Sea to Sky filmmaker/ adventurer Peter Chrzanowski has always done things his own way—for better or for worse.
words :: Feet Banks
ABOVE Chrzanowski with Huascarán in behind. Peru, 1978. DAVE CLARKE. RIGHT PAGE, TOP RIGHT Peter (right) being tended to after his major fall on Ranrapalca, Peru. 1977. AMERICO TORDOYA. MIDDLE Eric Pehota ascends (and then skis) the much-coveted "summit knob" of Mount Waddington. Peter captured it on film for the 1989 film Reel Radical. GREG MAURER. BOTTOM Straight outta New Brunswick, the 1978 Huascaran team. (Left to Right) Chrzanowski, Photographer Dave Clarke, Ski Peru producer. JOHN HOOPER
“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled, was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” – Keyser Söze Yeah, that’s pretty good, but one time in Chamonix in 1977, Peter Chrzanowski and his buddy ripped the spoke off a bicycle tire and stuck it into a pay phone to activate the coin sensor mechanism into thinking it was getting money. Then he jammed the end of a spoon into the one-franc slot and called the K2 factory in Washington State, U.S., and convinced them to courier two sets of their newest speed skis direct to France. “I guess they were impressed by the long-distance call,” Chrzanowski says. “Before I knew it, we had two custom-made pairs of downhill skis with the name of U.S. Olympian Phil Mahre on them.” Even better, Chrzanowski was in the midst of three months of skiing for free in Switzerland using a fake press pass he’d made from Letraset, a sheet of official-looking black letters one could rub/transfer onto anything. 28
“I made myself a journalist for the official Penthouse Guide to Après Skiing,” Chrzanowski recalls, “and booked an appointment with the CEO of the ski resort. I think he knew what I was up to, but my story amused him, and he gave us the passes and had his groomers make a special speed skiing run for us between Val D’Isere and Tignes.” And this is essentially how Chrzanowski has lived life—part vagabond, part romantic artist, all dirtbag, and constantly pushing up against the edge. Along the way he’s directed or produced 19 ski/paraglide/ action sport documentaries, visited 57 countries, slept with 57 women (as a lifelong bachelor he seems inclined to keep track), and knocked off at least 18 first ski descents around the world, including on some iconic Coast Mountain classics such as Wedge, Mount Currie, Atwell, Serratus, and Mount Waddington.