Hans Gmoser

The film features a complex tale of eight ski instructors and racers travelint to the newly built Fairy Meadow hut in the northern Selkirks, interwoven with the sotry of their professional lives on the ski slopes. The stars of the film are Hans Gmoser’s old gang: Mike Wiegele, Scott Henderson, Jim McConkey and his wife, Glenn, Lorne McFadgen, Oake O’Connor, Rob and Linda Bockock and Kiwi Gallagher. The sequeences of the eight ski pros all dancing down the slope while the wind whips up snow plumes in the sunlight are magical. In this film, there is none of Gmoser’s philosophy, it is just good entertainment and eye candy for skiers.

In 1967, to mark Canada’s Centennial Year, the Alpine Club of Canada and the Yukon Government undertook a mountain climbing expedition in the St. Elias Mountains of the Yukon Territory. The Yukon Alpine Centennial Expedition involved more than 250 climbers and was the most extensive mountaineering expedition ever to take place anywhere in the world. This video captures the suspense, challenge and breath taking beauty of the area with members of the expedition recounting the climbs of 50 years ago.

Hans Gmoser's first film. It shows scenes of ski and climbing adventures in the Canadian Rockies: Ski touring at Mount Assiniboine Little Yoho and glacier, ski ascents of Mt. Hector, Roger's Peak and Mt. Des Poilus, 1957 ascent of Mount Robson, and the first direct ascent of the Yamnuska South Face.

Hans Gmoser's second film. It shows scenes of spring skiing in the Canadian Rockies followed by an ascent to Mount Logan during the Mount Logan Expedition. Logan party of six included Karl Reiker, Phillippe Delesalle, Don Lyon, Willy Pfisterer, Ron Smylie and Hans Gmoser.

The Cariboo Mountains, draped in snow and ice, are an incredible backdrop for Jim Davies’s flying and Jim McConkey’s ski stunts, and shots of Nancy Greene racing fawlessly pas graping crevasses are breathtaking. Hans Gmoser introduces his audiences to a new star, Mike Wiegele, who is featured skiing on the Athabasca Glacier, near the Columbia Icefiel. Climbing sequences starring Mike Wiegele, Hans Gmoser and Peter Fuhrmann, a German-born, Canadian-certified mountain guide, on Castle Mountain add variety to the film.

The film begins with shots of the Canadian Alpine Skit Team working out at Notre Dame College in Nelson, BC, followed by a long sequence of ski racing at the du Maurier International Ski Race at Mount Norquay near Banff. To end part one, there is some heli-skiing. Part Two shows some ski mountaineering sequences, and the final 15 minutes of the film feature Mike Wiegele and Bob Albrecht cimbing the north face of Anniversary Peak. Then the film shows some spectacular shots of skiing amongst the Bugaboo Spires.

Film capturing Hans Gmoser’s epic expedition to Mount McKinley. The film shows skiing in Colorado, skiing British Columbia glaciers (Little Yoho Valley and Rogers Pass), ascents to Mount Logana and Mount Robson, and the first ascent of Wickersham Wall on Mount McKinley (Denali). Skiing participants include Jim McConkey, Starr Walton, Linda Crutchfield and Herbert Matz. Party of seven on McKinley consisted of Hans Gmoser (leader), Pat Boswell, Leo Grillmair. Hank Kaufmann, Guntram Raubach, Hans Schwarz and Tom Spencer.

The narrative of Roving Skis was held together by the footage Hans Gmoser had shot while traversing the Purcell Mountains in May 1966. As the film progresses, it alternates between images of skiers laden with heavy packs, skiing past majestic mountains, and ski races Gmoser had filmed the previous winter at Lake Louise and Heavenly Valley, California. It also shows images of his ski trip to Whistler, of heli-skiing in the Bugaboos and skiing up Anniversary Peak. The film ends with an ascent of the Red Shirt route on Yamnuska. Leo Grillmair is the star of the film and is showing a client from Seattle.

The first part of the film is about a ski holiday at the Wheeler hut, at Rogers Pass. Despite the best efforts of Jim McConkey, who is the star of the film, the skiing on spring corn snow is not dramatic and the storyline seems forced and contrived. Part Two of the film is the Canadian Icefields Expedition story and features the ascent of Mount Blackburn in Alaska and Jasper-Lake Louise ski traverse.

The film starts with scenes of powder-snow skiing. Jim McConkey and Ted Johnston are seen racing effortlessly through deep snow down the steep slopes of the ski resort at Ata, Utah. At Mount Norquay and the growing ski resort at Lake Louise, the stars are locals such John Wackerle and Bob Meggs. Then, an ascent of The President from President Pass is presented, followd by som remarkable footage of Jim McConkey skiing the steeep west face to the Emerald Glacier. The film finishes with a ski tour from Sunshine Village to Mount Assiniboine and with footage of Hans climbing on Mount Louis.

One of Hans Gmoser’s best movies. The film starts with a few scenes from Gmoser’s brief Mount Logan adventure with the Japanese team the previous spring. Then it shows scenes of the World Professional Ski Championships held at Heavenly Valley, Califorinia, featuring legendary skiers of the time such as Christian Pravda, Stein Erickson, Pepi Gramshammer, Adrian Duvillard and Othmar Schneider. The heart of the film is a Bogaboo adventure skiing up the Pigeon-Howser col, right in the heart of the Bugaboo Spires. In Part Two, Hans returns to the Bugaboos in the summer and climbs Snowpatch Spire with Leo, Mike, Dick Lofthouse and a young German woman, Lilo Schmid.