For the last five years, REI has closed its doors on Black Friday for a day outside. This year it’s doing more.

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Last summer, we wrote about a remarkable young man, Andrew ���Bob��� Harris, who became the first person with Down syndrome to climb the Grand Teton. The impressive feat was made possible by Bob���s sister, Amy, and brother-in-law, Max. Max is a professional skier and mountain guide, while Amy is a cardiac ICU nurse.

Bob, whose nickname is Ducky, lives with Max and Amy, who, in addition to being stellar human beings, are also exceptionally good role models for Bob. They���re a super active family���Bob loves to run and climb and pretty much do anything outside���that focuses on eating well and generally living a healthy lifestyle.

But making the right choices isn���t easy, of course. Especially for Bob, who is more easily influenced than most by advertising that promotes unhealthy foods. And while there is no shortage of awesome outdoorsy movies that inspire people to make better choices, there isn���t really one specifically crafted to educate and entertain viewers with Down syndrome. So Max has decided to make one.

The movie, , will showcase Bob���s Grand Teton climb but aims to tell a broader message, showing ���how mentally and physically capable people with Down syndrome are,��� and the benefits of choosing ���the good stuff in life.��� There will be costumes and songs, and it will be fun and funny. Or, as Max puts it, ���this is a movie for Bob and his friends with Down syndrome.���

Here at 窪蹋勛圖厙, we think this film is a great idea, and we���re committed to supporting the project as a media partner. Two of our key values and editorial priorities are to reach new audiences and make the outdoors a more inclusive place. This film will do both. If you agree with us, and would like to see Ducky Goes Up get made, please join us in . The project is all or nothing, and will only be funded if it reaches its goal by November 9.

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I got the text around 8 p.m. on Friday evening. ���They made the summit,��� my friend Eric Henderson wrote. A few hours earlier, around 5:30 p.m., Andrew ���Bob��� Harris became the first person with Down syndrome to climb the Grand Teton. There was also photographic proof. The next text contained a summit shot, a sun flare in the upper right corner on a cloudless day in the Tetons, with Bob and his future-brother-in-law Max Hammer, a professional skier and mountain guide, atop the jumbled apex of rock.

I had been loosely following their summit attempt for the past month or so, ever since I met Bob, who also sometimes goes by Ducky, an old family nickname, and Max at the Outdoor Retailer Show, the industry���s biannual gear fest, in Salt Lake City. Eric had recently started his own PR firm and was helping one of his first clients, the , launch an outdoor initiative. Eric and I both have daughters with Down syndrome and were both fired up about bringing our two worlds together.泭

At the show, one of NDSS���s main goals was to spread the word that people with Down syndrome are ready and willing to work. A handful of companies in the industry already employ people with Down syndrome���and they were hoping to convince more. During a panel discussion, Max, who is , and Bob talked about Bob���s experience working at Patagonia as a prep cook.泭

One of the other topics of conversation was NDSS���s athlete ambassador program. Most of the people in the program run marathons and compete in triathlons to advocate for the organization, but Bob and Max had something else in mind. ���I guess the idea was mine,��� says Max, a part-time guide for Jackson-based , which specializes in taking clients climbing in the Tetons.泭���It was something we thought and talked a lot about for years. And then, maybe a year or so ago, we realized that we might actually be able to do it.���

Climbing the Grand Teton is no easy feat for any human, regardless of how many copies of the 21st chromosome you���ve got. A toothy, 13,776-foot high spire, the Grand is one of the most recognizable peaks in the country, looming 7,000 feet above the valley floor. Along with the rest of the Teton range, it���s so absurdly beautiful and soaring it almost looks fake���like a cardboard cutout of the biggest, most jagged peaks someone could imagine. The approach involves a steep 6.5-mile hike, 5,000 feet of elevation gain, and some Class 3 scrambling. Then you reach the technical part of the climb. Which, if you choose one of the main routes to the top, involves some very exposed fifth-class routes. While the fastest superhumans among us can do the whole thing car-to-car, running and scrambling without ropes, in just under three hours, most people take two days to do it, hiking in, then泭roping泭up for the final technical pitches.泭

If anyone had a handle on whether or not 32-year-old Bob could make it to the top, it was Max's wife and Bob's sister, Amy. Amy and Max, both 29,泭live in Reno, where Amy is a cardiac ICU nurse. Max and Amy, who have泭known each other since they were teens, ���have been in love with each other for basically ever,��� says Max. They've been泭living together as a couple for the past four years and are泭getting married on August 26.泭Two and a half years ago, Bob moved in with them. He still sees his parents and older brother, who live nearby in Tahoe, California,泭but Max and Amy have become his ���host home providers,��� in the official language of the state. Or, as Max puts it, ���I tuck him in every night.���泭

Being outside and exercising have always been a priority for Bob and Amy���s family. ���He paddleboards, skis, snowshoes, rides horses with my mom, basically everything we do,��� says Amy. He loves to run and hike, and started climbing with Amy about 10 years ago. He especially liked hard hikes���his favorite trail is the Precipice Trail in , a difficult, steep, exposed seaside hike, with Via Ferrata-style iron rung ladders in spots.

In his mid-twenties, Bob had some serious health problems, which made it very difficult for him to eat. He ended up in the hospital for a few weeks and for several years he ate exclusively through a feed tube. Slowly but surely, with Amy leading the charge, Bob���s family got him eating solid food again and back outside exercising. ���We���re told that people with Down syndrome are slow, and you can���t take them that far,��� Amy says, ���but Bob is pretty fast and he can go forever.��� When Bob started tackling increasingly tough and long day hikes, and dubbed himself ���Bob Hammer,” the origin of the Bob nickname, Amy and Max realized that their Grand Teton idea was no longer a pipe dream.泭

About a year ago, the trio started going to the gym and local crags together, practicing rappelling, short roping, and multi-pitch climbing. Bob has difficulty doing certain things like clipping in and out of the rope and cleaning gear, but the threesome slowly figured out a unique climbing style that worked for them. Usually, that means Max in front, and Amy right next to (or in front or behind) Bob. Earlier this summer, they泭felt like they were ready. Max and Bob and Amy would be one rope team, and they���d be accompanied by , fellow Exum guide Zahan Billmoria, and Julie Ellison, the editor of . ���Bob was in really good shape,��� says Amy. ���Our biggest concern was snow������which can linger in the saddle all summer long������and Bob hates climbing on snow.���泭

Big pushes in the mountains rarely go exactly as planned, and Max and Amy and Bob���s summit day was no different. While the trio had practiced all the individual skills required to scale an objective as big and technical as the Grand Teton, they hadn���t had the opportunity to link them all in one big training or shakedown outing. While Bob moves well and is comfortable on belay and on the trail, it was the in-between terrain that slowed them down. Climbing the Grand involves hiking up lots of sections of loose rock and scree fields, spots that泭took the trio much longer to navigate than planned. ���Bob was getting frustrated, and there was lots of spotting, coaching, and short-roping,”泭says Max.泭泭

Bob���s a big hummer���as in he hums a lot when he does stuff���and Max and Amy have become pretty attuned to what his different kinds of hums mean. ���He fell on his butt a few times,��� says Amy, ���but I could tell by his hums that he was mostly having fun.��� To keep his spirits up, they sang songs (���Lots of Adele,��� Amy told me, ���Bob loves Adele”), and Amy kept up a more or less constant stream of encouragement. ���I���ve never heard Amy talk so much,��� Max recalls. ���She basically never stopped moving and never stopped talking and singing and being silly and keeping Bob���s spirits high, the entire time.���

Initially, Max and Amy had planned on climbing the Upper Exum Ridge route. It���s slightly longer and a bit more technical than the other standard route, Owen-Spaulding, but it was also a bit more suited to the group���s unique climbing style. (Bob is very comfortable friction climbing on ���slabs,��� rock faces that are less steep than vertical, which the Exum has more of.) Ultimately, they decided that Owen-Spaulding would be a safer, faster option. As soon as they roped up, they started泭making better time. Whereas most people get more tense when climbing exposed terrain, Bob doesn���t seem to mind. ���I kept hearing lots of laughter,��� Max says. ���There���s a 2,000-foot sheer drop and he���s just giggling.���

Roughly fifty feet below the summit, the group encountered another unforeseen complication. The Grand sees a lot of traffic, especially in late summer, and a climber in another party lost his footing while down-climbing and had suffered serious injuries. In an instant, the entire vibe of the climb changed. At first, Amy, a nurse, wanted to assist in the rescue and they debated whether or not they should continue. ���It was really hard and upsetting and emotional,��� says Amy. ���We talked through all our options and ultimately decided to keep going. Bob is a really empathetic guy, so we tried to downplay the severity of the situation with him and keep our energy positive, but it was very difficult.��� In the end, two members of the trio���s larger support team���Fisher and Exum guide Billmoria���decided to help the injured climber and coordinate the eventual short-haul helicopter evacuation that was required.泭

A short while later, Bob and the remaining members of the group made the summit, at which point all those mixed emotions were washed away, at least momentarily, for Max and Amy. ���It was a family moment and it was indescribably cool,��� says Max. ���We pretty much all lost it. There were a lot of tears of joy.��� While neither Max nor Amy ever doubted that Bob could do it, they hadn���t been able to anticipate how powerful and emotional the experience would feel. But here was Bob, on the top of the Tetons, the most happy they���d ever seen him in his life.泭

Back in the valley, it was all eclipse. Jackson was smack dab in the path of totality, and the entire town had become subsumed with the influx of visitors and hoopla. When I talked to Bob a few days after the climb, he had just gotten back from a trail run with his dad and was still pretty amped up about the experience. When people asked him what was next, he often replied ���Halloween,��� one of his favorite holidays. (He���s planning on going as a pirate.) He acknowledged that it was the hardest thing he���d ever done, and when I asked him if he���d do it again, his reply was pretty typical of all mountaineers: ���Maybe in a year,��� he told me. Also typical was his response to my question about what his favorite part was: The top.泭

After they made the summit, they slept at the saddle before descending back to the car the next day. At about 3 a.m., Amy woke up to find Bob sitting straight up in the tent, watching the day���s first climbers start their own summit bids in the pre-dawn darkness, transfixed by the stars, the headlamps slowly heading up the rocks above, and the sheer awesomeness of it all. The outpouring of support and positive feedback, both on social media and in person that Bob and Max and Amy have received has been the most rewarding aspect of the climb. And it���s sure to continue. Julie, the editor from Climbing泭magazine, is planning on writing and the are working on a documentary film.泭

It���s been especially inspiring and impactful to those of us who have children or loved ones with Down syndrome. ���Bob's summit last week is so much more than one climb to one of the world's most iconic mountains���it's about showing the world that people with Down syndrome have their own hopes, dreams and aspirations,��� says泭Sara Hart Weir, president of NDSS. ���As the leading human rights organization for all individuals with Down syndrome, our job is to break down all barriers to allow people with Down syndrome to reach their full potential.”

Or, as Eric put it, ���as a father to a child with Down syndrome, Bob���s climb confirms that DS has no limitations. If you have the skills, the strength, and the determination, no summit is too high.” I couldn���t agree more. My daughter Nina is only two and a half. We still have a lifetime of adventures together, and there are many peaks to climb.

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When it was released in 1984, Hot Dog��米�The Movie, was a sophomoric mess.

The plot features a cliche underdog story. A young, naive wunderkind named Harkin Banks (Patrick Houser) comes to Lake Tahoe to compete in a freestyle competition at Squaw Valley, the real-life home of the 1960 Olympics. There, he meets a fun-loving gang of competitors called the Rat Pack;泭their German nemesis, Rudi Zink (John Reger), and his Euro band of Rudettes;泭and a pair of love interests: Sunny, a free-spirited hitchhiker (Tracy Smith), and Sylvia, a very aggressive cougar (Shannon Tweed, the 1982 Playboy Playmate of the Year). Hijinks ensue, including a wet T-shirt contest, a gondola hookup involving too much zinc oxide, and a climactic mass-start ski race that spawned the film���s most oft-repeated line: ���What the fuck is a Chinese downhill?���

If it all sounds a little like 捩棗娶域聆���s on skis, you���re not far off. Like so many other sex comedies from the ���80s, Hot Dog泭today seems shockingly dated and tone deaf, full of blatant cultural stereotypes, sexism, and worse���one scene seems to glorify date rape. What does hold up decades later? Surprisingly, the skiing. The stunt doubles were all freestyle veterans, several of whom went on to star in Warren Miller and Greg Stump flicks. ���The skiing in Hot Dog was legit,��� says Scott Gaffney, Matchstick Productions producer and Tahoe-area resident, citing an epic huck shot near the end of the film. (The ski ballet sequences,泭on the other hand���) Some of the absurd dialog, much of which was improvised, also remains hysterical. But what really justifies appreciation 32 years later is how the film captures泭the devil-may-care spirit of ski culture. Thankfully, despite the corporatization of ski resorts, that same ski-bum vibe still exists in many American mountains towns���including Squaw Valley.

To find out why Hot Dog endures, we went to the source and泭contacted泭more than a dozen of the film���s principals. Two notable exceptions were Shannon Tweed and Patrick Houser. Tweed, who used the film as a stepping-stone to dozens of other films, is now married to Kiss icon Gene Simmons. She declined to be interviewed. And while Houser was an enthusiastic participant at a rowdy 20th reunion in 2004 (it ended just like the movie, with him on fans��� shoulders, spraying beer), he skipped the 30th gathering, and nobody knew where to find him now.

(Public service announcement: The film is available in its entirety on YouTube. )

The Birth of a Legend

Mike Marvin,泭Hot Dog���s creator,泭grew up ski racing in Tahoe City, California. He made several small-budget ski films, including a series about the World Cup freestyle circuit and, in 1972, Earth Rider, which captured the first ski BASE jump, off El Capitan in泭Yosemite National Park. Later, he worked on scripts for Legends of the Fall and Predator. In 1982, Marvin had just sold a Kenny Rogers vehicle called Six Pack泭when he had a fateful meeting with his mentor,泭Edward S. Feldman, a veteran Hollywood producer.

Mike Marvin (writer/producer/editor): I was having dinner at Jake���s in Tahoe City with Ed Feldman. I was recounting my adventures between ���72 and ���76 making ski movies. He said, ���Put your adventures into a script from the point of view of a competitor, and I think we���d have a movie.��� And so that���s what I did.

Edward S. Feldman (producer): I wasn���t very interested in skiing, but Mike was very dedicated to it, and I thought it would be a nice picture.

Marvin: When I was with the World Freestyle Skiing Association, the boys from the U.S. were really hot. The Germans, French, Austrians, were coming in 12th, 13th, 14th. But when we got to Europe, suddenly the Germans started placing second, third. German television had paid a lot to cover these events. I saw it happening. That was the basis for the plot���where Rudi keeps winning with obviously rigged scores. The original script was written for Aspen, Colorado. The Harkin Banks character was a starry-eyed kid. All he cared about was skiing in the world championships and meeting John Denver. When we moved it to Squaw Valley, things changed.

Robbie Huntoon (Harkin Banks���泭stunt double): I was on the freestyle circuit in the late ���70s. I was 18 years old, and all of a sudden I���m going to wet T-shirt contests泭that turned into pretty big parties. It was drugs and women and travel and rock ���n��� roll.

Marvin: It was considered a low-budget comedy. Variety reviewed it as ���sexploitation,��� which I thought was funny.

窪蹋勛圖厙s in Typecasting

In their search for actors, Hot Dog���s creators sought out people who could channel authentic ski bums as well as key���and heavily stereotyped���international characters. They maybe could have looked a bit harder���

Marvin: Rudi was based on the Freestyle World Cup winner of ���76, who was, in my view, this arrogant German Nazi skier. You know, let���s have some fun with the Nazis. Right?

John Reger (Rudi Zink): I speak German, so I did all the auditions with a German accent. At the audition with the other Rudi-lookin��� guys, they asked me about my history, and all of a sudden I���m just makin��� stuff up:泭���Oh, I grew up in Germany and played soccer and then got into skiing. I went to the University of��色�� It wasn���t until the first day, where we all got up to Squaw and we���re all sitting around a dinner table, when somebody said, ���Would you like some hors d���oeuvres?��� And I said, ���Yeah, sure. Gimme some of that.��� And everybody goes, ���Wait a minute! What happened to your accent?���

Frank Koppala (Squirrel): The biggest joke was that James Saito, who played Kendo, couldn���t speak Japanese. He had everybody fooled for the first three weeks.

James Saito (Kendo): At the audition, they asked me if I could speak Japanese. I don���t speak any of it, but all the guys at the table were white guys, so I thought泭they���d never know the difference. I just said any household words in Japanese that I knew from growing up. When I got the part, I had a friend translate my lines. But during the course of the shooting, my part got bigger, and so the director would say, ���Jimmy, can you say this?��� And I���d go, ���Uh,泭yeah, sure. When are we gonna shoot?��� And they���d say, ���About 30 minutes.��� So I���d ski down to the lodge and call my friend. Every day I had like three Japanese-English dictionaries in my pockets and a whole list of things to say.

Marvin: The real Kendo Yamamoto was a softball pitcher in Tahoe City that nobody could hit. At the time, fast-pitch softball was the fuckin��� religion of the town besides skiing. He was just blisteringly fast. I never intended the Kendo character to disparage him or Japan. My daughter lives in Tokyo, for Christ���s sake. She speaks only Japanese.

Koppala: The audition was basically improv. There wasn���t much of a script. I kinda forgot about it, and then, months later, I get a call from my agent, and he said, ���We have an offer for you for this feature film.��� I thought it was a mistake泭because he had泭mixed me up with another client before.

Reger: My first scene was when I walk into the restaurant where Sunny and Harkin are sitting. I was wearing the big fur, which wasn���t even from the wardrobe department. It belonged to a camera operator. They had some skin-tight outfit for me, and I said泭the guy���s arrogant���he would be showing off. So I threw that on just before the scene,泭and I remember David Naughton sayin���, ���Yeah. Nice coat, Rat.���

Lynn Wieland (Banana Pants): The ���Banana Pants��� line was not in the script. The first time he ever said it was on the first take. It was the first shot we did on the entire movie.泭I walked up, and he said, ���This is Banana Pants,��� and it just stuck.

Local Flavor

The film had a big economic impact in Tahoe. Dozens of Tahoe residents were hired as extras, and many of the key stunt skiers were coaches at Squaw���s freestyle ski academy or knew each other from the World Cup freestyle skiing circuit. Ultimately, the large crew of nonactors ended up having a huge influence on the film, with a couple of them, George Thoebald and Lynn Wieland, landing speaking roles. The winter of 1982 was an epic snow year at Squaw, however, which thrilled the hired skiers泭but nearly drove the director mad.

Reger: They wouldn���t let the actors ski. They were worried we���d get injured.

Markle: Reger couldn���t ski a lick. In one scene, on a bit of a slope, he delivers one of his haughty, arrogant, cocky lines. He goes to ski off and trips, and he hits the first Rudette. They all fell over. It was hilarious. Shannon Tweed couldn���t even stand up when she had ski boots on. People were holding her up by the legs, acting as a base for her. I mean, forget about puttin��� her on skis.

Koppala: We teased Patrick [Houser], because he couldn���t even stand on skis without wobblin��� around. They brought him up there a week early to give him lessons, but he never looked comfortable. So you never had to worry about him skiing because he couldn���t do it anyway.

Dan Herby (stunt double): I had quit competing freestyle to coach for the program at Squaw. I was too short to be Harkin, so I ended up doubling Squirrel. They asked me if I knew anyone who is a punk rocker. I said,泭���I���ve got just the guy for you.���

George Theobald (Slasher): I���d done some commercials for a Japanese company called Asics. My brother did a Twinkie commercial. He had to do a helicopter off a jump and grab a Twinkie. Did I have a mohawk? Probably not. It was 1982, so I probably had a Flock of Seagulls thing going on.

Wieland: I was the 1980���81 aerials and moguls champ. They had泭hired an actress for the part who said she could ski, and she could ski, but not at the level they were thinking of. They gave her a part in the party scene. I think she throws a drink in Squirrel���s face.

David Naughton (Dan O���Callahan): I had different doubles. I went from like 150 pounds to 195 pounds depending on who my double was. In the Chinese downhill, I wear like three hats. What happened to continuity?

Herby: I���m a kid from Idaho living on ramen, oranges, and granola bars. I think the wage for Hot Dog was $325 a day. I was rich. It was crazy. They would pay you daily. I walk in one day泭and grabbed my check, and it was two and a half times the normal day rate. I went back in and said, ���You guys made a mathematical error.���泭���Oh no,��� they said,泭���it���s Good Friday.泭We paid you time and a half.��� This isn���t Good Friday���it���s the best Friday!

Huntoon: They���d have me stand at the top of the run for 30 minutes while the crew got all ready to shoot. I did that one or two times, and then I said, ���Just give me a radio and I���ll make laps on this lift until you���re ready.���

Naughton: Mike [Marvin] was to be avoided, because he wanted to get his film made. We were like, ���Yeah, we���ll be there!��� But we���d take runs and he���d go, ���Look, no more skiing. We don���t want anybody hurt.��� So we would put other people���s costumes on and go up and ski so they wouldn���t know it was who it was.

Spandau Ballet

In the early ���80s, freestyle was a World Cup event泭composed of three events: moguls, aerials, and ballet. When freestyle became an Olympic event, the first two were made into separate disciplines, and the latter was mercifully put to pasture.

Huntoon: I hated ballet. I���m not good at it and only did it ���cause I had to. It���s actually very difficult. My friend Bob Howard, a five-time world泭ballet champion, was actually drafted by the NFL泭but decided to go into ballet skiing泭instead.

Theobald: I look at the ski ballet like the freestyle skateboarding泭scenes in Dogtown and Z-Boys, where the Dogtown crew showed up to the 1975泭nationals and had to perform all these old-school tricks. They didn���t want to be泭doing that, but that���s where the sport was at the time, and they built progression泭into it.

Marvin: When we did the movie,泭I still thought ballet had some cachet. I wouldn���t use ballet today, obviously. I���m not even sure I���d use moguls.

Serious Ski Porn

The infamous wet T-shirt contest was shot at a local bar called Lone Star, now Mountain Mike Sports. The scene kicked off a slate of considerable nudity and sex in the film���including an infamous gondola hookup starring Squirrel���much to the delight of teenage boys trolling Blockbuster Video in the ���80s and ���90s. The actual scenes happening around the moviemaking weren���t much different.

Reger: It was right after 捩棗娶域聆���s, which had a lot of nudity, and they were just kind of pushing the envelope. One of the craziest days of my entire life was the day they shot the wet T-shirt contest. That was a free-for-all that I have never experienced since in the movie business.

Marvin: The real-life wet T-shirt contest happened in Park City, Utah, at the World Cup in 1974. We were in the citadel of Mormonism, and it degenerated into a complete orgy on the stage. It was crazy���four or five guys blowing saxophones, stripped to their waists, wearing spandex pants. The movie version was tame compared to what really happened.

Huntoon: The action that you see on the screen was pretty real. It was not people acting.泭It was all locals from a casting call doing a real wet T-shirt contest.

Markle: We started passing around free drinks. Sandy Hackett [the MC for the contest] is a really good stand-up, and he started working the crowd. We got the music going, and we just let the cameras roll for about 45 minutes. At one point, I looked around and saw my cameraman dancing with one of the girls, and someone else is behind the camera.

Koppala: When the girl and I were alone in the gondola, we had a radio in there, and Peter would just throw us out suggestions������Pull your zipper down a little bit������you know. So we did all kinds of different things so he could get reaction shots. The zinc oxide may have been suggested, but I just kinda went nuts with it.

Marvin: Hot Dog was Sodom and Gomorrah behind the scenes. It was very loose. People left their husbands.

Koppala: What happens in Squaw stays in Squaw. We���re just a bunch of knucklehead actors���we���re not Brad Pitt,泭but to some of the locals, we were. Combine a beautiful resort, a record winter, booze, and lots of free time��米�What would you have been doing up there, you know?

Marvin: I got called in by Squaw���s management, and the threat was, We���re going to pull the plug if this shit doesn���t quit. I had known the guy since we were 18 years old. I never could figure out if he was just trying to muscle me or show me that I wasn���t the big泭shot he thought I thought I was. It���s not easy bringing a Hollywood production to the small town where you were raised, in a one-room schoolhouse, because it triggers every kind of jealousy you can possibly imagine.

Winner Takes All

Hot Dog���s most enduring legacy is the Chinese downhill, the final free-for-all race that ends the film. Such events were a tradition that existed at many ski resorts. (Aspen���s version was known as the Irish downhill.)泭Marvin, who shot the sequence on Squaw���s Olympic downhill route with local skiers,泭says he wanted to make an homage to the post-apocalyptic costumes worn during Road Warrior���s famous chase sequences, hence the goofy costumes:泭spiked gloves, ski poles, exhaust pipes taped to helmets. Fans of ���80s ski films will notice a lot of similarities to the race sequence in泭Better Off Dead, which Marvin helped create a few years later. And the film���s most enduring line? That was in the script.

Marvin: I heard it泭in a conversation ten to泭12 years earlier. A guy named Norm Simmons was talkin��� about how he won a Chinese downhill. I said, ���What the泭fuck���s a Chinese downhill?��� The same exact thing that Kendo says.

Markle: At the 30th reunion, Jimmy Saito probably got asked 700 times to say that line.

Huntoon: Mike wanted Harkin���s character to be in the lead in the downhill, so they gave me a signal where I could take off just a split second before everybody else. Except everyone up there was so excited to go, they all went a little early. I ended up being late.

Bob Legassa (stunt skier): Lane Parrish went flying through the air and hit the tree. That was frigging brutal. Dropping 20 feet out of the sky onto the ground. He didn���t get paid enough for that stunt.

The Chinese downhill climaxes with the movie���s most significant stunt:泭Harkin Banks skiing into a mountain restaurant and out a window on the other side to claim victory in the race. There was a very close call during filming.

Huntoon: There was an extra, a cocktail waitress, who was supposed to open the door, and the tray of food she was holding would go flying as I skied through the door. But she never had a radio, so she泭never heard the call for action. Another extra inside the restaurant just looked out the window and saw me coming泭and opened the door. Had that person not seen me coming, I literally would have skied into a closed door. I only got one take. It might have been because of money���with stunts they pay you each time you do the stunt.

Hot Dog Forever

Critics panned the film that泭was eventually released���after some bare-knuckle fighting over the edit���but Hot Dog surprised everybody by grossing $38 million. Feldman went on to produce 1985���s Oscar-winning Witness. Others used the film as a launching point for their careers. But nobody could have predicted its cult-classic endurance.

Marvin: Pete Markle screened the movie for us. It was this bloated,泭almost three-hour movie with a boom box for music. The party sequence alone was 45 minutes long. The ski sequences he used were my outs. You go through your reels and pull your best shots. Those are called selects. The shots that you don���t wanna use, you hang in the bins; they���re called outs. You only use them if it���s critically necessary to nip together a scene. Ed nearly had a heart attack. We walked out into the parking lot,泭and he���s holding his chest. He says, ���I put my house up for this?��� I said, ���Take it easy, Ed. He didn���t put up the movie we shot.��� I fired Markle and went into the editing room. We hired a post-production guy who was basically a referee because the editor was Markle���s boy.

Reger: I wasn���t sure it would ever make it to the big screen. David Naughton was the only name in the thing, and at the time, some things went straight to video. But we had an opening in Westwood where they dumped a ton of snow on a summer night at one of the theaters. David and Shannon Tweed and I had to have a little snow fight for the premiere.

Koppala: Five or six years after the movie came out, I was in line at Snowbird. A bunch of 20-somethings came up to me, and one guy goes, ���Dude, it���s Squirrel!��� The next thing you know, there���s a mob around me.

Reger: I think it endured because it taps into the free spirit that���s inside everybody. And it holds up ski-wise with good photography. There���s enough of a story to keep you rolling, keep you moving along till the next ski scene. Of course, a little bit of nudity doesn���t hurt.

Herby: I didn���t know any of that sex stuff was in the film. They never gave me a copy of the script. I called Grandma in Minneapolis from Europe, where I was on the freestyle World Cup circuit, and told them to go watch it. My Catholic mother was really appalled. ���I thought I was going to be a ski movie,��� she said, ���and it was a porno.���

Wieland: I was in four Greg Stump movies, two Warren Miller movies, had covers of Powder and Skiing. But people remember me for Banana Pants. That���s OK, I���ll take it. Make fun of it all you want, but I was 19 years old, making $1,000 a week.

Huntoon: It had a pretty good effect on my career. I did stunt work in Ski Patrol, Ski School, Back to the Future, Better Off Dead, True Lies, True Colors, more TV commercials. I got in front of the camera and behind the camera. I won two Emmys for sports cinematography. Hot Dog launched all that.

Koppola: At the 20th reunion, you would���ve thought we were the Rolling Stones. There were security guards everywhere. A hundred and fifty people who couldn���t get in were lining up at the door. There were TV stations from Sacramento and San Francisco. We were all just looking at each other, shaking our heads. This will never die. We���ll be on oxygen bottles and walkers, and they���ll be calling us up there.

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Pitching the ultimate base camp has never been easier.
���Sam Moulton

Primus FireHole 100 stove

There are no fancy features and few moving parts on the ($150)���and that���s precisely why we like it. The paint chipped a bit after a long summer of abuse, but the piezo igniter still fired up the 24,000-BTU burners every time.

泭

Tentsile Stingray tent

Think portable treehouse. The three-person ($675) is designed to be suspended between three trees by heavy-duty straps with ratcheting buckles. Setup is surprisingly quick and easy. Your kids will absolutely love it.

泭

Zippo 4-in-1 Woodsman saw

The ($80) is sturdy, and the bow saw makes quick work of (small) logs. You can also use it to pound in tent stakes, and there���s a metal loop for pulling them out.

泭

Miir Vacuum Insulated growler

This ($59) keeps soup hot for hours or beer cold all night.

泭

Fugoo Tough speaker

The ($230) is water- and tumbleproof and pumps 360 degrees of impressive sound.

泭

Yeti Rambler Colster thermos

According to our totally unscientific tests, the double-wall, stainless-steel 泭($30) kept adult beverages cold about a thousand times longer than a koozie.

泭

REI Hang Time Low table

At 15 inches high, the bamboo-topped ($65) is game for everything from an evening of high-stakes poker to a round of post-hike cocktails.

泭

Brunton Revolt 4000 charger

With enough juice to charge your phone twice, the water- and shockproof ($50) is just the right size for weekend trips.

泭

Kelty Little Flower 20 sleeping bag

It may be sized down, but this ($75) is built to the same specs as the company���s grown-up ones, with a thick draft collar and full-length zipper. 泭

泭

Disc-O-Bed Cam-O-Bunk cots

Steel frames and 600-denier polyester? Yes, these (from $299) are overbuilt���and awesome. Optional ($29) keep stuff organized, and the whole thing converts to a bench.

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Versatile kicks for your next weekend escape.
���Sam Moulton

Eddie Bauer Rivet

With durable canvas uppers and an unfussy look that pairs well with just about everything in your weekend bag, the ($70) impresses the old-fashioned way.

Sanuk Randolf

Think of the slim-fitting ($60) as a hipper, more streamlined version of the standard-issue Sanuk you might already own. Didn���t watch Miami Vice as a kid? It���s also available in a few solid colors.

泭

OluKai Nohea Mesh

The ���s ($95) quick-drying microfiber lining is like a chamois for your feet. And we love the flip-down heel that lets you slide into it on the fly.

泭

Sperry A/O 2-Eye Stripe

A hand-sewn upper and real rawhide laces give the ($80) its classic look, but an EVA heel cup ups the comfort level.

泭

Reef Rover Low Premium

This is the most comfortable shoe ($80) we���ve worn. It also looks classy enough for a night out and provides more than enough grip for seaside exploring.

泭

SeaVees 05/65 Westwood

The ($78) is better made and better looking than any of the other retro sneakers we tried. It���s also stable and durable enough for a few sets of mixed doubles.

Freewaters Captain

The number-one reason we love the ($55): Its foot-bed was developed in cooperation with the sleeping-pad mavens over at Therm-a-Rest. It features little ridges that improve airflow and also feels great on your tootsies.

泭

Merrell Roust Frenzy

Purpose-built for bicycle commuting, with a stiff midfoot for maximum pedaling efficiency, the faux-leather ($110) is so light, airy, and comfy, it quickly became our go-to summer roll-to-work shoe.

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We have a special place in our hearts for泭car camping. Super泭rugged it is not���and with the latest gear, it's downright luxurious. Whether泭you have kids in tow or just want to impress everyone around泭the fire pit, there's no shame in arriving prepared.

Alite Designs Meadow Mat ($40)

Outdoor concerts. Beachside picnics. Overnight trips with the kids. Alite Designs��� waterproof 泭is up for almost everything you do outside.

Coleman Hyperflame FyreChampion泭Stove ($220)

泭is just like the company���s original Army green, propane two-burner, only better: it���s sturdier, it cooks hotter, and it���s better at blocking the wind. Plus, you get two griddles.

Kelty Woobie 30 Sleeping Bag ($65)

The 泭is for your littlest campers. It fits mini dudes and dudettes up to four feet tall. And you can���t beat the prints.泭

Zippo Rugged Lantern ($90)

Simple and tough, Zippo���s is water- and tumbleproof. The lithium-ion cell lasts an impressive ten hours on high, but there���s no swapping out batteries if it flatlines.

Stanley Mountain Vacuum Coffee System ($50)

The is a barista in a bottle. A pot, a French press, two cups, and storage for grounds nest inside the 17-ounce thermos.

Yeti Hopper Two 30 Cooler ($300)

The soft-sided is overkill, and that���s the point. Not only is it leakproof and indestructible, but it���ll keep 18 beers cold for a whopping three days.

Mountainsmith Modular Hauler 4 ($100)

紼棗喝紳喧硃勳紳莽鳥勳喧堯���s 泭keeps everything organized. Each kid or activity gets a color-coded cube���the set comes with four���and the entire open-top tote system slots easily into the trunk. Packing for a weekend has never been easier.

Outdoor Tech Big Turtle Shell Speaker ($230)

Rain, a few drops, and a nasty New Mexico sandstorm didn���t faze Outdoor Tech���s ruggedized, rich-sounding . Yet what really sets it apart is its 16 hours of battery life. And it doubles as a power source, with enough juice to charge your smartphone up to four times.

Big Agnes泭Gilpin Falls Powerhouse 4 MtnGlo泭Tent ($600)

is spacious and easy to set up, and there are stash pockets galore. But it really shines at night���literally. One click of a button turns on strips of flexible LEDs embedded in the seams. It���s totally unnecessary and totally awesome, and the extra flair adds negligible weight.

GSI Pioneer Table ($70)

We���ve tested all sorts of cooksets and always come back to GSI���s . It cleans up easily, is dishwasher safe, and will last through seasons of abuse.

Alite Designs Bison Camp Chair泭($200)

It���s the Bentley of portable seating. Alite Designs���泭泭is 34 inches tall and stylish enough to be a patio fixture. It also packs down to the size of a yoga mat.

The post 11 Essentials for Five-Star Car Camping appeared first on 窪蹋勛圖厙 Online.

Like taxidermy and puppeteering, Zumba is one of those things I just thought I���d never do. But there I was, at 9:30 A.M., in a brightly lit studio, wearing beat-up trail-running shoes and a 簫ratty 簫T-shirt, surrounded by a swirling sea of Lululemon, trying to summon my inner Shakira. I was thinking two things: (1) It���s physically impossible for me to shake my hips like that, and (2) I wish I could Shazam this spicy Latin tune, because it���s pretty damn good.

An hour before, when I told my wife I was heading to my first Zumba class, she said: ���You go, girl.���

Which wasn���t exactly the encouragement I was looking for. While I���m generally a courageous dude, I have only a fleeting sense of rhythm and typically dance���not very well���only after a few cocktails. Plus, if you know anything about Zumba, the popular Latin-簫inspired fitness program, you know that like most dance-based classes, it attracts mostly women.

But the research is overwhelmingly clear: dancing makes you happier. The endorphin boost from the exercise, the social interaction, and the required concentration lift your spirits. Dancing stimulates the hippocampus (the part of the brain that helps regulate mood and stores memories), sparks new nerve growth, and, , lowers levels of stress hormones and increases testosterone. So I signed up for a month���s worth of Zumba classes.

Just walking into the room made me feel anxious. My apprehension increased when I recognized not one but two friends, one of whom was an 羹ber-fit athlete who had been trying to get my wife to do Zumba with her. I sheepishly said hello, took a spot at the back of the class, and waited for the music to start.

Then we were off. The music was fast, the footwork complicated, the gyrations and undulations unrelenting. Staying on track required intense focus. I would concentrate on my feet and forget to move my arms. Or vice versa. By the time I (almost) figured out the sequence, we���d be on to the next one. Thankfully, my frantic bid to keep pace left me little time to feel self-conscious.

I wouldn���t say I was a fast learner, but as Gloria Estefan has pointed out: the rhythm is gonna get you. Or, in my case, at least get a toehold. After a few more classes, I began to recognize the moves and sequences. On the few 簫occasions that I was able to shimmy in step along with the class, it felt great. There���s something oddly satisfying about synchronization.

Some classes were a better workout than others, but all were rigorous and I always left drenched in sweat���and, I must say, in a better mood. I���d pull up funny Zumba videos on YouTube, and my kids and I would dance around the house. They liked the new Pitbull song���We gon��� boogie oogie oogie, jiggle, wiggle, and dance / Like the roof on fire ��� Fireball!���as much as I did.

There were awkward moments. Like whenever we did the move where you spin around on one foot and slap yourself on the ass. Or the time I skittered in late to a sparsely attended class. The instructor and four women were in full swing, and although nobody broke step, I could sense what they were thinking: Young man, you seem to have accidentally stumbled into a Zumba class. I ditched my keys and jumped right in: Actually, ladies, I���m here to shake it, too.

When I told my mountain-biking and powder-skiing buddies about all this, they shook their heads. ���Dude, do you really have to keep going?��� one asked. No, I didn���t, but I had to 簫admit that the experience was fun. The women I met in class didn���t seem to mind me flailing about next to them. One told me that she had been trying to convince her husband to come for months (I laughed nervously), while another offered to help me work on any moves I found difficult (that���d be pretty much all of them, I said). And what���s not to like? You dance around, get a good workout, and leave happier than when you entered. Which is why, when my three-year-old son asked me where Zumba lived, I was only half-joking when I replied, ���In my heart, little buddy, in my heart.���

Continue on泭窪蹋勛圖厙‘s quest to boost happiness:

Strategies for a Healthier, Happier Life
5 Ways to Gain Control Over Your Technology
What Dogs Can Teach Us About Being Content
The Science of Happiness, Illustrated

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Waterproof-breathable jackets. They���re the staple of every outdoor enthusiasts��� kit. And ever since Gore Tex was first invented in 1969, waterproof-breathable jackets have been made more or less the same way: you take a membrane and sandwich it in between a face fabric (the jacket���s exterior) and an internal coating or fabric (what you feel against your skin).

But now a Colorado upstart by the name of Voormi thinks it���s come up with a better way to make a waterproof-breathable layer. Instead of gluing all those layers together, Voormi says it���s figured out a way to insert the membrane directly into the fabric as it���s being knit. Doing so, the company says, allows them to create a much wider range of protective fabrics. The technology is called ���Core Contruction��� and Voormi says it can implement it to create everything from a polyester baselayer with a windproof membrane to a single-layer waterproof-breathable wool jacket.

These are bold claims, to be sure. As we reported on the site this month, the company claims the technology will be a ���reset button��� for the industry. It���s certainly familiar with the playing field���Voormi���s core team is made up of former product designers from two of the most innovative fabric companies on the planet, Polartec and Gore Tex. Will the new stuff work as well as some of our favorite jackets and layers from those two behemoth brands? We hope to test some in the field later this winter and will let you know.

Read about our other Gear of the Show winners from SIA SnowShow 2015.

$399,泭

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These are good times to be moving about the continent in search of powder. Thanks to the consolidation of resorts and the rise of ultra-affordable, multi-resort passes, the price of skiing hasn’t been this cheap since the advent of chairlifts. That makes for happier skiers in a generally expensive and flatlined sport. There’s a potential downside, however. As the big conglomerates buy up resorts, bundle them together, and sell access to their network at a deep discount, there’s increasing concern that the little guys will get priced out of the game.

Previously, season passes were purchased by local skiers or wealthy second-home owners. Most were expensive, sometimes as much as $1,500; the majority of vacationers bought daily lift tickets. Then, in 2008, Vail Resorts debuted the Epic Pass. It cost $579 and offered unlimited skiing at all six of Vail’s properties in Colorado and California.

Last year, Vail sold 350,000 of the passes, which now cost $769 for the unlimited version. It’s just one of many multi-resort options available. There are also the Mountain Collective Pass (two days of skiing at seven resorts for $399), the Intrawest Passport (six days at six resorts for $589), and the Cali4nia Pass (unlimited skiing at four resorts, $799).

These pricing schemes don’t reflect the true cost of operating a ski hill. Boyne Resorts, the country’s largest private operator, spends upwards of $25 million each year running its fleet of 85 snowcats. And before it sold its holdings to Vail Resorts, Park City Mountain Resort estimated that it had invested $10.5 million in lifts over the past decade.

Multi-resort passes are what’s known in retail as a loss leader, like free drinks at Las Vegas casinos. If you’re a big, vertically integrated company, you can afford to lose money on operations and make it up on burgers and ski lessons. ( estimates that the average destination skier spent $750 per day at Vail during the winter of 2011���12.)

For the hundreds of smaller independent resorts, that’s a risky business model. “When $500 buys you access to 12 resorts, people scoff at buying day tickets even at $49,” says Aaron Brill, a cofounder of , a small, mostly backcountry ski area in southwestern Colorado.

On the East Coast, where multi-resort passes have yet to infiltrate the market as deeply as in the West, , the nation’s only not-for-profit, cooperatively held ski area, is watching the trend with a nervous eye. “Our business is about lift tickets and season passes. We have no other options,” says marketing director Eric Friedman. “There’s no way we can compete with the cheapo season passes on price.”

Even some larger ski companies are worried about the effects of the new price structures. “It’s definitely a concern for the industry as a whole if we lose too many feeder resorts and local ski areas,” says Steve Kircher, who runs eight of Boyne’s ten mountains. “It’s incumbent upon the bigger guys to help the smaller areas in our regions.” Boyne assists neighboring resorts by donating grooming equipment and offering reciprocal discounts. But it’s one of the few big conglomerates doing so.

In the meantime, even the most vocal critics of the large resorts are caving to pressure. This winter, Silverton debuted a that gets you unlimited unguided skiing, plus five free days each at Arapahoe Basin, Monarch, and Taos. It quickly sold out.

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