I once gave a talk at Palisades Tahoe to the American Association of Professional Ski Patrollers. These are the men and women who keep ski resorts running.

I spoke to them about some of the things I had learned since I taught skiing at Squaw during the winter of 1948/49 when it first opened with one chairlift and two rope tows. I thought it might be a good idea to pass on some of my lessons.

1. I learned that the world wants to laugh and not enough people let them. During the fifty-five years that I made movies, I tried to put as many laughs in them as I could.

2. I learned that if you aren’t the first person in the ski lift line in the morning, someone else will be, and they will track up the powder snow before you.

3. I learned that at the top of a mountain all people are equal. While eating a lunch of oyster crackers and ketchup in the Round House at Sun Valley in 1947, I sat and watched while Gary Cooper and his wife and a group from Hollywood drank their expensive wine and ate gourmet lunches. After lunch, when we all rode to the top of Baldy, it made no difference how famous anyone was, we were all the same. Gravity was the great equalizer when we started down the mountain.

4. In 1950 when I was showing my very first ski film, only 13 people showed up in a 350-seat theatre. I learned right there to always entertain the people who showed up; the people who aren’t there missed something. I also learned: You will have to work all of your life to be a success overnight.( And I haven’t worked all of my life yet!)

5. I learned not to ever ruin a good story with the absolute truth, which is elusive anyway.

6. I learned from my grandfather in 1933 to never steal anything because two policemen are smarter than one crook. Even more important he taught me: Never tell a lie because you do not have a good enough memory,

7. I learned to always trust your guide. I was filming deep down in a crevasse in Switzerland one winter. With a great rumble some ice shifted somewhere else in the glacier and scared me half to death. I asked the guide, “What makes you think this crevasse won’t cave in on use while we are down here?” He replied, “What makes you think it will?”

8. I learned there is a big difference between being cheap and being frugal. Every ten dollars I saved on room and board by sleeping on a friend's couch, I then had in my pocket to buy another roll of film.

9. I learned in 1949 that if I included some surfing in my ski movies, I would open the doors to a great way to spend the summer in the ocean for the people who liked to spend winter in the mountains.

10. I learned that anything anyone does in a city, he or she can do at a ski resort. So if you don’t like what you are doing in a city, quit your job, rent a U-Haul trailer, pack it up, and move to a ski resort. You will change your life. No one else is going to change it for you.

Editor’s Note: This is one in a Tahoetopia series written by Warren Miller, legendary ski cinematographer. For other columns by Warren, click on Warren Miller.

Also watch Tahoe TV’s Get Out! Tahoe on cable. Here are the Channel numbers: North Lake Tahoe: 14; Truckee/W Shore: 11; South Lake Tahoe: 18; Reno: 3; Carson: 15. Also visit warrenmiller.net for more stories and warrenmiller.org for information about the Warren Miller Freedom Foundation.

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