Living on the edges

For a select few skiers the cold, steep slopes of the mountain resorts just do not do the deed. They need less charted, riskier slopes to soothe their appetites for adventure. This can lead to the kinds of thrills (and chills) few people will ever know, but it can also lead to death.

Mountain skiing began circa 1970 in the mountains of Chamonix, France where seemingly suicidal skiers took in the snowy scenery from a point of view nobody had ever seen.

Since then only a few skiers like Ingrid Backstrom, Bill Briggs, Chris Davenport, Stefano De Benedetti, Seth Morrison, Eric Pehota, Glen Plake and Doug Coombs have carried on this small tradition of extreme skiing to other parts of the world.

Featuring never before skiing and interviews with extreme skiers, Mark Obenhaus’ Steep explores what it means to live and thrive on so many edges.

A longtime producer, director and writer of documentary television for ABC News, we caught up with Obenhaus to talk about his documentary and the skiiers behind the scenes.

Los Angeles Journal: What brought you to cover extreme skiing?

Mark Obenhaus: I love to ski. In a funny way it was so fortuitous. This thing just came around and I leapt at the chance to do it. After doing a lot of research I found this story I could tell about big mountain skiing being born. It’s now the signature form of skiing. Not everybody does it, but it’s certainly what people dream about when they dream about skiing. In the end it worked out that there was a story to be told with a cast of characters that I liked, which is what I always look for when doing a documentary.

LAJ: Did you do any extreme skiing?

MO: I am not an extreme skier of any sort [Laughs]. I admire them and I wish I had the athletic talent to ski that way; and the courage perhaps. I’m a pretty good resort skier.

LAJ: How did you gain their trust? Would they taunt you?

MO: Yeah, it’s a small community and they’re suspicious of outsiders. We worked on it for over two years and we gained their trust simply by doing our homework and learning an awful lot about the sport. Many times the people you’re interviewing don’t know the breadth of the history of the sport like you do.

LAJ: Most of the documentaries out now are rather political. How will Steep fit in?

MO: I don’t think it does [Laughs]. I don’t know. It’s a film of a completely different style and nature. But you can’t make a film and worry how it fits with other films. This is film we wanted to make but in no way do I not admire something like Taxi to the Dark Side.

LAJ: What does extreme skiing have in common with documentary filmmaking?

MO: That’s a hard question to answer. I don’t if I can. Well, it takes a lot of commitment and work to maintain the sport of skiing and the feasibility of making documentaries. They’re not sort of “give me” operations. I don’t see a lot of similarities I’d have to say.

LAJ: Well you were in rough environments shooting some of those scenes.

MO: Well that’s true. In terms of the kinds of places you have to get are similar. You are all riding helicopters. But I just think skiing is a far more hazardous activity than filmmaking. The safety net is a lot bigger for the filmmakers. I don’t think in any routine fashion did we put ourselves in harm’s way.

LAJ: The general impression I get of these skiers is that they are athletic and tend to be alone, but what else can you tell us about them?

MO: The thing I always felt about this kind of skiing is that people didn’t appreciate the level of athleticism that’s required. Skiing is a sport that takes an incredible amount of athletic ability. When you do it well it’s almost not noticed. I always knew that but I didn’t know that to the extent I do now. They are kind of loners. Seth Morrison is kind of a vagabond skier who just lives to find the snow and keep skiing. Doug Coombs, on the other hand, is married and had a child. He was anything but a loner. It’s really hard to type them. But the one thing that all these guys have a tremendous appetite for adventure. They are lusting after going to places that are remote and in many incidences dangerous.

LAJ: Were there discussions about global warming and the impact on skiing?

MO: It’s something people talk about all the time. The melt has been tremendous. People who are over 60 can tell you where they could ski but can’t ski now. It’s a very present tense discussion.