Bob and Ira Spring - Skiing Above the Clouds

Home

This 16mm film is in color, with sound, with a running time around 12-1/2 minutes. The film was sponsored by Fisher Flouring Mills, the makers of Zoom instant cereal. It was made around 1955.

Four skiers (John Carter, Paul Wiseman, and Bob and Ira Spring) plan a traverse from Paradise to the White River across the glaciers of Mount Rainier. They are shown packing their 60 lb. loads including Zoom. They climb to Camp Muir carrying huge packs and using canvas climbing sleeves on their skis. The next morning they leave their packs behind to tour and ski among the crevasses. This scenic segment was filmed on the Emmons Glacier below the north face of Little Tahoma Peak. Later, the skiers pack up and travel to a camp on the other side of the mountain. In the morning they prepare Zoom and Paul Wiseman enjoys it for breakfast. They set out again without packs and explore scenic crevasses, making delicate crossings on skis. On the last day, they descend through timber to their waiting car.

(Digital transfer of this film was made possible by a grant from The Mountaineers Foundation. Film notes and video clip by Lowell Skoog.)