Two new ski and snowboard films showcasing in Aspen will stoke the winter season – Summit Daily

ASPEN The aspens are turning a little later this year, but thats not preventing Teton Gravity Research and Matchstick Productions from stoking the metaphorical fires that burn internally for the upcoming ski season.

Each company debuts its latest ski and snowboarding film this week in Aspen, and each takes a slightly different approach to that obsession most of us have when it comes to making turns particularly in the deep, untouched stuff.

Matchstick asks the question, What do you want to be when you grow up? exploring skiing through the eyes of 12-year-old freestyle phenomenon Walker Shredz Woodring, while Teton Gravity Research asks: Is there an age limit to pursuing our dreams?

Teton Gravity Research employs a series of skits interspersed throughout its montage of big-mountain footage to add a little humor to the dilemma of aging skiers. Sage and Mac (aka Sage Cattabriga-Alosa and Ian McIntosh, made up to look like seniors) rely on their cane and walker to make it to a cabin in Kaslo, British Columbia. There, like so many other powder lovers, theyre waiting for the weather to come through, so they can make those anticipated turns. The duo sprinkles humor into the otherwise high-adrenaline action of iconic skiers and riders like Kai Jones, Nick McNutt, Jeremy Jones, Tim Durtschi, Bode Merrill, Parkin Costain, Michelle Parker and Amy Jane David. Lines like Got those stem cells yet? particularly hit home for those of us beyond a certain age still dedicating our daily life to the mountains.

Tetons Magic Hour doesnt refer to a specific time of day but rather those magical moments we find on the mountainand the ones in some of the most beautiful, wild places on the planet, according to the films summary.

It opens with Jackson Holes Kings & Queens of Corbets, where Durtschi breaks his arm and eventually makes its way to places like Cordova, Alaska, where the ocean and mountains come together like few other places,; a new permit has just opened up new terrain, and pro athletes take on the biggest vertical they will all season or, as one skier calls it, the scariest thing in life. That trip also results in an injury, this time, a shoulder dislocation.

When the crew hits the Purcell Mountains in British Columbia, Mark Herbison, Christina Lustenberger and Sam Smoothy succeed in the first descent of the Mt. Ethelberts east face on Feb. 22 in minus-40-degree windchill conditions, which results in immediate frostnip.

Then, its on to the endless terrain of the Selkirk Mountains in British Columbia; Grand Teton National Park (which showcases some slow-motion, orgasmic face and full-body shots); a tumbling crash and some nice tree skiing in the Valhalla Ranges of British Columbia; and 15-year-old free-skiing sensation Kai Jones in Juneau, Alaska.

Matchsticks Anywhere from Here views the world of possibility from the eyes of Woodring who started skiing at age 6 in Sun Valley, Idaho, was recently signed by Oakley and has been called a skiing prodigy. He skis year-round (winters at Copper Mountain and summers in Mt. Hood or Europe) and dreams of competing in X Games, which seems likely. His nickname, Shredz, came from the older dudes who saw him ski, he said.

In Anywhere from Here, he answers that most annoying question adults seem to love asking kids.

I want to be someone who has a great time, he says. I want to be carefree. I want to explore the unknown. I want to stand on top of the world. I want to do the impossible. I want to fly. Wait, grow up? Is this a trick question? I dont want to grow up, and I want to be surrounded by kids who never grow up either.

Matchstick Productions packs its film with those kind of kids in adult bodies, including Sam Kuch, Tonje Kvivik, Eric Hjorleifson, Markus Eder, Emily Childs, Lucy Sackbauer and many more, as they play in the snow in Alaska, British Columbia, Austria, Colorado and Oregon.

Woodrings final answer is probably the best, as he says, You know what I dont know what I want to be when I grow up. All I know is that Im a skier, and it feels like, with this sport and these crazy magic shoes, I can pretty much go anywhere.

Big air and even bigger lines, powder shots, terrain parks and even surfing fill the screen in Anywhere from Here, and, just like Tetons flick, it serves its purpose to psych people up for the season. Woodring sums up that type of inspiration outside these two films, in an episode of No Days Off, presented by the Whistle, leaving viewers with these simple, but wise, words:

Go out there every day, do what you love, just shred.

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Two new ski and snowboard films showcasing in Aspen will stoke the winter season - Summit Daily