I’m sitting next to Wiley Miller and Freedle Coty as they sift through a multitude of shots from Wiley’s season.  It’s late and my eyes are heavy, but I can’t peel them away.  From over their shoulders it’s nothing but dramatic landscapes, foreign cultures, lifestyles, crashes, and some simply amazing skiing.  A personable Montanan, Wiley Miller seems at home in the towering mountains that he travels through.  I pried the skier away from the editing bay to talk candidly about his season, his recent injury, and the joys of being a blogger.

Interview by: Jonnie Sirotek

Let’s touch on your background first.  Where did you grow up, where did you ski, and how did you progress your skiing

I was born and raised in Billings, MT.   Grew up skiing Red Lodge Mt Resort and Big Sky in high school.  I moved to Canada for a year for college and skiing.   That’s where I learned to ski park at COP in Calgary, which was a five-minute drive from my dorm.  I had an RCR pass which gave me five resorts on one pass and allowed me to ride all over.  It was so cold up there; I thought Montana was cold, but Canada was really cold.

After that I went to New Zealand for a little while to work as a laborer and ski at Snow Park.  That became my circuit.  I would ski Calgary all spring, New Zealand all summer, and Utah all winter, and that’s when I’d say I got much better at skiing.

How did you get involved with Level 1?

In the fall of 2006 Matt Sterbenz had talked to Josh Berman about me, and he said that I should call Berman and talk to him about the movie.  I called Berman a couple of times, and he was reassuring that he would do his best to get me on a trip, he just wasn’t sure when that would be.  That whole time I was like a dog waiting for a meal.  Finally, my first time shooting with Level 1 was with Freedle in Utah, then I filmed with he and Berman in Colorado, and after that we hit the road and filmed all over the west.

Now you are filming for both TGR and Level 1.  What’s it like to juggle responsibilities for both film companies?

It’s definitely tough but I see uniqueness in my position having the opportunity to do that.  I feel like I’ve gotten really lucky being able to film with both and produce the quantity of shots.  Especially this year I’ve seen how hard it can be to produce quantity and quality when the winter isn’t as bountiful.

Not so much this year, but I remember last year having a formula in my head of certain tricks that I wanted to do.  Every time I did that I would say to myself, ‘˜Now I have to go do that for the other company.’  This year I tried to take a different approach to look at terrain, and take from the terrain what it had to offer rather than having some predetermined agenda.

What trips did you take this year for Level 1?

We had a plan to go to Russia, but wound up in Champery, Switzerland for two and a half weeks.  We lucked out and got great conditions with incredible snow.  You couldn’t ask for a better arena of diversity ‘“ jumps lines, mini golf, pillows, tree skiing ‘“ it was incredible.

When you go somewhere like that, especially another country, at least for me it puts up a red flag.  You’re out of your comfort level and security zone.  Being able to perform with that uncomfortableness was really satisfying.  One line that stands out was this zone that we went to.  We all skied some lines and were concerned about the avalanche danger and made the decision to come back after then next storm.  Sure enough we got a storm and we came back.  I skied a line top to bottom, non-stop, and fully confident.

Skiing lines is something I’ve been working on over the past two years.  It’s interesting because there are a number of different ways you can ski a face.  Some contain very technical terrain and others have terrain that is more or less wide open.  I’ve gotten to a point where I want to keep the technical exposure factor to a minimum and try and incorporate more of a freestyle vibe into the line that I’m skiing.  I don’t see myself ever shredding something with a potential death drop.

Towards the end of the season you were injured.  Would you speak about that?

Late April in Alaska I took a tumble down an area where you don’t want to fall, and blew my knee.  I was fortunate enough to not hurt myself beyond my knee.  As we all know ACL’s are a common injury in the ski industry, but they can be fixed, and you can get back doing what you want to do.

My recovery is coming along well, and I’m starting to feel much stronger.  For about a month and a half I didn’t see much improvement in my knee, and it was super frustrating.  Within the last month I’ve seen positive improvements.  As time passes I’m more confident that I will be back on my skis ready to rip.

On a lighter note, you produced a blog throughout the season called Miller Time.  Can you share with our readers your experience with the blog?

Austin Stevens at Saga told me they were buying cameras, and he asked me to do web edits for their blog.  I took it into my own hands after that and tried to produce something that would go beyond the blog.  I’ve always enjoyed doing editing on my own, nothing too professional.  We’re always on the other side of the lens, so it’s nice to get an athlete’s perspective on trips.  I plan on keeping it going next season as well.

Wiley GTSing

Any sneak peeks into your segment in Eye Trip?

I’m really happy with what I got this season, especially the shots we got in Switzerland, Utah, and Alaska. I’m in the process of editing the segment now and I’m pretty stoked on what Freedle and I have been able to brainstorm.