The colors this year have been vibrant, especially in and around the Vail valley and northern mountain regions. With winter fastly approaching, I’ve been getting out as much as possible to enjoy the last stretch of backpacking season before the mother nature wraps her white winter cloak over the high country of Colorado. Most summers i’m counting the days to winter, but for some reason this summer I’ve been really enjoying the camping, biking, hiking, climbing, backpacking, etc. more so than ever before. I’ve never been a fan of summer, but this year I truly took advantage of what our fine state has to offer during the summer months and had a great time. I wanted to take the camera out for at least one fall foliage backpacking trip and so last weekend I headed up to the Gore Range and ventured high up into the upper Piney drainages for some solitude and peak bagging. Below are some shots from that weekend. Enjoy.

Near Piney Lake:

These guys were hanging out around my camp for most of the weekend:

Within 5 mintues the sky went from cloudless to full-on stormy. Nothing like a warm camp fire:

Some nice color on the way home:

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Check out the Trailer to “Hand Cut” here:
www.sweetgrass-productions.com

The days are getting shorter, the nights colder, and the anticipation of the coming season is growing with each passing day. In the mix of all the new gear hype and changing of the seasons this year’s ski porn trailers have been surfacing left and right. Sweetgrass Productions, a grassroots Colorado film company out of the Springs, have stepped up to the plate and found their niche in the ski film making industry with their new film “Hand Cut”. Sweetgrass Productions aims their focus on filming remote backcountry lines as well as capturing a glimpse of mountain living and culture. They take an artistic approach to ski film making and have done a superb job with “Hand Cut”, a film that captures the soul of our sport blending some of the roots of backcountry skiing in the San Juans and interior British Columbia region with the progression of backcountry skiing as we see it today.

I got the opportunity to ski and film with these guys a few days this past winter and their passion and dedication towards backcountry skiing and mountain culture/history is radiant. They are young and upcoming artists/skiers/storytellers who live for sharing the essence of the backcountry skiing experience through the medium of film and digital video. “Hand Cut” will most definitely rival related filmmakers such as Powderwhores and the like.

Some great athletes are featured in the film such as Colorado’s own, Nick Devore, Coast Range ski mountaineering legend, John Chilton, and BD rider Will Cardamone. Filmed on location in Alaska, British Columbia, and Colorado, this film will satiate the senses and stoke the fire for the season to come. A lot of hard work and sweat into making this film become a reality, but it’s quite apparent all of that hard work has or will pay off for Nick Waggonner (Director) and crew. This is some of the best shot backcountry riding I’ve seen in some time as each scene has been carefully planned out and executed.

Anyway, enough talk about the film, check out the trailer and be sure to get yourself to the World Premiere in Aspen this coming weekend as it will not disappoint.

World Permiere
Sept. 12th Aspen, CO Wheeler Theatre 7:30pm with Aspen Historical Society. Live deep-country blues from John-Alex Mason and FREE BEER to follow. Tickets for $7 and benefit the AHS.

Colorado
Sept. 17th Fort Collins, CO Lyric Cinema

Sept. 18th Denver, CO The Oriental Theater 7pm

Sept. 20th Boulder, CO University of Colorado Boulder Room 140

Sept. 21st Colorado Springs, CO Armstrong Hall Colorado College 5pm Campus BBQ and music to follow.

Sept. 24th Breckenridge, CO Breckenridge Theatre $1 pints

Sept. 25th Leadville, CO Provin Grounds Coffee Shop 7pm

Oct. 1st Glenwood Springs, CO Glenwood Springs Community Center 7:30pm

Oct. 3rd Vail, CO Vail Mountain School Arts Center 7pm. Benefits go to the VMS tele team.

Oct. 7th Silverton, CO Mobius Cycles Cafe $1 Pints

Oct. 8th Durango, CO Abbey Theatre

Oct. 10th Salida, CO YOLO Clothing store (100 F Street) 7pm with live music

Oct. 15th Golden, COBent Gate Mountaineering 7pm

Nov. 29th Silverton, CO Steam & Steel Cafe 7pm

California
Nov. 15th Mount Shasta, CA TBA

Nov. 17th Squaw Valley, CA TBA

Nov. 19th San Francisco, CA TBA

Nov. 21st Santa Cruz, CA TBA

Nov. 27th Ventura, CA TBA

Canada
TBA Calgary, AB

Oct. 14th Canmore, AB The Drake Inn with Teton Gravity Research 7:30pm

Oct. 17th Banff, AB Elk and Oarsman Pub and Grill with TGR

Oct. 18th Nelson, BC

Oct. 21st Fernie, BC The Arts Station

Oct. 23rd Revelstoke, BC Visual Arts Centre

Oct. 23rd Squamish, BC The Eagle Eye Theater

Oct. 29th Vancouver, BC Vancity Theare at the Vancouver International Film Centre 7pm Tickets: $10/$7 for students

Feb. 20th 2009 Nelson, BC Coldsmoke Powder Festival Capitol Theater 7pm

Idaho
Nov. 7th Winter Wildlands film festival

New Mexico
Oct. 9-12th Taos Mountain Film Festival

Oregon
Nov. 5th Portland, OR Mcmenamins Kennedy School 6pm Tickets:$10

Nov. 6th Hood River, OR Skylight Theatre

Nov. 12th Bend, OR Mcmenamins St Francis School 8:00pm

Nov. 13th Ashland, OR TBA

Utah
Oct. 16th Salt Lake City, UT Brewvies 7pm and 9pm 21+

Washington
Oct. 30th Bellingham, WA Mt. Baker Theatre 7pm

Nov. 8th Seattle, WA Evo Ski Shop 7pm

Wyoming
Oct. 18th Jackson, WY The Playhouse 7:30pm

East Coast Swing
Oct. 18th Burlington, VT TBA

Dec. 9th Portsmouth, New Hampshire TBA

Dec. 11th Boston, MA TBA

Dec. 13th NY, NY The Knitting Factory

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