Some thoughts:

Personally, I never got the impression that this series of movies, Deeper, Further, and Higher, were promoted as films about snowboard mountaineering. My understanding has always been that they are films about backcountry snowboarding and exploring new terrain. I did not expect to see highly technical snowboard mountaineering, and was even a little surprised to see some of that style of riding in Deeper (Cham segment w Xavier). So, no worries from me on that account.

As to wanting to see more “progressive” riding, and more air time, one must understand that it is unlikely that cutting edge freestlye riding, and huge airs with technical spins etc. are going to be risked in very isolated environments.
A movie such as The Art of Flight has a heli right there, on the scene, and a hospital ER is just minutes away. In the Wrangell Mountains/St Elias NP, once the plane flies away, it could be days before one can get help if a serious injury goes down. All that has to happen is for it to get cloudy, and no one can land a plane to come and make a rescue. It is totally natural, and understood, that folks are going to dial back their riding a notch or two in these types of environments.
Alpine climbing is the same way, climbers do not take the same level of technical risks when climbing in remote areas as they do at road side crags.

I should clarify that by progressive I don’t mean kickers. I think I wanted more T Rice/N Muller type freeriding. Obviously that’s hard to do in the Wrangells. Can’t really explain how this movie fell short for me I guess. It’s a lot of the same stuff over and over, just in different places. I really dug the Xavier Chamonix hop hop chink chink helmet cam stuff. I wanted more of that and maybe just some more up close, low angle, artistic pow riding with natural freestyle thrown in. Like deeper there were too many far away shots on lines that really weren’t that interesting after you see a few in a row. It’s like they tried too hard to only use high speed, steep pow riding and nothing on either end of the spectrum (a lot will disagree but I think they used TOO LITTLE p.o.v. riding footage too)
Like I said, the movie WAS great. I just think they could do a lot better. I think the sweetgrass crew could make a better movie with the same riders and same locations. I dunno, I need to watch it again I guess. Sometimes movies are better the second time.

Well, when you are doing it under your own power, in a place where there is no heli to drop the film crew off at just the right spot, or to film directly from the heli itself with a complex steadicam, there are going to be severe limitations on both the camera angles which are possible, and the quantity of footage you are going to get… Hence the very limited amount of riding footage in Solitaire.
On my first trip to Canada, out of crew of four, we hauled a 16 mm movie camera and its 40 lb tripod around to a bunch of spots, under our own power at all times. This is just not an easy task, and to expect folks using this approach to produce as much footage, with as good camera angles and quality results, as those doing everything with helis and snow machines is just not reasonable. I am actually very impressed with both the quality of the riding, and the quality of these movies, considering the inherent limitations of what JJ and crew are trying to do.
I do feel it is sometimes a shame that there is so much emphasis on Jones Team riders, but I understand that many top tier pros are not going to have the time in their schedule to dedicate to hanging in there on a project of this nature. That said, I did miss Xavier in this movie, the line he pulls off in the final segment of Deeper is one of the most memorable lines I have ever seen in any film.

I did like steep.

The new TGR ski movie Dream factory was pretty awesome in my opinion. It wasn’t just the typical TGR one upping their last movie it was a lot more introspective. The re-skied a lot famous movie lines and did a history of the Alaska ski frontier days.

Corbet’s new school style
http://www.tetongravity.com/videos/Behind-The-Scenes-Corbet39s-Couloir-1790037.htm

@HikeforTurns wrote:

Agreed on all fronts. Did Terje put on the split for a couple skinning photo ops? He rode everything on his solid.

Terje is on the Burton team, sponsored by Burton. Do you think he carried a 2nd solid Burton board around the whole time because he liked the extra weight? Or do you think he was told that he was obliged to ride his sponsors board?

I know what I think and it’s not the first option.

-hps

I really enjoyed Further. Went to the Fort Collins premiere and it was cool to see on the big screen. I was surprised not to see Xavier in any of the parts. Anybody know why?

@rughty wrote:

So while they are flying everything in by plane to basecamp anyways (I guess not in every case), why not take a couple of trips to bring in fuel for heli powered filming. Man powered climbing is really what is really pushed in the movies anyways. Aren’t they still reaching their basecamps by machine?!

I think that you are missing the point of what JJ is trying to achieve. Believe me, if one is dropped off by plane on a glacier in Wrangell/St Elias NP, the feeling of isolation is immense, especially if you are staying for awhile. The process they are going through is qualitatively different than that which would be achieved by using helicopters. Additionally, where they are going, helicopters are not permitted for recreational purposes.
If one wants to see movies made with helicopters, and snow machines, watch TBwhatever.
I applaud the fact that Jeremy Jones is trying to explore riding in areas not accessible by heli, and is seeking out new experiences.

I just watched it last night. I get what BG is saying, and I kind of agree. A lot of the same “type” of riding, big lines on huge mountains, wheras Deeper had a bit more variety with some deep pow tree riding. I too would have liked a bit more of the POV and some more documentary as well.

But I really want to watch it a few more times before passing any judgement. Definitely stoked me out, but first impression was that I like Deeper a bit better. Hope Higher has a himalayan aspect to it, maybe some more off the beaten paths like the Svalbard segment.

Why Terje wasn’t on a Freebird or other custom split is beyond me. Burton certainly has the skrill to make it happen, especially as they expand into the split market. I thought that was a disservice to the theme of the film. :nononno:

Best line of the whole movie was the “Art” spoof. “Get a shitload of Clif bars and go….HERE!!!” (points to map) 😆 😆 😆

Favorite line: Forrest “Worth EVERY step.”

@rughty wrote:

So while they are flying everything in by plane to basecamp anyways (I guess not in every case), why not take a couple of trips to bring in fuel for heli powered filming. Man powered climbing is really what is really pushed in the movies anyways. Aren’t they still reaching their basecamps by machine?!