Some nice footage of steep-skiing technique in the new movie The Edge of Never.

Most of it is set in Chamonix, though it’s mainly a “coming of age” story about a Canadian boy. But there are some famous American + French steeps skiers in it—even though I didn’t fully buy into the boy’s story, I found it engaging just to hear some very experienced adult steep-skiers talk about the skiing actions and their lives—and doing some steep skiing.
(made me wish for a second movie with lots more talking + skiing by Anselme Baud)

One of the sub-plots of the movies is the teenage kid learning techniques for serious steep-skiing. It is notable that the movie includes some sustained sequences of the “boring” aspect of skiing steeps: making lots of short controlled turns in a tight place. To me it was interesting to see that Glen Plake (at least when he skis steeps around Chamonix) has adopted more of a “French” style of planting his poles.

Also useful for seeing the procedures that one Chamonix guide uses for getting inexperienced athletic clients down steep couloirs. (though the teenage main character of the movie was already a brilliant skier, just hadn’t done serious steeps before).

(I find it amusing to see the glorification of the Poubelle couloir by visiting Americans—but the snow conditions that day made it excellent for filming steep-skiing technique)

Ken