You Can Hit The Slopes At The ‘Spinning Out’ Ski Resort

Netflix’s Spinning Out follows a group of competitive figure skaters hoping to make their regionals, nationals, and eventually Olympic dreams come true. They’re a dedicated group — often up at the crack of dawn to get on the ice for practice. Their home rink is at the Pinecrest Ski Resort in Idaho, but Spinning Out was actually filmed in an entirely different country.

According to Deadline, Kat, Serena, and their mom Carol live in Hawkley, Idaho, a working-class town which doesn’t appear to be a real place in the real state. As for the Pinecrest Ski Resort, it could be modeled after the real Sun Valley Resort in Idaho. After all, the first episode is called "Now Entering Sun Valley." The Sun Valley lodge’s website bills it as the "all-season family resort destination for skiing, snowboarding, dining, shopping, golf, ice skating and recreation." That makes it the perfect Idahoan inspiration for the show’s fictional Pinecrest Ski Resort. However, the series was not filmed at the Sun Valley Resort or even in the state of Idaho at all.

Filming for Spinning Out took place on set in Toronto, Ontario in Canada, according to star Kaya Scodelario’s Instagram posts throughout production. And the exterior shots of Pinecrest Ski Resort were actually filmed at Ontario’s Blue Mountain Village ski resort. "Today’s location got me feeling like I need a pretzel & a warm cup of [cocoa]," Scodelario captioned a shot of the snowy locale. "We do have some beautiful filming locations," fellow cast member Willow Shields wrote in her own Instagram post of Blue Mountain Village.

One of the main places the action occurs on Spinning Out is at the Pinecrest Ice Arena. To create that set, the production moved to an ice rink in Orangeville, Ontario, according to more cast Instagram posts. Figure skater Johnny Weir, who plays Gabe on the show, posted a glam picture with his co-star Kaitlyn Leeb on set in Orangeville. He captioned it, "Roll up to the rink like…"

Most of the real locations featured in Spinning Out had their names changed for the show. Blue Mountain Village became Pinecrest Ski Resort. Toronto became Idaho. Orangeville’s rink became the Pinecrest Ice Arena. But one place did get to keep its name in the show itself.

Wally’s Restaurant, a diner in Mississauga in Ontario, Canada, is still called Wally’s Restaurant in Episode 3. It’s the place where Justin and Kat go to eat meatloaf and bond as skating partners. It seems no one on production cared much that it’s a Canadian restaurant in a show that takes place in Idaho. Probably they thought no one would notice. After all, there is a Wallys Cafe in Salmon, Idaho. It’s not much of a stretch.

It’s not unusual for television or movie productions to shoot in Canada. There are tax incentives in Toronto that allow companies to save big bucks by filming up there. But there was another bonus for an ice skating show to film in Canada. Many of the world’s greatest figure skaters are from the area, and so Spinning Out got to cast some award-winning Canadian skaters as stunt doubles for their actors. Among the doubles were Elizabeth Putnam, who pair skated as Kat in a couple of episodes. She’s a two-time national bronze medalist in Canada. And Justin’s skating double Dylan David Moscovitch won a team silver medal for Canada at the 2014 Olympics.

Add in all the snow that Canada gets and its nearly permanent wintery setting, and it was really the perfect place for Spinning Out to film. Sorry, Real Idaho.

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