Ski Film Company Is Heading for Whiter Pastures

Warren Miller’s ski films have dazzled powder-hungry skiers for more than 40 years, but his company’s South Bay headquarters has left most scratching their snow-capped heads.

After all, the movie company that focused on subfreezing fun settled in the warm, sunny climes of Hermosa Beach, where locals wax surfboards, not skis.

But Warren Miller Entertainment will move Friday from its offices on Pier Avenue, where nary a snowflake has fallen in decades, to Boulder, Colo.

“We’re probably one of the only Southern California film companies that would move and people wouldn’t ask, ‘Why Colorado?’ ” said Peter Speek, who, with Miller’s son, Kurt, bought the company from the elder Miller five years ago.

In ski circles, Miller, 70, is a movie mogul. His company has turned out a feature-length ski film every fall for 44 years.

The latest, “Warren Miller’s Black Diamond Rush,” was released last year to packed auditoriums in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia.

Miller started the company in 1949 in Hollywood and moved first to Palos Verdes and then to Hermosa Beach in 1962 to be close to the ocean for surfing and sailing. “I like the mountains,” he said, “but not as much in the summer.”

The company once required a headquarters near Hollywood production studios so the films could be edited and quickly returned to the offices. Not anymore.

These days, the company can deliver packages to Hollywood editing rooms using overnight couriers and scripts can be sent by fax.

As a result, employees can work at the base of the Rocky Mountains. It’s a case of the information superhighway meeting the information chair lift.

Much has changed since the early days. Miller made his first film using a $200 hand-held Bell & Howell camera. Today, the company uses 15 Arriflex cameras, each costing about $30,000.

The film’s settings have become more exotic. A film crew left this week for India, where it will film Americans skiing from helicopters in the Himalaya Mountains. The footage likely will be used in next year’s movie.

And Miller no longer provides live, witty play-by-play at the movies’ hundreds of screenings around the country. Now he writes the films’ scripts at his home in Vail, Colo., and records them on tape.

Despite the changes, the films’ essence remains, Speek said. “Even when Warren’s voice is prerecorded on tape, you still get a sense that he is sitting across the table telling you about his ski vacation,” he said.

Twelve of the company’s 13 employees will make the move. Many are raising families, a task that may be easier in Colorado, Speek said.

Miller, meanwhile, is writing a book about his sporting experiences, due out in September. He skis nearly every day in the winter.

He’s likely to join the company’s employees in early March for a “company ski day.” Speek expects them all to spend more time on the slopes.

“We’re absolutely excited,” he said.