Watch Backcountry’s ‘Taming the Wolverine’

It’s one thing for sponsored athletes to tackle big objectives. It’s another thing entirely to get together with a few buddies and tackle 16 demanding lines while gaining 10K of vert just for the sheer gnar of it. But that’s exactly what Backcountry employees Alex Quitiquit and Cam Price did in Taming the Wolverine, a short film that just premiered on Backcountry’s YouTube account.

Wolverine Cirque is no joke. The lines are steep, the vert is relentless, and finding a weather window wide enough to link all 16 chutes in one day is no easy task in Utah’s mountains. But that challenge is exactly what attracted Quitiquit, Price, and Backcountry ambassador JM Fabrizi to the task.

GearJunkie caught up with Price to chat about the project and discovered that things went almost perfectly for such a big day.

“The day went great,” he said. “We got through all 16 lines in just about 10 hours. We were on top of the final line at the top of Wolverine Peak for beautiful golden hour light. Skied it”, then added. “Had a beer at the bottom and then made our way back to the car.” Easy-peasy, right?

A Wolverine Peak Epic for 9-5ers

The short film bears out that narrative: three dudes crushing a big day and having a blast while they’re at it. Conditions didn’t make for flashy moves (“the snow quality was absolutely miserable,” we were told), but that doesn’t matter when the goal is maximum enjoyment.

Still, fun doesn’t translate to ease, and it took both technical skill and above-average fitness for the group to achieve its goal. All three skiers have long histories in the sport (for instance, Price grew up ski racing in Vermont). And all three make a point of maintaining a fitness level that allows them to excel in the backcountry.

But that being said, it’s worth remembering that Taming the Wolverine is, at its heart, a film about the joys of getting out there for no other reason than getting out there.

“We’re not paid to go out and do this. We have a nine-to-five job. We just really love getting out in the backcountry and pushing our limits — trying to do a big objective like this and seeing if we’re capable of it,” Price told GearJunkie. “You don’t have to be paid to be skiing every day. To have a cool objective in mind and set a date and go out and try to get it. It’s attainable even if you’re sitting at a desk Monday through Friday.”

Truer words! So silence your Slack notifications and give Taming the Wolverine a watch (it’s a shortie). And as you get back to work, start planning your own objectives. There’s a lot of fun to be had.

Runtime: 12 minutes