Aspen – The emotional highlight of X thus far wasn’t anywhere near the lights of the pipe.
California bad boy bumper-turned- movie mogul Brad Holmes debuted a sliver of his new flick “Palmer: The Miserable Champion” at the Wheeler Opera House on Friday night. By the end of the 20-minute teaser, every tough guy snowboarder and skier in the house had teary eyes.
The biopic documentary on super- athlete Shaun Palmer traces the dramatic life of the “Godfather of Snowboarding” – the man who created boardercross, aced skiercross, dominated downhill mountainbiking and fertilized the now-lush landscape of extreme sports. His dad left him when he was born, and dissed him when was 12. Palmer turned to sport and the party life.
Palmer stomped through every sport on a boozy bender, gathering gold in a stupor. A classic quote shows a glass- eyed, 1980s-era Palmer standing pipeside bragging about downing a bottle of Jack Daniel’s the night before and seven beers that day “and I’m still winning.”
Palmer, whose life likely was saved by snowboarding, turned it around a year ago after the biggest binge left him comatose. He sobered up and made the U.S. Olympic team in boardercross, a sport that defined him, for the Turin Games.
The 38-year-old was given a new lease on life and, in true Palmer form, he was forging a bright path into the twilight of his career. Then, three weeks ago, he blew an Achilles tendon during a training run.
The irony of the Achilles injury is achingly tragic. Holmes’ shots of Palmer being wheeled into a hospital shred heartstrings. The tears flowed when a crushed Palmer crutched his way to the stage, choking through heartfelt thanks to his devoted admirers.
Check out Holmes’ website – www.chainsawproductions.com – for updates on where and when the full-length flick will hit the screens. This is the movie that will elevate Holmes and the often-rote ski movie industry to yet-unrealized levels.
Wall of fame
The ski world’s relentless search for new arenas to showcase the talent of athletes has hit the wall.
As a screaming punk band wailed atop a 30-foot wall on Sunday night in downtown Aspen, some of the world’s most innovative skiers and boarders vied for a $10,000 purse by riding up the giant wall, spinning and riding back down.
Turns out one of the first skiers to land giant backcountry cliffs riding backward – or switch – also is one of the country’s best wall skiers. Pep Fujas, a 23-year-old Utah skier who pioneered a new movement to bring terrain park tricks to the deep powder in the backcountry, won for the skiers and Jake Blauvelt won among the boarders.
Cancer hits home
Three X Games athletes whose families have endured the darkness of cancer are the newest marketing voices for ESPN’s The V Foundation, which has raised more than $50 million since its inception in 1993 to research and fight all types of cancer.
BMXer Mat Hoffman, moto X rider Kenny Bartram and snowboarder Tricia Byrnes will work with The V Foundation to expand its reach into the youthful recesses of the X Games. All three athletes have lost a family member to cancer.
