Spirit of the Peaks

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to watch “Spirit of the Peaks”, a film about skiing in Ute territory produced by Hunkpapa Lakota skier Connor Ryan. Ski resorts and big name passes negatively impact roads, overcrowd ski towns and lift lines, underpay their employees (e.g. $15/hr at Park City for the ski patrollers that very literally save lives), and continue to degrade the environment. My biggest take away – Land Back. As Connor summarized at the film screening last night: the goal is not to kick people off native land; the goal is to have native voices (the people that have cared for the land for thousands of years) in the room when planning for the future of this earth.

See the film trailer here!

Written on January 11, 2022