To the Top

When Scott, a child with no father or mother, is on his snowboard, he dreams of being somewhere else, and of high altitudes: he wants to do 'firsts' and achieve unprecedented exploits. At the age of 18, armed only with his talent, a carefree spirit, endless charm and a substantial pair of balls, he heads to Chamonix, the world mountain capital, the Mecca for all riders. He meets other youngsters there, ski-bums like himself, as well as the lovely Kelly, who will be his first love, and one of his idols, Pierrick Lefranc, a former freeride-star now reduced to selling ski-lifts. With his sweeping turns, pure lines and gracious leaps - that Scott films as no-one has before - he carves out a place for himself in the highly select world of extreme sports, and becomes a media star, with important sponsors behind him. But ultimately it's with a reborn Pierrick, and far from the official sports business, that he'll climb the highest high, the roof of the world, Mount Everest itself, to attempt the ultimate descent - a descent like a unique slice of life, a few brief minutes of pure poetry, lived to the full by Scott, and through him, by anyone and everyone in search of beauty or sheer intensity - or both. The film tells the story of a quest, and of the ascension of a uniquely-talented young man in a world gone mad, a world of commerce and mercantile deals. It is also the tale of a father-son relationship between two men who share the same passion, of how events tear them apart, and of how a love of the snow, and quite simply love itself, will bring them back together again. It is a story of riders, the daring last action heroes who risk their lives for a beautiful run or a sublime trick, for an ephemeral trace carved out on the sheer, white face of a remote and isolated mountain.