Alterra’s Native perspective

Combining striking imagery of snow-covered mountains, Lonnie Kauk (Ahwahnechee) and Connor Ryan (Húŋkpapȟa Lakȟóta) share their respective philosophies and their hopes for the future.

As the camera passes over the original territories of the Ute, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Numu, and Monache people, the emphatic connection between man and nature is as visceral as the cold they’re surrounded by. Both Kauk and Ryan share their deep love of the environment, offering blessings and understandings of the world throughout the film. With a deeply personal relationship to the mountains, landscape, and the natural world, My Ikon: My Connection, for Alterra is authentic and moving. 

Production company Stept Studios hired Shaandiin Tome (Diné/Navajo People) to direct the piece, lending a genuine lived experience to the film. Tome’s focus is on the world, on the movement. While Kauk and Ryan offer their personal ideas, they are never quite the most important part. Their words, actions, and movement through the world are more important, their connection resonates through the piece, and their desire to show how others can understand their own landscapes is the true impetus throughout the film. 

“The importance of Native inclusion at the table is at the heart of this film,” says Ryan. “Native people have always been a part of the stories of the mountains and it will be true into the future. I’d like the ski community to see themselves as a part of a longer and deeper story with the land, and to tap into that connection more. That way, we will all learn to live in greater reciprocity. The land is part of life's balance."

“Our elders taught us to go up on the mountain to truly find your purpose, bring it back, share it with the family, and continue to grow that as far as you can,” adds Kauk.