Kokatat Ambassador Paul Kutheis one of the stars of a new web television series developed by Bryan Smithand Fitz Cahall, called The Season. Here is how he got started with the project:
“We were headed up to the Butze tidal rapids near Prince Rupert last June. The Butze (butzee) is not one wave, but many separate features, including big whirlpools, jaw dropping pour-overs, and huge exploding waves that form then disappear as 30+ feet of tide water squeezes back and forth through narrow channels between the densely packed cedar covered islands laced across Fenn Passage. A couple hours into the 30 hour ferry ride from Port Hardy, Bryan started talking about this new project he was working on, called The Season. We hoped to get some amazing footage of this incredible tidal zone, but none of us really knew much about it. Bryan had agreed to join us and shoot the trip over a year ago, but this was the first time we knew where the footage could end up… if we found anything to surf. We were not disappointed – humbled perhaps, but not disappointed!
The Season follows myself and four other athletes through the course of a single season in the Pacific Northwest. Check out the first episode free at http://www.arcteryx.com/.” - Paul Kuthe
“This summer I embarked on a new project with Fitz Cahall of the Dirtbag Diaries called the Season. The idea sprouted during some late evenings at the Banff Mountain Film Festival in 2008 when we both realized we had a mutual interest in trying to bring professional adventure media and strong story telling to the web. I had just finished two sea kayaking DVD’s and was looking for something new. Fitz had been wanting to bring the video medium to his work on the web. We asked ourselves a couple questions. First, could we take compelling stories from our community, combine it with tightly crafted footage and create small installments that reveal a bigger story? Second could the events of a single season reveal the bigger stories of individual athletes? I’m not sure we knew the answers and we still remain to find out, but we were confident that we had something that just might work, so the Season was born. We started working on the story lines, pitching the project and shaping the look. Then we spent an entire season lugging big HD cameras, a cable cam and various other tools around the Pacific Northwest chasing after five athletes. This has been a labor of love, but we are both excited to share all of our hard work.
The Season is a 22 episode, web TV series following five athletes through the course of a single season. A veteran climber invents a new piece of gear. A pro snowboarder searches for a way to return to the roots of his sport. A boulderer returns from a series of injuries with new perspective. A family man goes to Whistler to test himself against the mountain biking’s elite. A young sea kayaker with a troubled past sets out to reinvent his sport. Kokatat paddler Paul Kuthe is the featured kayaker and we captured some incredible new tidal locations for his epsiodes up in Prince Rupert, British Columbia. You can subscribe to the HD downloads via itunes at www.theseasontv.com. The trailer has just gone live and the first episode releases at the end of the month. Enjoy!”
