After his mother passes away, Rein moves to a small village in the Alps to be immersed in nature, meditate and work as a snowboard teacher. When Rein’s extroverted father Gijs comes to visit, he quickly takes centre stage. He charms the youngsters and flirts with Rein’s new girlfriend Laura on a back-country ski tour. When Rein’s patience has reached its breaking point, he drags his father away from the group and they continue their hike up the mountain alone. Gijs feels increasingly uncomfortable with the dangerous terrain, but Rein presses on to the top. It isn’t long before nature violently lashes out, turning their petty struggle for dominance into a quest for survival.
“This is a film about the changing nature of masculinity in our society. It slowly strips a father and son of their modern Western privileges, their technology, their personal grievances and their egos, leaving them naked in the face of nature. The film may start in the noisy and cluttered environment of a ski resort, but the story culminates on the silent, frozen and unforgiving snowfields and rock-faces of the high Alps.” (Jan-Willem van Ewijk)