Skiers return to Utah 'Playground' for film

Five of the world's best skiers returned home to Utah last winter to star in the Utah segment of Warren Miller's movie "Playground."

For Jamey Parks of Salt Lake City, it was a nice break in his worldwide travels.

This is the third of the Miller ski movies Parks has appeared in. Two involved skiing in Utah.

And, as he said, "It's always nice to get back in Utah. It's nice living and skiing in Utah. Utah usually has better snow."

Parks is what is known these days as an extreme skier, which means a perfect line for him is one few skiers in the world would attempt.

For more than two weeks, Parks joined the filming crew to shoot scenes at Snowbird, Alta, Solitude, Brighton and Snowbasin, along with some backcountry excursions, for the movie, which opens next week in Utah.

Shooting ski footage is very different from that in regular movies. There are no retakes. Skiers have one chance to get it right, then it's off to another location.

"But that's all part of filming. You need to step up and do it right the first and only time," he said.

One of the most difficult parts to filming, he said, was finding fresh snow. It usually gets skied out pretty fast. After a fresh snow, skiers race to ski areas and then span out in search of the untracked powder.

Once a site is located, it then becomes Parks' job to pick the "perfect line" — which, for him, is a run that is steep, has cliffs to jump and, preferably, soft landings and deep powder.

Jumping off cliffs, he added, "is part of the excitement. And being a little scared is part of a perfect run. Then, standing at the bottom, looking back on your tracks, where you went and what you've done, is satisfying."

After growing up in the East, Parks traveled around the country after graduating from the University of Colorado, hitting various ski areas. He stopped in Utah and in 2001 moved to Salt Lake City.

He qualified for the X-Games and was quickly picked up by sponsors Salomon and Scott, both Utah-based ski companies.

Other Utah skiers appearing in the Warren Miller movie are Julian Carr, noted for his extreme cliff jumps; Jamie Pierre, who set the record for the greatest cliff drop, 255 feet; Sage Cattabriga, voted one of the best male skiers in 2005; and Rachael Burks, considered one of the best skiers, male or female, in the country.