
Warren Miller, Ski Bum Turned Filmmaker, Dies at 93 - hprotagonist
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/25/obituaries/warren-miller-ski-bum-turned-filmmaker-is-dead-at-93.html
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peterlk
Warren Miller inspired a lot of skiers. Every time I went to one of the movies
while I was growing up, I learned to have a better time on the slopes. In my
mind, the thing that made the movies so compelling wasn't pushing the edges of
skiing in a badass way, it was pushing the edges of skiing in a fun/silly way.

For example: [https://youtu.be/zD5RhNBmc_U](https://youtu.be/zD5RhNBmc_U)

My brother and I used to have spinning competitions down hills. We also used
to do slope breakdancing, which is way less cool than it sounds. Anyways, I'm
grateful to Warren Miller for inspiring me to be silly on the slopes. I had a
better time because of the films that he made.

~~~
dmix
Was skiing more fun or laid back in the 70-80s? It seems that way from most of
the videos I watch. Lots of comments on the Warren films I watched are saying
it's gotten far too serious these days and people aren't letting go and having
fun on the slopes (besides maybe the 'extreme' guys doing jumps but even they
are working hard on a skill)... I'm not much of a skier, but I got that
impression myself the few times I went.

Or is this just the usual nostalgic everything-was-better-in-the-past stuff?

~~~
briankelly
Definitely not, here's a classic example of the mainstream skier attitude of
the time: [https://youtu.be/XPZDEWBzneY](https://youtu.be/XPZDEWBzneY)

I think the people like Warren were more or less revolting against the culture
of the time. Nowadays it's just the norm - most people aren't really wound up
even if they're mostly focusing on improving their skills. Maybe there are
fewer people dialing goof to the max but in my experience most young skiers
and boarders drink and smoke on the slopes - that sort of thing. Also there's
movies like G.N.A.R. that are recent.

~~~
ghaff
Snowboards were definitely controversial when they came out. A lot of it was
probably "Get off my lawn" driven by the fact that snowboarders tended to be
younger and more aggressive. So people didn't really like them although the
same snowboarders running over their skis would have been doing it no matter
what they had strapped to their feet. But people sort of justified their
attitude with claims that snowboarders scraped the snow off the slopes,
couldn't really see where they were going, etc.

In the US there's only one major and one smaller area that don't allow
snowboards today. I didn't realize it but there was a lawsuit against one of
the areas a couple years back but they won and still don't allow snowboards.

~~~
gumby
There was definitely a "get off my lawn" aspect to it but the thing that
really led to acceptance was the dire economics of ski resorts: they _needed_
boarders because the number of skiiers wasn't growing, and they were aging
out.

Sad statistic: of people who put on skis for the first time (and remember
first timers get free tickets and equipment at most locations in the US): only
25% of them ever put skis on a second time!

~~~
ghaff
As snowboarding grew in popularity it just wasn't feasible for the vast
majority of ski areas to continue disallowing them even if many skiers would
have preferred they did so. The situation was actually worse as just the
percentage of snowboarders; a mixed family or group of friends aren't going to
go somewhere that one of their folks couldn't board at.

Interestingly the percentage of boarders is down a bit though still
significant.

>Sad statistic: of people who put on skis for the first time (and remember
first timers get free tickets and equipment at most locations in the US): only
25% of them ever put skis on a second time!

Not really surprising. Equipment is much better than it was when I learned but
I nonetheless remember skiing having a fairly painful learning curve for me.
I'm sure a lot of people go out, they don't really have the right clothing,
and they fall a lot, get cold, get wet, and really just don't have a good
time. I'm sure it's true for a lot of other sports as well.

------
ghaff
I still remember one of his older films, I think it was Snowonder that is
pretty funny to look back at:

1\. There's an aerial shot of pre-eruption Mount St. Helens with commentary of
the effect of "Here's a dormant volcano of the Cascades, at least we hope it's
dormant."

2\. In many of his films, there's a sequence with some kind of oddball snow
contraption: monoskis, bikes with fat studded tires, etc. In this film, it was
this weird thing called a snowboard.

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cavanasm
I grew up watching Warren Miller movies, but wasn't aware of some of the
recent drama the article brings up. It's nice to hear that in that copyright
issue he stepped in. I sort of imagined him as the kind of person who would
take responsibility like that, and I'm glad that's apparently not too far from
reality.

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abalos
I had the opportunity to sit down with Warren Miller and a few others 7 or 8
years ago for dinner. He was an all-around nice guy. Sad to see him go, but at
93 he definitely lived a full life.

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chrisbennet
As a friend of mine said when I told him the news:

"He had a good run."

RIP Warren, you made a positive difference in the universe.

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SamPutnam
_In a 2008 speech, Mr. Miller summed up with uncharacteristic seriousness what
had led him - as well as ski bums and heads of state and corporations - to
head for the mountains.

"It's our search for freedom," he said. "It's what it's all about - man's
instinctive search for freedom."_

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mdb333
bummer... I grew up watching ski movies and listening to my grandfathers
stories about hanging out and filming with Warren and other pioneers of skiing
way back in the day up at Cannon mtn and elsewhere.

Definitely a legend who adapted right alongside with the sport!

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hprotagonist
Combined with the loss of Bruce Brown recently
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15911673](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15911673)),
it feels like a generation's going.

To be frank, though, I thought both had died years ago.

~~~
aphextron
I’ve been thinking about this alot too lately. It seems as if the entire 20th
century has faded away before our eyes over the last couple years. That whole
world will soon be nothing but history books.

~~~
TaylorAlexander
More than just books about us, we leave the world with all we left behind.
Warren Miller is with us in his films, and others stay with us too even after
their bodies have decayed.

I’ve realized in recent years that while I don’t think there is a physical
soul of any kind, the soul of an individual is the collective influence they
had. Much of that lives on long after the person’s light leaves this world.
That lasting influence is now, to me, the soul of the individual.

------
lawnchair_larry
Does not seem like this is relevant to hackernews

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appleflaxen
I come to HN to avoid pop culture, including celebrities and their obituaries.

If a person is a notable technologist I think it's of interest, but I would
ask the community (who is obviously upvoting these celebrity death posts: I'm
in the minority here) whether they really think this is important content for
HN.

~~~
TYPE_FASTER
I'd say Warren Miller has spent the last 50 years using technology to create a
new media audience. He was the precursor to companies like Matchstick
Productions, Teton Gravity Research, and Red Bull Media House.

Watching his movies as a kid was the reason I started putting a video camera
on my helmet and video camera in my backpack before GoPro was created.

WME wasn't really pop culture, and I wouldn't categorize Warren Miller as a
celebrity. He did use technology to create a life-style business in a category
that didn't exist before, which is why I think the post belongs here.

