A night at the pictures....The ultimate extreme ski movie "The Blizzard of Aahhh's" played in Chamonix last night as part of a series of mountain films. Filmed in 1988, this "cult classic" starred the legendary bad boy of skiing Glen Plake, who still sports a massive Mohawk hairstyle despite surely being around 50 years old by now.
When a friend of mine called to say that she was helping to organise the event, and that Mr Glen Plake would be a guest, I quickly realised this was an evening not to miss. Despite not having watched The Blizzard of Aahhh's for a few years now, it was surprising how most of the old corny voice over came flooding back....stirring up fond memories of my early years in the Alps!
The movie described as a "rockumentary", features loads of cliff jumps and powder skiing and the ski suits are classic 80's style. The difficulty of some of the narrow couloirs (some as steep as 5o degrees) on old school, long and skinny skis, makes the skiing even more impressive than it already is. The film also has a great soundtrack including Frankie goes to Hollywood, Act and Propoganda.
The Blizzard of Aahhh's and Glen Plake were an inspiration to me and many of my colleagues - it was brilliant to see the film again and have the privilege of meeting the man himself! If you haven't seen the film before try and borrow it from someone.....if you have seen the film before, watch it again!
No comments:
Post a Comment