Teton Gravity Research (TGR) began with every ski bum’s dream: Make movies, travel the world, never give up your life living wild on the mountain. It has evolved to become the most influential multi-media action sports brands on the planet. Here’s the hard data on how Jackson’s Jones brothers and Co. shook the world.
39
Number of films Teton Gravity Research has created. It claims to be “the most decorated action sports brand in the world.” And it’s hard to argue with that title. tetongravity.com
1995
The year when Jackson, Wyoming-based brothers Steve and Todd Jones and Dirk Collins co-founded Teton Gravity Research with cash they had earned working classic mountain town/ski bum jobs like commercial fishing in Alaska and guiding. TGR’s first film the “Continuum,” dropped in 1996 and nabbed two awards at the International Ski and Snowboard Film Festival. Scenes included a huck fest at Grand Targhee Resort and a scene in Valdez, Alaska set to Metallica. The flick earned a spot in the Ski Hall of Fame for transcending the genre and appearing on shows like “Oprah”
25
Female athletes TGR has highlighted in its films over the years. The company has made it their mission from the beginning to include female skiers and riders as equals in the sport. Key to that push to put women ripping on the screen is legendary snowboarder Julie Zell, who showed off her stuff in seminal TGR films including “Continuum,” “Harvest,” “Uprising,” and “The Big One.” Zell won three titles at the Valdez big mountain freeride competition The King and Queen of the Hill, from 1994-1996. More recently, TGR has followed the evolution of sport and women at the forefront by featuring Casey Brown launching Jackson Hole Mountain Resort’s famed and feared Corbet’s Couloir on a mountain bike in the 2017 film “Rogue Elements.”
32
Age of three-time world champion surfer Andy Irons when he died in a Texas hotel room en route home to Hawaii from a competition in Puerto Rico in 2010. His cardiac arrest in bed was the sad end to a life of glory and laughs shot through by addiction and mental illness. Irons is the subject of the latest TGR film “Kissed by God,” which attempts to understand a man filled with so much passion yet destroyed by so much internal pain. Surfer magazine wrote that somehow TGR “were able to unveil the complexities of Irons’ life without it feeling too exploitive.” Writing for The Inertia, Irons sometimes friend and nemesis Kelly Slater said “No matter what, it doesn’t make sense for someone so gifted and in touch on so many levels to die alone in an airport hotel room nowhere close to anything that mattered to him. But remembering someone can sometimes be about the toughest thing you ever had with them and feeling like your life is better for having experienced that with them. And if that can make you laugh or smile, you’re honoring their life and their legacy, I believe.” The film is still in the midst of a world tour. Find dates and locations here: tetongravity.com/films/andy-irons-kissed-by-god/tour
255
Height in feet of the world record cliff jump at Targhee, Wyoming, that Jaimie Pierre launched in the 2006 TGR film “Anomaly.” The record was broken a few years later (by accident), bu Pierre’s legend lives on. Pierre died in an avalanche in Utah in 2011.
41
Number of people Teton Gravity Research employs year-round at its Wilson, Wyoming headquarters. More than 100 people may be working for TGR on any given day in the winter season.
2007
Year that Steve and Todd Jones’ brother the legendary snowboarder Jeremy Jones founded Protect Our Winters (POW). “POW markets climate change to a young demographic,” says Jeremy. “We use social media, op eds, PSAs, and other tactics to inspire our industry to act on climate and educate people on the hurdles that keep us from fully embracing the solutions. The last election was devastating. It undid years of work in a matter of hours. Since then, our work in climate change is my main priority. The stakes are too high and I am sick of losing.” Jeremy has starred in his own films , using s splitboard to access extreme terrain across the planet.
