 80-year-old institution.

One of my greatest skiing experiences was hanging with the Warren Miller crew at Points North in Cordova, Alaska, in 2005 trying to drink it blue so we could all go heli-skiing the next day. Never happened and wound up in Valdez, where we got the goods.

Sad to think that those shoots won’t be happening to that extent anymore.

Still, as I said in my lede, there are plenty of people filming plenty of crazy things happening on skis and snowboards these days. Take, for instance, the most recent Kings and Queens of Corbet’s hype video from Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.

The 2023 competition weather window is locked in for Feb. 4-11. 

I’ve blooped in there once or twice, so to see these folks absolutely freaking sending it into the couloir is more than awe-inspiring; it literally makes me queasy and uneasy … in a good way. All it needs is some deadpan narration from Warren.

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David O. Williams

Managing Editor at RealVail
David O. Williams is the editor and co-founder of RealVail.com and has had his awarding-winning work (see About Us) published in more than 75 newspapers and magazines around the world, including 5280 Magazine, American Way Magazine (American Airlines), the Anchorage Daily News (Alaska), the Anchorage Daily Press (Alaska), Aspen Daily News, Aspen Journalism, the Aspen Times, Beaver Creek Magazine, the Boulder Daily Camera, the Casper Star Tribune (Wyoming), the Chicago Tribune, Colorado Central Magazine, the Colorado Independent (formerly Colorado Confidential), Colorado Newsline, Colorado Politics (formerly the Colorado Statesman), Colorado Public News, the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Colorado Springs Independent, the Colorado Statesman (now Colorado Politics), the Colorado Times Recorder, the Cortez Journal, the Craig Daily Press, the Curry Coastal Pilot (Oregon), the Daily Trail (Vail), the Del Norte Triplicate (California), the Denver Daily News, the Denver Gazette, the Denver Post, the Durango Herald, the Eagle Valley Enterprise, the Eastside Journal (Bellevue, Washington), ESPN.com, Explore Big Sky (Mont.), the Fort Morgan Times (Colorado), the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, the Greeley Tribune, the Huffington Post, the King County Journal (Seattle, Washington), the Kingman Daily Miner (Arizona), KUNC.org (northern Colorado), LA Weekly, the Las Vegas Sun, the Leadville Herald-Democrat, the London Daily Mirror, the Moab Times Independent (Utah), the Montgomery Journal (Maryland), the Montrose Daily Press, The New York Times, the Parent’s Handbook, Peaks Magazine (now Epic Life), People Magazine, Powder Magazine, the Pueblo Chieftain, PT Magazine, the Rio Blanco Herald Times (Colorado), Rocky Mountain Golf Magazine, the Rocky Mountain News, RouteFifty.com (formerly Government Executive State and Local), the Salt Lake Tribune, SKI Magazine, Ski Area Management, SKIING Magazine, the Sky-Hi News, the Steamboat Pilot & Today, the Sterling Journal Advocate (Colorado), the Summit Daily News, United Hemispheres (United Airlines), Vail/Beaver Creek Magazine, Vail en Español, Vail Health Magazine, Vail Valley Magazine, the Vail Daily, the Vail Trail, Westword (Denver), Writers on the Range and the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. Williams is also the founder, publisher and editor of RealVail.com and RockyMountainPost.com.

One Response to No new Miller film, but still plenty of cinematic stoke in snow sports in 2023

  1. Pat Parrish

    January 25, 2023 at 3:06 pm

    Great article, David. Yes, there was only 1 Warren Miller and he got us all hooked on skiing. I’ve lived in Vail off and on for many years (now full time cause I’ll be 80 in May!) But I used to go with friends in the 60s to see the newest WM movie at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. It was a “NO MISS” event every year! Very impressive that you worked with him! And yes, his deadpan delivery was the best part of the films! Or certainly set them apart from other ski films. Our own Roger Brown has shot some impressive ski footage over the years. Now if we could only get George Gillett back to run this mountain like a ski mountain instead of a corporation, we’d be good. But I’m not holding my breath. Keep up the good work.