Sunday Shout – POW Gets the Nod Again

Truckee, Calif. (Shred White and Blue) — Was up at Graham “the man” Gephart’s wedding to the lovely Lulu Bael (congratulations again, you two!) in Fraser, Colorado, a couple weeks ago when presiding Justice of the Peace and filmmaker Josh “Bones” Murphy told me he had been working on a environmental movie with Protect Our Winters.

Then I home and got this note from Jeremy Jones, Chris Steinkamp and the good folks at POW:

“When The North Face came to us last year with an idea to produce a climate change film with them, we couldn’t wait to get started on such a cool project.

With additional help from Clif Bar and teaming up with Teton Gravity Research, we all wanted to create a visual piece that would bring the idea of “climate change” to life, giving the term some real-life context and inspiring everyone to get involved.

Available in October, “Generations” is a short film that discusses climate change through the perspectives of those for whom snowy winters have a deeper personal significance. Going beyond charts and numbers, Generations humanizes the debate on climate change by exploring the fragility of winter and the intrinsic value of snow to people across generations and cultures. The film poignantly captures cultural and personal responses from those to whom mountains and snow represent an irreplaceable way of life, ending with ways for everyone to take part in the solution.”

Sounds really cool. There’s your shout out. Here’s the trailer:

Sweetgrass Takes Signatures on Tour

Rocky Mountain West (Shred White and Blue) — Longtime Shred White and Blue friends Sweetgrass Productions, the Colorado-based film company, is tooling around the Rockies right now showing off Signatures, their super soulful new film.

Filmed last year in Hokkaido, Japan, this human-powered powder quest is a kind of poetic homage to the inherent beauty of winter and deep snow skiing. Seriously, the storytelling and cinematography are all top notch – way better than the action porn you’ll see in most shred flicks these days – and the overall feeling is one of timeless transience.

At the IF3 film festival in Montreal last week, Nick and the crew were honored with the Best Cinematography Award. Here’s the blurb Nick posted about the film – check out the trailer and the tour dates below:

“At the heart of this lovely tale of deep powder mystery: the seasons. In Japan there is a cultural connection to the different Signatures of our terrestrial home — a sense that the rhythm of fall, winter, spring, summer influences the rhythm of the person, their energy, their style, and the lines they choose. Niseko local photographer Yoichi Watanabe explains, “As a photographer, the change in season brings a change of subject. I have to be ahead of this change in nature, like I have to be thinking about flowers before they actually bloom in order to capture what really goes on. I can say the same about the snow as well.” Rooted in winter backcountry and mountain culture. We give our time to filming remote freeride lines, from snowsurf and noboard to alpine and tele. We focus on the riding, we focus on the art, we focus on blending the two into what we call film, both form and content.”

SEPTEMBER
30th  Crested Butte, CO The Majestic Theater 7pm $8

OCTOBER
1st  Salida, CO Benson’s Tavern 7:30pm $9
3rd  Colorado Springs, CO Colorado College Armstrong Hall 8pm $6 for students / $10
6th  Denver, CO The Oriental Theatre 7pm $12, Live music to follow from Paper Bird Band
7th  Boulder, CO The Boulder Theater 7pm $12
8th  Fort Collins, CO TBA
10th Telluride, CO The Nugget Theatre 8:30pm $9
13th Durango, CO The Abbey Theatre 7pm and 9pm $8
14th Golden, CO Bent Gate Community Night 8pm

Check out the site for more: http://www.sweetgrass-productions.com/

South America Bound

Santiago, Chile (Shred White and Blue)—Big storms are breaking down South America way, especially in Portillo, Valle Nevado and La Parva, Chile, where over the past week they’ve been counting the snow by the footload.

So the Shred White and Blue crew is taking a plane to Lima for a midnight changeover, and then to Santiago to see what we can ski. Termas de Chillan is on the menu, (not for the casino, but maybe for the spa), as is Portillo, and Valle Nevado, right next door to where the Subaru World Freeskiing Tour kicks off at La Parva on Sept. 3. (check out www.skipressworld.com for regular updates on that, as well as reports and photos on the trip overall). And please excuse us if we don’t answer your e-mail right away.

In the meantime, here are a couple Foam Bits for you:

How Clean is Your Beach?

Surfside, USA (SWB)—Our beaches are not enjoying the summer at all according to a report from the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Across the country, they posted more than 20,000 closing or advisory days last year – and not because of dangerous waves!

Water quality the culprit, including everything from raw sewage to chemicals to nasty body eating bacteria. The NRDC rated how badly the most popular beaches bit it with a cool interactive feature that you can check out here.

Save the Waves and Mavericks Pitch Cool Tee

Half Moon Bay, Calif. (SWB)—Mavericks Surf Ventures, Inc. (Mavericks) and Save The Waves Coalition announced a special edition t-shirt – made from recycled PET plastic bottles.  The shirt is the result of a multi-year partnership between the two organizations with five dollars from the sale of each shirt going directly to Save The Waves, the non-profit dedicated to the preservation and defense of the world’s surf spots and their surrounding environments. Get one at www.savethewaves.org

Classic Utah Powder Video

Worldwide Web (SWB)—And then there’s this – some absolutely ridiculous old-time ski footage from Alta, Utah. Stein Eriksen is the legend in the flashy space pants. These guys kill it on old school longboards.

//photo by flickr/jcablarca