Dwight Watson - 16mm Movie Extras

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"The White Art", 1927, by Arnold Fanck, 16mm B&W, 1 minute clip

At the end of "Northwest Mountain Skiing, B.C." is a silent, black and white film clip that was spliced onto Dwight Watson's footage with a short leader that says, "Swiss Ski." This film contains scenes that can be found as stills in the book The Wonders of Ski-ing by Hannes Schneider and Arnold Fanck. I think this clip is from The White Art (Die Weisse Kunst) by Arnold Fanck, made in 1927. The clip, filmed near Zermatt, shows what today would be called "big mountain skiing." Steep, exposed slopes, untracked snow, high speed turns, and airtime are all shown.

"Crags and Crevasses", probably 1930s, 16 mm B&W, about 2 minutes

This short Kodak Cinegraph (commercially produced film) is subtitled "Mountain Climbing in Glacier National Park." It depicts a man and woman (I.A. Richards and Dorothy Pilley) climbing a glaciated peak in the Rocky Mountains.

The complete film has captions explaining the action:

"On Blackfoot Glacier, ice work presents new problems."

Climbers walk up a glacier.

"Crevasses must be crossed."

The climbers negotiate crevasses, using long ice axes.

"They are often hundreds of feet deep."

Views of a crevasse and more scenes of climbers and obstacles.

"On some steps must be cut."

Scenes of the leader using an ice axe.

"Higher up the ice becomes steeper."

Tilted view of the climbers, roped together, climbing the glacier with mountains in the background.

"Steps are cut for safety."

Nice closeup of the leader cutting steps up a crevasse wall, with his second, a woman, close behind him.

"The ice axe provides an anchor."

The leader uses his ice axe to surmount the crevasse, then belays the second up.

"The climb to the summit."

The leader belays the second up a vertical rock pitch with peaks and valleys in the background.

"Excelsior!"

On the summit, they sign the register.

"The End"

(Film notes and video clips by Lowell Skoog.)