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Swift. Silent. Deep., the documentary of the underground ski fraternity known as the Jackson Hole Air Force, had a bang-up weekend on the awards circuit, winning Best Documentary and Best Editing at the Powder Video Awards and Best Soul from the Cold Smoke festival. It’s a long-overdue recognition for this labor of love by Jackson filmmakers Jon Klaczkiewicz and Troy Beauchamp, which has taken years to create, fund, and distribute–but which I hope will pay off for them.

In 2005, I wrote a story on the Jackson Hole Air Force for Powder Magazine. A year later, J.K. and I were riding a chair at Grand Targhee and he told me that he wanted to make the definitive Air Force movie. Tired of ski flicks that are little more than pornography, with no story lines, plot, or soul, I strongly encouraged him and said I’d do whatever I could to make it happen. In the end, despite the writing credit they gave me, I did little more than offer spiritual support, but I was lucky enough to see just how hard it is to make a damn good ski documentary and have a new appreciation for the form. At every turn, J.K. and Troy encountered obstacles, whether it was funding or access to the folks they wanted to interview.

Perhaps the biggest struggle was the perception that SSD is little more than a Jackson Hole story, with little appeal outside the Tetons. It’s true–it’s a Jackson story. But it’s a narrative that ripples far beyond the Rockies, with classic cops and robbers plot lines and outsized personalities, all set in one of the country’s best places to ski. It’s not Dogtown on skis–it’s its own story, one well worth watching.

SSD is available on iTunes or DVD. For more info, go here.

Tagged as: skiing