The Blizzard of AAHHH's

Are you kidding me? If you are into skiing or ski movies at all, no matter how old school or new school, you can't say this movie isn't awesome. This one started it all. Clearly, there were other movies before it, but this was the first that really gave us that look into what alternative/extreme skiing could and would become. So many of us remember watching this with wide eyes and realizing that's all we wanted in life was to ski like Glen Plake or Scott Schmidt. I'll never forget the first time I heard that narration, "Glen Plake...Ultimate Extreme Skiier...Original BAD BOY." Man, I'm going to go pull out the old VHS and watch it again. Catch ya on the slopes!

I first saw this when skiing in Italy back in the day. They had it on in one of the bars there.

I was gobsmacked and bought the Vhs as soon as I got home.

This film is just the best ski film ever. Everything works, the music the skiing and the awesome scenery.

I've seen it dozens of times and never get bored, Hattrup, Plake and Schmidt gel so well together.

I've recently bought the ski film Steep as Ahhs came as a bonus disc. As it turns out both are awesome ski movies but I still prefer Blizzard overall.

On the box, it says:

"The Blizzard of Aahhh's is a rockumentary style look at the known and unknown heroes of the ski world. Featuring cliff-jumper Scot Schmidt, extreme skier / bad boy Glen Plake and precision skier Mike Hattrup, this movie contains some of the best ski action ever filmed from the premier extreme skiing destinations in the world - from France's Chamonix valley to the awe inspiring Squaw Valley in in California."

I think that the "rockumentary" style of the film together with the fervent narration, informative background footage and of course those exhilarating extreme skiing sequences provide just the right mix of engaging entertainment, spectacle and thrill to propels "Blizzard of Aahhh's" into the highground of ski movie history.

This film to skiing is what Fleetwood Macs Rumour's is to music. Top draw, the best.

For '88 added Scott Schmidt to Mike Hattrup and Glen Plakes awesome skiing talents and then decamped to Chamonix. ZTT were back with music from Frankie, ACT, Nastyrox INC and Propaganda. I even recognised a tiny bit of Dire Straits on the a radio broadcast.

Everything just fitted in this movie. The speed skiing segment at the start, the introductions that were just the right length, the loose story line, the badness of Glen Plake, the sillyness of Cookie the Swede, the little interviews with Mike, Scott and Glen. It all just hit the sweet spot.

Forget Warren Miller or Willie Bogner, this is where the real action is. Only Maltese Flamingo comes close, and that was like a demo version of Ahhs.

So you owe to your self to go and search for Ahhs, in what ever way you can find them...

And even if you don't ski, give it a look, the music and scenery are outstanding.

Simply put, when it comes to ski movies "The Blizzard of Aahhs" is the gold standard against which all other ski movies are measured. The characters, skiing, locations, narration, camera shots and sound track are all superbly done. When I was in the Army I lived in Europe and me and my ski buddies skied at many of the locations where they shot this movie. Chamonix is outrageous! I've looked down some of the chutes they ski down in the movie, and believe me when I say that those chutes are MUCH steeper in person than they appear on film. Plake, Schmidt and Hattrup took their lives into their own hands when they dropped into them... if you fall - you die, period. This movie will make you dream of skiing while you sleep. I give it ELEVEN thumbs up and SIX stars.