The annual Warren Miller film celebrating snow sports will bolster Mainers, while featuring Olympic gold medalist Seth Wescott and his touching story.

Wescott’s Alaskan tale is the heart of this action film, to be shown at the Merrill Auditorium on Friday, that documents several snow sport stories from around the world. This year’s Warren Miller action film includes visits to mountains in India, Norway, Chile, British Columbia, New Zealand, Utah and Alaska, Wescott’s playground.

But it was only after the footage had been shot in Cordova, Alaska, where Wescott goes heli-boarding each year, that Points North guide Kip Garre died in a ski accident and a more poignant story came to light.

So the producers at Warren Miller changed the direction of Wescott’s feature segment, and rather than telling a story of friends having the time of their life, they looked with Wescott’s help at what the time we have in life means.

The name of the film, “Like There’s No Tomorrow,” took on new meaning.

“They had the title before we went to film. It’s ironic for sure,” Wescott said. “They ended up playing off that. In retrospect, that (title) became the major part of the segment that was a tribute to Kip. I went back into the studio to do a voice over, and to talk about him.”

Traditionally Warren Miller films are light and fun, with wild, high-flying footage. The annual gatherings at Merrill Auditorium hold an electric excitement, as fans of snow sports collectively celebrate the return of winter.

Wescott was in another Warren Miller feature film, the “Children of Winter” in 2008. But his segment this year features him – and his proud Sugarloaf helmet sticker – more prominently because of the sad turn his Alaska story took.

Wescott said he wasn’t satisfied with the way the story was told when he first saw the film at its premiere in Salt Lake City. But when he saw Garre’s closest friends after, he knew his words had hit the right note.

“It was weird for me. I had (already) talked about what an amazing mentor and guide and friend Kip was to me over the years. I liked everything I said about Kip as this amazing person,” Wescott said. “Then I ended up having to talk about him in the past tense. It felt weird for me, sitting in a sound box and focusing on my friend’s death. That being said, when I was at the premiere (Kip’s friends) were in tears and loved the segment and tribute to him.”

That said, Wescott has no ambition to pursue a movie career. He said he was pursued for years by the producers of “The Bachelor,” but thought it was weird and repeatedly refused to star on the show.

The Carrabassett Valley resident did say he’d be open to a different TV show, though.

“I’d do ‘Survivor.’ I think that would be cool,” Wescott said.

Staff Writer Deirdre Fleming can be contacted at 791-6452 or at:

dfleming@pressherald.com

Twitter: FlemingPph