Ghost Town Pow
Eastside local brings urban skiing to Bodie
On March 28, Truckee-based US Ski Team member Cody LaPlante collaborated with California State Parks, The Bodie Foundation, The California Film Commission, and his sponsor, Red Bull, to film “Winter Storm,” a short feature film of him skiing the streets of local ghost town Bodie.
The Sheet caught up with LaPlante after school this week. He had just returned from competing in the Junior World Freestyle Championships in Italy. At 15, he is the youngest member of the U.S Ski Team. He competes and trains often at Mammoth Mountain and hopes to qualify for the 2022 Olympics.
Early last month, LaPlante was looking at images of the Sierra covered in record snowpack and scouting places to film and ski. He came across Bodie, where he had previously camped with his family, and saw the town was completely covered in snow. “Doing interesting urban ski projects helps progress the sport… and I’d definitely never skied a ghost town before,” said LaPlante this week.
Matthew Green, Chief Ranger for the Sierra District of State Parks said his district gets over 100 requests annually from producers wanting to film on State land. “This one was a little out of the box for Bodie. We try to keep things within our mission, but after talking with Red Bull, we decided it would attract a younger audience to The Park [Bodie].” Ranger Joshua Heitzmann told Red Bull that, at a max of 17 feet, this winter saw the most snow he has ever seen in the park. “For Cody to be able to come out here and do this is very, very unique,” said Heitzmann.
