SKIING EVEREST To Have Its Boise Premiere at Boise Contemporary Theater

Boise Contemporary Theater will present the Boise Premiere of "Skiing Everest," the first feature-length documentary about the cutting edge sport of high altitude skiing, directed by Mike Marolt and Les Guthman. Showings will take place at BCT, 854 Fulton Street, in downtown Boise on January 6 at 8pm and January 7 at 2pm and 8pm. Tickets are $10; $7 for under 18, and are available online at BCTheater.org or by calling 331.9224 ext. 205.

Filmed by co-director Mike Marolt over ten years, "Skiing Everest" tells the story of a group of close friends, lead by Marolt and his twin brother Steve, who grew up in Aspen, Colorado, and went on to become the first Americans to ski from above 8,000 meters (26,247 ft.) when they skied from the summit of Shisha Pangma in Tibet in 2000, and then challenged the highest slopes in the world on Mt. Everest.

"It is hard to do anything at such altitudes," wrote Forbes adventure columnist Jim Clash, "where death lurks at every turn, let alone ski and survive to tell the tale."

For the Marolts, it was a natural progression from skiing the 14,000 ft. peaks in Colorado with their father, 1960 Olympic skier Max Marolt, to skiing the treacherous high slopes in Alaska and the world's highest volcanoes in South America?then ultimately taking on the great Himalayan peaks, including two expeditions to Everest?all without using supplemental oxygen, without employing sherpas to carry their gear or hiring guides to help them up the peaks.
Guthman, who co-produced, wrote and edited the film, and produced three of the "Top 20 Adventure Films of All Time," according to Men's Journal magazine, was drawn to the Marolts' story. "The reason I decided to make 'Skiing Everest' with Mike," he said, "was my deepest respect for the skiers' approach to these expeditions, which are magnificent human adventures in the purest sense. These guys remind us of what adventure really is in an era when the word and the concept have become cheap commodities.

"Skiing Everest" follows the Marolts and their childhood friends Jim Gile and John Calhoun, who was an Olympic cross-country skier, on adventures in what many people consider the toughest physical challenge on earth?climbing and skiing in the "Death Zone" without using bottled oxygen. At the top of the world, they lock into their skis and challenge the most dangerous slopes in the world?under weather conditions that are as perilous as the thin air, hidden crevasses and 10,000 ft. sheer faces that drop into Nepal and Tibet far below.

The film also tells the history of high altitude skiing, dating back to the 1930s, and includes interviews with Hans Kammerlander, who was the first to ski from the summit of Everest; Laura Bakos, the first woman to ski from the summit of an 8,000 meter peak; and Chris Davenport, the two-time world extreme champion, who is an avid ski mountaineer as well.

"Skiing Everest" is a film that takes adventure to a new level, but it also is the story of a tight-knit family who originally came to the mining town of Aspen in 1904's and the twin sons of Aspen's first Olympic skier, whose passion was to push the limits of their father's sport by taking it to its last frontier: The top of the world.

CREDITS

Written by Les Guthman

Directed by Mike Marolt and Les Guthman

Produced by Mike Marolt,

Les Guthman and Kenny Fields

Director of Photography, Mike Marolt

Music by Richard Horowitz

Edited by Les Guthman

Executive Producer, Jeanne Andlinger

Executive Producer, Jack Jacobs

A Production of Montezuma Basin Productions, XPLR Productions and West Post Digital.

Running Time: 82 Minutes

View the "Skiing Everest" Trailer on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N3v32z4NUM

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