Skier Griffin Post’s New Documentary ‘Inaccessible’ Shines Light on Unreachable Public Lands

Public lands have been in the spotlight lately, from massive public outcry when Utah Senator Mike Lee wanted to include the sale of public lands in HR-1 (the “Big, Beautiful Bill”) to vandalism in national parks during the government shutdown. Professional skier Griffin Post is premiering his new film, “Inaccessible,” at the Boulder Theater this Dec. 9. It’s part ski documentary, part public lands PSA.

In the film, Post and two other athletes go back country skiing and snowboarding in Montana’s Crazy Mountains. Inaccessible features breathtaking shots of Post and his crew showing off death-defying skiing and snowboarding skills, plus traversing and climbing up sheer mountain faces. But all the time, they’re trying to navigate a giant invisible checkerboard public and private land, sometimes having to take the more dangerous route to avoid trespassing.

According to a report released by report by the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and a GPS navigation app called OnX (which partnered with Post to produce the film), there are around 16 million acres of public land in the U.S. that are completely inaccessible because they are surrounded by private land.

“We were kind of faced with, how do we access this legally?” said Post. “And there are some pretty random slivers of public land that connect these, this checkerboard pattern in certain places, but besides that, the only other option would be to literally take a helicopter and land on that section of public land and ski and then take a helicopter out, which is not realistic for us or anybody for that matter.”

Post is hoping the documentary will bring the issue of inaccessible public lands to skiers, snowboarders, and the general public, so that we can begin to work toward a solution.

The film will have its online debut Dec. 10. But first, it will premiere Dec. 9 at the Boulder Theater, where after the screening, there will be a discussion featuring Post and the athletes in the film, plus other experts.

Listen to the full audio story above.

This piece aired on the Morning Magazine, KGNU’s weekday morning show with coverage of local and regional public affairs and news with headlines and commentary. Click here to listen to other episodes of the Morning Magazine.