Salt Lake City filmmaker Bill Kerig's new documentary, "The Edge of Never," is about fear and uncertainty atop one of the most dangerous mountains in France.

Fear and uncertainty also are behind the making of the movie itself, which documents a 15-year-old boy's journey to Europe to ski the mountain where his father died just nine years before.

"The Edge of Never," which was directed by Kerig and based on his 2008 book of the same name, debuts on Showtime Friday night at 9.

It was Kerig and legendary big-mountain skier Glen Plake who thought young Kye Petersen of Whistler, British Columbia, should return to the spot where an avalanche swept away his father, Trevor Petersen, in 1996.

As Plake mentions in the film, Kye could "complete the circle" and ride the very slope where his father died. Plake saw it as Kye's "rite of passage" into what they called the "big-mountain tribe" of skiers who risk going down some of the steepest, most rugged peaks in the world.

"It was initially Plake's idea, and I saw the story potential in it," Kerig said. "It's a mythic story that has worked throughout time -- a young man faces the demon that took his father. It goes way, way back."

But Kye, who is not doing interviews for the movie, had his own reasons to take on the dangerous challenge of skiing down Aiguille du Midi in Chamonix, France.

"He absolutely felt like he needed to do it to move on. Quite frankly, he, still at age 15, had a lot of anger," Kerig remembered. "Not only is his dad not there, but everyone compared him to his dad. He's thinking to himself, 'I want to go see this place and finish my father's run and put it behind me, and I want to become my own man.' It was very much a way for him to step out of his father's shadow."

Beth Stewart, Trevor Petersen's mother, said her grandson also needed to go on the odyssey for closure.

"He felt like he wanted to be at the place his father last looked at," she said, an understanding she eventually reached after the "deep fear and horror" she initially felt about Kye's trip. "He said, 'By doing that I will be as close to him as I'll ever be.' It was poignant."

So Kye, Plake, the film crew and some of the most world's legendary big-mountain skiers ascended the Aiguille du Midi. Kye ultimately skied the slope with the aid of mountaineering rope and trusted guides, many who were his father's mentors.

Despite the precautions taken for Kye's safety, the filmmaker knew there were still risks. "I created this situation and I knew it could be something incredibly special in this young man's life and in this family's life, or it could be a terrible tragedy and I would be blamed and I would be looked at as someone who was reckless who took advantage of a kid," Kerig said.

He added: "This was what he was going to do and where he was going, and I certainly took the responsibility. I weighed the risk, and we did it."

Yet Kye's adventure was only half the struggle. Kerig also fought to complete the film after a series of mishaps nearly grounded the project.

Initially, Kerig got financing for the movie by "literally pitching people on the [Snowbird] tram." He then set up a deal with the production company owned by the late ABC News anchor Peter Jennings.

Kerig had shot the core of the film while in France. But in 2005, Jennings died of cancer, which put the film in turnaround. In the meantime, Kerig wrote the book. "I said, 'Damn it, I'm going to tell this story.' And so I did."

Then Kerig bought the rights to the film back from Jennings' production company and secured more financing from a Deer Valley investor to finish the movie.

"I'm really stubborn," Kerig said. "I was an athlete, and I hate to lose. It felt like I was losing if I didn't finish what I set out to do. As an artist, there is something in that family story that really spoke to me that I really wanted to share."

And share he did. When the movie was completed late last year, Kerig boarded a 1978 Airstream motor home and went on a 45-stop grass-roots tour around the country, screening the film in theaters he rented. He also stamped out his own DVDs of "The Edge of Never" for sale.

The movie screened at film festivals in Banff and Whistler, and last week at Salt Lake City's X-Dance Film Festival. Its producer, Peter Schweitzer, a producer for CBS News' "48 Hours," then arranged to have the movie air on Showtime.

"Skiing has gotten to be both too cool and too wrapped up in what you're wearing and what logo you have on," Kerig said. "What it's about is being in the mountains with people you care about and experiencing really special things with them. Ultimately, it's about making family where you find it and how those families can sometimes help us overcome our greatest fears."

vince@sltrib.com