{"id":23658,"date":"2018-01-25T16:41:24","date_gmt":"2018-01-26T00:41:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=23658"},"modified":"2018-11-11T22:25:24","modified_gmt":"2018-11-12T06:25:24","slug":"warren-miller-forever-changed-the-world-of-skiing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/snowsports\/warren-miller-forever-changed-the-world-of-skiing","title":{"rendered":"Warren Miller Forever Changed the World of Skiing"},"content":{"rendered":"

The iconic ski filmmaker dies at home at the age of 93.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Generations of skiers grew up going to Warren Miller movies at the start of each winter season, and it became a rite of passage for skiers and their families. So when Miller died on Wednesday night, at home in Orcas Island, Washington, at the age of 93, according to a statement issued<\/a> by his family, the news impacted skiers of all ages.<\/p>\n

\u201cWarren essentially invented the action sports film,\u201d Todd Jones, co-founder of Teton Gravity Research, told the Co-op Journal. \u201cAt the bottom of it all, he was a true ski bum who set his life up with the sole intention of traveling the world and skiing. His impact on the genre of ski films will live in eternity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pro skiers weighed in on Miller\u2019s influence on their lives, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks, Warren. I wouldn\u2019t be on this chair, on these trips and on this career path if it wasn\u2019t for you near single-handedly making ski movies a worldwide phenomenon,\u201d pro skier Cody Townsend said on Instagram<\/a>. \u201cYour influence on skiing and skiers cannot be overstated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe started the ski movie industry and made it possible for a lot of us to become pro skiers,\u201d tweeted pro skier Grete Eliassen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Warren

Photo Courtesy: Warren Miller Co.<\/p><\/div>\n

Miller debuted his first ski movie, Deep and Light<\/em>, in 1950, with footage shot in places like Sun Valley and Mammoth, and he made 600 films of varying lengths since. Although he stopped working with his eponymous film company, Warren Miller Entertainment, in the early 2000s, his memorable and hilarious narration will forever be tied to ski movies. In his films, he used to say things like, \u201cThe best thing about skiing backward is you can see where you\u2019ve been.\u201d<\/p>\n

His films traveled to far-flung locales like Switzerland, New Zealand and Japan, whisking viewers along for the journey, but they also celebrated family-oriented skiing at homegrown ski hills around North America. In addition to being a Hollywood-born filmmaker, Miller was also a writer, a cartoonist, a World War II veteran and most of all, a dedicated and lifelong skier. \u201cOne day I was planning to get footage at Stowe, but it would not stop snowing, so I gave up and skied my brains out instead,\u201d Miller wrote in his 2016 autobiography, Freedom Found<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis impact on our sport is beyond measurement.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Miller had an inkling of his influence. \u201cToday, 65 years later, people occasionally stop to tell me how they grew up watching my ski films,\u201d he wrote in his book. \u201cThe ski season did not start until the local ski club or ski shop rented the latest film. \u2026 Looking back on what set my films apart, it was the emphasis on entertaining people that made all the difference, and that means making them laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was also among the first filmmakers to tour his movies to shops, theaters and schools around the country, essentially creating the modern-day ski movie tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cWarren invented the ski movie tour. He lived it. This was not a job. It was a passion that found him,\u201d said Chris Anthony, an athlete and emcee with Warren Miller Entertainment for the last 27 years. \u201cGenerations of families passed the tradition along. People changed their lives, moved and saw the world differently because of Warren. His impact on our sport is beyond measurement.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The iconic ski filmmaker dies at home at the age of 93. Generations of skiers grew up going to Warren Miller movies at the start of each winter season, and it became a rite of passage for skiers and their families. So when Miller died on Wednesday night, at home in Orcas Island, Washington, at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":23663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[727,697,59,473,364],"internal-tag":[1683],"class_list":["post-23658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-snowsports","tag-latest-posts","tag-outdoor-news","tag-ski","tag-skiing","tag-snowsports","internal-tag-pre-redirect-snowsports"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/snowsports\/warren-miller-forever-changed-the-world-of-skiing","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Warren Miller Forever Changed the World of Skiing","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/snowsports\/warren-miller-forever-changed-the-world-of-skiing","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/snowsports\/warren-miller-forever-changed-the-world-of-skiing"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/01\/WarrenMiller2017_Crop.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/01\/WarrenMiller2017_Crop.jpg?fit=3000%2C1200"},"articleSection":"Snowsports","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Flandreau"}],"creator":["Michelle Flandreau"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["latest posts","outdoor news","ski","skiing","snowsports"],"dateCreated":"2018-01-26T00:41:24Z","datePublished":"2018-01-26T00:41:24Z","dateModified":"2018-11-12T06:25:24Z"},"rendered":"