Salt Lake City, UT – September 29, 2026 – The sold-out world premiere of the Girl Winter Film Tour in Salt Lake City last weekend marked a significant departure from conventional ski film presentations, signaling a new era for winter sports media. While traditional ski films often serve as an exhilarating escape into the world of extreme athleticism, this tour, conceived and produced by the women-led creative studio Moonrise, aimed for something more profound: a direct engagement with the diverse realities and identities of women within the global ski community. The event, held amidst unseasonably warm 80-degree temperatures, ignited a fervent desire for skiing among attendees, not as a means of escaping the complexities of the world, but as a vibrant affirmation of female strength, camaraderie, and belonging within it.
A Shift from Escapism to Empowerment
For decades, the standard formula for ski films has largely revolved around breathtaking feats, deep powder, and the pursuit of extreme challenges, often presented through a predominantly male lens. These annual cinematic offerings, typically running around 60-70 minutes, have long provided a cherished autumn ritual for skiers—a chance to gather in the dark, cheer on gravity-defying maneuvers, and momentarily forget the pressures of everyday life. This "escapism," as previously articulated by many in the community, has been a core appeal, allowing audiences to immerse themselves in pristine mountain environments and heroic narratives.
However, the Girl Winter Film Tour challenges this paradigm. Instead of offering a temporary reprieve, the premiere fostered an environment of collective celebration and resolve. Attendees left not seeking an escape, but rather a deeper embrace of their identity, particularly what it means to be a woman in the contemporary world. This paradigm shift from passive observation to active identification underscores a growing demand within the outdoor sports community for narratives that reflect a broader spectrum of experiences and identities.
The Vision of Moonrise: A Women-Led Initiative
The tour is the brainchild of Moonrise, a creative studio committed to elevating female voices and experiences in adventure sports. Their mission extends beyond simply showcasing women skiing; it’s about redefining what "progression" means in the sport, expanding who is seen, and validating a multitude of contributions to the industry. The tour featured a curated selection of five films, ranging from concise shorts to the ambitious, feature-length "Winter Elements," a two-year project by Moonrise itself. This diverse lineup was meticulously crafted to ensure a wide appeal, offering something resonant for every attendee.
Highlights from the Premiere: A Spectrum of Female Narratives
The evening commenced with "VIVID," a short film that skillfully reinterpreted the classic ski film recipe. Featuring athletes Sierra Schlag, Devin Logan, Nicole Cordingley, and Jenna Dramise at Colorado’s Silverton Mountain, the film included the expected elements of helicopters, drone shots, and formidable terrain. Yet, when uncooperative snow conditions precluded the usual display of monumental ski feats, the filmmakers made a deliberate choice: they didn’t conceal the challenges. Instead, "VIVID" celebrated the raw, unvarnished joy of being in the mountains with female friends, highlighting the humor, the shared experience, and the simple pleasure of collective adventure. This authentic portrayal resonated deeply, affirming that the intrinsic value of time spent skiing with friends, even without record-breaking stunts, is profoundly worthy of cinematic recognition.
Following "VIVID" was "Theory of Butter," an unconventional, Wes Anderson-esque short that chronicled two women’s whimsical quest for the mythical "Butta" through Southern Colorado’s San Juan Mountains via bikes, rafts, and skis. This film, with its idiosyncratic charm, served as a powerful statement on artistic freedom. It underscored the importance of allowing women creators the space to produce art that isn’t universally palatable or immediately understood, a privilege historically afforded predominantly to male artists. This creative latitude is crucial for fostering genuine innovation and expanding the boundaries of storytelling in sports media.
The narrative continued to broaden with "Biscuits," a film documenting Nat Segal and Erin Spong’s two-season journey to enhance their skiing skills in more challenging terrain. Beyond the athletic endeavors, the film bravely delved into the often-unspoken mental and emotional challenges inherent in professional skiing. Segal and Spong candidly discussed mentorship, the business complexities of being a professional athlete, and the frustrations of skiing while dealing with the physical and emotional impacts of menstruation. Such open dialogue normalizes aspects of the female experience rarely seen in mainstream sports documentaries, forging a powerful connection with a diverse audience.
The tour also celebrated traditional athletic achievement through Mali Noyes’s "Rapid Fire." This film chronicled Noyes’s successful, record-breaking ascent and descent of all 93 lines in Andrew McLean’s iconic The Chuting Gallery in an astonishing 47 days, significantly surpassing the previous record of five months. While a classic "Type 2-fun slog" and an epic sufferfest, Noyes’s story, presented within the context of the Girl Winter Film Tour, recontextualized such extreme feats. It emphasized that while pushing physical boundaries remains a vital aspect of progression, it is now presented as one facet of a much broader, more inclusive definition of achievement.
"Winter Elements": The Feature Film and a Broader Lens
The cornerstone of the tour was Moonrise’s feature film, "Winter Elements," which offered an expansive exploration of women’s roles throughout the ski industry. The film’s deliberate choice to open with the story of a transgender woman who serves as a cat driver at a small Pennsylvania ski area was particularly impactful and intentional. This opening immediately established the film’s commitment to radical inclusivity, challenging preconceived notions of who belongs in the sport. From this powerful beginning, "Winter Elements" systematically widened its lens, showcasing the indispensable contributions of women in diverse roles: photographers capturing iconic moments, ski patrollers ensuring safety, product developers innovating gear, ski racers pushing competitive limits, climate advocates fighting for the sport’s future, and avalanche forecasters safeguarding lives. The overarching message was clear: there is no singular, prescribed way to be a woman in skiing.
This comprehensive portrayal underlined that women in skiing embody a vast spectrum of experiences. They can break speed records and openly express vulnerability. They can be fiercely ambitious in their pursuit of improved skills while also discussing the realities of their menstrual cycles. They can be strong and simultaneously experience fear, humor, and deep emotion. They can be transgender. They can be the athlete executing a daring line, the person meticulously filming it, the scientist explaining snow dynamics, the professional grooming the terrain, the vigilant patroller, or the editor crafting the final narrative.
Unprecedented Representation and Industry Impact
The premiere showcased an unprecedented level of diversity in its depiction of womanhood within the ski world—a spectrum of ages, races, body types, gender identities, skiing styles, and relationships to the sport. Crucially, no single representation was presented as the "correct" way to be a woman or a skier. This deliberate inclusivity stands in stark contrast to the historical homogeneity of ski media.
Iz La Motte, one of the tour’s producers, articulated this sentiment powerfully on stage, stating that women have always been in these diverse roles, they belong in these roles, and they will continue to occupy them. The pivotal difference, she noted, was that with the Girl Winter Film Tour, these women were finally given prominent visibility on the big screen, and crucially, behind the cameras as well.
The reception in Salt Lake City further underscored the tour’s significance. A sold-out theater comprised of both women and men, united in laughter and cheers, suggested that this was far from a niche "women in skiing" event. Instead, it revealed a widespread hunger within the broader ski community for more representative and inclusive storytelling. This enthusiastic reception in Salt Lake City, the first of approximately 50 stops across North America through early December 2026, signals a robust demand for the tour’s unique perspective. Cities like Denver, San Francisco, Seattle, and New York City are eagerly awaiting their turn to host this groundbreaking event.
A Glimpse into the Future of Skiing
Reflecting on the evening, many in the audience considered the journey of individuals like skier Rachael Burks and photographer Re Wikstrom, prominently featured in "Winter Elements." Their friendship and professional collaboration span over two decades, originating in a ski industry vastly different from the one celebrated last weekend. Twenty years ago, the landscape for women in professional skiing and outdoor photography was far more restrictive and less visible. The hope articulated by organizers and attendees alike is that in another two decades, the current moment of the Girl Winter Film Tour will be viewed with similar hindsight—as a pivotal turning point that irrevocably broadened the horizons for women in winter sports.
The atmosphere in that Salt Lake City theater felt like a compelling vision of skiing’s future. It presented a future where diversity is not just tolerated but actively celebrated, where authenticity triumphs over contrived heroics, and where progression is understood not merely as athletic achievement but as the expansion of who gets to participate, who gets to be seen, and what stories are deemed worthy of telling. This, many concluded, represents the true and most meaningful progression for the sport.
For schedule and tickets, visit the official Girl Winter Film Tour website.
