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(camera clicks)

- Whoa, 65 years of making ski films.

It blows my mind.

I remember going to see these films when I was a kid,

and there's that one thing that still sticks in my mind,

that one line; you know it,

"If you don't do it this year, you'll be one year older

when you do."

I've always wondered what he was talking about.

I mean, it's kind of intentionally vague, right?

I mean, back when Warren started making films in 1949,

the idea of going skiing was so weird then.

That's maybe all he meant, was just go skiing, people.

Seriously, try it.

Imagine how nuts that must have seemed.

It's a howling blizzard, and there's this guy

in a few layers of wool lugging these massive pieces of wood

straight into it,

and he's smiling.

A lot's changed since then, but

you know what hasn't changed?

The snow.

The mountains.

The elements.

The fact that skiers and snowboarders are still fired up

to head straight into it.

What about this part?

The part where no matter how deep the powder,

or how rad you got,

it always ends.

Winter turns to spring every single time.

It's like only falling in love with someone if they promise

to leave you after four months.

Who does that?

It's not like you can ski faster during the winter

to make up for the off-season, no.

You can't bank stoke.

The memory of a January face shot in July

is as fleeting as a dream.

Poof.

It's gone.

Why did Warren bother in the first place?

Who cares if you don't do it this year?

Here's my theory: we can't help it.

We don't have a choice.

I know you know what I'm talking about.

None of us are crazy.

You know who's crazy?

Those people way back when.

The ones who thought Warren was crazy.

The ones who didn't go skiing.

The ones who missed out on all this.

(upbeat music)

♪ This town ♪

♪ This town ♪

♪ This town ♪

♪ This is a side of me ♪

♪ This is a side of me ♪

♪ This is a side of me ♪

♪ This is a side of me ♪

♪ Only one down ♪

♪ Only one down ♪

♪ Only one down ♪

♪ Only one down ♪

♪ I can't find my way to Mirror Mountain ♪

(upbeat music continues)

♪ This town ♪

♪ This town ♪

♪ This town ♪

♪ This town ♪

♪ This is the sound of me ♪

♪ This is the sound of me ♪

♪ This is the sound of me ♪

♪ This is the sound of me ♪

♪ All the young crowned ♪

♪ All the young crowned ♪

♪ All the young crowned ♪

♪ All the young crowned ♪

♪ King for a day, looks like we made it to ♪

♪ Mirror Mountain ♪

(upbeat music continues)

(skier thuds)

(driving music)

Cordova, Alaska is a unique place

in a state full of unique places.

It's a place people come to just get away from it all.

Or a place that people just can't get away from.

Depends on who you ask, really.

(energetic piano music)

The first known Western exploration here was in 1790

by Don Salvador Fidalgo, who dubbed the area Puerto Cordova.

Over 100 years later, copper was discovered,

so they built a mine and dropped the Puerto from the name.

Then they started skiing.

Back then it was considered the razor clam capital

of the world.

Cordova still has a commercial fishing fleet of 600 boats,

a police department with two cops and a dog,

well-equipped volunteer firefighters,

a Mexican restaurant in a school bus,

a local airline, members of four native tribes.

(speaking foreign language)

And four friendly bars.

- It's always ladies night in Alaska.

- [Johnny] They're still skiing up here

on one of the oldest chairlifts in North America.

And there's still one guy who thinks its the razor clam

capital of the world.

(rock music)

There's another guy who thinks it's the heli ski capital

of the world, Kevin Quinn.

- I started this 17 years ago with the idea that

we wanted something unique, something a little different.

We're in the business of blowing people's minds.

We are 15 years in Cordova working as a heli ski operation,

and this is Disneyland on steroids.

The goods are good,

and the odds are good that you're going to get the goods.

After being in business now for five plus years,

where's time gone?

Man, oh, man.

Feel lucky.

- [Johnny] Cordova's seen a lot of colorful characters

over the years, but none quite like these.

Guide Kim Grant makes sure the points north staff doesn't

drown in dudes.

Chris Anthony, who just goes wherever Kim tells him to.

Big mountain legend, Ingrid Backstrom,

and one of the few women who can keep up with her,

Jess McMillan.

- Nothing like riding a magic carpet to a mountaintop.

(helicopter rumbling)

That's pretty much the best day of your life no matter

where you are.

(helicopter rumbling) (Kevin laughing)

The early days, it's wonder what we're going to find

around this corner?

If it didn't stick out on the horizon,

it wasn't more skiing.

(rock music)

- Everything you do, all the preparation,

all the lines that you ski, it's in the idea of one day

you'll be able to test your skills in Alaska.

(rock music continues)

- More and more, a lot more women are getting out

in the mountains and charging and

hopefully the pyramid just keeps getting bigger.

(rock music continues)

- This sport has changed so much.

Look at the last 65 years of the Warren Miller movie.

It used to be a big expedition just to get you out there

just to take a photo of these mountains.

Now we're dropping on top of them.

Here I am with the power in women's free skiing,

and power is just an understatement.

This is like going to dream camp.

- A lot of new things happen here.

We're skiing these big lines with really heavy consequences.

And I was like, "Oh, darling, this is happening."

If everything was safe, it wouldn't be that much fun, right?

(rock music)

- Chris Anthony only has one speed, it's full speed ahead.

He charges so hard, he's such a powerful skier

and he'll pick out things and you're like, okay,

and then he just sends it and sometimes it goes well.

(rock music continues)

- [Johnny] It usually ends like this.

- People ask me all the time, "Can we do this?

Can we do that?"

- I think this is one of those moments where,

be careful what you ask for.

(Jess laughing)

It'd be really cool to see our tracks down it though.

- [Johnny] Having Kim guide Ingrid and Jess is a little

like having gasoline guide fire.

Three women on one wavelength staring at one of the most

legendary peaks in the entire Chugach Range.

- Kind of had that mythical quality, and it's always kind of

in the back of your mind the whole trip.

- It's 55 degrees sustained for 1,800 vertical feet.

It's the holy grail so to speak,

and the only way to quantify it, it's steeper than hell.

It's,

well,

just look at it.

It's the Sphinx, baby.

- [Jess] When I got the call that I was going to Alaska

with Ingrid, I was kind of speechless.

She's one of the best female skiers in the world,

and standing on the top of a peak with her,

she's where she should be, she's where her heart is.

♪ Woke up sweating from a dream ♪

♪ With a different kind of feeling ♪

♪ All day long my heart was beating ♪

♪ Searching for the meaning ♪

♪ For my whole life we never crossed the line ♪

♪ Only friends in my mind ♪

♪ But now I realize ♪

♪ It was always you ♪

♪ Can't believe I could not see it all this time ♪

♪ All this time ♪

♪ It was always you ♪

♪ Now I know why my heart wasn't satisfied ♪

♪ Satisfied ♪

♪ It was always you ♪

- [Ingrid] You had all these rad skiers who were just

at the height of extreme skiing, and then they discovered

this place.

It's never going to be the same.

And to have that pinnacle that everybody can kind of

reach for, there's always that new frontier to challenge

yourself and it's always changing.

Skiing somehow makes you better at life.

♪ Always you ♪

♪ Always you ♪

♪ Can't believe I could not see it all this time ♪

♪ All this time ♪

♪ It was always you ♪

♪ Now I know why my heart wasn't satisfied ♪

♪ Satisfied ♪

♪ It was always you ♪

- [Jess] Your senses are on fire.

All the emotions you can possibly feel all in one run.

To share that with Ingrid Backstrom,

I'm the luckiest person in the world.

This place is magical.

- People think, "My god, there's no way I'm going to

ski that," and then when they ski that they say,

"Can we do it again?"

It's Alaska, man. There's no place like it.

♪ Woke up sweating from a dream ♪

♪ With a different kind of feeling ♪

♪ It was always you ♪ (woman shouting)

- It feels really special to be able to go

to one of the biggest lines that's in our zone

here in the Chugach with two other gals that feel the same

passion and love for big mountain skiing.

- [Ingrid] You can't predict those perfect moments.

Keep showing up, you'll be rewarded.

♪ It was always you ♪

- If I could do it all over again and not change a thing,

I'd probably do it again.

That or buy a whole bunch of surfboards and bikinis

and be doing something different.

(Kevin laughing)

- [Doug] When you got perfect conditions, killer weather,

perfect snow, call everybody over to Chamonix and say,

"Hey, let's do it cause this is when we can do it all."

- [Johnny] That's Doug Coombs, a man who was part of the

fabric in Chamonix.

This is a place that remembers its legends long after

they've bagged their last ascent,

and reminds every visitor they're following the boot packs

of giants.

(upbeat rock music)

Big mountain legend, Seth Morrison, 40 years old.

Tim Petrick, ski industry veteran of nearly 40 years is 60.

Heather Paul, 40, a two time National Telemart champion.

52 year old extreme skiing Pioneer, Mike Hattrup.

And Miles Smart, the 2004 AMGA guide of the year

is 33 years old.

(upbeat rock music continues)

This crew has reunited in Chamonix to pay tribute to Coombs,

to enjoy a mountain culture unlike any other,

and to challenge themselves at the top of the most (beep)

lift in the world.

The Aiguille du Midi stands 12,605 feet above

the valley floor.

Some of the most storied, extreme skiing lines in the world

tumble straight off the top.

- This glacier on the north face comes up to the summit

there and apparently it's all black ice right now.

- Wasn't this the old folks tour?

(all laughing)

- I said, at this age we're just trying not to get work.

(all laughing)

- Weren't we the aging athletes who are prolonging

our careers somehow?

- It's always very real here.

Doug asked me once a long time ago.

- In one word, how do you describe Chamonix?

- And I said frightening.

It really is.

Just going down a ladder here is.

- [Speaker] It's fierce and raw.

- It's, yeah, a little daunting.

I haven't seen it and I am looking over the edge like, huh.

Kind of the fear of the unknown is what I'm feeling

right now.

Like I'm going to throw up.

(both laughing)

- [Johnny] When you first come to Chamonix,

you might wonder how some of these lines got skied

in the first place.

But the French skiers of old didn't see all this rock

as a barrier to entry,

they just saw it as an entry.

- [Heather] It's hard to be at the top of this and say,

"Wow, this is supposed to be fun."

- [Mike] You'll probably have a few butterflies when we

lower you down there, but when you get into the couloir,

you're going to go, "Ah."

- [Heather] At least my kids will think I'm pretty cool,

maybe. (Heather laughing)

- So much happens when you're out there,

and all it takes is a couple little near misses

and then you're like, "Okay, I've had enough."

(indistinct)

- [Heather] Hey, Mike, I'm leaning on the rope again.

- The first time I came here I had never had a harness,

never held a ice ax in my hand,

so it was super intimidating.

(upbeat music)

- [Speaker] 9,000 vert to Cham.

3,000 vert of steep, excellent couloir skiing.

- It's an alpine culture over here, and I got the

email and it was just, "Are you in or out?"

I had no idea what we're doing, I said, "In."

Hands down, no problem.

- It's hard to try to get to do the runs you want to do

in the right conditions.

You learn to ski it,

and you use your tools to do it,

and you're scared when you're doing it of course, but

you know how to ski, you've been doing it your whole life.

(radio chattering) (light music)

- [Speaker] Years ago, Warren had a classic line.

- [Warren] And anyone who tells you they can still ski

as well when they are over 40 as they could when they were

20 sure was a lousy skier when they were 20.

- [Speaker] Which when he said it 20 or so years ago

was totally true, but now with the revolution in ski design,

it's been a virtual fountain of youth for anybody

who's older.

- Looking at some of the old historical pictures of women

crossing crevasses in their dresses,

they used to put socks on over their boots so they didn't

slide on the glaciers.

Climbing up these ladders across the (indistinct)

I was like, "Okay, maybe I should not be so worried."

(wind blowing)

- [Johnny] This is where the French, Swiss and Italian Alps

collide.

With a well stocked pack and a guide who knows

where they're going,

you can ski in all three countries by sundown,

assuming of course, you can see the sun.

- The full whiteout world of touring is a place of

complete trust.

Because you got to believe that your guide actually knows

where he's going.

- [Heather] We went up a couple thousand meters.

Just put your confidence in them and put your head down

and keep walking.

- [Johnny] This group has over 100 years of big mountain

experience between them.

Collectively, they're too old for this (beep).

But leave it to the Europeans to make hunkering down

in a high alpine blizzard just a matter of a nice meal

or two.

- Oh, that looks good.

- Oh, look at that, it's like lasagna.

- [Speaker] The huts are awesome because they make

all this terrain so accessible.

- And fortunately they changed the bathrooms too

because they were essentially outhouses that hung over

the cliff.

And if you had winds coming up,

it was hard to get toilet paper so stay down.

(all laughing)

- We'll have a different view soon.

- Good thing here is that we're sitting right on top

of the line, so as soon as it clears we'll be able to

get out there and have a look pretty quickly.

- The good thing here is we're in a comfortable hut,

not in a tent waiting. - Yeah.

- I'm wondering how many times in 52 years of skiing

have I put on a pair of ski boots.

♪ Must be getting early ♪

♪ Clocks are running late ♪

- [Johnny] On a white-out tour of the hut, Hattrup and Smart

lead the way.

But when there's skiing to be done,

everyone's chasing Petrick

because stoke doesn't slow down

and it doesn't get old.

♪ Colored curtains, I don't care cause ♪

♪ It's all right ♪

♪ I will get by ♪

♪ I will get by ♪

♪ I will survive ♪

(upbeat music)

♪ I see you've got your fist out ♪

♪ Say your piece and get out ♪

♪ Yes, I get the jist of it, but ♪

♪ It's all right ♪

♪ Sorry that you feel that way ♪

♪ The only thing there is to say ♪

♪ Every silver lining's got a touch of gray ♪

♪ I will get by ♪

Hattrup is living proof that it's not better to burn out

than to fade away.

- As a skier,

I peaked a long time ago, but

as the ski mountaineer, the learning curve never ends.

(upbeat music continues)

- [Johnny] Morrison's been at the top of the big mountain

game for nearly three decades.

That's why he appreciates the chance to be the young guy

on the trip.

♪ We will get by ♪

When skiers say 50 is the new 40,

what they're really saying is, thank you, fat skis.

- What keeps me skiing year after year is just the sensation

of gliding on snow that I'm so horribly addicted to.

But I love it.

It's what keeps me going.

♪ Into the night ♪

♪ We are high ♪

♪ Nevermind ♪

♪ And through the clouds we arrive ♪

♪ Like the stars in sky ♪

♪ And as we dance on the stones ♪

♪ Glass beneath our feet ♪

- [Johnny] There's not much about being perched on the

15,781 foot Mont Blanc that you would call comforting.

But when you've dedicated your life to skiing like these

guys have, and like Doug Coombs did,

you eventually realize the mountains will never ask for more

than you can give.

But if you're open to it, they will always be willing

to challenge you,

to frighten

and reward

no matter how old you are.

In a way, that is kind of comforting.

♪ Into the night we are high ♪

♪ Nevermind ♪

♪ And through the clouds we arrive ♪

♪ Like the stars in sky ♪

- [Speaker] Mont Blanc is one of the classic peaks,

and for me that was really the highlight of the trip is

getting to climb and and ski Mont Blanc cause you ski

12,000 vertical feet, click out of your skis

and waltz into Chamonix was pretty cool feeling.

♪ Standing the test of time ♪

♪ Wondering why ♪

♪ Standing the test of time ♪

♪ Gathering wide ♪

- [Doug] What's so serious about skiing?

It's really not a serious sport at all.

There's serious consequences, but as long as you're smiling

and having fun and feeling loose, you're going to have

the best run of your life.

If you're not smiling, you better change sports.

- So, where are we going next year?

- Maui?

(all laughing)

(helicopter rumbling)

(orchestral music)

(electronic music) (reel clattering)

(energetic rock music)

- Oh yeah, in ski movies you do this.

(energetic rock music continues)

(geese honking)

(soft music begins)

(generator revs) (driving rock music)

♪ I'll be the roundabout ♪

♪ The words will make you out-and-out ♪

♪ I spend the day your way ♪

♪ Call it morning driving through the sound ♪

♪ And in and out the valley ♪

(driving rock music continues)

♪ The music dance and sing ♪

♪ They make the children really ring ♪

♪ I spend the day your way ♪

♪ Call it morning driving through the sound ♪

♪ And in and out the valley ♪

(driving rock music continues)

♪ Along the drifting cloud ♪

♪ The eagle searching down on the land ♪

♪ Catching the swirling wind ♪

♪ The sailor sees the rim of the land ♪

♪ I'll be the roundabout ♪

- Skiing, dog. You can't (beep) beat it.

What I did,

speechless (beep)

Kind of just like, yeah.

(driving rock music)

♪ I'll be the roundabout ♪

♪ The words will make you out-and-out ♪

(men cheering)

(bus engine rumbling) (wipers squeaking)

- Every year I'm chasing great skiing all over the world,

and every year I make time to come to Montana.

It has a unique skiing experience that

you really can't find anywhere else.

It's nice to know places like this still exist.

You expect to run into these quintessential ski towns,

but it's these authentic logging towns, mining towns.

It's kind of like going in a time machine.

That's how they're evolving, is by staying the same.

Can just come up here and just hit the pause button.

It's so, so comforting.

Just kind of in my own little world and

it's a nice little glimpse of solitude.

Get lost and find yourself.

(light upbeat music)

- [Johnny] Julian Carr may come to Montana to find himself,

but funny things can happen when you're trying to get away

from it all.

♪ Call it magic ♪

♪ Call it true ♪

♪ I call it magic ♪

♪ When I'm with you ♪

♪ And I just got broken ♪

♪ Broken into two ♪

♪ Still I call it magic ♪

♪ When I'm next to you ♪

- Sierra Quitiquit is a skiing free spirit who goes

wherever the winds blow her.

♪ And I don't, and I don't, and I don't, and I don't ♪

♪ No I don't, it's true ♪

♪ I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't ♪

♪ Want anybody else but you ♪

♪ I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't ♪

♪ No, I don't, it's true ♪

♪ I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't ♪

♪ Want anybody else but you ♪

♪ And I can't get over ♪

♪ Can't get over you ♪

♪ Still I call it magic ♪

♪ Such a precious jewel ♪

♪ And I don't, and I don't, and I don't, and I don't ♪

♪ No, I don't, it's true ♪

♪ I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't ♪

♪ Want anybody else but you ♪

♪ I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't ♪

♪ No, I don't, it's true ♪

♪ I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't ♪

♪ Want anybody else but you ♪

♪ Wanna fall ♪

♪ Fall so far ♪

♪ I wanna fall ♪

♪ Fall so hard ♪

♪ And I call it magic ♪

♪ And I call it true ♪

♪ I call it magic ♪

(light upbeat music) (man singing)

- [Johnny] When Warren first started coming to Montana,

ski areas didn't have parking garages or cell signals.

Some of them barely had roads.

Back then, no one knew you needed that stuff.

When you think about it, even today, do you?

♪ And if you were to ask me ♪

♪ After all that we've been through ♪

Skiing's a lot of things to a lot of people these days,

it's a vacation, a competition,

or just a post on social media.

But for others, skiing's still a way to get to a place

where you can be alone with your thoughts.

Or if you're lucky, be alone with someone else's thoughts.

It's the same old story;

boy meets girl, girl meets horse,

and then boy has to buy a girl a nice hat

to get her attention again.

Works every time.

(light upbeat music)

- As soon as you cross that border, it's like stepping back

in time.

You'd pour into this big, beautiful open plane

and it never seems to end.

Everywhere you look, there's just space for days.

You'd get real rooted into a slower,

more intimate pace of life,

letting the locals steer us from mom and pop place

to the other.

I like it. It feels good.

(moody guitar music)

- Cruising around these mountains, it's big, it's wide open,

it's like you're a big boy, have a ton of fun and

get out there and figure it out.

♪ Let's light it up, let's light it up ♪

♪ Until our hearts catch fire ♪

♪ And show the world a burning light ♪

♪ That never shined so bright ♪

♪ We'll find a way, we'll find a way ♪

♪ To keep the cold night ♪

♪ From breaking in from over the walls ♪

♪ Into the wild side ♪

♪ The hunger satisfied ♪

♪ We're burning up ♪

♪ We might as well be lovers on the sun ♪

♪ We might as well be lovers on the sun ♪

♪ We might as well be lovers on the sun ♪

- I come from a place where, after about an hour,

the mountain's pretty tracked out, but this place,

it doesn't get tracked out for maybe ever.

- Amazing, these little time warp resorts where you have it

all to yourself and it's just a really pure stripped down

skiing experience; just you, your skis in the mountain.

It's just what skiing's all about.

- [Julian] People have so much passion for these mountains

and I can see why, it's a total community here,

it's just unique, old school experience.

- Warmhearted, quirky, funny people throwing love around.

♪ We're burning up ♪

♪ We might as well be lovers on the sun ♪

♪ We might as well be lovers on the sun ♪

♪ We might as well be lovers on the sun ♪

Montana's a blast from the past.

You feel like you're at your aunt or your uncle's house.

Everybody's got a huge smile on their face.

Nobody cares who you are, where you come from.

It's good to just sit back and let life unravel

a little bit.

Soak it all in.

♪ Then show the world a burning light ♪

♪ That never shined so bright ♪

(dramatic music)

- Japan.

(driving music)

(soft music)

- [Johnny] Rob Kingwell and Seth Wescott had both heard

about the legendary snowfalls of Japan's north island.

They figured they'd seen deep powder in lots of places,

but they had no idea what deep powder really means.

- [Speaker] Embrace euphoria.

Come with us,

the world is of no use to you anymore.

Put down your possessions and and follow us

into the infinite.

Let her hold you

and wrap her arms around you.

Slide across the rush that moves beneath you.

Dance with her and be free.

(electronic music)

- This is the first time I've been able to really free ride

in Hokkaido, and just the way the snow falls

from the sky even is different.

There's just so much of it.

Every day we were like, "Hey, guess what,

it's snowing again."

(electronic music continues)

- [Johnny] Seth learned the hard way what most guys

around here already know, beards are a bad idea.

- I've been pretty blown away.

At 4:00, all of a sudden someone turns on

the powder machine.

It just amazes me that day after day

it snows so hard that

you can't see,

you can't go film,

it's too deep to go fast.

There is so much snow that it's just mind blowing.

(electronic music begins)

- I remember before I came to Japan, I used to think,

oh Tokyo, big city, Godzilla,

trains and technology everywhere.

But the truth is, especially in Hokkaido,

this is this snow mountain culture that's very unique,

because there's so much snow that comes in all the time,

and there's 500 ski resorts here.

There's a ton of skiers and snowboarders in Japan.

(driving electronic music)

I showed up in Hokkaido here and we went to dinner;

we were kind of going out the door

and started talking to this guy, his name was Nobu.

He's like, "Oh, Rob Kingwell!"

Yeah, that's me. He's like, "I know you!

We're friends on Facebook!"

And I'm like, "Okay."

And he's like, "Yeah, let's go snowboarding."

There's no better connection than finding

the true local vibe that we were looking for,

and we just got plugged right into it, which was so rad.

He ended up being just this insane rider.

(loud scream) (reggae music)

♪ She say she love me and I'm nice ♪

♪ Nothing after he return, nothing at the night ♪

♪ She say it's loving, make this down ♪

♪ No time at all, she don't wanna line ♪

♪ She touch me ♪ ♪ It don't become night ♪

♪ She love me ♪ ♪ For the rest of her life ♪

♪ D drop it down, round kiss on mi spine ♪

♪ Then she make a sweet song on top of al things ♪

Seth and I were getting on the lift and we were looking

around and all these guys really do is ride powder snow.

- There is so much powder and it's so plentiful that

the whole style of their riding is influenced by it,

and it really looks like surfing.

(reggae music continues)

When snowboarding started, we weren't allowed many places.

Because you weren't allowed to go to the ski hill,

you would go and hike backyard or back hill powder runs.

That's what those early designers were designing around,

going out and hiking for turns in the fresh powder snow.

I really think what we've seen in this last decade is this

renaissance of people moving back towards

having something specific.

- [Johnny] They definitely have something specific

in Hokkaido, and the local board makers know it.

- The new, super sweet powder board

looks very similar to what

they were designing back in 1972, because they were focused

on basically, riding powder all the time,

which is kind of what I'm focused on now.

- Well, I think Taro is just an amazing ambassador

for the sport.

He has clearly been dedicated to this mission

of riding powder snow in a certain way,

in a surf influenced style.

His board shaping and his manufacturing, he's been so ahead

of the curve.

- [Johnny] Guys who shape snowboards like Taro Tamai

are alchemists.

They chase ideas, trying to pair a physical object

with a fleeting moment in time.

They get pretty philosophical with it,

but eventually you got to put the tools down,

put the goggles on

and ride the thing.

- So I get to Japan and always think of this place as a

special, sacred place where it never stops snowing

and it's just quiet.

And we went to get in the heli.

Jumped in.

This guy looked at us and was like,

"Oh yeah, you guys ready for this?"

And basically just reached out and pressed play.

(drums beating)

Seth and I looked at each other and we're just like,

"Well, I guess it's on."

♪ Never going back alone ♪

♪ Going back alone ♪

♪ Nowhere's left, lost my home ♪

♪ Living, sleeping in the zone ♪

♪ Places where the dark is from ♪

♪ Going back alone ♪

♪ Never going back alone ♪

♪ Living, sleeping, in the zone ♪

♪ Whisper to me quietly ♪

♪ Tell me where's the action ♪

♪ Fear lives inside of me ♪

♪ Move in no direction ♪

♪ Whisper to me quietly ♪

- [Johnny] In surfing, local shapers earn a reputation

by understanding just what you need to make a board

go on their waves.

In these mountains, Taro earned his reputation the same way.

♪ Lined up at the barber ♪

♪ Father talking bout there was a lotta trouble ♪

♪ Humble, rumble, fall and fumble ♪

♪ Bless the old times ♪

- When I was 12 years old, I saw the local ski shop

had rental snowboards and my friends and I were like,

"That sport looks cool."

I didn't know anything about how to turn left and right,

but I knew kind of how to turn my skateboard.

There's no snowboard instructors,

there's no snowboard school, you just kind of put it on

and tried to figure it out.

And from that moment,

my whole life changed.

It was like, I'm a snowboarder.

I'm going to do this as much as possible

for the rest of my life.

(upbeat music)

- We had similar experiences as young kids,

getting on it and having it completely change

the trajectory of our lives.

From the time that we were little kids,

this is all we planned to do.

(energetic music)

- [Johnny] The way snowboarding changed Rob's and Seth's

lives isn't uncommon.

It's the same way Nobu and Taro wound up in the tree stashes

of Hokkaido,

riding endless powder cycles and mastering board designs

that pair old school wisdom with cutting edge technique.

Once they started heading down these mountains,

there was no turning back.

♪ Going back alone ♪

♪ Nowhere's left, lost my home ♪

♪ Living, sleeping in the zone ♪

♪ Places where the dark is from ♪

♪ Going back alone ♪

♪ Never going back alone ♪

♪ Living, sleeping, in the zone ♪

♪ Whisper to me quietly ♪

♪ Tell me where's the action ♪

♪ Fear lives inside of me ♪

♪ Move in no direction ♪

♪ Whisper to me quietly ♪

♪ Tell me where's the action ♪

♪ Fear lives inside of me ♪

♪ Move in no direction ♪

♪ Whisper to me quietly ♪

♪ Tell me where's the action ♪

♪ Fear lives inside of me ♪

♪ Move in no direction ♪

♪ Whisper to me quietly ♪

♪ Tell me where's the action ♪

♪ Fear lives inside of me ♪

♪ Move in no direction ♪

- You kind of see this way of living for truly being

in the present moment, and I think that's one of the

greatest gifts that I've gotten from snowboarding.

I can't stop chasing it.

- [Johnny] Way before there was YouTube,

before there was "America's Funniest Home Videos,"

there was the Warren Miller movie.

- [Announcer] Hey!

Welcome to the show!

Game show!

Clap your hands, you filthy animals!

Put your hands together for the game show!

(campy music)

Raise a hand, who wants to win a stupid prize?

- [Johnny] A place where people of dubious talent

and distinction came to prove themselves the best

at things like

snow marching band,

switch mountain canoeing,

mountain bike dominoes,

whatever this is,

and also that.

- [Announcer] Welcome to the fabulous "Doors of Destiny's"

segment of the show.

Three doors, one chance.

(crowd exclaiming)

Oh, wow!

Ladies and gentlemen, you have a chance to win tonight

eternal damnation,

everlasting life,

or unlimited bandwidth and one year's free

technical support.

On the count of three,

press the button.

One,

two,

three!

(sheep bleeting)

- [Johnny] When some skiers get a call from Warren Miller,

they're so psyched to be part of the plan,

they forget to ask what the plan is.

- [Announcer] You chose the door number two.

- That might be north, I have no idea.

- I feel like it's south.

I'm going with south.

Yeah, it's definitely south.

- [Johnny] Did you know you're never truly lost

in the mountains if you find a herd of goats?

Because goat herds have shepherds and shepherds

and shepherds don't get lost. - Sheep herder?

(speaking Greek) Yeah?

Stampede.

- [Johnny] There are a lot of reasons why Tyler Ceccanti

and Josh Bibby might come to Greece.

It's the cradle of civilization.

A place where you can break your dishes after dinner

rather than wash them, and an excellent place

to park your yacht.

But a ski destination?

Really?

(speaking Greek)

- That's a good spot.

Doesn't matter where in the world you go,

or if you know the language,

pretty easy to get along with people as long as you're

on a mountain.

That's where we got to go. - I guess so.

- We got to go there. - We're going to head

over there.

My first reaction was, can you ski in Greece?

That's so great about our sport is that it'll take you

places that you normally wouldn't go or expect to go.

- It's pretty wild being here with so much history around.

Ruins that are 2,500 years old.

Right now we're in ancient Macedonia

where Alexander the Great was born.

- Being in a place that's so old and so ancient

takes you in and makes you feel like you're in a different

era.

To go to a village where there's only 100 people there,

1,000 years old,

they're not wearing bright stuff like us.

I've never been anywhere like this before.

I've never even been to Europe before.

- [Johnny] Well I guess if you've never been to Europe

before, you may as well start at the beginning.

- A little different than a snowmobile.

- It's been a lot of firsts for me here on this trip

for sure.

Never been on a horse, so that was crazy.

And then second, riding through these ancient villages,

taking a horse up to go skiing,

never really thought I would've done that before.

A horse with ski stuff on it.

Who does that?

It's definitely one way to get the mountain.

Beats hiking.

Made life a lot easier, that's for sure.

(upbeat music)

♪ Wake up there's no one to please ♪

♪ I don't give a damn what the world wanna see ♪

♪ Gotta be good where you at, feel that ♪

♪ Gotta move forward never back, feel that ♪

♪ I'm not the type of guy to make Versace go sew clothes ♪

♪ Stitch my name in the sleeves, fay 'For Mo' ♪

♪ Make all the fans dress up to see my show ♪

♪ Hold up, hold up ♪

♪ No, not the type of guy go scratch my Gallardo ♪

♪ Dent on the car door, get my own car towed ♪

♪ Private flights to go chill in Soho ♪

- [Johnny] You may not have known about skiing in Greece,

but the Greeks have known about skiing in Greece

for decades.

There are more than 20 ski areas dotting the country's

interior mountains.

Most of which are less than two hours from all that

perfect yacht parking the country is so famous for.

- Culture and skiing go hand in hand.

Everybody has one thing in common skiing,

but the culture and the history itself

is completely different.

♪ Gotta be good where you at, feel that ♪

♪ Gotta move forward never back ♪

♪ Yeah, I'm good where I'm at ♪

(piano music)

♪ I know it's hard to breathe ♪

♪ All this pressure weighing down on me ♪

♪ And I can't stay like this ♪

♪ Expectations got me living on my knees ♪

♪ And I can't stand it ♪

♪ In a field of flowers with no roots ♪

- [Johnny] Since it took Josh and Tyler a few days to get

their bearings in Greece,

it never occurred to them why they were here in

the first place.

- I wasn't aware that people really skied in Greece.

And then when they told me Mount Olympus,

I was like, well obviously.

Pretty easy to understand why 2,500 years ago

people might have believed it to be the throne of Zeus,

the kingdom of the gods.

That's a pretty good target mountain, a pretty iconic place.

Kind of felt like an idiot once I put it all together.

- [Johnny] Don't worry, Josh, the ancient Greeks felt like

idiots every time they laid eyes on Mount Olympus,

where Zeus was no doubt looking down,

twirling a thunder bolt and strongly considering smiting

them just for being puny little humans.

(soft music)

(dramatic music)

If you want to take a helicopter to the top

of Mount Olympus, there's only one guy to call;

Craig Calonica.

- Some people question my selection of these areas,

and basically I've never been very good at following people.

If they went left, I went right and that's pretty much

the way I've spent my whole life.

- This goat herder,

man, he knew what he was talking about.

He pointed us in the right directions.

- People looked up at Mount Olympus and thought

that's the house of the gods.

And today we're looking up there and deciding which

couloirs we're going to ski.

(upbeat music)

♪ From under night sky we will wait hoping ♪

♪ That our reflection meets between two ♪

♪ Below the dark cries secretly laughing ♪

♪ A smile was passed but never on you ♪

♪ Come into the meaning when the light sold our ♪

♪ Secrets left us in turn ♪

♪ Circle in the desert where the mind grows now ♪

♪ In a sand dance we burn ♪

(upbeat music continues)

♪ Upon a question answers prevail ♪

♪ A vivid memory of which shes unsure ♪

♪ A lesser meaning left among feelings ♪

♪ A pirouette left down on the ground ♪

♪ Come into the meaning when the light sold our ♪

♪ Secrets left us in turn ♪

♪ Circle in the desert where the mind grows now ♪

♪ In a sand dance we burn ♪

- [Johnny] Anyone who thinks Craig's got stones for booking

heli trips to Zeus' living room doesn't know the guy.

He was a speed skier back in the 70s

when the helmets were bad and the bindings were worse.

Craig's not scared of much.

♪ Guide the light to ♪

♪ Sinking from view ♪

♪ We have to be ♪

♪ What we have to learn, we have to see ♪

♪ Things that we wish could be ♪

♪ Flames between you ♪

♪ Burning from view ♪

♪ We have to be ♪

♪ What we have to learn, we have to see ♪

♪ Things that we wish could be ♪

(upbeat music continues)

(avalanche rumbling)

- [Josh] Zeus is pissed off.

Maybe not too happy about what we did to his mountain today.

- [Announcer] You chose the door number two.

- [Johnny] Of course, if you're going to drop in

on Greek gods, it's important to remember

they can always drop right back in on you.

(campy music) (dark laughter)

- [Tyler] Greece in a nutshell,

skiing with the gods.

(ethereal music)

- [Johnny] They've been ski racing in the Vail Valley

since 1962.

They would've started earlier, but the lifts weren't

built yet.

In those days, all the really serious racers were in Europe.

So Vail imported guys like 1960 Olympic champion

Roger Staub from Switzerland.

(drill whirring)

(ethereal music continues)

Where Staub was from, ski racing is king.

And his adopted hometown learned to treat it the same way.

(ethereal music continues)

But a funny thing happened over the next few decades.

We took our lumps, figured this racing thing out

and eventually we got pretty good.

Then we got really good.

(rock music)

♪ I am the son of Rock 'n' Roll ♪

♪ I got the masses under my control ♪

♪ I like to drink, I love the dope ♪

♪ I want your money and I want your hope ♪

♪ Your money and your hope ♪

♪ Your money and your hope ♪

♪ Your money and your hope ♪

- And welcome everybody to the base of Beaver Creek,

Colorado, what a weekend of racing action

we have lined up for you.

Chris Davenport, alongside Doug Lewis.

We'll be bringing you all the action, and Doug,

new courses this year.

New athletes and all built up for the

2015 World Alpine Championships next year.

This is big.

(rock music)

- [Speaker] We really spend most of our season Europe,

bouncing from France to Germany to Austria to Switzerland,

and Beaver Creek is going to be awesome.

- [Johnny] It's a good thing we can hold our own against

the best in Europe now, because that who's coming to Vail

and Beaver Creek this winter.

More than 700 of the best racers on the planet.

- [Speaker] Ski racing is probably one of the most historic

sports on earth.

And this place right here, Vail, Beaver Creek,

is steeped in history.

Two World Championships and another one coming up.

- Racing in Beaver Creek is challenging.

It's one of our toughest races of the year, so

nothing to lose.

(rock music)

(polka music)

- [Johnny] At Beaver Creek, there's one great equalizer;

from Olympic champions to first timers on vacation,

everyone gets a cookie.

Everyone that is, but the world cub ski technicians.

- Equipment is pretty much the most important thing

when you're racing.

All of your skis have to be dialed in,

and not only do they have to be fast,

but all the way into the boot, so

I just work closely with my tech and

I just want to feel super comfortable when I'm standing

in the start gate and know that I don't have to worry about

anything else but curling my body down the hill.

- [Johnny] Downhill courses like Beaver Creek's

Birds of Prey are just like F1 tracks.

They each have their own personality,

but they're only designed

for one thing.

- [Speaker] World Cup downhill Super G, it's tricking your

mind to send yourself down there as fast as you can.

- So you really got to look for every meter of (indistinct).

- [Speaker] If you're not on your game then

bad things can happen.

- Racers have to be on it.

You have to be pretty focused on what we do,

we have to be good at what we do to be able to not end up

in the fences every week.

A big fear factor for the racers and excitement for

the fans who are watching.

- First time was a little scary.

About 18 years old.

I couldn't even sleep that night because I was so petrified.

- If I'm not scared, I'm kidding myself.

When you're looking out of the start gate,

you have to be ready to get it on.

To take the ultimate risk with big crashes and everything

to go fast.

- [Johnny] In the Bible of US ski racing,

Tommy Moe begot Daron Rahlves,

and Rahlves begot Ted Ligety.

- A pretty intense feeling to being in the start gate,

knowing you have to push it to that level in order to be

fast, but also, wanting to have a little bit of a sense of

self-preservation.

- It's almost like tapping back into that childhood

knowledge of the mountain and remembering that my feet

will stay underneath me and letting everything else go.

As a child, definitely looked up to Tamara McKinney.

- [Speaker 1] I remember watching Franz Klammer

and Phil Mahre,

Ingemar Stenmark and I just knew that I wanted to be

a ski racer.

- [Speaker 2] Marc Girardelli and Alberto Tomba, Tommy Moe,

AJ Kit, those were the guys who I thought were

really cool growing up.

- Picabo Street really motivated me to want to be

an Olympian.

My dad, Peppy Steeler, Olympic champion,

his (indistinct) trophies and Kit School trophies.

- [Speaker] Beaver Creek set up their best terrain

to be gnarlier than the one before.

Our average speed of the World Cup is about 70

miles an hour.

Guys have actually hit 100 miles an hour.

- Breathe down those nerves.

You can't worry about what place you're going to get,

you can't worry about the danger,

you got to worry about throwing it.

- Those 30 Seconds right before you push out of the start

are the most important 30 seconds in your life.

- [Johnny] Actually, the 30 seconds after you hit

70 miles per hour are pretty important too.

(upbeat music)

♪ Living in the USA ♪

♪ Living in the USA ♪

♪ Where are you going to ♪

♪ What are you gonna do ♪

- The most exciting story going forward is the young

US racer, Mikaela Shiffrin.

She's from Eagle Vail and is such a natural athlete.

She doesn't hold back, and for an 18 year old,

is unbelievable.

- [Johnny] Mikaela Shiffrin is just the latest US racer

to put the Europeans on notice,

and get the hometown fans jumping in Red Tail Stadium.

- Cody Miller, no stranger to the podium here

in Beaver Creek.

He's won here many times, but when he's in the race,

people watch.

And he's like, "No one can send it on this hill like I can."

Bode Miller is back.

(upbeat music) (fans cheering)

Mr. GS, he's been on fire.

(upbeat music) (crowd cheering)

- [Johnny] 52 Years ago, Vail invited the Europeans to help

them learn a thing or two about ski racing.

This winter, all of Europe is invited once again.

But this time, we're going to show them how it's done.

(upbeat music continues)

- [Speaker] Next to the Olympics, the World Championships

are it.

Fourth place is the same as last place,

so everybody raises their game, the intensity's higher,

and that's when the magic happens.

(bell ringing)

(driving music)

- [Johnny] Nearly 900 miles north of Oslo lies

Lofoten, Norway, home to some of the world's oldest

settlements above the Arctic Circle.

The first people up here came for the fishing,

but Kaylin Richardson and Øystein Ostheim

are here not just for the skiing, but for a ski.

A ski that historians believe is the second oldest

in the world.

- The moment that I came into town, my breath was taken away

because there are these amazing mountains.

A mountain range on a bunch of islands.

It's an archipelago.

It's magical.

It's like a land that you read about that you don't

think exists.

- I live in the southern part of Norway and

never been this far north.

This is like a whole new country to me.

(upbeat music) (water rushing)

The mountains here are so much steeper.

They go straight up from sea level

- [Kaylin] So that means we are climbing.

- If someone had told me when I got here that we were going

to hike up every single mountain on this island,

I wouldn't have believed them.

But we did.

We were hiking for hours every day.

And I'm exhausted.

- You might be looking up on this face

and it just looks perfect.

It just looks like heaven.

And then you start nuking and you're like,

"Oh my gosh, this is awesome! I'm so awesome!

Oh my god, I'm going to (beep) die!"

Because you hit the icy patch and you're going so fast.

(upbeat music)

- Kaylin's like a machine gun.

She never stops firing.

She goes all in in every turn.

She made

ice turns look good.

That's good.

(upbeat music)

- [Johnny] Did we say that Kaylin and Øystein were here

looking for a ski?

Well, that's why Kaylin's here anyway.

- On every great adventure it's always done in pairs.

- And this crazy American girl, Kaylin,

just pops up looking for this super old ski

that was found here somewhere.

(wave crashing)

- When I found out that Øystein was here,

I knew that I had to ask him to help me.

He is the epitome of Viking.

6'3",

blonde hair,

stoic, but in a good way.

- She calls me Baby Thor.

I don't think I look like a baby.

- When I found out about the ski,

it held this special meaning to me because

it connects me to these generations of people that I think

were a lot like me, that love the mountains.

(light music)

- [Johnny] In the early 1900s, archeologists unearthed a ski

near here that's been carbonated to 3,200 BC.

To say Kaylin was obsessed with the old ski

isn't entirely fair.

Kaylin's obsessed with everything about skiing.

The old ski was just her focus this week.

(gentile music)

Eventually, like it does in these parts,

the weather rolled in.

That's when Kaylin began to hunt for real.

- [Kaylin] Once Øystein was on board.

- [Johnny] Øystein was not entirely on board.

- [Kaylin] The first step was asking around.

- Hi. - Hi.

- [Kaylin] Because we didn't really know where to begin.

(speaking Norwegian)

- [Øystein] Everyone we talked to pointed in

different directions,

so we were just not getting anywhere.

(speaking Norwegian)

- [Kaylin] After meeting Pär, it became very clear

that the only way to find it was to go to the mountains.

- Pär moved here after his first visit

because he fell in love with the place.

(Pär tapping)

He has no idea where the ski is.

- You have everything in the same spot.

It's mountains and it's lakes, it's fjords, the sea.

It's constant changing,

changing weather,

changing of seasons and it's completely like a fist.

- And finally, at the moment when it seemed hopeless,

we came across a man that knew exactly

what we were talking about.

And he said, "Oh, it's just over that hill,

about 200 meters away."

And when we got to the top, I imagined that the clouds

were going to part and the sun was going to reach down

onto this beautiful, hallowed, sacred spot,

but I was very wrong.

It was just kind of a.

- It was a marsh.

(dramatic music)

- Swamp.

There's no other way to put it. It was a swamp.

I just had to laugh

because it was never about the ski.

(upbeat music)

♪ Feel the way that the wild wind blows through the room ♪

♪ Like a nail down through the heart ♪

♪ That just don't beat the same anymore ♪

♪ That might as well be gone ♪

♪ I'm in my finest hour ♪

♪ Can I be more ♪

- [Johnny] In the end, Kaylin didn't find a ski,

but she still found exactly what she was looking for.

As for Øystein, he learned that just because a girl's got

blonde hair doesn't mean she knows anything about Norway.

- I'm never listening to Kaylin again.

(upbeat rock music)

(Pär laughing)

- [Narrator] The winter stick looks like a tongue depressor

for the Jolly Green Giant.

(hiphop music)

♪ Oh oh oh oh what a pity ♪

♪ Be smoking and joking until I talk stupidity ♪

♪ Oh oh oh oh what a pity ♪

♪ Be smoking and joking until I talk stupidity ♪

♪ I am so higher than the city ♪

♪ Be fly in the clouds, what a view, so pretty ♪

♪ I am such a bad boy, P Diddy ♪

♪ We got them notorious like Biggie ♪

- [Narrator] The winter stick is ridden

just like a surfboard, if you had to ride one at high tide

in a pine forest.

(hiphop music)

- I don't know, how was that?

(hiphop music continues)

(heart beating)

- [Speaker] Child of Daedalus, who dared to fly

too near the sun on the wings of feathers and wax.

(soft music)

Daedalus had been imprisoned within the walls of his

own invention, the labyrinth.

Giving one pair to his boy, he cautioned him that flying

too near the sun caused the wax to melt.

(upbeat guitar strumming)

But Icarus became ecstatic with the ability to fly,

and forgot his father's warning.

♪ Stay ♪

♪ Away for me ♪

♪ Build a fortress and shield your beliefs ♪

♪ Can I believe ♪

♪ When I don't trust ♪

♪ All your theories ♪

♪ Turn to dust ♪

♪ I choose to hide ♪

♪ From the all-seeing eye ♪

(driving music)

♪ You'll not rest ♪

♪ Settle for less ♪

♪ Until you guzzle ♪

♪ And squander what's left ♪

♪ Do not deny ♪

♪ That you live ♪

♪ And let die ♪

♪ Just break ♪

♪ These ♪

♪ Walls ♪

♪ Down ♪

♪ I will avenge ♪

(driving music continues)

(piano music)

- [Johnny] 150 Years ago in the Swiss village of St. Moritz,

they got the idea that winter was the best time

for people to visit.

Over the next few decades, in destinations like Gstaad,

and Engelberg and Portes Du Soleil,

they started laying roads and train tracks and tramways

all over the mountains.

Then they built some hotels and boom,

modern skiing as we know it was invented.

Over the past few years, this place has become a regular

winter destination for JT Holmes.

- Warren Miller calls and says, "Hey, we want to do a piece

with you and Ueli Kestenholz in Switzerland.

And I think to myself, "Yeah, it'll be about time

I pin this guy down and make him show me around

a little bit."

(upbeat music)

- I really wanted to show JT my Switzerland,

all the good lines.

I think it's a real playground and it is a unique place

in the world.

- We get St. Moritz and we were anticipating

spring conditions.

We went to bed knowing that there was a storm that was going

to blow through, but I didn't think that much was going

to accumulate.

And then I wake up and I look out the window and

holy smokes, did it dump.

♪ My country 'tis of thee ♪

♪ Sweet land of liberty ♪

♪ How come I cannot see my future within your hands? ♪

- We had more than one meter of snow in one night,

so really lucky, and the best way to start a trip.

(upbeat music)

- [JT] The thing about skiing in the Swiss Alps is while we

might be skiing on radical new fat skis or using some cool

new toy, the skiing experience itself hasn't changed.

It's just one of these things that is timeless.

(upbeat music continues)

♪ I've got me, you've got you ♪

♪ That's what this world can see ♪

♪ I never told you what to do ♪

♪ And then you put me in some box ♪

The roots of skiing, the reason we picked it up in the first

place as humans was to get from point A to point B.

And the Swiss ski experience has just streamlined

that whole thing.

Taking you from the airport, to the villages,

to the tops and the mountains.

(driving rock music)

I've been coming here to the Jungfrau region of Switzerland

and speed riding at Schilthorn for a number of years,

and I have literally followed Ueli's tracks for years

before I met him.

And through the grapevine I heard that it was this Olympic

medalist snowboarder and I always thought, man,

whoever's putting down those tracks has got some skills.

- After my third Olympics in 2006,

I decided it was time to stop competing.

I really wanted to have more time free riding.

And then I saw the first images of speed riding,

and I knew this is my sport.

- [Johnny] If you've never been skiing in Switzerland

before, one of the first things you learn is

just because you're following someone's tracks,

doesn't mean there's a trail over there.

These days, it doesn't even mean there's a mountain

over there.

♪ What time are you hanging around? ♪

♪ Your face is all over the place, who knew? ♪

♪ Good grief, by the skin of your teeth ♪

♪ You should've worked a little harder at school ♪

- Speed riding is, to us, 3D skiing.

Suddenly, we can get face shots,

we can do high speed carving turns,

we can jump little cliffs,

but we can also jump big cliffs.

♪ Hoochie Coochie ♪ (driving rock music)

♪ Hoochie Coochie ♪

♪ What game are you playing now? ♪

♪ What game are you playing now? ♪

♪ What game? ♪

- I'm really fortunate to live in the (indistinct),

which is maybe one of the best places to speed ride.

It's also accepted by most key lifts so you can do it

within the resort.

I know it's not everywhere in the world like that,

and I feel fortunate.

(driving rock music)

- Speed riding differs from skiing in that

usually it's a party, you're going to go together.

Whereas skiers and snowboarders are much more,

okay, you go first, you go over there, I'll go over here,

you avoid my track, I'll avoid your track.

Whereas we're just kind of raging.

I'm going wherever you're going,

I don't care if I cross your track or not,

this is going to be great.

I'll follow you, buddy.

(driving rock music) ♪ Hoochie Coochie ♪

♪ Hoochie Coochie ♪

- [Johnny] Cruising around these mountains,

it's not uncommon to find a chalet from the 1920s,

or a pair of skis from the 1960s,

or a haircut from the 1980s.

(polka music) (singing in foreign language)

- People here, they'll just come on up and do a bit

of sunbathing, find a place for a picnic,

you can go up there and enjoy the mountains,

you can go ski touring, you can go and have a glass of wine

and a meal and come back down.

Just kind of enjoying the moment.

It's a special different kind of place.

(crowd applauding)

Welcoming airborne sports and being innovative is

really just kind of ingrained in Swiss culture.

They embrace their history, be it triumphant or tragic,

and encourage people to go and find their own adventures

in the mountains.

- [Ueli] The philosophy of just letting people do what they

want to do is really a big reason why we're maybe

a little bit ahead of the game in Europe.

- [Johnny] Being ahead of the game means taking risks.

Mattias Rodin, the pilot who taught Ueli to speed ride,

and JT's mentor, Shane McConkey both died

innovating how we ride the mountain.

- I felt like there was a bit of a connection,

me having lost my best friend and speed riding buddy

a few years ago, and him having lost Shane

and connecting and doing a sport intensely together.

Being able to share that passion, that was an intense time.

(eagle cawing)

(helicopter whirring) (upbeat music)

♪ All I want to do is ♪

♪ Live in ecstasy ♪

- When you're speed riding, you look at mountains with

sort of an eye of anything is possible.

(upbeat music continues)

Using the wind, we're able to ski as much vertical

as we want in a day.

We look at a 3,000, 4,000 foot run and we ski

the most choice fall line, and then use the wing

to transport ourselves and then ski only the finest powder.

♪ When I grow up I wanna be ♪

♪ A movie star or on TV ♪

♪ Cause working just don't work for me ♪

♪ But I can't focus feeling hopeless ♪

♪ So I'll just sit back, try to look mean ♪

♪ All I want to do is ♪

♪ Live in ecstasy ♪

♪ I know what's best for me ♪

♪ I can't help it ♪

♪ It's this hopeless itch ♪

♪ I just want to feel ♪

♪ Purple, yellow, red and blue ♪

♪ I just want to be evil ♪

♪ I just want to be evil ♪

♪ Want to be evil, want to be evil ♪

♪ I just want to be evil ♪

♪ I just want to be evil ♪

♪ I just want to be evil ♪

♪ Want to be evil, want to be evil ♪

♪ Purple, yellow, red and blue ♪

(upbeat music continues)

What does the future hold for skiing?

That's always impossible to tell.

The progression of everything has been so hard to predict

and so jaw dropping.

But what hasn't changed is that it's just all about

being out here and sliding down the mountain on a pair

of skis.

To me, that's the experience.

- When I started snowboarding, I never thought I'd be

flying down a mountain with speed riding wings,

so how can I know what's in five or in 10 years?

But who knows, maybe my son one day is going to have

a total different sport that's a new thrill,

something we can't even think of.

I'm open and let the future come.

♪ All that I needed ♪

♪ Is something to believe in ♪

♪ Cause everything just falls in place like that ♪

- [Johnny] If you ever go skiing in Switzerland,

you're going to see tracks on lines that don't seem

possible.

You'll think for all the world that you're imagining them.

You aren't

because guys like Ueli and JT,

and Mattias and Shane,

imagined them first,

and then they figured out how to ski them.

I'm Johnny Moseley and winter starts now.

(rock music)

- Skied,

drank tsipouro,

slept in an airport,

drank more tsipouro,

skinned, rode a horse,

as then rode in a heli

and checked out a castle.

I've never been in a castle.

That was cool.

Check, check and check.

Greece.

2014.

- Let's say that he liked it.

When I told him that, "Øystein, I have a nickname for you,"

and he goes, "What is it?"

And I said, "Son of Thor."

But he's not quite Thor, he's the son of a god.

The only thing that's really God like on him is

the god awful smell of his boots.

It is disgusting.

- We were doing a shot by the ocean with waves splashing

in the background.

And I was actually doing selfies,

and then I just got this big wave straight in my face.

It busted my camera

and I got soaked.

- We want to move on the snow, but we also want to move

through the snow and just kind of be in that white room

in that moment.

It's like, when I'm in that moment, that's when I truly

feel happy.

And coming to Japan this year on this trip,

I've been happy 1,000 times.

- I don't know if there's words to describe what

Alaskan powder is and yeah, I could use all the scientific

terms and it's blower and it's awesome and it's sick

and it's oh my god!

It's better than sex.

We've heard it all.

It's more the smile on your face.

- How many people do you know that had their

great-grandmother skiing?

Nobody, right?

But a lot of people had their great-grandfathers skiing.

So just by the nature of our society,

men have been out doing that type of stuff for longer,

they've had those examples, it's been accepted for longer,

and I think as

rad women pass that on to their kids,

it's just going to become more and more

awesome.

- We're stepping back to our past and we're looking at where

we came from and how we got here to help us move forward.

This has been a journey.

It's not one that's near the end and I can't wait to see

where we're going in the future.

- So I had an Olympic medal, World champion Titles,

X Games gold, there was not so much more to win

as in medals, but there was a lot more to win,

as in good times up in the mountains.

(Sierra whinnying)

- I'm down here, everybody is dragging their feet.

I am fired up.

I want to go skiing.

Now I'm just going to, to prove a point,

go stand out there in cold

and wait for those guys.

And hopefully they're going to be coming here soon.

(bench clattering)

(driving rock music)