With the recent temperature drop and snowfall in Park City last week, skiers and snowboarders are watching the skies with bated breath.
Feeding their excitement is the release of the 62nd Warren Miller film, ” Like There’s No Tomorrow” that will have its Park City debut on Oct. 21 and 22, at the Eccles Center for the Performing Arts.
Additional screenings will be Oct. 14 and 15 at Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City; Oct. 18 through 20 at the SCERA Center for the Performing Arts in Orem and Oct. 25 through 27, at Peery’s Egyptian Theater in Ogden.
The film features fresh powder shots at international sites in India, Norway, Chile, New Zealand and British Columbia. It also highlights ski runs that are closer to home including Tuckerman Ravine, N.H., Squaw Valley, Calif., and Salt Lake City, Utah.
Parkite and competitive freestyle skier Brant Moles and Salt Lake’s big-mountain and powder skier Caroline Gleich, who will appear at select screenings, were part of the Salt Lake segment that was filmed in Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons.
Both enjoyed the experience, which took place last year.
Moles, who has already been featured in previous Warren Miller films, remembers trying to stay in the camera frame while letting loose down the terrain.
“From a skier’s stand point it was pretty easy,” he said. “You just have to ski well, and if you did a line or do a jump, you had to make sure you got your grab and stomped your landings.”
While going down the mountain was a rush, Moles liked hiking to the sites as well.
“We did a lot of hiking for the shoot and we had a good group of people with us that included some old friends Carlo Travarelli and Ben Wheeler,” he said. “We also had some younger guys Sam Cohen, Leo Ahrens and Caroline Gleich and even got out there with Rachael Burks a little bit, so it was fun.
“We were out there for a few hours, taking it all in,” he said. “When we got to a site, we set up the shots and got to ski down from there. It was a real serene and peaceful experience, depending on how gnarly the terrain was and what we were going to be shooting. It was actually nice and you got to be out there in nature with friends and ski the best snow Utah had to offer.”
Gleich, who has been part of the Ski Salt Lake Shootout competitions, had a similar experience.
“A lot of times we would start filming at the resorts, and then venture out into the backcountry when the resorts got tapped out,” Gleich said. “Sometimes we did full back-country days and the ultimate joy was to pick my way down the mountain and go after those untracked lines.
“Finding that fresh powder is the most fun thing about skiing,” she said. “That’s what it’s all about.”
Gleich, who has worked as a coach at the Utah Olympic Park, said working on the film helped her put things in perspective.
“The competitions can get so intense that it’s easy to lose sight of why you started skiing in the first place,” she said. “I think my segment in the film reminds me and everybody else about having fun. It’s all about getting fresh turns in the snow and being out there with your friends.
“Skiing is about exploration and I like being out in the wilderness,” she said.
Although Moles and Gleich are part of the cast that also includes, but is not limited to, Daron Rahlves, Ted Davenport, Kip Garre and Charley Ager, they haven’t seen the film.
“It will be like a present and we get to unwrap it at the premiere,” Gleich said. “It’s like being a kid looking at the presents under the tree. We put a lot of heart and hard work into it and we’re wondering how it’s going to come out.
“I think we’re going to share the same oohs and ahhs. During ski films, the audience can be vocal and that’s fun,” she said. “For us not having seen the film, it will be fun to cheer alongside the audience, but it’s a little frustrating because we want to see it so badly.”
Apparently Utah is the biggest segment of the movie, Moles said.
“Obviously I was there and can remember the days and the good turns we had, but you never know how the angles were shot and what the editors are going to put in,” he said. “I’ve been here 20-plus years and it will be nice to share that with the Warren Miller crew and the fans. We had some great snow last year, so we had a lot of great skiing and I think the movie will show that.”
Warren Miller’s ” Like There’s No Tomorrow” will be screened at the Eccles Center for the Performing Arts, 1750 Kearns Blvd., on Friday, Oct. 21, at 8 p.m., and on Saturday, Oct. 22, at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. Additional screenings will be held Oct. 14 and 15 at Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City; Oct. 18 through 20 at the SCERA Center for the Performing Arts in Orem and Oct. 25 through 27, at Peery’s Egyptian Theater in Ogden. Tickets for the Park City screening are $20, and a four-ticket package is also available for $72. Tickets are available at all Cole Sports locations in Park City and the Eccles Center. Tickets can also be purchased online at www.ecclescenter.org or by calling (435) 655-3114.
