Backcountry Ski Film Festival
The Winter Wildlands Alliance Backcountry Film Festival is coming to Nevada City on Friday, February 1st at the Nevada Theatre. Put on by Snowlands Network, a Nevada City based non-profit, that is dedicated to backcountry skiers, snowshoers and snowboarders. “The festival was created eight years ago to highlight Winter Wildlands Alliance’s efforts to preserve and promote winter landscapes for human-powered users,” says Laurel Harkness, Executive Director of Snowlands Network. The festival will show seven different films ranging from ” Skiing the Void” by Sweetgrass Productions, “Further” from Teton Gravity Research to “Unicorn Sashimi” by Felt Soul Media.
Last spring I got the opportunity to go on my first backcountry hut trip at Lost Trail Lodge to celebrate two special people in my life, my sister, Megan Michelson and her husband, Dan Abrams. Seasoned backcountry skiers the two had been a part of the group skiing Stevens Pass last winter when an avalanche claimed the lives of three of their friends. Click here to read Megan’s incredible article for Outside Magazine about the event, or here to read the New York Times master piece on the same event. When I asked Megan the importance of small town backcountry ski film festivals she said, “With the ever-increasing number of skiers and snowboarding venturing into the backcountry, avalanche education and increasing awareness of backcountry safety has never been more important. Events like the Backcountry Film Festival in Nevada City are an important part of getting people excited and most importantly, prepared for backcountry travel.”
Thanks to our friends at Snowlands Network I’ve got 4 tickets to give away to the upcoming show in Nevada City, post a comment on this blog post on your favorite snow activity and I’ll draw two winners (two tickets each) on Tuesday, January 26th. Tickets are available for purchase at Mountain Rec, Briar Patch C0-Op or online.
© 2013 InnSide Nevada City
Erin Thiem 
Favorite snow activity? Making maple syrup taffy in the snow! Heat the syrup to 238°F and then pour it on the snow. Twirl it up with a fork. Then eat it!!
My favorite snow activity would have to be finding a powder stash in the back country. But any kind of freeheel skiing makes me very happy!
My favorite snow activity is hiking up a mountain with a small group of friends and skiing untracked powder back down. Then doing it again. I sure hope to get at least one great backcountry day in this year….
go to the flim festival and enjoy some spectacular skiing.
Besides skiing with my hubby, my favorite snow activity is snowshoeing in fresh powder when no-one else is around..just me and the trees…it’s incredibly peaceful..
My favorite snow activity is tele turns in powder. I’ll never get tired of that!
Just getting back to skiing after so many years away- so any day on skis is good! Not anywhere near backcountry skill yet, but so appreciate the importance of education on it being available!
I like being out in the still silence at night with the snow coming down.
My favorite snow activities have to be finding out that I am still able to learn a new sort (skiing!) and skiing en famille.
Snowshoeing is my favorite….good exercise,good scenery,good fun. ;~)