Category Archives: Scene

2013 Ski Porn Ushers In Winter

Growing up, Warren Miller stole the show as the harbinger of the ski season. Today, take a number. Have Go Pro and buds, and make a ski movie. More than 30 ski films will debut this winter. Here’s a look at just a handful of ski porn to watch for.

The Flicks-

Premiering this week in Salt Lake City, with appropriate sponsor fanfare, comes the 64th installment from Warren Miller Productions. Ticket to Ride takes athletes like Tyler Ceccanti, Keely Kelleher, Elyse Saugstad, Kaylin Richardson, Sierra Quitiquit, Jess McMillan, Andy Mahre, Pep Fujas, Tommy Moe and Rob Kingwill to the far reaches of snow at Big Sky, Mont., Greenland, Kazakhstan, Iceland and the Eiger.

 

Sorry, Utahns, there won’t be any epic pow sections sponsored by Ski Utah or Visit Salt Lake this year. Nor will there be those awesome free lift tickets to Canyons Resort Utahns have become accustomed to. Seems like the association with Vail Resorts has far-reaching effects. The good news is that Snowbird continues to sponsor the eight-night engagement with 2-for-1 lift tickets for all attendees and REI members get a free vintage Warren Miller download. The tour begins with an athlete press conference this Friday Oct. 11 and pre-film circus of vendor booths like Chaos Headwear tossing out and selling WME custom hats and poster signings outside of Salt Lake’s Abravanel Hall beginning at 6 p.m. An official after party at The Depot, 400 W. South Temple, follows the premiere.

Get your Ticket to Ride World Premiere tickets at REIs in Utah, ArtTix and Abravanel Hall box office. The movie replays on Saturday then moves to Orem and Ogden Oct. 15-17, and Park City Oct. 18-19.

MSP

Matchstick Productions took a severe detour from the usual faceshot frames to craft a ski documentary worthy of the Tribeca Film Festival in NYC. McConkey premiered October 5 in Shane McConkey’s home town of Squaw Valley, Calif., the ride continues in theaters nationwide through November and will be available for download on iTunes and Google Play starting October 8. “This story of an extreme BASE skier named Shane McConkey is serious, eye-opening stuff, the kind that allows you to forgive the Red Bull-commercial overtones. Those watching this movie have come away simply being moved by the guts and the athleticism, not to mention McConkey’s wrenching personal story,” wrote Los Angeles Times critic Steven Zeitchik. 

MSP will be back with the usual jibber dude antics next year with Days of My Youth.

TGR

Teton Gravity Research claims their latest- Way Of Life– is not only about the search for snow but how their athletes view the world. Do we really care? Ultimately, it’s about watching Sage Cattabriga-Alosa, Sammy Carlson, Dash Longe, Todd Ligare, Angel Collison, Ian McIntosh, Dylan Hood, John Spriggs and others dart around Jackson Hole, Alaska, Austria, British Columbia and Mammoth Mountain, Calif.

 

Sherpas Cinema

Into the Mind hails from the filmmaker of the multi-award winning, All.I.Can. Canadian Dave Mossop is one of the few who’s both passionate about skiing and education. The film school graduate (University of Victoria) gets creative with an “Inception“-like exploration of dreams and death. It may sound over-the-head for most ski film addicts but don’t sell yourself short. There’s always room for thought amid the scenes of the sport athletes live and die by. “You can have the greatest single moment you can ever possibly have on Earth, or you could die. The film is really a meditation on the moment of choice you have before you potentially kill yourself in the mountains,” says Mossop.

 

Shades of Winter

Girl power is alive and well with the all-women ski flick Shades of Winter. Austrian skier Sandra Lahnsteiner’s third film follow freeriders like Rachael Burks, Caja Schoepf, Matilda Rapaport, Lorraine Huber, Keri Herman and Grete Eliassen as they throw down from Japan to Haines, Alaska.

 

Powderwhore

Utah’s homegrown ski moviemakers unveil their ninth backcountry opus with Elevation. Proving there’s skiing beyond the Wasatch, Andrew McClean, the Provo brothers, brothers Andy and Jason Dorais et al head for the Tordrillo Mountains, Alaska, the Cascades, and the Tetons. The flick is full of earn-your-turns propaganda but there’s no denying the energy and joy in their journey.

 

4FRNT Media

By 14, CR Johnson was winning local ski competitions in Tahoe and quickly making a name for himself. He entered the freeskiing world, friending the likes of Tanner Hall and other skiing icons. But in 2007, his career came to a screeching halt when, during a film shoot at Brighton Resort, he fell and was struck in the head by Kye Peterson. They were filming a sequence in which skiers rapid-fired off a jump. CR was wearing a helmet but was still knocked unconscious. He recovered and found the support of 4FRNT on his struggle back to the slopes. In honor of the final production year of the CRJ Signature Series skis comes CRJ: The Chronicle Of A Freeskiing Icon.

“CR Johnson was an inspiration to anyone who ever stepped into a pair of skis,” said 4FRNT film manager Austin Ramaley. 

Watch the whole film here-

 

Poor Boyz

Poor Boyz founder Johnny Decesare, along with Joe Schuster, Julien Regnier, Karl Fostvedt, and Sean Pettit go Tracing Skylines from the Alps’ Haute Route to Detroit. It’s really all about jibbing anywhere you can find it but there’s a whole generation of teenagers that will cheer for this sort of thing.

 

The rest of the pack:

Field Productions Supervention

Chaoz Prod. Head Straight

PVS Company Time

Sweetgrass Prod. Valhalla

The Radbots Brother Nature

Junkies on a Budget Sartori

Vital Films Insight

Stept Mutiny

Vproductions Alpha

Life Steez Media Earthshine

4BI9 All Damn Day

Level 1 Partly Cloudy

Legs of Steel The Lost

Headbud Daily Bread

Wordup Media Concrete Jungle

Unicorn Picnic Prod. Pretty Faces

 

Sundance Hikes Ticket Prices

There’s no way to sugarcoat the news. Sundance Film Fest ticket prices are going up…33 percent. The $20 ticket charge for films that may go straight to Netflix has more than a few Park City locals miffed. “That’s called gouging,” Tom Richardson posted on The Park Record Newspaper’s Facebook page. “Just ridiculous. We should just wait till they come to the Park City library when they’re a lot cheaper.”

Sundance organizers added $5 to the face value of last year’s $15 ticket in order to offset their operating costs. They seem to be keeping the increase on the down-low though. You would have had to visit the website to notice. The hike comes on the heels of a summer press announcement that the 2013 Festival generated an overall economic impact of nearly $70 million for Utah.

Individual tickets won’t go on sale until January but with the busiest time at the box office starting with the locals-only purchasing period.

Linda Pfafflin, a Sundance associate director, told the Record that it’s been seven years since the last increase. “The funds generated from this adjustment will help us meet rising costs associated with putting on the festival,” Pfafflin said in a prepared response. If it’s any consolation, a waitlist ticket will still be $15.

In comparison, tickets to screenings for the Toronto Film Festival are $21 and those for the Telluride Film Festival taking place this weekend are $25. Sundance organizers say they price tickets competitively but that news won’t take the sting out of those already hard-to-get Sundance tickets. So why pay $20 instead of waiting for Netflix? You’re paying for the experience, the filmmaker question and answer sessions and the chance to spot a celebrity.

Sundance 2014 runs Jan. 16-26. www.sundance.org/festival/tickets.

Take A Flying Leap On Bridge Day

If your best friend tells you to jump off a bridge there is definitely one time where it would be okay to do it… with a few hundred of your best friends. Ever heard of Bridge Day? No? Then you’ve never been in Fayette County, West Virginia.


The annual Bridge Day Festival started in 1980. It takes place on the third Saturday in October to commemorate the 1977 completion of the New River Gorge Bridge. This year, on October 19, BASE jumpers from around the world will wow nearly 80,000 spectators as they soar off the Bridge- all day long. Last year, they added the Human Catapult to the list of extreme activities.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-FY3aHO6Cw&w=420&h=315]

But if you’re not quite ready to go that big, that’s okay. You can still be part of one of the largest extreme sports events in the world. The town shuts out traffic one day a year to allow pedestrians to legally strut the 876-foot tall steel arch bridge- the world’s third longest and the U.S.’ third highest. There are hundreds of vendor booths and a zipline and rappel line for the general public. No experience necessary for the 700-foot ride over the gorge that stretches from the beams of the bridge. Those experienced in rappelling entered a lottery back in June to be one of the privileged teams to drop up to 850-feet into the Gorge.

There’s still time to win your own tandem BASE jump on Bridge Day. Create a three-minute video showing why you deserve the jump.  Submit your video through Facebook beginning next Friday, August 30 through September 6. Bridge Day fans will then vote. If you’re picked, a charity of your choice will also receive a $1,000 donation, courtesy of Subaru. You do need to be over 18 and weigh less than 200 pounds.


Wasatch Pass Wars

One thing is for sure. Vail Resorts and their move on Canyons Resort this summer has shaken up the way the Wasatch does business.

Not only is the new Epic Pass one of the cheapest season passes in the state (Powder Mountain’s is $640) but it’s causing a backlash of resort-gangup warfare.

Step aside Mountain Collective, the “Best Benefit In The Wasatch” is a boon for Utah locals. Buy a full-tier pass at Alta Ski Area, Deer Valley Resort, Park City Mountain Resort, or Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort (basically any resort but Canyons, Solitude and Brighton) and receive three free days at each of the other three resorts. Even better, if you purchase a pass at Alta or Snowbird you get the benefits of the Mountain Collective as well (minus the free tickets)!!!

In other words, if you buy an Alta pass for $999, you’ll get three extra days at Deer Valley ($324), PCMR ($300), Snowbird ($267). That’s an $800+ value! Plus you get most of the Mountain Collective which would be 50 percent off lift tickets at Aspen, Jackson Hole, Mammoth, Whistler, Squaw/Alpine, Durango, Red Lodge Mountain, Homewood, and Wachusett throughout the season. 

“As another step in adding value and variety for our Alta skiers, we think it is great to be able to add days of skiing at three of our fine neighboring resorts – Snowbird, Deer Valley and Park City Mountain Resort,” commented Alta Ski Area’s President and General Manager, Onno Wieringa.

Here’s the condensed rundown of pre-season pass prices for comparision:

Alta:
Adult Season Pass = $999 until 10/1

Alta/Snowbird:
AltaSnowbird Adult = $1499 till Aug. 24 ($1699 after)

The Mountain Collective:
With the purchase of the Mountain Collective Pass each passholder receives 2 days at each of the following areas: AltaSnowbird, Aspen/Snowmass, Jackson Hole, Mammoth, Squaw Valley/Alpine Meadows, and Whistler Blackcomb. Additional benefits include half off ski days at The Collective destinations, no blackout dates and up to 25% discount on lodging at The Collective destinations.


Beaver Mountain:
Adult Season Pass (12 & Over) = $465 until 8/15


Brian Head:
Adult Season Pass (26-61) = $539 until 11/7

Brighton:

Adult Season Pass NA yet

Solitude:

Adult Season Pass (26-61) = $999 until 11/1

For the first time ever, Solitude and Brighton have teamed up to offer a joint BCC pass for $999 (the price of a Solitude pass alone); on sale Aug. 8. “We recognize that the paying customer has a plethora of ski pass choices this year. We think you will find that our pass offerings this year are competitive and hope that you choose to keep Solitude as your mountain choice this year,” announced Solitude on Facebook.

Canyons:
Adult Epic Pass = $689
Epic Pass: Unlimited skiing or riding at Canyons, Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Heavenly, Northstar, Kirkwood, Arapahoe Basin and Eldora. – NO BLACKOUTS.  Also includes 5 free days at Verbier, Switzerland and 5 free consecutive days at Arlberg, Austria.

Deer Valley:
Adult Season Pass (24-64) = $1,910 until 10/31
Senior Season Pass (65-71) = $980 until 10/31


Park City Mountain Resort:
College Season Pass (18-24) = $490 until 9/15
Adult Season Pass (25-64) = $780 until 9/15

Powder Mountain:  
Adult Season Pass = $640
First Time Season Pass = $395


Snowbasin:
Adult Premier Season Pass (27-64) = $689 until 9/2

** NEW  Powder Alliance:
Three free days any Sunday-Friday (excludes holidays) at Angle Fire Resort, Arizona Snowbowl, Bridger Bowl, China Peak Crested Butte, Mountain High, Mt. Hood Skibowl, Schweitzer, Sierra-At-Tahoe, Snowbasin, Stevens Pass and Timberline with the purchase of a top-tier, anytime season pass at one of the 12 Powder Alliance Member resorts.

Wolf Mountain Family Passes:
Family (2 Adults & 2 Children living in the same household) = $638
Individual = $255
Student (Full-time student, K thru Graduate Level, 12+ credit hours) = $195


OR Demo Day; Let The Games Begin!

It did not start off well. The organizers of the Outdoor Retailer Show– the largest industry expo of outdoors products in the country- posted the wrong address for today. So not only did I rise late for the 8 a.m. kick off but I wound up on the wrong side of Pineview Reservoir near Ogden. The nice lady at the kiosk shook her head and said I wasn’t alone.

The outdoor demo is the official kick-off for the Show and a unique opportunity to test the latest paddle, camping, GPS, fishing, GPS/geocaching, hiking, and trail running gear from more than 100 manufacturers.

I got to the Demo Day site by noon and for the first time I can remember I did NOT do the Magellan GPS Scavenger Hunt. The geocaching event has long been a favorite and pretty much the only time in a year where I play with a GPS. Instead, I took in the sights, the gear and the waves on the lake.

My first stop was Skechers to try out a pair of their new GOwalk 2. The lightweight, mesh slip on not only uses their VStride technology to promote a walking step and multi-direction traction on the sole for stability but the breathable upper and midsole cush made it a killer transitional shoe to take from the sand to the water.

Aquapac shared info on their new waterproof duffle and backpack. I especially liked that the backpack looked more like a pack than a drybag.


This handy tool was an emergency cutter. But if you were going to carry it around, why not just take your Buck knife?

PowerBar is introducing a new line of performance energy blend gels like strawberry, apple, mango. They looked tasty but Sage would rather suck on a ginormous snowcone from the Olukai Sandals booth to promote their Shaved Ice collection.

Did you know you can use the insect repellent wipes on your dog to keep fleas and flies away?

Now here was my favorite gadget of the day. The Waka Waka is a pocket-sized, solar powered light that will also charge your phone or Mp3. It has a built-in stand with a center hole so you can hang it from your tent ceiling, set it on a desk or sit it on a water bottle. Waka Waka’s Victor Brandstetter told me that for every sale of the unit the company gives another to an impoverished child or family so students can study at night and have a better chance in school.

Last year, I didn’t get on the water. This year, I SUPed my buns off.


Yes, that’s Laird Hamilton on his signature SUP.


And this is my 6 year old on LuckyBum‘s kids SUP.


Stand-Up Paddleboards are to the summer outdoor industry what snowboards were to the ski industry back in the 90s. Everybody and their frat brothers are making them. One day the little guy will drop off or get swallowed up by the bigger companies but not today; not this year.

1 41 42 43 44 45 60