Steamboat Mountain Film Festival inspires season’s first wintery daydreams

Michael Martin/Courtesy
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — Alongside that first yellow cluster on an otherwise green-leafed aspen tree and that first brisk smell of something wintery in the air, the Steamboat Mountain Film Festival is back in town, right on time.
The festival kicks off Friday, Oct. 4, with the Teton Gravity Research film “Winterland.”
“Winterland” celebrates ski and snowboard culture as TGR athletes explore the stunning, sparkling mountainscapes of Austria, British Columbia, Wyoming, Norway and Alaska, within the context of winter sports history and the future of the industry.
Footage includes scenes to make any winter sports enthusiast itch for snow: athletes’ ski tips brushing evergreen branches as they sail off a jump, athletes peering in anticipation over their toes on the edge of a dizzyingly high and jagged ridge and athletes unrecognizable behind the thick white geyser of snow exploding up from beneath them as they hurdle downwards.
Michael Martin, who organizes the festival, notes that the film has more of a story line and more narration than many other ski movies he’s seen.
“The film’s theme ties it back to ski towns and the connection people make,” Martin said. “It’s how people forge their way into a lifestyle that relates to living in the mountains.”
What: Steamboat Mountain Film Festival presents “Winterland”
When: Doors/bar open at 7 p.m.; film starts at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 4
Where: Chief Theater, 813 Lincoln Ave.
Tickets: $20 at steamboatfilmfestival.com/, at Ski Haus or at the door
The 23 athletes featured in the film include Nick McNutt, Tim Durtschi, Griffin Post, Sage Cattabriga-Alosa, Ian McIntosh, Sam Smoothy, Angel Collinson, John Collinson, Todd Ligare, Colter Hinchliffe, Fabian Lentsch, Christina Lustenberger, Kai Jones, Elyse Saugstad, Hadley Hammer, Jeremy Jones, Sean Jordan, Clayton Vila, Cam Riley, Cody Townsend, Robin Van Gyn, Mark Carter and Nicky Keefer.
The Steamboat Mountain Film Fest continues on Nov. 9 with Matchstick Productions’ film “Return to Send’er.”
Julia Ben-Asher is a contributing writer for Steamboat Pilot & Today.

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