“The Blizzard of Aahhh’s”

Greg Stump’s 1988 film “The Blizzard of Aahhh’s” will be shown Saturday, Dec. 8 at the Town Hall Theater in Stowe.

The 30th anniversary tour of the 1988 ski film “The Blizzard of Aahhh’s” stops in Stowe on Saturday, Dec. 8 with a showing at 7 p.m. at the Town Hall Theater, second floor at 67 Main St.

Greg Stump was a competitive freestyle skier from 1969 to 1980. By age 18 he had over 100 top-three finishes, and in 1978 he won the U.S. Junior National Championship at Copper Mountain, Colo. In 1979 he won the first ever F.I.S.-sanctioned international freestyle event, the North American Freestyle Championships in Ottawa, Canada.

Although Stump had made five ski films by 1988, the previous films were considered immature and goofy and relied heavily on mogul and freestyle skiing. “Blizzard of Aahhh’s,” by contrast, attacked from the opening bell, championing the relatively unknown sport of “extreme” skiing from Telluride, Squaw Valley, and the big-mountain alpinist mecca of Chamonix, France.

The film’s then-ferocious skiing and attitude attracted the big-mountain and racer skiers into Greg’s core audience in record numbers.

“Blizzard of Aahhh’s” starred three main skiers: Scot Schmidt, Glen Plake, and Mike Hattrup. Schmidt had appeared extensively in Warren Miller films beginning with “Ski Time” in 1983; ironically, “Ski Time” was Greg Stump’s skiing debut for a Warren Miller film as well. Stump had starred in Dick Barrymore’s film “Vagabond Skiers” in 1979.

Plake had skied in one previous Greg Stump film, “Maltese Flamingo,” in 1986. He severely broke his femur getting swept through an avalanching “Punch Bowl” chute in Kirkwood, Calif. at the end of 1986 and missed the 1986-87 Greg Stump film, “The Good, The Rad and the Gnarly.”

Hattrup got his start in mogul skiing, where he met Plake, according to Powder magazine. In 1985, he was invited film for Stump’s second movie, “Time Waits for Snowman.”

“Blizzard of Aahhh’s” runs one hour and 15 minutes. Tickets for the Stowe showing are $20; purchase online and find more info at blizzard30.com.

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