Times have changed for the Jackson Hole Air Force. This is a crew that ducked ropes and broke laws and violated the resort’s strict boundary policy for years. A gang of scofflaws that eavesdropped on the ski patrol’s radio channels, built on-hill huts to hide from prying eyes, and led their nemeses on dangerous high-speed chases through the thick lodgepole pines of Jackson Hole’s backcountry. This is a group that cultivated a reputation for secrecy, sneakiness, and wanton poaching, that snuck O.B. under the cover of storms and taunted patrollers…

If you’ve been around hard-core skiing the last few decades you no doubt have heard of the Jackson Hole Air Force. And if you haven’t, well, they make for a pretty damn entertaining story, which is captured in a new documentary called “Swift Silent Deep”, which you can see on Saturday, April 25, in Newport Beach, California, at the Newport Beach Film Festival.

Watch the trailer and see if you dig it. As for the magazine story, I’ll post that by early next week.

In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve had a small hand in the making of the film, though I have no financial or other interest. The documentary was inspired by, or perhaps assisted by, a piece I wrote in Powder a few years ago, but the story of the Air Force is far larger than that, and filmmaker Jon Klaczkiewicz has done an excellent job capturing it. Whether you can make to Newport or wait until wider release, this is a must-see movie for skiers and action sports fans and, well, anybody of grooves on a good story.

One more thing–JK is the man behind the Gelande Quaffing World Championships, which have their roots in Air Force culture. See the gallery from this year’s comp here and read about it here.

SSD plays at 11:15 on Saturday–time enough to get a dawn patrol, catch the movie, and grab grinds at Wahoo’s afterwards. I’ll be there. You?

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Tagged as: skiing