November 3, 2000

Warren Miller hangs up his skis

BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. (AP) -- Skiing movie producer Warren Miller has announced his retirement from the industry after 51 years of heralding each ski season with a new film exalting snow sports.

"You can only ski while looking back through your legs and filming a skier chasing you for so long," Miller said. "Now, I get to spend all of my time skiing down the hill for the fun of it."

Miller, 75, has gradually turned his production business over to Peter Speek and Miller's son, Kurt, who have owned and operated Warren Miller Entertainment since 1989.

"It's time to turn everything over to the next generation," said Warren Miller, though he will still narrate several upcoming films, including next year's Odyssey.

Warren Miller first skied in 1937 when, at age 12, he paid $2 for a pair of pine skis with leather toe straps and no edges. He was hooked.

Ten years later, Miller became a ski instructor in Sun Valley, Idaho, where he happened to pick up a camera to photograph some local skiers.

He and a friend spent that winter living in parking lots at the West's most popular ski resorts, skiing and photographing skiers. In 1949, Miller made his first film for $500, and every year since, his company has released a new film.

He hit on a winning formula. He has said his films generate $3.5 million to $4 million in revenues domestically and are among the top 25 grossing films among Hollywood productions.

Kurt Miller said there will be no immediate change in the way the company is run after his father's departure.

"We've been pretty much making the films for 12 years now and we'll continue on as always," he said. "We were on the Discovery channel (this week) with a show called Avalanche, we had two TV series, we're doing three dramatic feature films over the next two years and we're already in production for next year's ski film."

Warren Miller's new job is director of skiing for the Yellowstone Club, a private ski and golf resort in Montana. He'll also continue to ski and write his weekly newspaper column in the Vail Daily, as well as columns for Vail Magazine and Ski Magazine. He also has three books in the works.

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