To the top

Synopsis

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…