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I watched STEEP ski movie during the weekend, and here comes the review. Steep is a ski movie I could watch again and again, and in fact, I have already watched it 10+ times since it was released. Steep is good. No, it’s VERY good. Why is it good? Read my STEEP ski movie review and you will know why. If you are looking to buy Steep ski movie Amazon currently seems to have the lowest price for the movie.

Like Yearbook, Steep is not a new ski movie. In fact it was released in 2007 but I have received a few emails from people asking if Steep is worth watching so I decided to watch it again and write a review. I hope you find this article helpful.

Let’s first take a look at what film critic Tom Keogh says about Steep ski movie:

“Thrilling and spectacular, Steep is a mesmerizing documentary in the Warren Miller mold about extreme skiing, but with more emphasis on the drive and psychology of the adrenaline-hooked athletes involved. A number of skiers are captured in archival and original footage braving the odds against surviving runs down astonishingly steep, dangerous slopes. Among the subjects is Bill Briggs, who climbed in 1971 to the top of Grand Teton in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and skied down, an unprecedented effort echoed by Europeans who later did the same thing down the French Alps in Chamonix. Doug Coombs, who twice won the World Extreme Skiing Championship, is also profiled and speaks honestly about the possibility of dying for the sake of living life to the fullest as a thrillseeker. Written and directed by Mark Obenhaus, a producer for several of the late Peter Jennings’ television news specials, Steep is visually gorgeous, and literally breathtaking whenever a skier is seen barely outracing an avalanche nipping at his heels. Steep attempts, somewhat, to get inside the heads of the pros who do this sort of thing, but it is hard for many of the subjects to articulate what they feel. It’s best just to be knocked out by their deeds and let the fantastic visuals in Steep speak for themselves.”

Steep ski movie in review

Steep is an interesting documentary of big mountain skiing, ranging from the early days to the present. It tells us why some daredevils take risks and ski avalanche-prone chutes and backcountry where so many experienced skiers have already lost their lives, and why it is so meaningful to them.

Steep ski movie starts in the early days of backcountry skiing, when Bill Briggs skied Grand Teton in Jackson Hole in 1971. What Briggs did was not just one awesome run, but he opened people eyes. Skiers around the world realized “yeah, we can actually find new adventures on the big mountains”. Bill Briggs has once said “if there is no risk, there is no adventure”, and that is so true.

Although Steep is a documentary of big mountain skiing and it was planned to include many other things such as Key Petersen skiing the run that killed his famous father, Trevor Petersen, it is mostly a documentary of one of the most influential skiers of all time, Doug Coombs. There are a lot of clips of Doug either skiing or talking, but I find it all interesting and good. Doug Coombs is my role model in skiing and I love watching him skiing and discussing mountain life. It’s very sad that Doug died in 2006.

What I find really weird or strange is that in Steep ski movie, Doug Coombs talks at length about the risks in the mountains. He even says that he most probably will die on the mountains, but he doesn’t know when it will happen. Only few weeks later it did happen. Doug Coombs fell off a cliff in La Grave in France and died immediately. It’s as if he foresaw his fate.

Steep ski movie points out all the legends of big mountain skiing

One thing I really like in Steep is that the film points out all the big names of big mountain skiing. In the movie you can see rare clips of the early pioneers, Patrick Vallencant and Anselme Baud, skiing very steep and gnarly mountain faces in Chamonix. The film also shows Jean-Marc Boivin and Pierre Tardivel, also very famous pioneers of European big mountain skiing.

As the movie continues to the 90s, more famous pioneers are presented. Eric Pehota and Trevor Petersen skied many first descents in Alaska, while the icon of the sport, Glen Plake, appeared in the legendary ski film The Blizzard of Aahs that opened the eyes of skiers around the world. “Extreme skiing” was born.

A couple of years later American freeskiers discovered the real paradise of backcountry skiing, Alaska. In Steep ski movie you can see a number of spectacular clips of heli-skiing in Alaska. Many famous skiers, such as Shane McConkey and Seth Morrison, appear in the movie. There are also few cool clips of Ingrid Backstrom, one of the raddest female freeskiers on the planet. She is an amazing girl who skis all the same peaks as the toughest male pro skiers.

Steep ski movie is done very well. Good direction, good editing, good music… Really nothing to complain about. I especially liked the camera angles and slow motion sequences. The skiing in Steep ski movie is sheer perfection. Incredible. In Steep ski movie you see lots of rare clips of big mountain skiing that you cannot easily find elsewhere.

If I should name one reason why you should watch Steep ski movie, it is that Steep gives a very good overview of big mountain skiing from the early days to today, and from early pioneers to the current icons of the sport. I have nothing to complain about. Steep ski movie is a must-see.