Slippery slopes

>> Steep is an insular look
at the world of extreme skiing

by MALCOLM FRASER

For some of us, skiing is an occasional winter amusement; for others, a pastime of the idle rich and the terminally outdoorsy. And of course, as with any other activity, there are those for whom it’s the sole focus of their life. Going even deeper within that community, certain people aren’t content to frequent the same slopes as everyone else; they seek out higher peaks and steeper hills in remote and dangerous locations.

You see these people on the news every so often, usually as avalanche casualties. Now, filmmaker Mark Oberhaus has put together a documentary, Steep, for those of us who always wanted to know more about extreme skiing and the people who engage in it.

Steep has a few fundamental problems; primary among these is an over-reliance on interviews: with the aging men who first skied on uncharted mountains in the ’70s, the fluorescent-jacketed hot-doggers who put extreme skiing on the media map in the ’80s, and their spiritual descendents today.

It seems self-evident that watching someone ski is much more interesting than watching someone talk about skiing, but Oberhaus seems afraid to linger too long on the actual ski footage, which is unfortunate, as the mountain imagery is pretty damn cool. The ski bums interviewed aren’t the most articulate people, and as their words demonstrate, there are only so many ways to say “Skiing is really cool,” “that hill was really steep,” or “that guy is a really good skier,” which doesn’t prevent Oberhaus from including several variations of these statements.

The film’s clubby, insular vibe puts up a barrier to outsiders. And not to sound like a pinko, but it’s curious that nobody ever touches on the fact that skiing is expensive, let alone chartering helicopters to mountaintops; people who do nothing but that with their time have money to burn.

In that sense (and with all due respect to our friendly neighbours to the south), the extreme skier is quintessentially American: a friendly but macho adventurer, a risk-taker who shrugs off the consequences of his actions, a rugged outdoorsman with a trust fund. If delving into this kind of person’s universe sounds like fun, Steep is right up your alley.

Steep opens this
Friday, Feb. 22

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