Connor Ryan, a professional skier and member of the Hunkpapa Lakota, was raised near the Rocky Mountains — homeland to the Arapaho, Cheyenne and Ute tribes.

Ryan educates people on respecting Indigenous lands and protecting the environment in the pursuit of the outdoors. He co-directed the 2022 film “Spirit of the Peaks” and will attend a showing at Hideaway Park Brewery on April 5. The film begins at 5:30 p.m. with a talk by Ryan and Q&A to follow.

Produced in partnership with Wondercamp and NativesOutdoors, and co-directed by Connor Ryan and Tim Kressin, “Spirit of the Peaks” is a film about the struggle for balance between two worlds.

Ryan says his mission with the film is to do his part in restoring balance with all inhabitants of the mountains by illuminating Ute culture and traditional knowledge in the fight to preserve the land and dissipating snowpack.

“There’s a sense that a mountain is more than just a conglomeration of geological features,” Ryan says at the start of the film. “I’m not just going out into empty space. There’s a personality to each of these places. There’s a spirit to each of these peaks.”

As Ryan scales to the top of peaks and glides down couloirs in the Rocky Mountains, he also grapples with the suffering Indigenous people experienced as they were displaced from those places. In the film, he shares how he uses his love for skiing to improve equity and sustainability in that sphere so future generations can experience the joy of snow.

The town of Winter Park organized the film screening as part of its Climate Action Program.

The town states that Ryan will discuss “traditional ecological knowledge, the sense of place in Winter Park and the importance of climate action” with the audience. There will be opportunities for attendees to win raffle prizes from the organization Protect Our Winters and receive a free artist-designed T-shirt for taking a climate action survey at the event.

In 2023, Ryan also spearheaded an Indigenous art installation at Winter Park Resort, which operates on tribal lands. The installation aims to honor the Arapaho people through signage and artwork.