Films about skiing fall under the umbrella term skiporn. The porn aspect probably refers to the fact that there is often little to no storyline and that you don't have to think about it because of the moneyshots. There are occasionally films that do it differently, or at least try to. The complexity of the plot is usually somewhere between "Why is there straw here" and Fifty Shades of Grey.
Conquering the Useless, on the other hand, manages to be at about the level of those typical French arthouse films that don't get a theatrical release in the US because of too much nudity - still a bit porny and concerned with aesthetics, but characters develop, have understandable worries and fears and everything seems less artificial.
The plot
Cody Townsend is a little burnt out after his famous line through the narrow gully and years of heliskiing and decides that he's going to do something different and give up the heli. So far, so good, according to Jeremy Jones. As he doesn't have the confidence to take on bigger adventures alone without a guide or other support, he convinces his experienced ski mountaineering colleagues Chris Rubens and Dave Treadway to go on a longer trip into the wilderness. The three of them travel to their base camp by skido with two filmmakers and explore the area from there, again with skidos and on foot. Elyse Saugstadt, wife of the main protagonist Townsend, proves in an intro segment that she can certainly keep up with the boys, but is not on the skido trip.
What sets Conquering the Useless apart from other "gritty adventure" type productions is its unflustered honesty.
Townsend, who also acts as the narrative voice, constantly emphasizes how important the experience of the other two is and how much he learns from them. You see the team turning around, doubting and talking about their concerns. The final segment is an ascent and descent through a very steep face. As they get ready, everyone is visibly nervous and Dave Treadway hints that he would actually rather be at home with his family and will refrain from such actions in future.
No one is stylized as a hero and everyone appears as equal team members, unlike in some of the Jeremy Jones films, for example. There is also a lack of artificial drama and a soundtrack reminiscent of Star Wars battles, as recently seen in the rather whimsical Onekotan - The lost Island.
Perhaps the likable overall impression stems from the fact that in Conquering the Useless the athletes were probably also responsible for the design of the film and no big production company added any special effects. In any case, we liked it and asked Chris Rubens what the movie was like and why we sometimes like to be a bit scared.
PG: How long were you at the camp and how many downdays did you have?
CR: I think we were in camp for about 12 days, in that time we had 2 mostly sunny days and one afternoon. The weather was quite challenging.
PG: Exactly how sketchy was the sledding on the glacier?
CR: On the days that it was cold enough to freeze over night it wasn't so bad, but coming down at the end of the day was pretty terrifying. I'm not sure if science would back this up but we felt that keeping our speed up and then only stopping in very safe places was our only option. But yeah, it might have been a little on the sketchy side.
PG: In the movie it sounds like it's a completely different thing when you climb something rather than get dropped on top with a helicopter, quotes go from "I've skied plenty of things this steep but never climbed anything like it" to "humans don't belong on this wall". It's the same wall whether you climb it first or not, what's the big difference?
CR: It's a much slower process when you are going to climb something. You end up spending a lot more time on the face or line that you are skiing, so you are battling nerves for a much longer amount of time. When you are helicopter skiing you are only focused on how you are going to make it down the line safely. Now you have to figure out how you are going to get up it, the best and most safe way, which isn't always super obvious. All this combined makes climbing lines a lot more fulfilling, being in the moment for such a long period of time, all the build up - and then accomplishing the goal is very rewarding.
The feeling seems to last for days if not years while most of the stuff that I have skied out of a helicopter lasts about 5 minutes, until you jump into the helicopter to ski another gnarly line.
PG: In the beginning Cody say he wants to find something that scares him. Why is fear desirable?
CR: Good question, when I think about it in front of my computer the thought of skiing gnarly lines terrifies me, because I think of all the bad things that can happen. When I'm in the field I look at the mountains very systematically and move from one safe zone or decision making point to the next. All the while I'm gathering information from my environment to make the best decisions possible. As I gain more confidence in what I'm doing I get less scared. I think I'm drawn to that aspect that humans really aren't suppose to be there, but some how with our gear and skills we are. I also think the feeling you get from all of this is very authentic and puts you in touch with nature. That was a long answer but I guess I'm still trying to answer that question.
PG: You call the last line "the best and scariest skiing ever". Does skiing have to be scary to be good?
CR: No absolutely not, my favorite skiing is pillow skiing in the trees in epically deep powder. I like it because it has a lot less risk and I can just enjoy the skiing portion of it. But I also really enjoy skiing big scary lines when the conditions are good.For me though it is about the snow, I don't need to go ski something just to say I skied it. I want to ski it in good powder, those are the days that I cherish.
PG: Would you agree that there is a good kind of scary and a bad kind? If so, what's the difference?
CR: Yah, there is a really fine line there, and it is probably the internal battle that is going on in lines like this. Making sure that you are scared for the right reasons. I was scared at the top of that line because it was steep and we had a lot of air below us. But I wasn't scared of the snow conditions, there was no slab, no instabilities, so I had no fear there. That's what I call bad scared, also known as sketchy.
PG: What was the scariest thing you've ever done?
CR: I don't know but looking back probably most of my teenage years.
PG: The premise of the film is that Cody wants to "drop the glitz" and skip the heli to go on a self-guided, self-supported adventure. I may be wrong but if it's mostly about mixing things up, most of your audience would probably like to drop the slogging and take the glitz. Do you find that disconnect weird?
CR: Hahaha..yah its funny, I have definitely spent my fair share of time flying around the mountains in helicopters. It is awesome, no doubt.
And when I say that I'm not that into heli skiing I feel like a jaded dick.
There are a lot of people that would give a lot to do the same. But I guess we are lucky enough to have done both and you quickly find that you don't get the same fulfillment out of helicopter skiing. When you get to the top of a run that you have hiked to, it seems to be really good and fun no matter what the conditions. In a heli you don't have that same appreciation of getting there so it is easy to complain.
PG: Cody apparently wants to do more ski mountaineering, Dave wants to do less. What about you?
CR: I kinda hate the words "ski mountaineering", I think Ptor (Spricenieks, editor's note) said it best: "other avenues of skiing should be labeled (lift skiing, piste skiing.etc), to me this is just skiing".I don't go out with certain goals to go ski something, I want to ski something that I'm stoked on skiing. If I need a rope or crampons for the job then so be it, but most of the time I just like skiing powder.
PG: Planning any particular projects?
CR: Always something in the works with Salomon FreeSki TV and maybe another project with Cody.
PG: There have been some prominent deaths in the skiing and mountaineering world over the last few years. Has anything fundamentally changed since the days of the early steep skiers (e.g. people pushing too hard, modern gear), or are we just more aware of what people are doing thanks to the internet and when someone dies we hear about it?
CR: I think people have been dieing in the mountains for a very long time. It's a place where if you push too hard or have some bad luck the consequences are death.
From my experience, combining ski filming and ski mountaineering is a very tricky balance.
A lot of the time in the mountains, moving fast is your safety. Trying to film definitely takes that out of the equation. But each time a friend dies it shakes your whole belief system right to the roots.
PG: The movie is pretty different form typical ski flicks, comparatively there is a lot of focus on difficulties, turning around, worrying, being scared. Why make a movie like that?
CR: I'm not sure that we intended for the movie to come out quite like this. It was fairly organic in the fact that the filmmakers (www.team13.com, Athan Merrik ) were capturing what was happening. I think they did an exceptional job of always rolling cameras and audio to capture those little moments that are generally lost in ski movies. Everything you mentioned above happens all the time but isn't always captured or shown. I think it is cool because when I see something cool in this world, I want to see the why and how.
PG: What does the title mean to you?
CR: I haven't actually read the Conquistador of the Useless... Mostly what we are doing and are addicted to is pretty useless, but we are all getting more addicted to it every year.
PG: What's your favorite ski movie ever and why?
CR: I'm biased but I really like Into the Mind by the Sherpas. A lot of it was lost on most people but the deeper message was very interesting and something that we battle with everyday in the mountains.
PG: Anything else you want to tell us?
CR: Thanks for the interview, really great questions, go watch the movie and I hope everyone has a great powder filled winter.
The film is available to buy on i-tunes, vimeo and amazon.