Snowboarding
This is how three snowboarding legends took the classic road movie one step further by going where there are no roads in their new film, playing now on Red Bull TV.
In the new film from Teton Gravity Research, three legends of three distinct snowboarding eras team together to explore a vast wilderness that lies in front of their eyes and the rich, shared history that lies behind them. As snowboard movies go, Roadless is as thoughtful, nuanced and multi-layered as it gets. Let's take a closer look at this road movie without a road.
Watch Roadless featuring Travis Rice, Bryan Iguchi and Jeremy Jones in the player below:
A road movie with a difference
When it comes to film genres, the road movie has to be the best known and best loved. While the narrative variations are endless, the formula is simple: two or more characters leave home on a road trip and experience a transformative new perspective along the way. Usually on some kind of quest, or in a chase, they'll experience some setbacks, some good times and lots of self-discovery. From Dumb & Dumber to Easy Rider, Thelma & Louise and True Romance, you really can’t beat a good road movie: all you need is compelling characters, incredible scenery and the open road.
It's an honour to be able to, so many years later, take that 'least experienced' role with those guys
Or, how about you just take the characters and scenery, and ditch the road? That’s what Jeremy Jones, Bryan Iguchi and Travis Rice do in Roadless.
Where is Roadless set?
Lying in the heart of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the Teton Wilderness is one of the most remote places in the USA. A national park protected by law, according to the Wilderness Act of 1964, this is an area where "the Earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain."
What this means incredible scenery – and absolutely no roads.
Wilderness: a world of difference
As every snowboarder knows, there's no comparison between in-bounds and out-of-bounds snowboarding. The terrain may be similar, but by leaving our comfort zone and entering into the unknown, we get a whole new perspective on the world and ourselves. Just like those road movie protagonists.
But when you're Jeremy Jones, Bryan Iguchi and Travis Rice, what do you do when getting out of your comfort zone is, well, comfortable? After decades of riding the gnarliest terrain possible, there comes a time in every snowboarding legend's life when the priorities shift – a time when breaking trail into uncharted wilderness becomes more satisfying than stepping out of a helicopter onto a needle-sharp ridge.
For Bryan Iguchi, this shift happened pretty early on in his career, shortly after moving to Jackson Hole. He'd rented a snowmobile and rode up to the Togwotee Pass, which provides direct access to the Grand Teton National Park and a perfect vantage point for the vast mountain range beyond. Sledding up to the wilderness boundary, a seed was planted. "I'll never forget that view. It was like this other dimension of plateaus that almost looked like layers of clouds," he recalls.
I'll never forget that view. It was like this other dimension of plateaus that almost looked like layers of clouds
The area is true wilderness, as far from any road as it's possible to get in the United States' lower 48 states and right on the continental divide. For Iguchi, the significance of this first encounter was huge and it came to define the shape of everything that followed in his life and career. It's both the inspiration for, and setting of Roadless, this road-movie-without-a-road in which three long-time friends trek deep into uncharted terrain.
Who is Bryan Iguchi?
Right place, right time: 'The Guch' emerged from the slushy Southern California scene in the early 1990s, making a name for himself as a stylish, fast-footed freestyler. His parts in FLF's 1993 Road Kill and Volcom's 1994 movie The Garden put him centre stage in the New School revolution and a Burton pro model in 1995 confirmed his status as one of the biggest names in the sport.
By the mid '90s however he was already tiring of the park and jibbing scene. Anxious to follow in the footsteps of his friend and mentor Craig Kelly, the first pro rider to transition away from freestyle to a professional career in freeriding, Iguchi relocated to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Here, he found the steep terrain, deep powder and small-town scene much more to his liking.
As the new millennium began, pretty much every other rider of Iguchi's generation faded from the pro ranks, himself included. But, although he'd left the limelight, Bryan was ripping harder than ever, discovering new spots around Jackson Hole and taking his backcountry skills and avalanche training to new levels of expertise. So, whenever the film crews rolled into Jackson with the latest hot pro out to build a backcountry rep, Iguchi was the guy they called to show him the ropes.
He was the coolest guy in snowboarding
Travis Rice: the new kid in town
In 2001, Iguchi met and mentored a talented young Jackson Hole local by the name of Travis Rice and a lifelong friendship began. As the decade progressed, Rice's star ascended to ever greater heights and when he made That’s It, That’s All, the first of his famous Brain Farm trilogy, he made sure his hero and mentor got a part. A decade after going underground, Iguchi made a long-overdue return to the spotlight and his legend status was assured.
Meanwhile, as a freestyle park prodigy turned big mountain freestyler, Travis Rice was busy building on the foundation that Iguchi had begun back in the late '90s. Putting it simply, nobody combined big tricks and gnarly terrain better than Rice and between 2001 and 2010, he was hands down the most powerful, most progressive and most incredible snowboarder on the planet.
Who is Jeremy Jones?
If no one has done more to pioneer terrain in the Jackson Hole region than Bryan Iguchi, the same could be said of Jeremy Jones for big mountain freeriding in general and splitboard touring in particular. Jones's resume is stacked: National Geographic 2012 Adventurer of the Year nominee and winner of countless other awards, owner of Jones Snowboards and founder of environmental advocacy group Protect Our Winters. A former snowboard racer, Jones took big mountain freeriding to a whole new level and his video parts shot with Standard Films from 2000–2007 remain unsurpassed to this day in terms of exposure, speed, flow and power.
The second part of Jones's legacy, as documented in TGR's Deeper and Further, is how he's pioneered self-powered splitboard touring as an environmentally responsible alternative. How's that for walking the walk?
No roads, but lots of paths
There may not be any physical roads in Roadless, but that doesn't mean it lacks direction. As the three friends forge their own trails deep into the heart of the Teton Wilderness, each has plenty of time to reflect on their own personal journeys and the shared path that brought them here, to this specific place and time.
For example, while their snowboarding origins were almost exact opposites – one from racing, one from freestyle – both Jones and Iguchi were put on the path to powder by Craig Kelly, the spiritual father of freeriding. Throughout the film, between gratuitous powder hounding, connecting with the purity of the wilderness and snow pit digging, there's plenty of time for trips down memory lane.
That’s got to be the best road of all to travel.
