Living in a ski town, it’s easy to relate to the phenomenon of ski movie fever. After graduating from the University of Colorado Boulder many moons ago, I moved to Aspen for what was supposed to be a single winter, but that “proverbial” season quickly turned into three. When my parents insisted on a career move, my friend Colleen and I instead informed them — to their chagrin — that we were moving to Chamonix, France, to ski.
Living in the Alps in the late 1990s was an eye-opening experience, an era when Teton Gravity Research was often filming in the region and magazines like Freeze, Powder and Freeskier dominated the culture. The professional skiers of that time were our peers there, and we’d ski together, though they were next level.
Aspen Film’s Radical Wednesdays, held throughout March at the Isis Theatre, harkens back to that high-energy era. Based on the initial screenings, the midweek community gathering for classic films and retro gear remains a staple of local culture. Aspen native Clay Dahlman continues the tradition from the past few years as the host, bringing his signature storytelling to the stage.