Ski film wizard Greg Stump bows “Legends of Aahhh’s” at Edison Theatre for special show

Wizard of “Aahhh’s” … Greg Stump 

Let’s get one thing straight right now. Greg Stump isn’t your average ski filmmaker. With his background in commercials and music video, not to mention his history in radio, his films feature a signature style and relentlessly eye-popping footage, intricately laced with comedy and drama, all cut to a wholly original music and sound design.

Stump unleashed his award-winning, landmark ski film “Blizzard Of Aahhh’s” upon the world 25 years ago, earning him a Lifetime achievement award from International Ski History Association and the Maine State Ski Hall of Fame, not to mention being named one of the 25 most influential people in skiing by Skiing Magazine. Many regard “Blizzard” as the greatest ski film ever made.

After 15 years working the Hollywood scene directing commercials including Disney’s 2001 Tony Hawk Super Bowl spot and music videos for Willie Nelson, Seal, Art Of Noise, Dinosaur Jr., and The Beach Boys, Stump decided it was time to return to the Land of Aahhh’s, and a few years ago embarked on assembling what became “Legend of Aahhh’s.”

Stump will make a special guest appearance at two screenings of “Legends” in Mammoth Lakes at the Edison Theatre, March 29-30, at 7 p.m. nightly.

“It was cleansing process, like a master cleanse,” Stump said. “I’m an editor … I love to edit. I’m so fortunate I get to handle all this archival stuff, and I’m blessed to have a great studio, ClockWorks, at my home base in Victor, Idaho.”

This bookend version of “Aahhh’s” explores the history of the ski film and how these films influenced big mountain skiing and pop culture with the birth of the extreme sports movement following the release of “Blizzard of Aahhh’s” in 1988. The touchstone of that movement: in all likelihood it was Glen Plake and Scot Schmidt’s seminal appearance on NBC’s “Today” show, which first put “extreme” snow sports into the American cultural lexicon and is included in Stump’s film.

A San Diego native, Stump recalled that his father moved the family to Maine in the late ‘60s, when Stump was 8 years old. It was at Pleasant Mountain that skiing became part of his life. “Growing up in Maine, I was so into ballet skiing and my films are sort of choreographing skiing to music,” he described. And his process is a bit different than that of most ski moviemakers.

“I’m very into the music thing,” Stump explained, “and I sort of work backwards. I worked in a radio station in Maine, so I’m really into the sound and audio. On my first film, I cut the soundtrack together first on quarter-inch audio tape, transferred that to video and then pasted pictures to it.”

If his films have a sort of theatrical quality to them, there’s a reason for that as well. “My father, who’s retired now, was PhD in Theater History, and I grew up around musical theater. He was really good director, too. He did educational theater for 35 years. His job was to give the actors security in their way of speaking. I remember his last production was “Equus,” and he and the cast just killed it. I learned a lot from him.”

In 1979, Stump won the North American Freestyle Championships at Edelweiss Valley in Ontario. His freestyle prowess caught the eye of Ski magazine editor Doug Pfeiffer. He introduced Stump to Harry Leonard who featured him on revolving ski decks at his nationwide ski shows, which led to Stump meeting legendary ski filmmaker Dick Barrymore. Stump appeared in Barrymore’s “Vagabond Skiers.”

Stump’s new film is dedicated to the late Barrymore, who passed away in 2008.

Stump then went on to appear in a film by another ski movie titan, Warren Miller. His work with these two ski film pioneers convinced Stump that he could make ski films.

In 1983 Stump started making his own ski movies, including titles such as “The Droids” (1983), “Time Waits for Snowman” (1985), “Maltese Flamingo” (1986), “The Good, the Rad and the Gnarly” (1987) and “P-tex, Lies and Duct Tape” (1993), but from the outset, Stump incorporated a few key differences that make his films unique.

His soundtracks licensed the music of artists signed to ZTT records, owned by English rock producer Trevor Horn, an avid skier and ski movie fan, who fashioned hits for Yes, ABC, The Buggles, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Pet Shop Boys and Seal, among others.

Stump also coined his own narration style, and featured snowboarders in a skiing film, a revolutionary concept at the time.

Before Stump extreme skiing was known to only a handful of adventure seekers who skied beyond the groomers. In 1988, however, the stars aligned. “Blizzard of Aahhh’s” expertly and artfully captured Schmidt, Plake and Mike Hattrup skiing terrain that would terrify nearly all skiers.

The stylish “Legend” is a veritable “greatest hits” of skiing, a love letter to both the industry and art form, that traces the genre’s roots back to the first German ski films starring skier and later director Leni Riefenstahl in the late 1930s. Riefenstahl was later discredited because of her Nazi propaganda films, including “Triumph of the Will” (1935). 

“Legend” is chock full of interviews with master filmmakers such as Miller, Barrymore, Otto Lang, Roger Brown and John Jay, as well as snow wear impresario Klaus Obermeyer, former Breckenridge Marketing Director David Peri and even a clip from Mammoth Mountain legend Dave McCoy. Stump, however, also highlights the next generation of ski film artists, such as TGR Films founder Corey Gavitt and the crew from Matchstick Productions.

Vintage and classic archival ski clips of megastars Schmidt, Plake, Hattrup, Lynne Wieland and more propel the footage. And the soundtrack is equally as diverse, from the tribal- and blues-fueled rock of Lukas Nelson , son of Willie Nelson, and his band Promise of the Real, to jazzy piano (and a track from jazz legend Billie Holiday), and funk-filled hip-hop and atmospheric grooves from Fort Knox Five, Troubleman, Atomic Bonds, Liquid Stranger and more.

Even quotes from Charles Dickens and Salvador Dali make the cut. “Legend,” like its counterpart, is in a genre of its own. And Mammoth audiences will be among the first to see it. “I was in Mammoth a couple of years ago for an audience screening of the final cut, and that’s when I really got the sense that it was done,” he noted.

Does Stump think the Academy should have an Oscar for Outdoor Action Sports genre? “I bet there are a lot of people who want that, but I think Red Bull will have control of that one,” he quipped. “It’ll be the first sponsored category!”

The Edison Theatre is located at 100 College Parkway, adjacent to Cerro Coso College in Mammoth. Tickets are $12. Call 760.934.6592 or get them online at www.brownpapertickets.com.