PW07
Powderwhore Productions
by Mitch Weber
October 1, 2007- For months we have been hearing from the
Powderwhores that PW07 would have a different groove then the
Utah-based crew's previous Wasatch-centric productions. A very
late start to winter in their home mountains forced the Powderwhores
to hit the road. "We got into February and realized we had
no movie," Noah Howell told us in a recent
interview, "so we did what everybody else was doing
and headed north." As it turns out, we all probably owe
our brothers and sisters in the Wastach a debt of gratitude...
you could say that they mostly took one for the team last winter
as their homegrown Powderwhores were finally forced out of their
nest... it's clear that their loss was our gain: PW07 is a masterpiece
on many levels, but none more for the way that the film unselfconsciously
documents the exciting state of the sport of telemark skiing,
here at the latter part of the first decade of the 21st century.
This probably would not have happened if Utah had not failed
to go off early last season.
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Wonderfully paced and without apparently
trying, PW07 takes the viewer on a ride which covers the main
elements of freeheel skiing as it has evolved in the modern era.
Technique is well represented by some of the strongest and most
talented tele skiers ever captured on film, including young phenom
Nick Devore, who made history last year at the alpine world's
premier big-mountain competition, the US Freeskiing Championships
at Snowbird. Devore turned heads as the first tele skier ever
to make the finals, while also finishing 18th out of a field
of 150 of the world's top freeskiing athletes. |
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Above: Chapters
on the PW07 DVD |
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Backcountry telemark skiing gets
a lot of attention, in the athlete segments and in the segment
shot on the Powderwhore's trip to Kimberly, British Columbia.
The ski mountaineering crowd is not forgotten in a beautifully
shot and edited Baffin Island chapter of the movie, and of course
the section with Devore's historic run to the finals at Snowbird
gives the viewer a unique perspective on just how far the sport
has come.
And then there is the Alaska segment.
What would a telemark manifesto be without seeing modern freeheel
athletes on what has become the world's biggest big-mountain
stage? Comprising nearly a third of the movie, the footage that
the Powderwhore production team brought back from the Chugach
is totally off the hook. Dave Stratton and Devore, among others,
shred huge lines with style and elan, and on a level unseen before
in a telemark ski movie. The camera work is superb and the skiing
is incredible. This part of the movie alone is more than worth
the price of the DVD.
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The Chugach is something of a crucible
for the hardest of the hard chargers in all of skiing and snowboarding.
The freeheel skiers in PW07 represent, and they represent very,
very well.
Finally, the movie closes with a
segment accurately titled, "Deep Powder," and with
a musical score written especially for this segment, this is
the stuff from which dreams are made for many of us. Exceedingly
rare are the days when the sun comes out and you get great light
while the powder stays fluffy, and yet that's what we have here.
Simply put, it's the most awesome
tele pow footage the Powderwhores have given us yet, and that's
saying a lot. |
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The soundtrack is eclectic, and
for the most part very complementary, with occasional moments
of inspiration, best of all, and this is important in a ski movie,
the music never gets in the way. On another note, we really like
the way PW07 made us smile and laugh without ever really trying
to be funny. The humor is unforced in this one, and mostly comes
naturally from the athletes themselves, as their stories unfold.
After all the dumb crap we have sat through watching ski movies
through the years, stuff that was barely funny the first time,
let alone the 50th or 60th, this is a very refreshing approach.
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I'm going to go ahead and wrap this
up... there is no need to go on and on.
You already know these guys can
deliver the goods and PW07 stands on its own as a full blown
tour de force. It's magnificent, and it's almost impossible to
come away from a viewing or two, or three, without the distinct
impression of having seen the newly definitive film about a unique
snowsport that has, just now, truly arrived.
This one will always be very special. |
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www.powderwhore.com
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