Midwest Mountaineering may have closed after 53 years (309 Cedar Ave.), but owner Rod Johnson (at right) is still hosting outdoor social events like the Banff Film Festival at the Riverview Theater (800 42nd Ave. S).
Johnson of Seward has lived in south Minneapolis his entire life. Midwest Mountaineering has been screening the Banff World Tour for 30 years. "The University of Minnesota decided not to allow non-university groups to continue to use Willey Hall, so we switched to the Riverview Theater," he explained.
Johnson enjoys getting people who love the outdoors together. He keeps going because people love the films, he observed. His favorite film was, "Conflict Tiger," about the man-eating tiger in Siberia.
The Dec. 12 and 13, 2024 screening were sold out. Each night featured a different set of films.
"The Canyon Chorus" on Thursday night included Mikah Meyer of Seward (at right), who said a few words after the film. The film is about a whitewater rafting and inflatable kayak trip a group of LGBTQ+ men took down the Green River through Desolation Canyon. Meyer is known for his three-year, world-record road trip to all 419 U.S. National Park Service sites that made him the first to experience all parks in a single journey. He's continued that passion in the 2020s with the creation of the Outside Safe Space Program, which provides allies a simple way of making The Great Outdoors more accessible. Meyer's next feature length film – an expansion of Canyon Chorus – is now in development. Join Meyer on another LGBTQ+ travelers' trip June 7-10, 2025 down Oregon's Rogue River.
At the December film screening, Johnson announced that one of his former managers, Stephen Schreader, will be opening Lake State Mountaineering in the North Loop. An online store is currently operational and he also does pop-ups. The shop focuses on climbing and paddling gear.
The next batches of Banff films will be shown Thursday, April 24, 7 p.m. (group three) and
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