Outdoor Programs to Host Banff Centre Mountain Film & Book Festival Feb. 18-19

LOGAN, Utah — Utah State University’s Outdoor Programs will host the Banff Centre Mountain Film & Book Festival Feb. 18-19 at the Ellen Eccles Theater. The once-a-year festival is one of the largest and most prestigious mountain festivals in the world and seeks to celebrate amazing achievements in outdoor storytelling and filmmaking worldwide.

The community is invited to attend the festival. Tickets for the event are $18 for one day or $30 for the weekend. USU students can purchase tickets at a discount, $12 per day. The festival will show different films each night starting at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

"We are one of the longest-running host organizations in Utah,” said Dan Galliher, assistant director of Adventure Programs & Marketing. “We have hosted the film tour for numerous years, in a variety of locations. This is the first time we’ve held the event in the Ellen Eccles Theater.”

Proceeds from the event will go to help fund the Lyon, Maas, Mueggler Outdoor Leadership Scholarship, which helps students pay for their wilderness first-responder certificate course and provides leadership training. The scholarship is named for Max Lyon, Keith Maas and Karl Mueggler, who died in an avalanche in the Bear River Range east of Logan in 1997. The three young men were exceptional athletes, noted for their climbing, kayaking and backcountry skiing abilities, among their many other outdoor talents. The true measure of their impact on the world, however, lay beyond their seemingly insatiable spirit of adventure.

“While they were alive, Max, Keith and Karl took a leap beyond just adventure into that greater world of human richness, human imagination, human kindness, compassion and commitment,” Galliher said. “They were always driven to somehow make a difference in whatever course their lives took at the moment. They weren’t just adventurers: they were educators, outdoor activists, voices for community, committed professionals and all-around good people. This scholarship was set up as an attempt to continue that legacy."

The Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour began in 1976 in Banff, Alberta, Canada. The tour now reaches 550 locations in 40 countries throughout the world.

Tickets to the festival can be purchased online by visiting https://www.cachearts.org. Use the Show/Tickets dropdown menu to select the Banff Film Tour tabs.