I’ll admit that I enjoy a lot of the mindless “ski porn” trotted out each winter. The sweeping panoramas and montages of big mountains, helicopters and deep powder are a great way to get psyched up for the season. But there are so many great stories in skiing that have simply never been told – like the true tale of the Jackson Hole Air Force. Swift Silent Deep, now available on DVD, tells that story in excellent form.

The Jackson Hole Air Force was a tight knit group of extreme skiers who attracted national attention during the 80s and 90s for their fearless attack of extreme terrain in pursuit of deep powder. At the time, ducking the rope was an unthinkable and arrestable offense, and a line that nobody had skirted. But this groups’ relentless need for new challenges and new snow led them outside of the boundaries of Jackson Hole proper, and deep into the backcountry surrounding the resort.

As you might imagine, they quickly drew the ire of the local ski patrol, and unintentionally ignited a debate that raged on for close to a decade about open access and responsible backcountry skiing. While some patrollers spent their days and nights in an arms race to stop the members of the Jackson Hole Air Force from going out of bounds, others joined them. It was only after years of strife, petitions, lost jobs and lost lives that the current open boundary policy at Jackson Hole was adopted.

Swift Silent Deep is more than an entertaining film, it’s the back story to modern skiing as we know it. These guys are the fathers of the modern extreme skiing movement, and the ones that ultimately made lift served backcountry skiing possible in North America. In addition to some great interviews with Air Force skiers and Jackson Hole patrollers, there’s some fantastic footage of the insane lines and deep snow they made a name skiing.

Find some friends to watch this with and grab a copy – it’s definitely worth it.

swift silent deep rebowe

Tagged as: backcountry, jackson hole, movies