The age of a professional skier might be akin to dog years, but Ian McIntosh is proof it doesn’t have to be that way.
“To have a long career doing what you love, it doesn’t get any better,” the 41-year-old Whistlerite says. “For me, being able to make money doing what I love for so long now, I feel very fortunate.”
Still, there’s no getting around it: he and Sage Cattabriga-Alosa are officially both senior members of the Teton Gravity Research (TGR) roster. So, McIntosh thought, why not poke fun at that—while still showing off their top-tier chops?
“This is an idea I had for a few years,” he says. “Sage and I were chatting one day and we were like, ‘We’ve watched other athletes come along after our careers were well-established, have great careers and then retire—yet, we’re still doing it.’ We wanted to make fun of the fact that we’re the senior citizens of the TGR crew—all the while showing that we’re still relevant and got it.”
And that was how the narrative thread in TGR’s latest film, Magic Hour, was conceived. Technically, the film gleans its name from the first hours following sunrise and the last before sunset, but it’s woven together with (spoiler alert) McIntosh and Cattabriga-Alosa dressed up as old men.
The pair were fitted for prosthetics by a Hollywood makeup artist, and spent four hours in the makeup chair.
“We wanted it to be super convincing,” McIntosh says. “We wanted a little bit of confusion.”
The story starts with the two skiers hobbling their way to Kaslo—home to some ski lines that, in real life, McIntosh had his eye on for some time—to wait out the weather for the perfect ski day.
“Is there an age limit to pursuing our dreams?” a narrator asks. “To pursuing that fleeting feeling we all know and love?”
Essentially, the pair has to act throughout the entire film.
“Sage and I are not actors—not even close—but the makeup does it for you,” McIntosh says. “When you get into the makeup and see yourself in the mirror, it puts you into that character.”
Of course, the production also follows several other skiers and snowboarders—including Amy Jane David, Bode Merrill, Christina Lustenberger, Griffin Post, Jake Hopfinger, Jeremy Jones, Jim Ryan, KC Deane, Kai Jones, McRae Williams, Michelle Parker, Nat Murphy, Nick McNutt, Parkin Costain, Sam Smoothy, Simon Hillis, Tim Durtschi, Veronica Paulsen—in locations ranging from around B.C., to Alaska and Montana.
But sandwiching the winter stoke is the two “old men.” Of course, this being a ski and snowboard movie, those guys also get their moment of glory.
“We got the coveted closing segment,” McIntosh says. “I got the closing shot. The final impression and the opening are really important, so to be able to get that reaffirms to me as an athlete that I am still very much doing it.”
Looking ahead to this season, he’s in the midst of planning a trip to Alaska with Cattabriga-Alosa and some younger athletes.
“It’s more a mentor-style trip,” he says. “Sage and I learned from one of the gurus of our sport: Jeremy Jones. He passed us so much knowledge. We feel we need to pass that knowledge we gained from him, and our experience in the mountains, to the new generation.”
But don’t get the wrong idea.
“All of this makes it look like I’m getting ready to retire,” he says with a laugh. “I’m not. But if I got hurt and was forced into retirement, I want to make sure I passed on the knowledge and passed the torch.”
Catch a screening of Magic Hour on Saturday, Nov. 5 at the Maury Young Arts Centre.
The first screening is all ages with doors at 6 p.m., followed by a 19-plus screening at 8:30 p.m.
Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for youth under 16. Get them here.
