Winter is Here, All.I.Can Sneak Peak, Eric Hjorleifson and 30 Thoughts

Winter is in full flow now. Funny how it works because summer’s good weather has finally arrived but as far as the industry is concerned, it’s winter. The big titles have dropped their new magazines and most world premiers for movies will be held in the next month. That means from now on it’s just a steady stream of winter focused events and news and that vacation is over for us at Biglines.com. Look for increased content posts soon. With that in mind here’s my first 30 thoughts blog for winter 2011/12.

1. I got a sneek peak at the All.I.Can movie intro this week. I was lucky enough to show up at the Sherpas Cinema office during a slight lull in the action and Eric Crosland treated me with a peep at the intro, as it stood at that moment. It was awesome. Not that I was surprised. In fact, I don’t know if I’ve ever had such high expectations for a movie project. However, if the flick is as good as the intro, then we’re in for a treat. Re-watch the teaser here to see re-acquaint yourself with how good this movie might be. http://biglines.com/video/allican-official-teaser

   Sherpa Cinema: office

2. [tiny spoiler alert] yanked. Sorry. I was asked to take this part down.
   

    

3. I feel pretty lucky to have gotten that sneek peak. I’m not sure if anyone else has even gotten that much. I must have just showed up just at the right time, when they were taking a break. I think I could have been shown more too but the computer was bogging and had to be restarted. Indecently, Final Cut Pro 10 does not seem to be hitting a home run with the Sherpa crew so you might want to do your research if you’re thinking about buying it. Just cause it’s new doesn’t mean it’s better.

   Sherpas: editing

4. I think there’s a chance that All.I.Can could be one of the best ski movies ever made. The real determining factor will be measuring the impact beyond the ski world. I’m pretty sure every skier will have their melon [mind] blown. But I think there’s a good chance this movie could transcend skiing and capture a larger mainstream market of people who care about the environment. It will be interesting to see how far the appeal will go.

    

5. Arctyerx should give a free download of All.I.Can to anyone who spends over $800 on product this fall. That’d be a killer incentive and it’d drive traffic to their site. http://www.arcteryx.com/?EN

    

6. I hope All.I.Can gets the mainstream press it deserves. The boys are going to deserve to be on late night TV in the States and beyond. I also think this movie will open up for major world conferences on the environment. I don’t even think the Sherpas know how far it’s going to take them. Hopefully word of mouth does the trick because I don’t think any PR agencies in LA and NYC are in the budget. http://www.sherpascinema.com/

    

7. I asked Eric Crosland about his expectations and goals for the movie and his response is that he doesn’t think about that stuff. He’s just trying to make the best movie he can think of and whatever happens, happens. I believed him; the Sherpas are true artists.

    

8. Ezra Pound said that ‘artists are the antennae of the race,’ and I think that I’d add that film makers are the prophets of our cultures. Even just watching the intro for All.I.Can reminded me of how lucky I am to be a skier. It’s a special thing to walk on glaciers and play in snow. It’s something most of the world’s population has no clue about and this movie might give people new insight about what we sometimes take for granted.

    

9. Forget the philosophizing, there’s going to be BIG PARTY! If you can make it to Whistler on September 23rd, there will be an all-day environmental symposium in the convention centre and the final act will be the world premier of All.I.Can. It’s going to be an awesome night. Most of the athletes in the movie will be in attendance, as will sponsors and the filmmakers themselves. The event is turning out to be so big that Watermark Communications, the groups that throws the TWSSF, will be managing the day. It’s going to be a good time.

   All.I.Can World Premier: poster

10. Of course, even if you can’t make the Whistler show, you can still see All.I.Can. There will be a 50+ city tour throughout the fall. All info for tour dates is here: http://sherpascinema.com/tour

    Malcolm Sangster: Organizing the tour is just one of his many jobs

11. It’s pretty insane how much work it is to make a movie. The blood sweat and tears poured into All.I.Can is a testament to all the people that have believed in the project and made it happen. I had dinner with Eric Hjorleifson this week and listening to his story of getting the cable cam shots at Island Lake Catskiing sounded like just plain hard work. It’s not all glam being a pro.

     

12. I also got a sneek peak at a bunch of gear that Eric is now helping design. I have never met anybody who is as dialed in with his gear as Eric is. It’s pretty cool to see him starting to make an impact. I think this is only the start. Check out his knee re-hab machine work station; it’s genius.

    Eric Hjorleifson re-habbing his knee.: Killer work station

13. Eric showed me a Go Pro video shot from ‘the best line he’s ever skied’ out by Mt. Meager this year. It was burly. A wildly, steep spine line to an open face and then another big feature below. He never said so but I suspect it was a first descent.

     

14. The shot was slightly blown out (too white) because of the brightness of the day but luckily he was also wearing a different Sony helmet cam that the MSP boys gave him. I’m pretty sure we’ll see that shot in their new movie.

     

15. What’s with Go Pro and blown out shots in bright conditions? They need a filter system in a big way to tone down the brightness. It’s really easy to get useless shots on too bright a day with a Go Pro. http://gopro.com/

     

16. Speaking of useless Go Pro shots. I wonder how much completely lame Go Pro footage there is on the net? YouTube and Vimeo probably have whole server farms packed full of brutal POV shots. Humans are vain. http://vimeo.com/3939059

     

17. Anyone ever tried Gecko Skins? http://www.gecko.co.at/Gecko_Home_ENG.html Hjorleifson is now using these non-glue skins and they seem to be working really well. They are lighter and easier to manage than glue skins. Of course Eric has already mod’d the back strap with some stretch fabric the Arcteryx designers gave him but overall these skins seem pretty cool. I want a pair.

     

18. Also curious if anyone has feedback on QuiverKillers? Another product recommended by Eric. It sure seems to make sense to have inserts in your skis that will allow for multiple binding set ups. http://www.quiverkiller.com/ Two pairs of skis and one pair of bindings can become the norm for traveling if using this product. That or one pair of skis and 2 pairs of bindings. The era of old plastic helio coils is over.

     

19. Being able to quickly put bindings on a ski and not being worried about how many times you take them on and off can give rise for a whole different kind of quiver program. Seems to make sense. There are so many people that don’t tour very much or who can only afford one pair of skis and these inserts would really serve them well.

     

20. Listening to Eric talk about his skis just makes you want to get them. 4Front should really shoot some video of him explaining why symmetrical rocker and sidecut is a revolution. I didn’t quite get it till he picked his skis out of the closet and showed me how they match (side of ski to base of ski). Then when he goes on to describe how they turn it all kind of clicked. I really want to try the Renegades.  http://www.4frnt.com/skis/renegade

     

21. I remember when Eric used to just doodle on everything. Now he’s a legitiate artist. The new graphics for the EHP are hanging on his wall and the mock ups of the ski look rad.

     

22. The new mags are out and I think Powder has killed it again. Great photos, good selection of articles and all relevant content. The Kip Garre piece by Derek Taylor was great but sad too. Here’s a picture of Dana Flahr showing his mom the massive poster of himself in this month’s issue. I used to love mag issues with big posters. I had them all over my walls when I was a kid. http://www.powdermag.com/

    Dana Flahr and his mom: big poster in Sept. 2011 Powder mag

23. One more point about Eric. He's hosting a Freeride Touring camp at Golden Alpine Holidays this December. This would be a treat to be on. Sign up if you can. http://www.goldenalpineholidays.com/community/Blog/Freeride-Ski-Touring-Camps.html

    

24. Golden Alpine Holidays will be featured yet again in the new MSP movie. Eric says it'll be the best segment yet. http://skimovie.com/

     

25. Mike Douglas is a brave man. He’s also smart and organized. These are the contributing factors to his success. He’s not sitting on his laurels however, he’s going to continue to push the limits. He and Whistler Blackcomb have something cooking that will certainly be interesting for the start of this season. Look for that in November. http://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/index.htm

     

26. Speaking of Douglas, he just got back from Portillio where they claimed they had the deepest day in 10 years. Must be nice. http://twitter.com/#!/MikeDski

     

27. For me, I have to be content training on my mountain bike and waiting for snow. It was Theodore Roosevelt who said, “do what you can, with what you have, where you are,”  I’m trying to live those words right now.

     

28. Want to go to IF3? Here’s a contest that can make it happen. http://biglines.com/video/win-trip-and-vip-treatment-2-if3-mtl Whistler needs more corners and more graffiti!

     

29. There’s a couple of heli/cat ops with cool grassroots movie teasers this month. Island Lake Catskiing and Mica Heli have one from the Sherpas: http://biglines.com/video/teaser-island-lake-catskiing-and-mica-heliskiing Great Canadian Heli Skiing also put one out by Jordan Manley and Jamie Bond. http://biglines.com/video/pow-leah-evans-and-treadway-brothers-rip-pow-great-canadian-heli-skiing

     

30. Don’t watch those if you’re really jonsing for pow. They won’t help. Anyone had a ski dream yet? I know I have. I’m excited for the upcoming season. They’re calling for La Nina again so start making plans and follow through! http://ktwop.wordpress.com/2011/02/05/la-nina-will-last-well-into-2011-and-could-extend-into-2012/