Teton Gravity Research has been at the forefront of pushing winter sports action films to new limits, and this year’s film is truly “Far Out.”
The TGR crew will ride into Durango on Thursday for the premier of “Far Out.” There will be two showings at the Durango Arts Center with a 5:30 p.m. show and another at 8:30 p.m. Tickets cost $15, and all proceeds go to benefit the Friends of the San Juans avalanche education programs.
“‘Far Out’ is about pushing boundaries,” said Todd Jones, the TGR’s co-founder and the film’s co-director and executive producer. “It is about far out ideas and far out places. The wildest trip we went on was to Albania. There are no ski resorts, no infrastructure, just huge crazy mountain that had never been ridden.
“Some places like Jackson and Crested Butte are not far out in that sense, but the segments and what we did with them are very far out.”
The early show is billed as a family-friendly event, and the late show will have more of a mountain party vibe.
This year’s film, which follows on the heels of recent hits such as “Rouge Elements” and “Tight Loose,” features a stacked roster of athletes, including snowboarding icon Jeremy Jones and Robin Van Gyn, the winner of the 2017 TransWorld SNOWboarding Women’s Part of the Year for her riding in Quicksilver’s “Depth Perception.”
Other athletes include Sage Cattabriga-Alosa, Angel and John Collinson, Parkin Costain, Hadley Hammer, Griffin Post, Fabian Lentsch, Elyse Saugstad, Thayne Rich, Sam Smoothy, Jess Kimura, Ian McIntosh and Nick Mcnutt. Also in the film is 12-year-old skier Kai Jones, son of Todd Jones.
“I hope to inspire other young athletes in the ski industry by promoting good content and showing respect on social media and other places around the world,” Kai Jones said. “Being involved in a TGR film is a really cool experience because I get to inspire people and see all the work I put into my season on the big screen.”
Like all the athletes in “Far Out,” Kai Jones pushed his limits like never before. The film is narrated by Mcnutt, and Lentsch was key to getting the crew to the Albanian Alps, where Todd Jones said the athletes went “absolutely nuts.”
Like many winter sports films, the movie aims to engage both expert level riders and every day resort shredders who share a passion for the mountains, creativity and the lifestyle shared by skiers and snowboarders.
The film is the biggest fundraiser for Friends of the San Juans, which provides avalanche awareness education to Southwest Colorado. Avalanche education is a big piece to producing films such as “Far Out.”
“We really leave it to the athletes to decide what they want to do and how far they push things,” Todd Jones said. “We spend a lot of time training and discussing safety. Every year we do a big seminar and training course that covers avalanche training, first aid and high angle rescue. A lot goes into what you see on the silver screen. We study lines for days, weeks, sometimes years before we hit them.”
TGR will have a four grand prize giveaways during the film that include a heli-skiing trip to Alaska as well as trips to Crested Butte, Jackson Hole and Salt Lake City. Friends of the San Juans also will have giveaways thanks to Pine Needle Mountaineering, Osprey Packs, Black Diamond and more.
TGR had produced films for more than 21 years and has 39 award-winning films. Thursday night’s event is a great way to kick off the winter sports season, which has already begun in the San Juan Mountains after Wolf Creek Ski Area opened Oct. 13.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
