Hidden Heroes brings backcountry adventure to screen
After seeing captivating scenes of local athletes doing what they do best in the mountains, rivers and forests that surround Prince George as featured in the adventure sport documentary, Hidden Heroes, mayor Lynn Hall says he can’t wait to seize the opportunity the film creates.
He sees it as a marketing tool which will entice people to Prince George.
“It sells this community and this region – it’s spectacular – and it will enable us to use this in our economic development office to promote Move Up Prince George, which is seen nationally from coast to coast,” said Hall, among a crowd of 460 people who packed into the Prince George Playhouse for the Saturday night premiere.
“Hidden Heroes really identifies what’s available for people who want to enjoy the outdoor recreation we have here. It has some extreme stuff, but there are people out there who itch to find a location that they can do this in and we have it right in our own backyard. It will help us in our ability to attract people to move to Prince George and the tourism piece is huge.”
Produced over 15 months by local filmmakers 6ix Sigma Productions, the documentary focuses on eight individuals who have taken their outdoor pursuits to a high level of expertise, including Joel McClay (backcountry skiing), Rob Bryce (fly fishing), Andrew Cline/ Kimberley Kenyon (stand-up paddling), Mark Trumphour (mountain bike trailbuilding), Darren Bell (big-game hunting), Ken Cox (ice/rock climbing) and Steve Taylor (backcountry snowmobiling).
Taylor, a former professional snowcross racer and factory test driver, attended the premiere and was blown away by what he saw.
“They did a beautiful job, the world needs to see this,” said Taylor.
“6ix Sigma captured Prince George and the uniqueness of it and the talent that comes out of here. Those people don’t really care about being in the limelight, what they care about is doing what they’re passionate about and this captures that to a T.”
In the stand-up paddling segment, Cline explains how he grew up in Saskatchewan in a family of paddlers and raised his game to become one of the country’s top kayakers until he was forced to give it up due to repetitive-strain injuries. He kept his paddles dry until a friend asked him to try a stand-up board. He learned his new obsession on lakes and slow- moving rivers and became the local guru of paddle boarding.
The on-board cameras provide close-up views of the churning rapids of the Holmes River near McBride lapping at his boat. After seeing a kayaker get flipped in the Beaver Falls section, Cline then shoots though the sharp drop-off, unfazed, bending down on one knee as he strains to stay upright in the raging whitewater to the cheers of his companions.
“The cameras help give you courage,” explains Cline.
Hidden Heroes begins with McClay, an experienced mountaineer, climbing in the Canadian Rockies and follows him down the mountain, carving turns on his skis through untracked powder at Powder King and on a peak near McBride.
Bryce then takes the audience with him to expose the beauty of the rivers and creeks that surround the city and offers a glimpse of the peaceful satisfaction he gets from casting his line to snag a fish.
Trumphour is a soldier in a small volunteer network of trailbuilders who continue to transform the Pidherny recreation area on the northwest edge of the city into a mountain bikers’ paradise and the film shows him using a chainsaw and an Alaskan mill in the forest to cut raw logs into planks for bridges. Overhead shots from a drone above the trees focus on Trumphour riding his new trail through the forest and he talks about why he likes his city surroundings: “There’s nothing but untapped space, great people and opportunity.”
Bell, a bowhunter from Terrace, takes the camera crew with him on a snowy hunt along a riverbank while he tells the story of how his father taught him as a boy how to best utilize the meat of the animals to fill the family freezer. Viewers don’t see any of his kills but they do gain insight into what he thinks every time he hits his target and the respect he has for nature.
While none of the Hidden Heroes basks in the glory of being proficient in their chosen sports, Cox was the most reluctant subject to be interviewed. He started climbing 44 years ago when he was just 15. Nobody else in Prince George was doing it at the time, and without a mentor he became a pioneer whose skills are the measuring stick for the rest of the local climbing community.
The film highlights Cox’s relationship with his son Bryce, who became his climbing partner on frozen waterfalls and sheer rock faces. He talks about the day a 15-year-old Bryce took the lead on the ascent of a new route and how that became his job in future climbs with his father.
“The story of how individuals have made something out of this place and the community really struck a chord with me,” said UNBC student James Matosevic.
They did a beautiful job, the world needs to see this. 6ix Sigma captured Prince George and the uniqueness of it and the talent that comes out of here. — Steve Taylor
“I think the entire audience felt a connection to every single story across the board,” Matosevic added.
Some of the most exciting footage comes near the end of the film when the cameras are trained on Taylor riding at the SandeTorpy Mountain area northeast of the city, where he shows why that area has become a mecca for snowmobile riders. Taylor plows through the trees in deep powder, drops off steep rock faces, then launches himself over jumps at dizzying heights.
“It was only after I retired (in 2012) and came back and realized, ‘oh my God, I live in paradise,’” said Taylor.
“We literally have everything all within two hours of Prince George, any sport you can think of you can do at a high level, which this movie shows.”
Continuing on the success of 6ix Sigma’s work with the city in producing video clips to promote the 2015 Canada Winter Games, the documentary was sponsored by the City of Prince George and its new marketing arm, Move Up Prince George. Individual segments will soon appear on the city’s social media platforms.
The producers hope to have the hour-long documentary featured at upcoming film festivals and will mass-release it in 2018.
Videographer/writer Daniel Stark has seen the film hundreds of times but Saturday’s premiere gave him his first real glimpse of what audiences think.
“It far exceeded my expectations how much people were sucked into it and what they were reacting to – I saw them laugh, I saw tears, it was amazing,” said Stark.
“In the film you see you can get in the water, you can get in the lakes, you can climb mountains. We have access to so much, some crazy stuff, and many people don’t realize it. The people who do realize it, kind of want to share it.”
The diversity of the sports featured was reflected in the audience makeup and that mass appeal gave 6ix Sigma co-owner/ production manager Jason Hamborg a sense of satisfaction.
“There’s been local movies made but it’s just mountain biking or just skiing, so being able to create something that got all those people into the same room is the coolest thing for me,” Hamborg said.
“You had all these gear heads watching someone fly fish and they were still stoked. There are so many amazing places and we’re so lucky that they’re all so close.”