I had anticipated the movie STEEP since its first mention over a year before the release. The abstract seemed reasonable and I think many of us who have spent our lives skiing hoped for something to bring big mountain skiing into proper perspective.  STEEP does this by refocusing the sport on its roots and supreme athleticism.  It is not locked in the gaudy sensationalism seen in the current glut of ski porn, thus it is free to seek, through drama and sometimes sadness, the human experience that creates a steep skier. This documentary film is about alpine skiing, not snowboarding; an obvious statement about the differences between the two disciplines, particularly the higher skills required for alpine skiing.  STEEP is a fantastic cinema creation for the ski enthusiast and historian. It is full of riveting tales and fantastic scenes of skiing the steepest lines in the world.

    Let me first say that I am not an "extreme" or expert skier.  I am simply a life-long telemark skier content to bag a powder filled couloir a few times a year.  I have averaged about 100 ski days annually for the past 20 years.  For nearly 30 years I have called Valdez and Thompson Pass my home and have been obsessed with skiing since I first arrived in 1979. I began with ski forays to the summits of  Big Odessey, then progressed on to skiing around places such as Mt. Dimond and traversed the Chugach in the winter of 1985.  In the 1990's, I watched the world's best alpine skiers compete in the steep venues of Valdez's World Extreme Ski Championships (WESC) and saw the birth of heli-skiing in Alaska.  WESC inspired me and like many of the witnesses, I pushed myself to be a better skier.  Now, at 52 years of age, the best is behind me in many ways, but I have been fortunate to have had a front row seat to the growth of the sport in Valdez.  As a guide for 20 years, I have seen the ski movie stars and the legions of  "groupies, grommets and wannabees" come to the Chugach to prove themselves against a snowy landscape that is arguably the apex of a skier's life.  I have seen hundreds of expert skiers come and go. Steep skiers though are a different breed and are beyond experts. This movie proves the point.

    The research was well done and generally follows the terrain around the world that is used to define a steep skier. The opening with Briggs' early days in the Tetons reminded me of the early days in Valdez, not so much in the terrain with which he challenged himself, but more in the backwoods "grab my buddies to ski something" kind of attitude.  Briggs and his ski partners climbed what they skied and that is the root of steep skiing that the movie theme dances around  from the opening story. From the amazing linguistic homily of a French steep skier, through the Valdez experience and to the final segment with Andrew McLean it is a pleasure to watch.  It completes the circle of the sport from its roots back to today's backcountry ski scene.

    One thing that caught my attention was the short video of Doug Coombs in slow motion, pointing skis down a rocky fall-line as the impecable and legendary Lou Dawson describes what it takes to pursue these steep lines. It was stunning to watch a master at work.  No one can ski like that but Coombs.  This short segment deepened and redefined my respect for Coombs from movie star to pure skier. The film traces Coombs from his youthful days in Valdez to his journey to France where he matures and refocuses his skills on becoming a ski-mountaineer among the elite climbing and ski guides of Europe. Once again STEEP appears to bring the attention of steep skiing back to its roots of "climbing what you ski".  It completes the resume of Doug Coombs from skier to ski mountaineer and seals his reputation as the greatest mountain skier of our times.  Coombs could have wallowed his skills in Valdez, but he reached for another level in Europe with skins and ropes, immersing himself in the European guide ethic that begins with "the climb" before the descent. This is a far cry from the Coombs I encountered with the "brat-pack" that entered the Chugach in the 1990's with a circus atmosphere. These skiers, though incredibly skilled, introduced many to the ease of first lines under noisy helicopter rotors, leaving behind the world of ski-alpinism, which had previously been a critical component to the great ski descents in history.  Coombs is shown in more recent times in the quiet mountains, shouldering his gear and climbing to ski the steeps. This is a classic segment on Coombs.  I highly recommend it as a primer on how serious the sport has become and how far reaching the effects are when a skier fails in the pursuit of steep.

    One glaring disappointment was the Valdez section where former Valdez helicopter pilot Chet Simmons opines about the early days of Chugach heli-skiing.  Simmons twice emphatically states that"no one" was skiing here before heli-skiing, WESC and Coombs.  This is  a contradiction to documented exploration and skiing of the Valdez/Thompson Pass area.  During the 12 years prior to WESC, local ski-mountaineers crossed the Chugach to Cordova and Eureka Lodge numerous times. Meteorite Mountain, Mount Francis, Loveland Peak and Odessey Mountain were a few of the mountains explored for ski lines that later became classic steep runs.  Mount Shouplina, Snow Dome, Tone's Temple,  Goodwill's, Berlin Wall and MountShraeder were all summitted by a persistent group of Valdez ski-alpinists and climbers who worked this piece of the Chugach.  A few were skied from the summit, some perhaps not.  Ramer AT gear, skinny alpine skis, and of course, 3-pin telemark skis with leather boots were the norm much like the equipment donned by others in the great ranges of the world being explored at the same time.  Valdez skiers John Weiland and Scott Ethrington accomplished many dramatic ski lines. (Side note: Weiland was later included in the first cohort of heli-guides with Coombs at Tsaina Lodge and Valdez Heli-Ski Guides). Their humble natures preserved their deeds in the valleys of Valdez and thus kept them secret from the ski world beyond Alaska.

    There was increasing envy of those out skiing the Chugach powder in the 1980's with skins.  We returned and reveled alpine skiers who would listen but were reluctant to join us, with tales of untracked face shots.  There was big mountain terrain getting tracked up beyond the ThompsonPass "Road Run", the limit of Simmons' Chugach ski experience at the time.  In 1991, Glen Plake accepted a plane ticket from the ski community of Valdez to visit the area and the world soon understood what a few locals knew.  Valdez was "as sick as it gets", stated Powder magazine, which covered the powder rush to Valdez.  Simmons seems to have hidden behind the mythical idea that skiing in Valdez began with his first heli-ski trip and WESC.  His lack of acknowledgement in the movie of those earlier efforts was like ignoring the early skiers of the Tetons, the Rockies, or the Sierra and their contributions to ski mountaineering history in North America.  Simmons could have added to the colorful history of skiing the Chugach, but chose to ignore the pioneers of the Valdez ski scene who set up a little rope tow for the local kids in 1989, conceived of WESC in 1992, and participated in much of what came later.  Big mountain skiing arrived in Valdez nearly a decade before WESC, but it was lacking a name other than just skiing, thus the "extreme" genre was born.  That is Valdez ski history and as such, is not meant to diminish those who came later, but to recall those who helped break trail for the next level of skiers to arrive in the Chugach in the 1990's.

    The final segment with McLean touches home to many of us who enjoy the climb.  McLean is not a throw-back to the old disciplines as the narrator implies, but a look forward to where modern day skiers and snowboarders should and are going with their skills; to climb and then ski the most difficult lines in North America and the world.  McLean is little known outside the growing backcountry ski community dedicated to "earning their turns" in the wilderness. More skiers are embracing the ski-alpinist ethos of hard work for hard lines. McLean has managed to shun the motorized access that attempts to dominate the industry today and he does it with a sense of purpose, history and respect to those who came before him and a need to continue that tradition.

    McLean's profound passion is revealed in the scene when he yells for a companion who is swept down a mountain by an avalanche and by his emotional relief when he finds his partner alive and well. He collapses on the snow in full humility.  It is a riveting scene because there is no rescue, there is no helicopter nearby to assist or team of EMT's.  It is the steep skier and the mountain.  It is very much like the days of Briggs in the Tetons.  It is completely real and rewards the viewer with a unique insight of a steep skier hunting a mountain for the perfect steep line in deadly terrain.

    STEEP is a documentary film highly recommended as an addition to a shelf full of ski movies.  It is about the steep, where there are incomparable rewards and where sudden failure means death. I am in awe of the skiers in this film.  Because of this movie, I have a new found respect for the handful of skiers in the world who ski the steepest lines with grace and disappear over the edge into the hearts of those of us who wish we could ski like them.