The Fourth Phase

The snowboarder Travis Rice and his friends set out on a journey spread over years. The route follows the great circulating current of the North Pacific: from Tahoe to Japan, then to Russia, to Alaska and finally to Rice's home state of Wyoming. The idea comes from the water cycle; the crew is following where the snow comes from. Directed by Curt Morgan, the film is a Red Bull Media House production and was shot entirely in 4K. The images are its real material: slopes nobody goes to, avalanche danger, waiting for days to prepare for a single descent. The telling gives the sport not as a list of records but as a relationship with geography. Mark Landvik and Mikkel Bang are among the crew. The moments when things do not go well on the journey are in the film too.