Out & About: Film fest a feast of winter backcountry
OUTFLICK– Human- powered winter pursuits will be featured in nine films to be screened during the Winter Wildlands’ 2011-12 Backcountry Film Festival presentation in Spokane.
When: Nov. 11; doors open at 6:30 p.m., shows at 7.
Where: Gonzaga University’s Jepsen Center, Wolfe Auditorium.
This year’s tour includes Sweetgrass Productions’ Solitaire, voted best of the festival. The film from the wilderness of South America required two years of work.
The festival is sponsored by Gonzaga Outdoors and the Stevens Peak Backcountry Coalition and the Spokane Mountaineers.
Tickets: $7 or $3 students (with student I.D.) Purchase tickets in advance online, commerce.cashnet.com/guoutdoors
Featured films also include:
• “Chalk and Ski,” the Best Short winner. It’s a chalk-in-hand daydream about skiing and winter.
• “Breaking Trail,” Best of the Backcountry award winner featuring two brothers with a reputation for cutting deep powder and fresh lines.
The six other films are “40 Tribes Kyrgyzstan,” “Berber Turns,” “Ski Bums Never Die,” “Winters of My Life,” “Seasons: Winter” and “Bike, Ski, Raft Denali Traverse.”
The evening is geared to skiing, snowboarding and snowshoeing with chances to win door prizes.
Local organizer John Latta said the festival highlights grassroots groups’ efforts to preserve and conserve winter landscapes for quiet users.
Other coming attractions:
• Warren Miller’s Wintervention, Thursday and Friday, 7:30 p.m., at Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox.
• Banff Mountain Film Festival road show, Nov. 18-20, Bing Crosby Theatre.
New stateline bridge has tribute to kayaks
OUTPADDLE – The new stateline bridge over the Spokane River, which is expected to open to traffic on Tuesday, features a railing with illustrations of an evergreen tree, symbolizing Washington, and a kayaker.
Give credit to state and county engineers for listening to paddlers’ concerns and recognizing the area’s importance to recreation: Part of the bridge was reconfigured to avoid affecting Dead Dog Hole, a popular kayaking spot.
Chelan ferry option stuck in red tape
OUTCRY – Two Stehekin residents filed a constitutional challenge in a Spokane federal court in a 15-year effort to offer alternative ferry service on Lake Chelan.
Jim and Cliff Courtney are fourth-generation residents of the village at the foot of the North Cascades. They’ve proposed a ferry service with schedules that don’t force hikers and other visitors to devote an entire day to traveling to destinations on the 55-mile-long lake.
A century-old state law prevents competition to the ferry service allowed on Chelan since 1927.
The legal appeal is being made with the help of the Institute for Justice Washington Chapter.
Steelheading primer
OUTCLASS – Learn basics of fly fishing for steelhead Saturday, 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m., at Silver Bow Fly Shop. 13210 E. Indiana Ave. $30.
Fly-tying class, Nov. 14-15.
Sign-up: (509) 924-9998.