Winter at Westminster

As if traditional downhill skiing wasn’t exciting enough, two Westminster students are featured showing off their deep-powder skills during a heli-skiing segment in Warren Miller’s new film, Flow State, premiered on October 19 at Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City.

Westminster junior Keely Kelleher and senior Marcus Caston made their film debut in ski movie mogul Miller’s 63rd ski movie which claims (in its usual over-the-top fashion) to “bring audiences to a place only recently identified by scientists—a place where the faster we go physically, the slower things appear mentally.”

As a former ski racer and retired member of the U.S. Ski Team, Kelleher seized the opportunity to show off her freeskiing skills, while marking off a key item on her “bucket list.”

“The whole experience was new and amazing,” she said. “When I was in fourth grade, I wrote down that one of my life goals was to be in a Warren Miller film…so I’m getting to check off my ‘things to do in my life’ list.”

Both ski-racers-turned-freeskiers, Kelleher and Caston, are filmed heli-skiing (off-trail, downhill skiing accessed by helicopter) in two of the world’s premiere ski areas. Caston was filmed in the Chugach Range, Alaska, where he admits that big-mountain skiing isn’t “as easy as it looks.” The Chugach Range “averages 600 inches of snowfall per year that covers countless powder walls, averaging 3,000—4,000 feet in vertical expanse.”

Kelleher’s freeskiing skills were filmed at the Canyons Resort in Park City, Utah.

Kelleher and Caston have a long history of skiing and ski racing. Kelleher began skiing at the near-infant age of 1½ years and has been skiing for more than 25 years. Caston has been racing for decades as well, and is now a professional action sports photographer.

Both skiers are currently students at Westminster studying management and marketing.

“Being a student at Westminster means having the best educational opportunities, along with incredible mountains to play in outside of the classroom,” she said. “I cannot think of a better school to facilitate my goals as a business student, a professional skier and an entrepreneur.”

Kelleher attributes much of her success off the slopes and inside the classroom to her Westminster professors.

“Filming was pretty much a full-time job from February to March of 2012, and my professors really tried to help me and work with my schedule as much as possible so I could continue my education,” she said.

Kelleher recently started her own ski camp for girls that provides a unique opportunity for young girls to be coached and mentored by some of the best female skiers in the world. She hopes to continue helping others upon completion of her Westminster degree.

Visit our Westminster news page to find out more—and visit our W@W page to find out how you can become part of Westminster’s awesome ski culture next semester!

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