Teton Gravity Research’s Ode To Muir will introduce a new generation to conservationist John Muir. The film traces professional snowboarders Jeremy Jones and Elena Hight on a 40-mile foot-powered expedition through California’s John Muir Wilderness.

Escaping into nature, Muir reminded us, was the best medicine for a frazzled mind. “I am losing precious days,” Muir once said. “I am degenerating into a machine for making money. I am learning nothing in this trivial world of men. I must break away and get out into the mountains to learn the news.” Throughout the film, we hear more of Muir’s wisdom as Jones and Hight journey deep into his namesake land.

Jones, a legendary backcountry rider and founder of Protect Our Winters, and Hight, a two-time snowboard Olympian, balance two major forces in Ode to Muir. They confront physical challenges and mental reckonings: “winter camping, grueling climbs up the Sierra’s biggest mountains, aesthetic first descents, and personal reflections on the importance of the natural world and those who first traveled it generations ago,” TGR tells us.

Stay tuned for more on this project.