I have some prejudices when it comes to extreme outdoor or adventure sports. It seems like a pastime of monied dudes with leisure time. NerdWallet.com estimates that extreme snow sports can run $300-$1,300 for skis, up to $1,000 for boots, and you’re just getting started.
The sport sometimes doesn’t seem particularly reverent toward nature, considering the trashing of Mt. Everest by aspiring summiteers.
But this year’s Monterey tour stop of the Banff Mountain Film Festival seems to have pre-empted those reservations.
In Danny MacAskill’s Wee Day Out (6 minutes) the Scottish trials cyclist and stunt rider hops, cycles and flips all over his native Edinburgh before easing into an ending that’s warm and charming.
Iran: A Skier’s Journey (12 mins) is like a skiing travelogue with a couple of bros named Chad and Forrest that goes deeper than expected into the beauty and complexity of life and ski culture in Iran. One woman in the film says, “We used to drink in public and pray in private. Now we pray in public and drink in private.”
The Canadian documentary SHIFT (28 mins) won the People’s Choice Award at the 2016 Banff in Alberta. Filmmaker Kelly Milner told CBC News, “I was really getting tired of watching people skiing, or biking, or whatever – great, wonderful shots – but where’s the story?”
So the resident of Carcoss, Yukon, Canada, found one in the local First Nations community partnering to develop their land into one of the premium mountain biking spots in the world.
There are nine short films in the fest that show off our stunning planet, including surfers on Iceland’s shore, and slackliners at the dizzying heights of Gorges du Verdon in France.
It looks like sublime fun.