This Is Skiing (1969)

Visit Alaska, France, Mammoth, Squaw Valley, Sugarbush, Vail, Sun Valley, Alpental, Mt. Hood, Jackson Hole, Snowbird. Enjoy spring skiing fun, ski techniques of champions, mountain climbing, Jr. Nationals, avalanche busting, over your head powder snow, plus fun and laughs with Warren Miller's own narration. Among the highlights of "This Is Skiing": Bob Smith and Ted Johnson ski the deep powder at Snowbird at Alta. A towheaded teenager nibbles at his lip before starting down the chute at the national gelandesprung contest. The determination and guts at the Junior Nationals in Alaska, where potential Olympians zoom down a course made slick by a fine snow film on ice or push for speed through the next gate. Free skis hurtling down the mountain endangering all in their path. The precision of the instructors at Monmouth negotiating waist-high moguls. How true experts gingerly navigate the high places during late spring skiing at Chamonix. Hardy plunging through an icy pool during late spring skiing in the state of Washington. How a snow slide is started into an avalanche. Beginners hurtle pell-mell down a gentle slope at Monmouth, knowing that in their minds it was a mile high. One of the most supremely challenging moments of skiing as Pepi Stiegler and Rudi Wyrsch show us ski mountaineering on Mt. Hood, climbing to the peaks, dropping by rope over a sheer snow cliff, and then skiing with a sure grace the upper glacial reaches along the edge of the crevasse.