Warren Miller - Freedom Found: My Life Story

In gratitude for your support,
WARREN MILLER
proudly presents you
with this second printing of

FREEDOM FOUND

MY LIFE STORY

I wont ruin a good story
with the absolute truth.

PRAISE FOR

Freedom Found

Millers life well-lived is laid bare here, with the sort of winking approach that only a master storyteller could bring to the project. Its a book that should come packaged with down slippers and schnapps.

SEATTLE TIMES

You get all the sides of Warren Miller,
not just the canned narrator.

OUTSIDE

Warren Miller wasand isthe St. Peter of skiing;
the disciple sent into the world to share the glories
and character-building adventures found on snow.

DENVER POST

Warren Miller has weathered near-death experiences, winters living out of his trailer, family embezzlers, and many more misadventures. In exchange, as he often says, he found the freedom of constant thrills. Freedom Found: My Life Story takes readers from Millers broken California childhood to the Matterhorn and beyond, always with his trusty Arriflex in hand.

MENS JOURNAL

A big, beautiful, and touching autobiography
of one of Americas premier filmmakers.

ASPEN DAILY NEWS

Warren with his Bell & Howell in 1951, when he still had a little hair left.

MY LIFE STORY

WARREN MILLER

WITH ANDY BIGFORD

Copyright 2016 Warren Miller

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever (other than for review purposes), without permission in writing from the publisher. Thank you for your support of the authors rights.

Published by Warren Miller Company
P.O. Box 350, Deer Harbor, WA 98243

Book design and publishing services by
Boulder Bookworks, Boulder, Colorado

Proofreading by Kellee Katagi

Cover Photo: Erwin Lenkeit, Rolling Hils, Califorina

Second Digital Edition

ISBN 978-0-9636144-7-6

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015918663

For all the skiers
who came to my films:

Thank you for supporting me
from 1950 until today.
Lets see what
the next 90 years hold.

PART ONE
GROWING UP

PART TWO
GROWING OUT

PART THREE
LIFTING OFF

PART FOUR
LURCHING FORWARD

PART FIVE
SETTLING DOWN

PART SIX
FINDING HOME

FOR THE GAZILLIONTH TIME, I WAS TELLING A STORY DURING A DINNER party at our winter home in Montanathis one involving a two-week weather delay, a pie-in-the-sky budget, an active volcano, an overloaded helicopter, and an Olympic triple-gold medalist. My wife of many years, Laurie, piped up and said, Warren, why dont you write your life story, with all the good and bad, and all the interesting people and places youve documented with your camera? Her comment reminded me that her son, Colin Kaufmann, urged me to put my story down on paper years before. At the time, I was struggling with writing a book on aging when Colin wisely said, Thats an OK topic for later, Warren, but much better if youd write your autobiography first and then write a book on aging when you get old...

Our good friend, Kemper Freeman, who was also at dinner that night, had been constantly bugging me to do the same thing. He set me up with a veteran ski journalist, Mort Lund, who helped get me started by recording the narrative of my first few decades before I started writing on my own. I eventually called my friend Andy Bigford, who I had worked with at my film company and SKI magazine, to come in and smooth out all the rough spots. I tend to start my stories in one direction and then go off in several other directions, totally mixing up whoever is listening to me in the process. Andy somehow made sense of it all.

I refuse to be old, but Im definitely getting older. At age 92, I want to make my thank-yous here: first to my wife, Laurie, for being by my side supporting and helping me everyday for nearly seven years to write my entire life down; and to my three children, Scott, Chris, and Kurt.

To the late Don Brolin and the rest of my extraordinary, creative filmmaking team for believing in our annual films efforts and supporting me so loyally for so many years; to Kemper Freeman, Wini Jones, Barbara Bedell, Summer Clark, and Andy Bigford for believing my story should be told and for helping me along the way; and to Colin Kaufmann for seeding the idea and helping me start.

To the positive influences in my life: Josephine Abercrombie, Rich Alaniz, mile Allais, Craig Altschul, Hobie Alter, Ray Atkeson, Ward Baker, Bruce Barr, Terry Bassett, Richard Brigante, Mike Brunetto, Sam Byrne, Charlie Callander, Bob Craig, Stein Eriksen, John Fry, Paul Garwood, Hal Geneen, Pat Gould, David Graebel, Donna Griggs, Harry Hathaway, Edith and Walter Humphrey, Bill Janss, John Jay, Herbert Jochum, Jack and Joanne Kemp, Everett Kircher, Otto Lang, Art Lawson, Austin Lightfoot, Bob and Nancy Maynard, Dave and Roma McCoy, Jean Horton Miller, Ted Nicholson, Chuck Percy, Jon Reveal, Pappy Rogers, Hoyle Schweitzer, Brian Sisselman, Ray Laurent, Kim Schneider, and Mike Wiegele. And to the unknown Hawaiian, who lived in Topanga Canyon in 1930 and taught me, at age 6, a lifelong love of the ocean.

Please be aware that all errors in the book are mineI cant blame them on anyone else. Though Ive never let the truth get in the way of a good story, the sad truth is that few of those involved in my stories are still alive to call me out.

Its been a great life, and thanks for reading my story. Ill always be grateful to you, my audience, for being a part of it.

WARREN MILLER, June 2017

Orcas Island, Washington, and
Big Sky, Montana

MY CAMERA CREW AND I WATCHED THE NARAHOE VOLCANO BLOW up four days in a row between 3:30 and 4 P.M., emitting a spectacular cloud of smoke, spewing rocks and ash, and leaving a black slash in the snow from the summit to the bottom of the mountain. We were pinned down at nearby Ruapehu Ski Resort on the North Island of New Zealand in nonstop rain for 13 days, unable to start production on a 13-episode TV series that would feature Jean-Claude Killy, who had just won three gold medals in the 1968 Olympics, and his French teammate Leo Lacroix. The daily volcanic eruptions blew rocks and ashes 15 miles downwind and, all the while, the job was running way over budget.

On day 14, we decided that if we reached the volcano summit early in the morning, we could film ski action until sometime between 3 and 3:30 P.M. and have the helicopter fly us back to the hotel before the volcano blew once again.