Greg Stump’s ski pioneering began at an early age in 1969 when he joined the Junior Ski Masters program at Pleasant Mountain Ski Area in Bridgton, Maine. In 1970 at age nine he won his first competition at Pleasant Mountain and his prowess in this PSIA style technique competition led him to freestyle, a discipline that took off at Pleasant Mountain and around the United States in the seventies.
In 1978 Greg won the Junior National Championships at Copper Mountain, Colorado.
His freestyle prowess caught the eye of another ski pioneer in 1979, Ski magazine editor Doug Pfeiffer, which led him to an introduction to ski filmmaker Dick Barrymore whose films convinced Greg that he could make the greatest impact making ski films.
Before Stump extreme skiing was known to only a handful of skiers who skied beyond the boundaries of groomed runs at ski areas. Extreme skiing appeared in each of his films but in 1988 “Blizzard of Aahhh’s” considered by many to be the best ski film ever produced, brought Scot Schmidt, Glen Plake, and Mike Hattrup together on terrain in Squaw valley, CA and Chamonix, France that would terrify most skiers. They skied near-vertical chutes and dropped over improbable cliffs, all shot with great cinematic film angles. Greg had a unique personal narration culled from his radio background combined with rhythmically edited cinematography and sizzling soundtracks. The use of the latest music from the likes of Seal, Iggy Pop, Beastie Boys, Art of Noise and Frankie Goes to Hollywood added to the appeal for the younger set and his nationwide college tour filled auditoriums with skiers and non-skiers alike.
In 1999 Greg Stump was honored by Skiing Magazine as one of the twenty-five most influential people in skiing of all time, and named to the Maine Ski Hall of Fame in 2005. The US Ski History Association gave Greg a lifetime achievement for film in 2008. In 2019 Greg was inducted into the U.S. Ski Hall of Fame.
Skiing was not the only topic of Greg’s film making. From the very start of his career to the present, Greg produced, filmed and directed hundreds of commercials and music videos for national and international clients like Swatch Watch, Coors, Adidas, Salomon, Chapstick, Wrigley’s, United Airlines, Whistler Resort, Aspen, Colorado, and in 2000 a Disney Super-Bowl commercial starring skateboard legend, Tony Hawk. Greg’s music video and music documentary subjects include Willie Nelson, Lukas Nelson, Seal, Art of Noise, Merle Haggard, Neil Young, Ray Price, Los Lonely Boys, Dinosaur Jr., and The Beach Boys.
