On Spider Sabich Day in Snowmass, the ski racing icon was honored for his imprint and legacy

Photo: Norm Clasen

Billy Kidd: ‘Film captured the essence of Spider’

The ski racing community gathered at the ski area base where Vladimir Peter “Spider” Sabich reigned as Director of Skiing before his untimely death at 31 during skiing’s glamorous 1970s heyday. They united last month to watch a film about his life and cheer on Spider’s posthumous induction into the U.S. Ski Hall of Fame.

It’s not often a film’s big reveal takes place in a space shared by many of those depicted in said work. Still, the Snowmass showing of the 55-minute grassroots documentary “Spider Lives! The Untold Story of Spider Sabich, an American Skiing Super Hero” proved to be equal parts Hollywood story and home movie. The April 8 community party coincided with the proclamation by Mayor Bill Madsen of “Spider Sabich Day,” recognizing the racer whose imprint is deeper than a ski boot in spring snow.

Christin Cooper, without whose efforts “Spider Lives!” would not have risen, called it “a community celebration for a favorite son finally entering the pantheon of where he has long belonged.” Cooper and her husband, Mark Tache, were essential to the film’s development and script. She drew from her experience as an NBC Sports broadcaster and watched the film’s evolution about Tache’s nephew, “Andy Irons: Kissed by God,” as part of her on-the-job filmmaker training.

The genesis of “Spider Lives!” owes to Mike Hundert, a Bob Beattie Foundation board member who worked with Beattie on the then-nascent World Pro Skiing Tour in the 1970s. According to Cooper and Tache, the film required a six-digit budget, mainly involving donations and “tons of love and passion.”

The Snowmass party used the same ingredients.

“That was the greatest gathering of people that knew Spider,” said Billy Kidd about the Snowmass party. Kidd can claim authority status, as he was Sabich’s teammate and roommate “for years” while both were students at the University of Colorado, skiing on the FIS World Cup and Beattie’s pro tour. 

He said this week, “It was a treat for me and Moose (Barrows) and the racers from our day to see so many of those people, a number of those we hadn’t seen in decades, and then to find out the film captured Spider better than anything” capped off the evening, Kidd said. 

Kidd looked forward to hearing Spider’s voice again in the old clips and said that would help Kidd’s son, named in honor of Sabich, “capture what an incredible person he was. Everybody felt that was the real Spider we saw up there on the screen.”

The son of a World War II bomber pilot raised in the foothills of California’s Sierra Nevada, Sabich grew up an outdoorsman and seized his chance at a scholarship to join the University of Colorado ski team in the early 1960s under coach Bob Beattie. The team also included Kidd, Barrows, and Jimmie Heuga.

Before turning professional during an era where compensation for amateurs and pro skiers was seriously delineated, Sabich was the U.S. downhill champion in 1968. That season he also competed in the Olympics in Grenoble, France. But it was while a pro skier, Spider, became a full-fledged celebrity who could support himself in a lifestyle that included a home in Aspen’s Starwood and a private airplane. 

Sabich was unstoppable during the early years of the World Pro Ski Tour and was its champion in 1971 and ’72; the film captures his penultimate race against Jean-Claude Killy in “Spider Lives!”

A responsibility is taken seriously. 

The film’s showing was replete with a party and dress-up photo booth and 1970s band and was a gift to a ski community, marking a rare in-person large gathering after two years of COVID-19.  

The audience seemed hungry to soak up the story of the hard-working, handsome athlete pivotal to ski racing’s golden era. The film was piloted by the Bob Beattie Ski Foundation and gently guided by Hayden Scott, owner/producer of eef4k.tv, based in Edwards, Colo. 

“It was a big responsibility to make this film, and we are so happy that everybody seems to like the way we handled it,” said Scott.

“Christin and Mark grabbed this project by the horns and worked diligently with our lead editor Baker Jones. I think the result is outstanding,” he added.

But there’s a catch: While the widespread opinion is that the film deserves a much greater audience as it has historical significance, the benevolence of ABC-TV Films and other copyright holders preclude it from being seen by more viewers. Paying the market rights, should the film see commercial release, is currently prohibitive.

“I was not a local during Spider’s time, so it was fascinating to see the footage from the ’70s,” said Aspenite Gail Mason, who attended the Snowmass event. “He seemed so mature for his age. For me, it was an education about someone who is a part of the fabric of Snowmass.”

More than 50 hours of interviews were reviewed to make it happen, including vintage ski racing footage from photographers Norm Clasen, Roger Brown, and Paul Ryan. According to Cooper, ABC Sports and Dick Barrymore’s film, “The Spider and the Frenchman,” also provided vital scenes. Many of the film’s players, both principles and supporting acts, attended the Snowmass show.

The big reveal. 

The revelation that Dede Brinkman, Spider’s friend from back home in California, innocently interviewed early in “Spider Lives” and later revealed as carrying on the skier’s progeny through Missy Greis and her daughter Grace is a mark of master filmmaking. 

Last month, the women appeared on stage at the Snowmass conference center as Spider’s Hall of Fame medal was given out to Missy Greis. Fittingly, Missy’s godfather is the late Bob Beattie.

“That’s an extended family for sure. It was heartwarming to see the three generations evolve,” said Tache. He noted that Grace, who was not raised in Aspen, received education about her grandfather, Spider, as the film was being made, initially conceived in 2019 but delayed two years because of COVID-19.

“It was a real mind-blowing experience for her,” he said. 

While combing through archival film footage, Tache even spied himself at 15 years old, waiting to forerun the pro race at Aspen Highlands, where Killy and Sabich went head to head.

During that era, Tache recalled seeing Sabich, a colossal crossover media star in the way that only Lindsey Vonn has since approached, hanging out at the Hyman Ave. Mall in downtown Aspen. “You’d go up and talk to him. He was just that kind of guy. He was humble and open to everything,” Tache said.

Once they started dipping into the treasure trove of interviews with Spider’s closest circle, the filmmakers realized “we had a responsibility to tell Spider’s story and tell his life and accomplishments,” Tache said.

He credited Sabich with providing a role model for himself and other kids, such as Andy Mill, who grew up in that era.

“I wouldn’t have been able to be a pro skier for seven years if it weren’t for Spider, and Spider and Bob creating ‘this thing.'” 

Aside from Sabich’s strong character and athletic accomplishments, his death at the hands of Claudine Longet, for which she received a manslaughter sentence, is dealt with in a direct but not overly dramatized manner. Longet would go on to marry her attorney and live a rather ordinary life in Aspen.

Billy Kidd demurred when talking about the period: “The Claudine part of it makes me so uncomfortable.” He knew of Missy’s existence back in the day but had never met her until recently.

Christin Cooper was emphatic in saying the film was a grassroots project funded solely by donations, a tribute film, and a project “never meant to be a definitive documentary or investigative expose.”

Still, Kidd said it merits more attention and a larger audience. “I told Christin and Mark and Mike to clear a space on your mantel for an Academy Award or a Sundance Award as I thought it was done so well.”

Longtime Aspenite Polly Ross was also in the crowd in Snowmass and agreed with the praise.

“I thought it was a fabulous event and I was very impressed with the film. I hope it can go ‘mainstream’ or at least to film festivals as I think it’s worthy of a documentary award. I learned a lot more about Spider than I ever knew before. And I loved all the old ski racing footage and seeing the rivalry with Killy.”

All week long leading up to Spider Sabich Day, amateur ski racers did what they do best during the 2022 NASTAR finals at where else but the Spider Sabich Race Arena, located almost within view of the conference center.

It was a big weekend for post-COVID-19 get-togethers as several ski and sports dignitaries remained in the area for the Aspen Ski Hall of Fame 2022 induction. On Sunday, April 11, they saw native son Andy Mill honored in perpetuity at a banquet joined by Rita Hunter and Bruce Gordon. They were also inducted as Aspen legacies based on their timeless contributions and volunteerism.

“Spider Lives! The Untold Story of Spider Sabich, an American Skiing Super Hero,” also premiered to audiences in Bretton Woods, N.H., and Sun Valley. In March in Sun Valley, the International Ski History Association gave it their award before the film’s premiere on April 8 at Spider’s stomping grounds and before his Snowmass homies.

“Spider Lives!” is currently available only for nonprofit screenings but not for widespread distribution due to the copyrights of the still and video images.

As the film and party saluted Spider last month in Snowmass, the revitalized pro ski tour raged on in Taos Ski Valley. Its resurgence has been greeted warmly by the original pro race community, some of whose members agree on an element that could boost its burgeoning popularity: A modern-day, larger-than-life personality like Spider Sabich.

Follow Madeleine Osberger on Twitter @Madski99