Sweetgrass Productions | Film. Mountains. Culture. Soul.

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A smattering of the recent revelry on the Bugs to

A smattering of the recent revelry on the Bugs to Rogers ski traverse last week, still skiing under the influence of winter, wind, and whiteouts. It’s only a small miracle that we didn’t break the @reddigitalcinema Komodo, the drone, or @tuckerkanderson . New work coming to your living room this fall🍻, made possible by @patagonia_snow and a mighty fine crew @evans_leah @mariefranceroy @madoalpine @gearysguiding 🙏

Latest work for @rideshimano. Proud and honored t

Latest work for @rideshimano. Proud and honored to have played a role in shaping this film and providing a lens to the story and insights of the incredible @marleyblonsky and @kornhausersauce
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Check the link in bio or head to @rideshimano to see the full film

We all have a relationship with our own bodies; on

We all have a relationship with our own bodies; one influenced, shaped, and potentially distorted by a range of societal, cultural, psychological, and judgmental forces that we consciously or unconsciously face each day. In these quandaries, it’s all too easy to feel that we are failures, that we aren’t good enough, that we don’t meet the standards set by society, or our own minds.
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@kornhausersauce and @marleyblonsky are two courageous women who have chosen to confront and speak out about these complex dynamics; sharing their experiences as people moving through life in larger bodies, and as self proclaimed ‘fat cyclists’.
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We are honored and excited to share this film which seeks to capture their story and challenge the notion that there is any one type of ‘right’ body to have as a human being. While it’s a very small look at a massive issue faced by millions or perhaps billions of people across the world, we hope that in some small way it inspires a shift in the mindset of those who see it towards acceptance and recognition of health and beauty that can be found within the form that contains us, regardless of how it looks or how much it weighs.
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Thanks to @rideshimano for making this film possible, and to everyone who contributed.
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Production: @sweetgrassp @fieldworkcreative
Director: @zeppelinzeerip
Director of Photography: @mikaljamesbrown
Produced: @snackyz
Edit: @mikaljamesbrown
Music: @easygiant
Rigging: @basil_wrathbone
Sound Mix: @averysandack

Some stills from a February week @icefalllodge wor

Some stills from a February week @icefalllodge working on a new project for @patagonia. T-minus 5 days until the unbelievably talented and hilarious team begins the 10 day traverse from the Bugaboos to Rogers Pass. @evans_leah @mariefranceroy @madoalpine @gearysguiding @tuckerkanderson #redkomodo #bugstorogers

Some people farm produce, some farm livestock, oth

Some people farm produce, some farm livestock, other farm pow. Check the latest @altaskiarea Steeped In Tradition edit for the goods! 📸 @rockomenzyk

Basecamps in January are an acquired taste. It’s

Basecamps in January are an acquired taste. It’s also much easier to believe the forecast when it’s 2am and you’re digging out by headlamp for the 2nd time. The promised 50cm materialized in a REM cycle, or in the course of a few weird dreams, nearly vacuum sealing us alive in our tents under the weight of new snow. For 6 days we plied the fruits of a magical, hard-as-fuck-to-get-to valley of some of the most ancient old growth in all of British Columbia, home to some of the best tree skiing on our home planet. Particular cedars are rumored to be over 1000 years old, and, at a stretch, some may touch on the times of the Romans. The 5 years of dreaming of this place seem infinitesimally small. And we’re already dreaming of the next valley... @blackcrows_skis @patagonia_snow // @mr.neature @soglephoto @mattcoteRevelstokeStud

Christmas came a little early this year... We are

Christmas came a little early this year...

We are excited to see Made in the Mitten taking home a @vimeo staff pick- the true gold standard of filmmaking in our modern 21st century world. Congrats to the team for taking this one home!

Director: @zeppelinzeerip
Editor: @mikaljamesbrown
Director of Photography: @jsukes
Music: @futuremysticband
Graphic Design: @max.hofert.design

Archival Footage Provided By:
Bob, Bill, and Tom Pushaw
Julie Poppen
@e.m.media
Zachary Trost
@grainmedia
Nick Johnson

Supported by @burton and @newhollandbrew .

Additional thanks: Muskegon Community College, Pando Winter Sports Park, @nauticalbynature , Jess Smith, @adam_dickerson , @levirye , Dominic Bergquist, Bob Novak, Bill and Tom Pushaw, Ron Pesch, @bcocard

Fun times diving into old super 8 footage to edit

Fun times diving into old super 8 footage to edit this piece on how snowboarding arose from the ‘mitten’ of Michigan. There’s an unquestionable spirt found in these frames and beyond their edges that distilled into a portrait of exploration and joy in the uncovering of a new type of movement that would change snowsports forever.
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Thanks to @zeppelinzeerip for bringing me onto the project, and to @burton and @newhollandbrew for supporting it. Also check out @futuremysticband for more of the dreamy psych vibes that give so much of the emotion to the film.
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Dedicated to Sherman Poppen - the man who first strapped a pair of skies together on the shores of Lake Michigan, and to Jake Burton Carpenter - who took the ‘Snurfer’ and progressed it into the board that was destined to change the way we slide on snow.
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Director: @zeppelinzeerip
Editor: @mikaljamesbrown
Director of Photography: @jsukes
Music: @futuremysticband
Graphic Design: @max.hofert.design

Archival Footage Provided By:
Bob, Bill, and Tom Pushaw
Julie Poppen
@e.m.media
Zachary Trost
@grainmedia
Nick Johnson

Supported by @burton and @newhollandbrew .

Additional thanks: Muskegon Community College, Pando Winter Sports Park, @nauticalbynature , Jess Smith, @adam_dickerson , @levirye , Dominic Bergquist, Bob Novak, Bill and Tom Pushaw, Ron Pesch, @bcocard

You know it’s gonna be a pitter patter kinda day

You know it’s gonna be a pitter patter kinda day when Mariah and Gaga are the EZ-Rock bookends to your mountain commute. @blackcrows_skis @patagonia_snow

Mountain time with Martin is a heady reminder that

Mountain time with Martin is a heady reminder that platforms like this are, mostly, caustic pits of loneliness and despair. On the skin track we talk about community, how many friends one actually needs, Fred Beckey, Gang Starr, and time well spent. He doesn't sleep with his phone next to his head. While others chase the mortgage mobius strip, forever ratcheting and leveraging, he joneses for time, and life without debt. He's had the same ski pack since I met him.

He'd also never talk of his tracks unprompted, or even prompted. His rap sheet is deep, but you'd never know it; the second descent of Alaska's University Peak (the cover of 50 Classic Descents), the first descent of the North Face of Clemenceau, a 22-day completion of the Great Divide Traverse from Jasper to Lake Louise, Alberta, and a St. Elias expedition, to name a few.

As we sat at the table last week, the only two in the vaulted space of the Asulkan Hut, the drone of propane lanterns cut the rush of a deep winter Selkirk storm bearing down outside. Aided by some 16-year Lagavulin, Martin talked about a 2014 Himalayan expedition, chasing down a dream conjured by a distant 7000m peak in a @kristoffer.erickson photo, Mt Saipal. Charting into an unknown valley with hopes of a bridge to cross whitewater, flip-flopped porters carrying unbelievable loads, and several weeks of establishing high camps and shuttling loads, only to find a rotten, unrideable snowpack on their line of descent. While they waited in basecamp for the porters to return, serac fall triggered an apocalyptic avalanche on the face, pushing debris 100m up and over a moraine in the valley. From the safety of Kathmandu a week later, they watched a typhoon push wind and snow into the mountains, caving tents and homes, and ultimately killing people in the double digits. The frailty of life and the consequences of his pursuits, I suspect, had rarely been sharper.

The legend and folklore that surround skiing have always held a certain magnetism for me. The mystical descents and temples of mountaineering, the deep days, and the tailgate hedonism of life spent in constant pursuit of the next face shot.

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