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11-15-2008, 10:07 AM

CRAIG HILL; craig.hill@thenewstribune.com
Published: November 13th, 2008 12:34 AM

If it wasn’t for the Mahre family of Yakima, the skiing heritage of Washington likely wouldn’t be nearly as impressive as it is today.
Dave Mahre was an accomplished mountaineer and longtime manager at White Pass before he died in 2005. His twin sons, Phil and Steve, combined to win two silver medals (one each) and one gold (Phil) in the Olympics.

Now it’s Andy Mahre’s turn.

Mahre, the 24-year-old son of Steve Mahre, is a rising free-skiing star and is featured prominently in the new Warren Miller movie “Children of Winter.”

The 59th Miller film shows at Olympia’s Washington Center for the Performing Arts today and Friday and at Tacoma’s Pantages Theater on Saturday and Sunday.

Mahre is scheduled to sign autographs at the Tacoma show Sunday. He will be easy to pick out in the movie: He’s the guy skiing backward without poles. In the movie, Mahre explains he loves to ski switch (backward) and the poles get in the way. Plus, “When you crash, it’s just another thing to lose,” he says.

In “Children of Winter,” Mahre teams with Pep Fujas for five days of skiing gnarly lines on Silverton Mountain in Colorado.

However, on the third day, Fujas took a bad line and fell over three cliffs before coming to rest. The wipeout is featured in the movie, and Fujas injured his arm, which kept him from finishing the shoot.

“After that, it was just me,” Mahre says. “It was like having my own personal helicopter. I felt bad, but it was a cool opportunity.”

Mahre realizes Fujas’ fall could have been much worse.

“He easily could have bounced off a rock, and it could have been really bad,” Mahre says.

One of the shoots for “Children of Winter” saw a skier who didn’t have Fujas’ luck.

Billy Poole, 28, died jumping off a cliff in the mountains near Salt Lake City during a shoot on Jan. 22. He was the second skier to die during filming of a Warren Miller movie. In 1993, Paul Ruff died jumping off a cliff near Lake Tahoe. A short segment of “Children of Winter” is dedicated to Poole.

“More important than a legend,” narrator and skiing icon Jonny Mosely says, “he was an inspiration.”

Mahre understands and accepts the risks of his profession.

He skis year-round for Oregon-based Nimbus Independent making his own ski films.

“My dream job is what I already do,” Mahre says. “Making movies with my buddies.”

Mahre has skied all over the world but still insists his favorite hill is the place where he grew up.

“I know White Pass so well it’s like a big gym for me,” Mahre says. “I just ski as hard as I can because I know everything there.”

So what’s his favorite line? Mahre ponders the question for a minute but can’t answer.

“There are so many,” he says. “Pretty much anything on a pow day.”

Craig Hill: 253-597-8497

blogs.thenewstribune.com/adventure

Warren Miller’s ‘

Children of Winter’

Where: Pantages Theater, Tacoma

When: 6, 9 p.m. Saturday; 5 p.m. Sunday

Price: $20; includes a voucher for free lift tickets at White Pass, Big White, Silver Star and Sun Peaks resorts in British Columbia, 2-for-1 vouchers for lift tickets at Crystal Mountain, Schweitzer and Whistler Blackcomb, and a discount coupons for GI Joe’s

Other showings: 8:30 p.m. today, 6:30, 9:30 p.m. Friday, Washington Center for the Performing Arts, Olympia; 8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 20, Admiral Theatre, Bremerton

from: http://www.thenewstribune.com/adventure/story/536216.html