The roar of passing semi-trucks on Interstate 90 filled the air as 12-year-old Bryon Wilson stood among weathered pine trees on a snowy hillside above the 6,300 ft. Homestake Pass near Butte, Montana. His 8-year-old brother Bradley watched as Bryon took one big step and went flying down the hillside on his skis toward the freeway, hurling himself off a homemade jump, and flipping twice in the air before coming to a crashing stop just before a barbed-wire fence. "Nice one, Wilson!" exclaims the boy's mother, Jeannette, as she watches with her video camera from an idling car. "You okay?" The jumping sessions were a frequent evening occurrence for the Wilsons as this was the most convenient way for them to train acrobatic maneuvers key to the sport of freestyle skiing. It was hard work and took commitment from the whole family, but this is the Montana way. Montana freestyle skiers are the mavericks of the sport. Often without the financial means of their resort-based peers, passionate young athletes from blue-collar backgrounds in industrial and ranching towns like Missoula, Butte, and Bozeman are largely self-taught and have achieved success through sheer determination. Derived from thrilling international competition footage, compelling home videos, and original cinematography, MAVERICKS tells the fascinating, timeless story of Montana's untold freestyle legacy through the struggles, victories, and journeys of some of the state's most renowned skiers, who share the common bond of an unbreakable Montana spirit.
