In November I was invited to Los Angeles, CA, to see Chris Benchetler’s psychedelic brainchild, Mountains of the Moon. The film showcases Bentchetler’s skiing along with several other top-level action sports stars throwing down in their respective disciplines. The all-star roster includes skiers Sam Kuch and Michelle Parker, snowboarder Danny Davis, rock climber Alanna Yip, surfer Rob Machado, mountain bikers Hannah Bergemann, Carson Storch and more. It is a is a love letter to shared passions and movement, all scored to the groovin’ tunes of The Grateful Dead and—even more notably—all the featured athletes are donning glowing, LED-powered skeleton suits that pay homage to the iconic band’s globally renowned aesthetic.
The creative behind it all, Chris Benchetler, in his custom Arc'teryx LED skeleton suit. Photo: Christian Pondella
Since the premiere, I’ve seen roughly eight zillion of the 19 bajillion action sports videos that have released to the world. Truthfully, not very many of them stick out. Don’t get me wrong—this has very little to do with the quality of the videos that folks are producing. Instead, it has everything to do with the sheer, overwhelming amount of content we’re exposed to each winter. In our arguably oversaturated sea of full-length films, short videos, reels and Tik Toks, it’s become all too easy for progressive tricks and otherwise monumental lines to sink into retrospective obscurity. And so, despite the bigger sends and higher spin counts exhibited in other movies I’ve seen over the past several months, Mountains of the Moon continues to be the standout ski video of the season.
Chris Benchetler for Mountains of the Moon. Photo: Christian Pondella
Artistry, storytelling and surrealism are all big factors in making Mountains of the Moon such an exceptional watch. The concept that shapes Mountains of the Moon sparked several years prior with Fire on the Mountain (2019), a Teton Gravity Research production and Benchetler’s first crack at creating a ski video scored entirely to Grateful Dead music and custom neon skeleton suits. Fire on the Mountain introduced the mesmerizing concept of displaying a barrage of faceless, glowing athletes trippily ripping down powdery slopes illuminated with various colored gels. Fire on the Mountain featured skiing, snowboarding, and even surfing, with Rob Machado getting barreled after dark in a glowing skeleton suit. The movie was narrated by the late, great, legendary basketball player turned sports announcer, Bill Walton, who was also known for being the ultimate Deadhead. Fire on the Mountain came out in 2019 and rightfully went viral, amassing millions of views on various platforms.
Several years later, Mountains of the Moon feels a lot like the grand continuation of what made Fire on the Mountain so special. Although, placing Fire on the Mountain next to Mountains of the Moon sort of feels like comparing a light microdose of psilocybin mushrooms to a seven-gram, heroic administration of the same substance.
In many ways, Mountains of the Moon turns the concepts from Fire on the Mountain all the way up to 11, most importantly amplifying the skiing itself. From more elaborate terrain builds—including one that has Grateful Dead drummer, Mickey Hart, literally rocking out on-slope while Benchetler airs over him—to better lighting setups, higher-definition cinematography and more, the excitement around the actual skiing in Mountains of the Moon is a solid step up.
Part snow sculpted elephant, part stage, part massive hip with projection mapped images displayed on the landing. This feature is truly one of a kind. Chris Benchetler airs while Mickey Hart rocks. Photo: Cody Mathison
Like Fire on the Mountain, Mountains of the Moon features skiing, snowboarding and surfing, but Mountains of the Moon also adds rock climbing (both bouldering and sport climbing), mountain biking, freediving and fly fishing into the mix. The inclusion of different sports performed by athletes of different ethnicities and genders adds to the overall allure of the movie, while also backing its notions of unity. A sort of interconnectedness that the film’s creators illustrate to transcend not only different disciplines, genders or races, but even different species.
Ryan Howard. Photo: Chris Burkard
Hamish MacArthur. Photo: Christian Pondella
Rather than alluding to an influence from psilocybin mushrooms, Mountains of the Moon comes right out and states it plainly—that is, as plainly as such hallucinogenic material lends itself to. The film does well to both show and tell its viewers about the correlation all people have with each other, as well as the world around us, including and especially with fungi. To fully drive it home, Mountains of the Moon is narrated by none other than the world’s leading maestro of mycology, Paul Stamets, aka The Mushroom Guy.
Produced by Arc’teryx, one question that kept coming up for me during the premiere of Mountains of the Moon was an emphatic, “What was the budget for this movie?!” Although I never got a clear answer, it’s safe to say it was a whole, metric-freak-ton of dolla-dolla bills, y’all. Money well spent.
Michelle Parker. Photo: Peter Morning
Mountains of the Moon stands tall even in the face of social media-damaged attention spans and is sure to stand the test of time For now, it’s sitting pretty as one of—if not the—most ambitious, finely executed ski videos of the year, perhaps even the 2020s.
With the premieres and screenings of this groundbreaking film coming to an end this month, it won’t be long before it's released online. Stay tuned for it to drop, for this is one you won’t want to miss.
In the meantime, check out the trailer and see Chris Benchetler's Ship of Fools series, which gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look at all the hard work and creativity that went into the production of Mountains of the Moon: