Living in the Flathead Valley means waking up to some of the continent’s most beautiful vistas, lakes, rivers, mountains, and forests. It means people being as excited about ski season as they might be about an upcoming concert, and the triage of summer activities, because there’s just so much to do.
And in the calmer time of fall, the Banff Mountain Film Festival comes to town to rev up imaginations and stoke the fires of adventure, all from the comfort of a theater seat.
On Nov. 15 and 16, crowds will gather at the Flathead High School auditorium to watch one of the most annually anticipated mountain film festival tours in the world, with each night offering different movies featuring the mountain world, new landscapes and remote cultures, and, of course, adrenaline-filled sports sequences. The film festival tour will hit about 450 communities in 40 countries when all is said and done.
In Kalispell, it comes courtesy of the Flathead Nordic Backcountry Patrol, a nonprofit group of volunteers trained to respond to any type of winter backcountry emergency. Amy Moore of the FNBP said the film festival is an integral part of the group’s operations, because it provides funding and exposure.
Originally, the FNBP helped Flathead County with search and rescue operations when needed, Moore said, but the group has decided to shift its core toward education.
“We’ve recently changed our focus just to education in the valley as far as snow safety and winter travel for all recreationalists,” Moore said in an interview last week. “We want to educate people who are traveling in the backcountry.”
The backcountry patrol has noticed more people seem to be taking it upon themselves to travel into the deep snows of the Jewel Basin and the Swan Mountains, for example, or wandering past the boundary markers on Whitefish Mountain Resort.
“The thing is, as years go on, there are more and more people exploring the boundaries,” Moore said. “It’s good to have some education. And it’ll be free to people.”
Flathead National Forest, the Flathead Avalanche Center, and the Friends of the Flathead Avalanche Center have all played and will continue to play big roles in this education, Moore said.
“This money supports not only the seven-day forecast through the Flathead Avalanche Center and Flathead National Forest, but also to provide us some materials that we need,” she said.
As of last week, Moore wasn’t yet sure which films would be shown in Kalispell, since the actual Banff Mountain Film Festival began Oct. 29. Once the weeklong festival is through, it begins to tour.
The films chronicle all sorts of mountain culture: “3,000 Cups of Tea” from journalist Jennifer Jordan updates audiences on Greg Mortenson’s saga; “A Song for Tomorrow” explores the mythical towers of the Qingfeng Valley at the boundary of China’s first national park.
In “Ace and the Desert Dog,” adventure photographer Ace Kvale and his dog, Genghis Khan, trek for 60 days through Utah’s canyon country to celebrate Kvale’s 60th birthday. “All Roads Lead to Scotland” chronicles the unlikely climbing partnership of Nick Bullock and Time Neill. “The Hard Way” follows 89-year-old Bob Hayes of Arlee as he trains for the Bighorn ultramarathon.
Each night of the film festival in Kalispell, there will be different movies shown and raffle prizes given away. There will be a raffle for a season pass to Whitefish Mountain Resort; those raffle tickets must be purchased.
Moore said this year’s tickets are at throwback prices of $10 a person, down from $14 last year.
“We’re hoping to get more people involved in the film festival,” she said, noting that throwback pricing helps families bring kids.
But Moore also warned of waiting too long to buy tickets, since the film festival has sold out with consistency in the past.
“We definitely recommend people to get their tickets in advance,” Moore said.
Tickets for the Banff Mountain Film Festival are available at the White Room in Whitefish, Sportsman and Ski Haus in Whitefish and Kalispell, and Rocky Mountain Outfitter in Kalispell.