Warren Miller Ski Lodge

This single event changed my life and set my course for many a year.

Warren Miller personally narrated this movie. He took me to far away ski areas I had only heard about. I could feel every turn the skiers made, I breathed in the cold of those on the screen, exhaled plumes of steamy air, skied steep runs in deep powder.  I fell hard and rolled up smiling, I laughed as beginner skiers piled up amongst each other as they unloaded off ski lifts.  I knew for sure that I wanted to be one of those skiers in a Warren Miller movie or at least live the life. I did not last long on the ski team, for once the snow started to fall and the season got under way, my interest turned to skiing powder and skiing places I’d seen in the Warren Miller Ski Movie even if it took me the rest of my life. 

Warren got his first pair of skis in 1937, but did not start filming until the mid-forties. He captured his first images of surfers in California. He shot footage for Bud Brown, a pioneer of surf films, and of Fred Van Dyke, a pioneer big wave rider, who is now retired and living part-time in Bozeman. The winter of 1947-48 Warren landed a job with the Sun Valley Ski School. Because of a lucky break of getting a loaner camera from two Bell and Howell executives whom he had taught skiing, he started filming skiers and the fun they were having. In October of 1950 he released his first film, Deep and Light. 

His camera of choice was a Bell and Howell 70 DA hand-wind.  He said, “No batteries to let you down.”  He carried a pack weighing over 20 pounds laden with the camera, film, and lens. From 1950 through 1963 he filmed and personally narrated every one of his feature movies, 14 in all. The Warren Miller Ski Movie had become an annual event throughout the ski world.  His first hired photographer was in 1963, the same year that sound was added.  He continued to be the voice and storyteller for a total of 50 feature movies and the producer of more than 500 different films.

Warren is also a gifted artist and author. His interest in art goes back to his grade school days. Today the art that most of the public has seen is of cartoon characters, many of them poking fun at himself. He writes a syndicated monthly newspaper column, featured in various resort papers and magazines. He has authored and published 10 books. The first one was published in 1943 and his latest, a book on aging and skiing, is due in bookstores sometime in 2008. The working title of his new book reflects his sense of humor, If You Did Not Know When You Were Born, How Old Would You Be?

Warren has a beautiful home in a gated ski community just south of Big Sky, Montana, which sits on a hill overlooking a very large ski lodge that bears his name. Just inside an ancient Tibetan entry door of his home is a row of theater seats where guests can sit and boot up. The facing wall is covered with his drawings, all ski-related. I smiled, I laughed, and nodded my head in agreement as I viewed them. Miller is a master of insight into human frailties and drama. This same perception makes his ski movies so highly regarded. His Montana home, of course, is a skier’s delight; a groomed ski run flows from the front entry door.

My first interview with Warren came almost accidentally. He and Helena native and extreme skier, Scot Schmidt, were giving an interview with another publication.  Warren allowed me join in. I had asked Warren and Scot to autograph an antique wood ski, which I just happened to carry in the ski box on top the car. I had a fine felt tip pen, but we needed one with a medium tip to do the signatures. So there at an interview with dozens of media, marketing, and famous celebrity skiers, only one person had a pen (or would give one up). Produced from a pocket inside his Norwegian ski sweater, Warren had in hand the perfect tool for signing a ski. He had done this before many times.

Scot Schmidt and Warren go back quite aways. Scot skied in over a dozen of his movies from the mid-1980s and 90s. Though Scot may not have invented “extreme skiing,” the exposure he received from skiing in the Warren Miller Movies propelled him to stardom in the ski world. So often was the term “extreme skiing” used in the movies to describe Scot’s daring ski descents that the usage of the term “extreme” became mainstream in the ski world.

I asked Warren after the interview if I could possibly get him to pose in front of the Warren Miller Lodge, holding the old wood ski, and he graciously agreed. I got him positioned just so, then moved away to take the shot. I was still in my ski boots and trying to kneel down to shoot upward, when I noticed Warren watching me. I mentioned how tough it was getting for me to kneel in ski boots.  He joked, “Wait until you try to stand up.”

On another occasion, I had been invited to ski with Warren and his friends. Among the friends that skied with us that day was a famous mountain climber, Bob Craig. Bob, I learned, pioneered mountains like K2 and other Himalayan giants, but most impressive was that he was now 84 years old and was skiing with his 82-year-old buddy, Warren Miller. I let them ski ahead of me, thinking they would soon have to stop, and I could get a few photos of them hanging on their poles. I soon realized that they were not pulling over and that they skied really fast. I needed to get ahead of them to get photographs before they got to bottom and saw an opportunity. I shot past Warren, knowing he doesn’t like people passing him at fast speeds. I hoped when he passed me down the slope that he would forgive me as a fellow photographer.

Finally near the bottom of the run the whole group we were skiing with met up. I skied in last, just as the others where starting down again. Warren and Bob were talking about their combined age and laughing at the fact that it was 166 years. Then just before they shoved off, Warren turned to me and said, “This time, you go first and get set up if you plan to photograph.”

Warren no longer produces or narrates the annual movies, but his name alone is widely recognized.  A huge number of fans collect the old videos, and many are still available to rent. They are classic originals as is the producer and narrator, Warren Miller. To find Warren Miller merchandise, visit www.warrenmiller.net; you may contact Warren by writing [email protected].

~ Lonnie Ball is the owner/operator of Montana Powder Guides.  He has forty-plus years ski-guiding experience with movies, commercials, documentaries, news media, and freelance photography.  Lonnie has worked on three Warren Miller Movies since 1990 as a guide, location scout, avalanche professional, and safety consultant. He is a Montana native and lives in the mountains north of Bozeman.