Ski Season Fever

OGDEN -- It's that time of year again. The recent snow in the mountains above Ogden has skiers and snowboarders lusting for their first chance to carve the white stuff.

In the meantime, Warren Miller has them covered with a substitute for skiing: The 58th annual ski film titled "Playground." This feature film showcases destinations around the globe from Japan, Sweden, Alaska, Dubai and the powder of Utah.

The narrator for the film, Olympic Gold Medalist Jonny Moseley, comments on Utah being the capital of skiing's global playground.

"If you were to assemble a United States of Playground, you'd need a place to locate your capital, a place where it's possible to wake up in summer and drive to winter," Moseley said in the film. "In short, you'd need Utah."

Scenes in the movie show mountain biking in Bryce Canyon, storms rolling into the Wasatch Mountains, powder snow falling and local skiers, such as Julian Carr, landing comfortably on his back in deep powder.

Carr, 27, of Cottonwood Heights, considers cliff jumping his ultimate connection to the mountains and he proves it in the film.

"I just like the whole mental approach to it," Carr said. "It's a full awareness, a calm awareness."

Carr credits his ability to jump large cliffs to the powder snow of Utah making the landings so soft.

"I'm able to do it because of Utah," Carr said. "It's one of the few places in the world that you can pursue cliff jumping."

Four years ago Carr broke his femur jumping cliffs, an experience he won't forget.

"Having been that hurt... it made me truly realize the consequences," Carr said. "It has allowed me to embrace the consequences."

After his accident Carr has cliff jumping down to a science:

Cliff Jumping 101 by Julian Carr

1. There must be a lot of fresh snow.

2. Probe the landing and make sure there are zero rocks.

3. Look at the sheerness of the cliff -- is it steep enough to clear?

4. Get up on the takeoff and check if you can get enough speed.

5. Jump

"Remember kids don't try this at home, unless you live in Utah," Moseley said in the film after a big cliff drop into the powder.

Carr is one of many local athletes featured in the Utah portion of the film. Rachael Burks was a classmate of Carr's at West High School. Ten years later they are sharing the screen in the film.

Burks is seen in the movie skiing Utah's powder on an epic day of filming.

"I don't think I've ever experienced snow like that," Burks said in the film. "I couldn't see anything. I couldn't breathe. I just had to trust that I wasn't going to hit anything."

Jamey Parks, 31 of Salt Lake City is also featured. Being in a ski film is much different than going out skiing with friends, according to Parks.

"When it comes time to film, you've got to do your job," Parks said. "We try to push it because that's the nature of the sport. It's very calculated. We can't do our jobs if we're hurt."

Utah is one of many locations featured in the film. Other destinations are similar to those featured in many other ski films, but one stands out. Dubai in the United Arab Emirates contains what Moseley calls in the film, "the single most unlikely ski resort in the world."

Inside the 6.5 million-square foot Mall of the Emirates is a ski resort. Skiers are seen walking through sand, the mall and eventually skiing inside the giant indoor slope of Ski Dubai.

The film will have three showings at Peery's Egyptian Theater in Ogden. Show times are at 3, 6 and 9 p.m. this Saturday. Tickets are available at the theater's ticket office at 2415 Washington Blvd., or by calling 395-3227.

Everyone attending Playground will receive a voucher to The Canyons ski resort good for one free lift ticket (some restrictions apply) and a coupon for $25 off a purchase of $100 or more from REI.