Snow of Tomorrow | Ski films between realism and activism

In the winter of 2001, we were sitting in front of the TV in my buddy's basement and the video recorder was showing the movie that, after a long search, we were finally able to play on the screen of the old tube TV: Propaganda by Poor Boyz Productions. It was the first ski movie I ever saw and heralded the future of our sport. JP Auclair, Tanner Hall, Sarah Burke, Candide Thovex and of course Jon Olsson showed us what the new twin tips were designed for. And why we loved skiing so much.

The focus of ski films such as Propaganda or later All.I.Can. or Claim was always on the skiing action. The steepest slopes were skied and the most extreme tricks were shown. Underpinned by booming music. An ode to skiing.

After more than 20 years, not only has the view of our sport changed, but so have the ski films. Everyone is now familiar with films that show great powder turns. Just like films that have a story to go with the action. Just think of Valhalla, Into the Mind or The Recruitment. Watching a few people skiing is often no longer enough these days. I have the feeling that we've seen too much already. I want more content. Food for thought. Something I can rack my brains over. Luckily, there are also filmmakers who see it that way, which is why we want to introduce you to two films today that deal with skiing on a meta level: Structure by Hanno Mackowitz and Vanishing Lines by Patagonia.

Structure - a ski track in the cultural landscape

Black and white shots. Soft music. Accompanied by the almost ethereal turns of Lorraine Huber through the deep snow of the Arlberg. It could almost look like a conventional ski movie. If Lorraine Huber wasn't skiing directly towards the ventilation shaft of the Arlberg tunnel, gliding underneath stretched power lines or climbing onto the roof of the newly built Flexenbahn, the connection between St. Anton am Arlberg and Lech. Alongside the gentle music, architecture theorist Dr. Peter Volgger talks about the tension between nature and cultural landscape - in which we as skiers move with every turn.

With Struktur, Mackowitz has created an arthouse film that doesn't hide anything, that doesn't paint the perfect natural picture that tourist destinations like to advertise to us. Everything here is real and the human intervention becomes even clearer with every swing of Lorraine Huber's camera through tons of concrete, kilometers of wire cables and striking lifts in a snow-covered mountain landscape. "The image of solitude and freedom, as the tourism industry likes to sell it, only works if you hide the existing infrastructure," explains the producer, "the challenge with this project was to present the man-made cultural landscape in an aesthetic, non-judgemental way."

The images themselves and, above all, Volgger's explanations make it clear once again that we are not in an untouched natural landscape in the Alps, but in a man-made cultural landscape. "These artificial landscapes are a reality and can be found wherever man sets foot," explains the architect. "Landscape, or the construction of landscape, always also means satisfying needs - the landscape is therefore an economy of desire and we try to satisfy this desire, at least temporarily."

While the film may seem like a 13-minute visual meditation, it is also thought-provoking. Nature, as we would like it to be, hardly exists in the Alps anymore. Ski resorts are a reflection of society's needs. And unfortunately, this was and still is the pursuit of more and more: more kilometers of slopes, more lifts, more passengers per minute.

Here is the film in full length:

Skiing in the cultural landscape

Hanno Mackowitz

Lorraine Huber in "Struktur"

Vanishing Lines

Happily, this attitude is changing. More and more is no longer important for many skiers and snowboarders. What is important is to protect the last remaining natural areas of the Alps and high mountain landscapes. This is also what Mitch Tölderer and Lena Stoffel want to show in their documentary Vanishing Lines.

While Struktur still shows the real landscape without judgment, Vanishing Lines turns the narrative around. The 20-minute documentary focuses on the expansion between the Pitztal and Ötztal glaciers. You probably all remember what it's all about: the so-called glacier marriage. The area around the Linker Fernerkogel is to be made accessible with three gondolas and a joint cable car center below the Braunschweiger Hütte. There would be 64 hectares of pistes on Karles-, Hangenden- and Mittelbergferner, including a reservoir and snowmaking facilities. Of this, 95 percent of the piste area would be on glaciers. The largest glacier ski area in the world is to be created as a result.

Jakob Falkner, Managing Director of Bergbahnen Sölden, tries to explain the project as follows: "I hope that we can build our project. Because it is a wonderful offer that customers are looking for. There have been studies with our customers for 15 years and there are always three things that stand out: Size of the ski resort, snow reliability and slopes."

But aren't there already enough slopes and ski resorts?

However, Lena Stoffel and Mitch Tölderer share this opinion and are therefore calling in Vanishing Lines together with the Austrian Alpine Association and other NGOs to speak out against the project and the further expansion of ski resorts. "Once destroyed, the unspoiled Alpine region will be lost forever: lost for nature, for us and for future generations. As part of the backcountry snow community, as a father and as a committed citizen, I will use my voice to campaign against the further expansion of ski resorts and for the preservation of our last natural mountain landscapes," explains Tölderer in the film.

The two are supported by Benjamin Stern, Department of Spatial Planning and Nature Conservation at the ÖAV, and Birgit Sattler, Professor at the Institute of Ecology at the University of Innsbruck, as well as Dr. Gerd Estermann from the Feldring citizens' initiative: "The film uses impressive images to show the contrast between natural wilderness and a high alpine landscape dominated by technical structures. The more our everyday life is organized and mechanized, the more our experiences are determined by virtual impressions, the stronger the longing for pristine nature grows. Our citizens' initiative is fighting to preserve it - also for future generations."

Here is the film in full length:

Realism becomes activism

Luckily, the glacier marriage project is currently on hold due to the pandemic. However, this does not mean that the project is off the table. Both films show us that it is important to first become aware of our reality in the ski resorts and then to stand up for it so that something fundamental can change in the prevailing status quo. We hope the two films can provide the necessary impetus.