If you love winter, then chances are you love a good ski or snowboarding film. This year’s batch of new films have been released over the last couple of months (pre Northern winter). One thing that’s really obvious in the ski/ riding genre is the ever growing number of films that are focused on human powered adventure. It’s great to see this tradition continue this year with a number of films focused on low carbon adventures.
Here’s an introduction to a few of them:
SHELTER – Step forward through the legendary Alps
‘A tale of five adventurers. Their passion: the most beautiful summits in the world and the freedom to ride them. This year, they decided to change the practice, minimising their CO2 emissions and finding ways to stay as neutral as possible in a changing nature.
Determined to return to basics, they traveled for two months the Swiss and French Alps through valleys near their homes. Here is their message’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UxrpX2lroQ
The Headwaters
‘Millions of Californians get their clean water from the reservoirs of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. And after years of drought that have increased stress on California’s water resources, a record winter has again filled these catchments. In this video, Benjamin Moscona-Remnitz embarks on a ski tour through the Sierra Nevada Mountains to investigate a season’s snowpack’.
Close to Home
Often, we dream too faraway to appreciate what is in our own backyard. The simplest way to explore is to look around you. Mobilized by this philosophy and the sensory experience of snowboarding, Patagonia ambassador Nicholas Wolken spent the past two seasons enjoying what nature had to offer only a train ride away from the town where he grew up. The result is Close to Home. The eight-minute short follows Nicholas and fellow Patagonia ambassador Forrest Shearer as they stay in a family friend’s alpine hut in Fideriser Heuberge and surrender to simplicity. As Nicholas puts it, “In snowboarding, less is more.”
“There is something special about stepping out of my own front door. Moving through the landscape with my own two legs. It took a while for me to realise how moving slower can give you more. Using my muscle power to get places makes me feel alive and connected with my surroundings”.
Electric Greg
‘Skier and all-around mountain sport expert Greg Hill had a simple but difficult plan: summit 100 peaks without burning fossil fuel to do it. No cars, no planes, no helicopters, no snowmobiles. He could walk, ride a bike, drive an electric car—but no direct gas burning. This short film takes you along on his journey, one that extends far beyond just those 100 miles. Hill’s life changed in the process. At first, it was a challenge, then, a habit, then, just a sensible way to live’.
Roadless
‘In the winter of 2019, Bryan Iguchi teamed up with fellow snowboarders Jeremy Jones and Travis Rice to explore an untamed part of Wyoming on a 10-day human powered expedition. For the first time in their illustrious careers, these snowboarding legends are united by a common goal: To trek deep into the wilderness in search of groundbreaking first descents in the lower-48’s most remote region. Their arduous journey through this winter landscape yields not only world-class riding, but allows the three to reflect on their shared past and love of snowboarding in one of America’s last wild places’.
https://www.tetongravity.com/films/roadless
Endless Winter 2
The experiment of riding better with lower emissions continues in Austria, during the snowiest winter of the decade.
LAND OF NO USE – A Montana Wilderness Ski Project
[This is now 5 years old but worthy of inclusion].
Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, a group of skiers and riders set out to visit Montana’s Wilderness Areas and explore the issues surrounding the lands where humans are mere visitors, in a state named for its mountains.
Ode to Muir
Then, of course, another slightly older film that fits beautifully into this category is the lovely Ode to Muir: Teton Gravity’s film Ode To Muir “pairs professional snowboarder, adventurer and founder of Protect Our Winters Jeremy Jones with two-time Olympian Elena Hight as they embark on a 60 km human-powered expedition deep into California’s John Muir Wilderness.
[HEADER IMAGE: Jeremy Jones, Travis Rice, Bryan Iguchi, and the TGR crew head out into the wilderness. Jeremy Jones photo.]
Mountain Journal 
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