Writer/director Mark Obenhaus sketches the origins of extreme skiing and interviews some of the sport’s pioneers and current stars.

CRITIQUE

Steep is almost a very good movie. I had no idea the sport of extreme skiing (which involves skiing down sheer cliffs, craggy passes, and assorted other bits of dangerous terrain that any sane person would rightly avoid) even existed, so I found parts of this documentary fascinating (most likely because there’s not a chance I’ll ever involve myself in such an activity), but other parts of it left me disinterested.

The opening sequences, which focus on Bill Briggs and other pioneers of the sport, are perfunctory and uninvolving (watching Frenchman after Frenchman bunny-hop down a slope isn’t terribly exciting), and the last fifteen minutes, during which purist Andrew McLean takes the spotlight, seem tacked on (this despite featuring some of the movie’s most harrowing footage).

But the middle forty minutes--roughly half the running time--are great, and this section alone makes the movie well worth seeing.

This extended sequence focuses on several of the sport’s major players, including Glen Plake, Shane McConkey, Ingrid Backstrom, and Doug Coombs. Plake is the sort of guy you’d expect to be involved in this kind of thing; he spent a few of his formative years behind bars, once proudly flaunted a fierce neon-pink Mohawk, and sports a tan that would give George Hamilton pause.

Back in the late ‘80s he participated in the documentary The Blizzard of Aahs (footage from which is excerpted here), which helped popularize the sport in the States. McConkey made a name for himself by combining base jumping with skiing; any spot he can’t ski down he simply parachutes over. (Five bucks says he saw The Spy Who Loved Me at some point.)

Backstrom is the most famous chick (I feel justified in using that term because that’s the way she’s always referred to in the movie) to take up extreme skiing. That’s pretty much it as far as her life story goes (or as least as far as the movie takes it), but that’s good enough for me.

Coombs is best known for starting a ski tour business in Alaska; he, his wife and their coworkers would chopper skiers up into otherwise unreachable mountain passes, an enterprise that further popularized the sport. Sadly, Coombs died shortly after his participation in the movie came to an end, falling to his death while attempting to aid a friend who had also fallen while skiing (and too would later die).  

As you might expect, most of the interviewees come off as perhaps being a little touched in the head. There’s the standard talk about adrenaline rushes, cheating death, getting in touch with what life’s all about, etc. But Obenhaus chose his subjects well, picking people who, even if their thought processes seem a bit wonky, are likable and ingratiating. (Plake, who really should ask his mother if she ever met Sammy Hagar, is a right goofy chap, but damn if he doesn’t make it work.)

Some of the particulars of their stories are indescribably fascinating. For example, one of Coombs’s chopper pilots was a Vietnam vet named Chet Simmons; Simmons was shot down thirteen times during the war and zips through the peaks of Valdez, Alaska, as if he’s looking to give Charlie some payback.

Actually, there’s footage from one of Backstrom’s first filmed runs (aside from corporate sponsorship and endorsement deals, being filmed for various projects appears to be the way most of these individuals earn a living), which came shortly after she watched one of her friends hit the snow and rigidly tumble down a cliff. Face it--you go into this sort of thing hoping to see someone break a few bones, and the footage of this guy flipping ass-over-teakettle is very entertaining.  

There’s nothing probing or deep here, and at times the movie has an aimless, formless quality that makes it resemble one of those ESPN or Fox Sports docs that are used to kill time during rain delays, but on the whole Steep works. And all of the locations are, to put it mildly, scenic beyond belief. (It’s weird to think that much of the Alaska footage was shot in a city made famous by Exxon’s greatest blunder.)

Finally, the ski footage is uniformly stunning, offering a glimpse of a world that has somehow remained largely pristine and untouched. Even at its most unfocused, Steep remains a sheer joy to watch.

THE VIDEO

Most of the footage in the movie is a mixture of HD video (primarily the interviews) and Super 16 film (primarily the ski footage); as a result, the 1.78:1/1080p transfer is uneven. The HD footage is more than a little soft, although this is likely an intended stylistic choice. The Super 16 footage can look stunning (the combination of bright orange parkas and pristine blankets of snow makes for an eye-popping combination), although the blowup to 35mm exacerbates the grain in some shots.

Digital noise is noticeable in some of the wider vistas, but it’s nowhere near as bothersome as I had expected. Some vintage film and video footage is also included in the movie; the film footage is often soft, flat and grainy, while the video is dull and washed out. It’s not the knockout experience the subject matter would make one would hope for, but given the disparate media and sources, the video presentation is arguably the best that can be expected.

THE AUDIO

The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track (available in English only) favors the front channels, with the center doing most of the work. That’s not really a problem, as the mix consists largely of narration (provided here by Peter Krause, a perfect choice for the job) and comments from the interview subjects. The music does help open up the mix just a bit, at times even spreading to the surrounds.

A couple of discreet effects (the wash of helicopter rotors, whipping winds) also leak into the surrounds, but they’re not seamlessly mixed. Low end activity is so sparse as to be practically nonexistent. No other audio tracks are included; English, English SDH, and French subtitles are available.

THE EXTRAS

The commentary with director Mark Obenhaus and skiers Ingrid Backstrom and Andrew McClean is a bit too dry and laidback, but there is enough discussion of the filmmakers’ travails and the skiers’ past experiences to keep it mildly interesting.  

The Q&A with Obenhaus, Backstrom, and McClean (13 minutes) is videotaped footage of the participants at a question-and-answer session conducted after an early screening of the movie.

Shooting Steep (17 minutes) is a montage of behind-the-scenes photos and production video (more of the former than the latter). Obenhaus provides narration/commentary, explaining what’s happening in the photos/footage.

A stills montage (20 minutes) offers a collection of numerous production photos.

Closing out the extras is an interview with Doug Coombs (7 minutes), which is comprised of footage shot for but not included in the movie. (Given his fate, some of Coombs’s comments here could have given this footage an exploitative air had it been included.)

FINAL THOUGHTS

Fan and practitioners of extreme skiing (or skiing in general) will find much to enjoy here, but even those who have never even heard of the sport are likely to be entertained by Steep. This is by no means the definitive word on the sport, but it certainly makes a nice introduction.