Avalaunch: ski movies and then some

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

By Sam Petri

JACKSON HOLE, WYOMING - The Avalaunch Festival sounds like a ski movie premiere on steroids. The new traveling snow-sports festival will feature not one but four musical acts, and not one but 20 or so 10-minute ski and snowboard film shorts intertwined with stills from the industry’s top photographers. Along with ubiquitous giveaways, attendees will also receive avalanche education through an awareness class. Organizers of the initial three-stop tour hope to expand Avalaunch into a nationwide event. At 5 p.m. Friday, the Jackson Hole

Playhouse, in downtown Jackson Hole, throws the party for $25 a ticket. Jacksonites who attend will be the second group of people to experience what could possibly become the next must-attend snow-sports event in the country.    

“We’re creating it like a mosaic,” said Sam Porter, founder of Porterhouse Productions, the Avalaunch organizer. “It’s pretty ambitious, but we’re thinking big.”  
The evening begins at with an avalanche awareness class led by the directors of the Bridger-Teton National Forest Avalanche Center. You won’t receive your Avy-I certification, but will gain some general knowledge on how to safely travel in the backcountry. “It’s a refresher class,” said Porter, “for everyone in the room to get connected.”  

The pre-party kicks off at 6 p.m. with food, drinks, vendor tables, and a raffle. All of the raffle proceeds and five percent of the door fees will benefit the Bridger-Teton National Forest Avalanche Center. At 7 p.m. the ski film shorts will begin on the main stage, shown from three different projectors.  

Shorts from heavy-hitters like Teton Gravity Research, Match Stick Productions, and Rage Films will screen, as well as lesser-known movies from smaller producers around the country. “It’s a best of the best idea,” said Porter, “It will be nonstop eye candy.” The goal is to show a wide sampling of films in one location in order to show people what is happening in the snow-sports world across the board. To keep with the educational hook of the event, organizers will present a short avalanche awareness PowerPoint presentation toward the end of the series of films.  

The after-party gets into full-swing by 8 p.m. Southern California based, Acid Jazz influenced, DJ Greyboy will perform with Funk Shui (pronounced funk shway) and MC Jud Nester. Also performing are dub, trip-hop, and electronic rockers Heavyweight Dub Champion with Jillian Ann and Bozeman-based eight piece hip-hop band Eight Track Mind. The visual DJ, “DJ AJ,” will perform live music to video.  According to Porterhouse Productions, the bands were picked based on music you’d listen to while riding deep snow.  

“Avalaunch is a bunch of creative people coming together to put an idea together,” said Porter, “We’re trying to feed the idea of this event and get communities to take ownership of it.”

The initial three-stop Avalaunch tour is meant to seed a future tour in late February and early March in ski communities in Colorado, Washington, and California.  Avalaunch will be a featured event at this year’s Winter Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City, Utah.  It is a wind-powered event. For more info, call (406) 570-7191 or email info@porterhouseproductions.com.

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Avalaunch: ski movies and then some | Planet JH News Article: Sports & Recreation

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