Watch thrilling, action-packed, award-winning sports films and support the Utah Avalanche Center-Moab simultaneously at Radical Reels Night on Saturday, Oct. 10, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Grand County High School auditorium. The third annual film event is a fundraiser for the avalanche center.
Radical Reels is a spinoff of the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival, a nine-day festival that takes place each fall in Banff, Alberta. The festival’s Radical Reels Night features films about climbing, paddling, biking, BASE jumping, snow sports and other sports.
“The films are fun, nail-biting glimpses into the world of extreme sports … (with) inspiring scenery and cinematography,” UAC avalanche forecaster Eric Trenbeath said. “We usually get several hundred people. It’s a great time.”
The Radical Reels tour includes prize-winning films selected from the Banff festival, which draws filmmakers from all over the world, avalanche center volunteer Ed Grote said.
This year’s lineup includes “All My Own Stunts” – an “emotional and gripping story” about a downhill mountain biking specialist and professional stuntman who survives a near-fatal accident. “Desert Ice” features ice climbers Jesse Huey and Scott Adamson who “climb into the remote high-desert slot canyons of southwest Utah in search of what some are calling the best water-ice discovery of the last 20 years.”
In “Dream,” a newbie kayaker encounters a group of excellent kayakers and wonders if he’ll ever be that skilled. “Into the Ditch” is a two-minute film about two friends who kayak a 500-foot tall drainage ditch at high speed. “Little Red Bus” is a 22-minute movie by French filmmakers. In a film from Austria, “Undead” features two young athletes who enjoy the sport of SMX, a combination of mountain biking and snowboarding.
From the United States, “The Unrideables: Alaska Range” is described as “glorious cinematographic eye candy,” where expert speed flyers test their limits on ice and snow, in a sport that combines elements of skiing and parachute flight. “Valley Uprising: Stone Masters” is about a “raucous new era of climbing in Yosemite.”
“The films are generally very exciting,” Grote said.
Regular, non-extreme sports films from Banff are shown in Moab in the spring. That event is also a fundraiser for Second Chance Wildlife Rehab, and typically sells out, Grote said.
While Radical Reels is the major fundraiser for Moab’s avalanche center, funding is also generated from local sponsors and in Salt Lake City, where the Utah Avalanche Center is headquartered. Locally, Trenbeath provides snow, avalanche and mountain weather advisories for winter recreation users in the La Sal and Abajo mountains.
“Although the UAC is centered in Salt Lake City, the money we get stays in the Moab area,” Grote said. “We use the money to fund the amount paid to the Forest Service, and to buy equipment for the weather stations.”
The two weather stations are located in the La Sal Mountains, where Trenbeath skis and snowmobiles to observe snow conditions and current weather. He digs snow pits to look for weak layers and performs snow stability tests, and checks overnight conditions before posting weather and avalanche advisories which can be accessed at: www.utahavalanchecenter.org.
Radical Reels fest profiles extreme athletics, supports avalanche center
“The films are fun, nail-biting glimpses into the world of extreme sports … (with) inspiring scenery and cinematography.”
When: Saturday, Oct. 10, from 7 to 9 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m.
Where: Grand County High School auditorium, 608 S. 400 East
Cost: $10 advance; $15 at the door
Radical Reels Night includes an intermissions and raffle sale. Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door. Advance tickets are available at Back of Beyond Books, Poison Spider Bikes, Canyon Voyages Adventure Co., and Pagan Mountaineering, or online at www.utahavalanchecenter.org/events.
