Saw Warren Miller's Dynasty tonight. Good movie. one of my favorite shots was them railing on a chairlift's cable, sorta like the Sunway chair. they built a ramp at the uphill terminal then launched and railed on top of it's cable. hehehe.
Also, they trekked to very deep BFE at the China/Mongolia border. there they found ancient skiing. the few locals there ski on loooooong homemade wooden skis that they tie their feet onto and control their speed by leaning back on a stick, dragging it on the ground. no turns. they actually went pretty good and poked fun at the extreme skiers. " you slow. you outta shape cheeseburger eater. why do you turn? it only slows you down! those little skis are kids skis." it was funny. they have horse hair on the ski's bottom that goes right up the hill and then slides down surprisingly well.
No matter how ancient the ski's style is, some things never change. they were more than anxious to get their modern counterparts up the hill to see what they could do. one of the Miller team thought he'ld give them a head start, then burn 'em....but he couldn't catch them! they also had an advantage climbing. they just turned around and went right back up while the Miller team had to click out, put on skins, click in - all of which left them in the rear yet again. this view into the sport's very ancient roots was wicked cool.
Back in America, they had a scene that showed Boarders, no matter what Species they belong to, do indeed have a bad attitude. lol. someone had an alligator on the hill. that's right and he wasn't little. two snowboards were strapped to his belly and he was grouchy, growling around letting others know who was the boss. but he did slide around.
We made out pretty good. My GF's son won a nice hoodie, i won tubing tickets and a girl with us won ski poles. all got a year's subscription to Skiing magazine. good time. Watch out for that Gator!
