Dave Swanwick Photo:Nathan Bilow [click]

Pro Freeskier and Alaska Guide
Dave "Swany" Swanwick is addicted to two things: skis and terrain. He has been known to partake in such non-conformist ski endeavors as telemark skiing down the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado. And when he's not guiding film crews to the sweetest spots in the big mountains of Alaska, the cameras roll on him.

At 28, Swany is a senior guide with Doug Coombs' company, Valdez Heli Ski Guides, a job he says is the best he's ever had. He's getting paid to heli-ski. He also has numerous film appearances to his credit, most recently Warren Miller's Freeriders and the Teton Gravity Research [TGR] film Uprising. And if this isn't enough variety, he fulfills his special passion for the steep terrain by skiing in Las Leñas, Argentina during South American winters.

"[It was] one of the steepest runs I've ever skied and Johan [Olofsson] just nailed the line, just flashed it so hard, and I was actually pretty darn scared up there..."

Skiing since he was two-years-old, Swany remembers watching Warren Miller ski films as a prerequisite to each ski season. (Warren Miller Entertainment, which has paved the way for a new generation of ski filmmakers, is practically an institution that has evolved since the 50's, when there were only 15 chair lifts in North America and Warren skied 100 straight days for 18 bucks.) For Swany, skiing in films was always in the back of his mind. Little did he know that one day his dream would come true.

"I don't know if I would have believed it back then," said Swany. "I was always like, 'I wonder if I could do that?' Then it got to the point where I'd look at the movies and be like, 'damn, I could probably ski as well as those guys.' And then I started doing it."

	To Air is Human Photo:Nathan Bilow [click]

Like the varying styles of Hollywood films, ski films have evolved into different genres too. Swany likens Warren Miller to Disney, and newer films like those produced by TGR to Pulp Fiction.

"Warren Miller is more of an established program.… I guess you'd call it," he explained. "I get paid when I go on the shoots, everything is all set, first class and, you know, that stuff is kind of cool, but at the same time, you sort of have no control over the footage. Like if you fall, it's in there, for sure. Whereas, with TGR, you know if you fall, it's NOT going to be in there, for sure."

Skiing Sand Dunes Photo:Nathan Bilow [click]

Swany and the TGR crew made the best of it Italy earlier this year, even though they got "skunked" on snow with poor conditions. People watching films may not realize how much patience is necessary to make a good film. Any number of circumstances can arise at any time and in any location. So, when you work in the mountains, you learn how to entertain yourself if the weather doesn't cooperate. Thus the relationship between the filmmakers and the skiers is essential.

"We pulled it off [in Italy]," said Steve Jones, a TGR partner. "We got a helicopter and found some north facing stuff. Swany is awesome— he's super professional, a great skier and a fun person to be in the mountains with. He definitely enjoys himself in the mountains."

It turns out that one of the greatest runs Swany had all year was on that trip — a 30 foot-wide chute with 500 foot rock walls on either side with no room for error.

Aside from skiing in Italy, his work and play take Swany to some of the most spectacular mountains in the world, but he always comes back to the familiar mountains of Alaska.

"I've been guiding up there long enough that I have a pretty good grasp on the terrain and the type of conditions that we're going to be looking at," he said.

Many of those clients he guides are film crews who book private helicopters, or "ships" for several weeks at a time. But it's not just about skiing. Last spring, he spent over a month riding with the Hatchet film crew, of snowboard film fame, in the Chugach Mountains, giving him the opportunity to build a unique relationship with some of the greatest snowboarders around.

"I'm basically going skiing with the best snowboarders in the world: Johan Olofsson, Jim Rippey, Victoria Jealouse, Tom Burt— all these guys who are just the sickest …so that's an awesome experience for me to go ride with them. And it just makes my skiing that much better."

With access to any terrain, how do you judge an epic line?

"As long as you're up there and there's no tracks on it, it's a great run."

— Michelle Quigley, Mountain Zone Staff