Salt Lake City, UT – Thousands will file into Salt Lake City’s Abravenel Hall tonight for an annual rite commemorating the ski season about to begin: the screening of yet another Warren Miller movie.
Ticket to Ride, the Boulder, Colo.-based production company’s 64th film, will take filmgoers on a journey with some of the world’s best skiers and snowboarders. As in recent years, the film’s world premiere will take place in Salt Lake City before heading out on a tour with screenings across North America and the globe.
Attendees will witness big lines in Alaska, Montana’s Big Sky Country and the exotic winter playgrounds of Kazakhstan, Iceland and Greenland. The trams and trains in Switzerland will climb to Mt. Eiger, as the fishing boats in Norway carry viewers to the islands of Ålesund.
World-class athletes featured in the film include World Cup champions and Olympians Seth Wescott, Ted Ligety and Julia Mancuso, plus legendary ski mountaineers like Chris Davenport, and freeskiers Colby James West and Sean Pettit. Park and pipe veteran Gretchen Bleiler throws down in Aspen proving “girls can look like girls and still rip.” An all-female cast of Jess McMillan, Julia Mancuso and Sierra Quitiquit explore the expansive terrain that is Iceland’s Troll Peninsula, and a snowboard segment in Valdez brings two legends, Seth Wescott and Rob Kingwill, together for a rowdy big mountain adventure.
“This year, Warren Miller has offset the emissions impact from filming Ticket to Ride which is a small step toward creating a sustainable business for the future,” said Max Bervy, Managing Director, discussing an achievement that represents a continuation and expansion of a partnership with the Climate Reality Project that began over a year ago to engage winter sports enthusiasts and communities to take action on climate change. “As a stakeholder in winter, Warren Miller Entertainment is committed to using our voice in the winter sports community to help preserve our winters. Continuing our 64-year legacy, we look to make films that excite and inspire skiers and riders worldwide, and we must work with and impassion our audience to pass down the tradition and make positive changes for generations to come.”
“We are very excited about what we have already been able to accomplish through our partnership with Warren Miller Entertainment,” said Al Gore, Chairman of The Climate Reality Project. “Featuring the climate change impacts on the snow cover in the mountains of Greenland and achieving one hundred percent carbon offset for the film’s production are important steps toward helping people understand the climate crisis and what it means for winter sports. Anyone who spends time on a ski slope or in the backcountry can see the changes in weather patterns and ecology, which have major impacts on all our outdoor activities. Climate change is a reality that is here, today. And today is the time to reduce the global warming pollution that is causing it.”
Climate Ambassadors from the Climate Reality Project and Warren Miller Entertainment Athlete Team – including Doug Stoup, Julian Carr, Kaylin Richardson, Michelle Parker and Chris Anthony– are leading the conversation on climate change within the snow sports community.
“As a skier, climate change is more tangible to me than most people,” said Kaylin Richardson, professional skier and I Am Pro Snow Climate Ambassador. “All the numbers and science that irrevocably point to the carbon culprit manifest on our mountains and through our snowfall more dramatically than most anywhere else. I have seen the devastation and want to put an end to the apathy. It’s not just about protecting my personal happy place, it’s about protecting it for all those future lovers of the mountains.”
Warren Miller’s Ticket to Ride will premiere in Salt Lake City tonight, with shows sweeping the nation October to December. New screenings will be coming to Texas, Montana and more this fall. For more information and the full schedule of shows, go to www.warrenmiller.com. Film attendees have a chance to win ski vacations, heli trips, prizes and gear, plus meet the athletes and get access to special resort and retail savings from Warren Miller partners.