If the rest of the Alpinist Film Festival went as well as the opening snow night, it won’t be long before this regional, niche film festival claims higher, broader ground. From Christian Beckwith’s welcome just after 7 p.m., to the rolling credits of Brendan Kiernan’s well-executed “The Line”—the story of Mark Newcomb’s quest to ski a new route on 8013-meter Shishapangma—after 10:30, it was an emotional roller coaster.

Forget ski porn. Ski night was about “whyâ€?. As in, why we live in the mountains and, in particular, why we choose the Teton Mountains. As Beckwith explained in his intro, it wasn’t too long before the festival—as they were making final selections, in fact—that they realized they had the opportunity to have an all-Jackson Hole ski night. Far more than just gratuitous ski porn.

Yes, the TGR guys were there, but they kept it reined in with two appropriately short films: one a dedication to Doug Coombs and his pioneering contribution to big-mountain skiing as we know it today, and the other a somewhat panned 3-minute short of Jamie Pierre’s 255-foot huck for Jesus titled “The Jesus Jump.”

The night was dedicated to Doug Coombs and opened with the most emotional film of the evening, hands-down. “In Doug’s Words” is a film of the last interview with Coombs before he died in a fall from a cliff only a few short weeks later in La Grave, France. Rick Hunt, Jackson Hole native and long-time friend and ski/climbing partner of Coombs, introduced the film. While Rick’s speaking presence left something to be desired, what he wrote about Doug ( “I just have to read this,” he said as he began reading directly from his paper)—how he embodied the free spirit of skiing and the impression he made on skiing and everyone who knew him—hit the nail on the head. It was great to see and hear Doug again; when it was over just six minutes later, there was nary a dry eye in the house.

“Town Down” captured the spirit of the so far 25-year run of the Town Downhill on Snow King Mountain, showing it as a Jackson Hole institution that never fails to satisfy on many levels. While a serious race, it also has its fun-factor (embodied in the relatively new “Phat and Baggy” division) and its fraternal factor (everyone who dedicates so much time to preparing the course and making it happen). A well-timed showing given the running of the Town Downhill the weekend before.

David Gonzales‘ 9-minute short on the Igneous ski company was rich enough to feel quite a bit longer. Or maybe it was my infatuation with their craftsmanship combined with my desire for a custom pair for myself…or maybe it was just my full bladder.

After the intermission, the evening ended with the 55-minute feature film “The Line,” Jackson Hole native and consummate alpinist Mark Newcomb’s quest to make it to the top and ski off of an 8000-meter peak. Interspersing Mark’s upbringing in the Tetons with footage of the team making their way too, up and off of Shishapangma, filmmaker Kiernan put together a film that, to paraphrase Mark’s words, made a good film out of a mediocre story.

But perhaps the most interesting film of the night was “Legends of the Fall Line,” Piton Productions‘ retrospective of the history of skiing in the Tetons. The story is one that has been ripe to be told for some time (and could, I’m sure, be told from several perspectives). Hats off to them for getting interviews of Teton skiing pioneers before these genuine and influential people have passed on. Just seeing Virginia Huidekoper and Betty Woolsey speak about their experiences in the early days of skiing in the Tetons makes one envious of that special time. It also focuses quite a bit on Bill Briggs’ successful early ski off the Grand and how that became a turning point in big-mountain skiing. Conspicuously absent, however, is any mention of the development of Jackson Hole Ski Corp, especially considering the amount of footage dedicated to Barry Corbet (not to mention the fact that the Alpinist Film Festival began its life as the Barry Corbet Film Festival).

In the end, it was a well-rounded evening of fantastic ski alpinism footage. Not sure how y’all are going to top it next year, but I look forward to the offering.

- Chris

PS—After having done a littel post-post surfing, just wanted to give props to Jim S for saying some of the things I forgot to about the Center and this festival in his jh underground blog today.

Being a new contributor to the blogosphere, I’ve been paying more attention to this realm lately. Here are a few blogs I find myself returning to regularly. Feel free to share your favorites.

It’s great when someone from little ol’ Jackson Hole can do something to make an impression on the outside world, and Keith Peters is doing just that with his Carbon Neutral Journal. Keith posts his entries religiously every morning, so there’s always interesting stuff to read after you fire up the computer in the morning. As the story goes, Peters (an ex-Nike communications guru often credited for, among other things, creating nike.com, before it was hip to do such things) woke up in the middle of the night not too long ago worrying about his family’s carbon footprint and decided to do some things about it. His blog is just one of those things.

Not nearly as socially conscious, but arguably more entertaining is David Gonzales’ thesnaz.com. Keeping me coming back this season has been the mini v-log serial “Teewinot to Corbet’s,” where DG documents his (still?) girlfriend’s progression as a new skier from the Teewinot lift to dropping in to Corbet’s in one season. The last episode ended on a bit of a downer note, but I seem to have noticed a few more blog entries as of late (could be due to Lauren’s [I'm guessing here] increased couch-time due to an ACL injury relapse). I’ve particularly enjoyed the “Without a Hitch” video, featuring two hapless skiers being repeatedly denied a ride up the pass by lone driver after lone driver passing them by in their SUVs. Now there’s some carbonneutral.com blog fodder.

Patagonia has finally entered the fray with their new blog, thecleanestline.com. Entries are so far brief, but typically interesting—short and sweet, just like a blog entry should be. I particularly like the video of Ron Kauk talking about Fern Spring in Yosemite; it’s a fine example of the type of Web video we here at Circumerro are striving to create.

Since I’ve covered Nike (obliquely—very) and Patagonia, here’s a blog that I’d hope ours could emulate in some way: the thought kitchen is the blog by the employees of the new clothing company (comprised mostly of ex-Nike and ex-Patagonia employees), called Nau, and it’s “dedicated to stirring the pot.” There’s a nice combination of thought-provoking and entertaining here.

ThreeMinds is Organic’s blog on what’s happening in the world of digital marketing (and sometimes beyond). According to their Web site, Organic is a “digital marketing agency that designs and builds exceptional interactive experiences for leading companies to drive brand awareness and more profitable customer relationships.” I couldn’t have said it better myself. Keeping an eye on such things, I couldn’t help notice their post on USA Today’s recent switch to a more Web 2.0 approach to delivering the news—definitely a news sight to keep an eye or two on.

More to come…
- Chris