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License to thrill ski movie12/27/2022 ![]() ![]() Given a direct lineage from the hot-dog era to today’s progressive freestyle revolution, there’s still a lot of kids who, whether they know it or not, want to be Wayne Wong. But beyond his ’70s freak-fashion sensibility, Wong was the first poster child for a new way of skiing-and a whole new way of thinking yourself around a mountain-that made him a de facto icon. ![]() Wayne Wong will primarily be remembered for riding his tails and sporting a perma-tan with a huge, shit-eating grin hung beneath a pair of white, iSki sunglasses. Ten years later, at the age of 43, Saudan became the first person to ski from 8,000 meters, making the first descent of Pakistan’s Hidden Peak. In 1972, the famously arrogant self-promoter (he sued Whistler over the resort’s naming of the Saudan Couloir) completed the first descent of the Messner Coulior on the southwest face of Denali. Though he’d already knocked off some of his more famous descents, like Chamonix’s 55-degree Spencer Couloir, and the northwest face of the Eiger, Saudan continued throughout the ’70s and ’80s to be the worldwide barometer for what was possible on skis. Tom BieĪs Dave and Jake Moe were piecing together the first issue of POWDER in their makeshift Sun Valley offices, there was no bigger name in skiing than Swiss legend Sylvain Saudan-the original extreme skier. POWDER has had the privilege to share in the many milestones of the past 35 years, and here is a slice of that experience-told through portraits of those who made it happen. But wherever we, as skiers, find ourselves today, we’re here because these people led us here. No doubt, our readers will agree and disagree with the list, and that’s fine. They may not be the fastest or the best or the biggest, but they’ve influenced the sport of skiing-collectively and individually-more than anyone else on snow. But they are also mountaineers and movie stars, freestylers and speed freaks, innovators, Olympians, mothers and brothers. ![]() Subscribe to “The Skier’s Magazine” today. ![]() This story was first published in the December, 2006 (35.4) issue of POWDER. ![]()
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