A ski resort which has been in a feature film is sure to see a boost in booking levels at the luxury ski chalets in the area. Appearing in a film is a great boost for a ski resort and can build interest in the area tremendously. A wide variety of ski resorts and ski locations have featured on the silver screen over the years.
Mt Baker is a ski resort in Washington which featured in the 1954 film White Christmas. Since the making of the film the lodge featured in the film has burnt down. White Christmas is one of the first film to bring skiing to the silver screen.
The Sylvester Stallone film, Cliffhanger features the Cortina ski resort but the film doesn’t feature a lot of skiing as it focuses on mountain climbing. Aptly then the film was shot on set in the Cortina d’Ampezzo area of the Dolomites, Italy. Further filming took place in Durango, Colorado. The film also features the most expensive aerial stunt ever performed during which a stuntman crossed between two planes at an altitude of 15,000 feet (5,000 m).
The St Mortiz ski resort in Switzerland is a popular ski resort in films as it is mentioned in the James Bond film Goldfinger starring Sean Connery and also the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only. The opening scenes of ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much’ by Alfred Hitchcock, also features the St Mortiz ski resort.
Aspen is an extremely popular party ski resort in America and is featured in the classic Jim Carrey film Dumb and Dumber. Most of the second half of the film is set in Aspen, as Jim Carrey’s character Lloyd hunts down the girl of his dreams. Cue making snowmen and snow angels, bad skiing and getting your tongue on ski lifts, ouch!
The majority of the slapstick comedy, The Pink Panther was filmed in the Cortina d’Ampezzo ski resort which is located in a region of Italy called Veneto. The film sees Peter Sellers as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau and Claudia Cardinale as an Indian princess. Cortina d’Ampezzo in the Italian Dolomites. The Cortina resort is famous for hosting the Winter Olympics in 1956. The resort is known for serious skiing and in well regarded as being full of posing skiers in the surrounding restaurants and bars.
Downhill Racer which stars Robert Redford is set in numerous ski resorts and prominently features the Lauberhorn at Wengen in Switzerland, and the Hahnenkamm at Kitzbühel in Austria. The film also included Megève in France and St. Anton in Austria. Filming of the sequences in Austria clashed with the making of the George Lazenby James Bond film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
So ski resorts have featured in films about super spies, agents chasing international diamond thieves and steroid pumped up action heroes as well as bumbling comedy fools. Seems like there is a ski resort for everyone out there so strap on your skis and hurtle down the slopes!
Jonathan is a freelance writer who enjoys skiing and watching flims at home with his feet up!
