LEFT TO RIGHT • “A shitty airport hotel, and a sad Chris Benchetler. During a trip to Switzer-land in 2005, we spent days driving around in search of freezing temps, with no luck. It was raining when we got to Verbier, and after one night of partying, we were at the Zurich airport, heading back to North America.” Photo: Nate Abbott “Spring is a funny time for skiers—one day, conditions are soft and deep, the next they’re a solid mess of slush. This day at Mica Heli Ski-ing, BC in 2006 was one of the latter—bluebird skies without a single soft or steep landing. Chris, Andy Mahre and a few snowboarders still charged lines for the camera, something a photographer appreciates.” Photo: Nate Abbott The Ski Journal: How did you end up here, at evo, painting the side of the building? Chris Benchetler: My buddy Skye Walker—who’s a professional muralist—and I did the mural on the outside of the van, which was my first bigger piece. It was only a four-by-eight-foot sheet of plywood, but after that he suggested I’d really like doing a big wall. So I had it in the back of my mind. This past season, I filmed the Chasing AdVANture project for GoPro, which was really fun. I lived out of the van, and we documented everything: painting the side, doing the build-out, and then a whole bunch of skiing, snowboarding, surfing and climbing trips. evo has been a partner of mine for a long time, and I’m always trying to think of unique ways to include them in my projects, and the mural idea came to mind. It’s been a cool opportunity. We’re going to unveil the mural, show the movie and have an art show, with a full gallery of Skye and I’s pieces. Scotty, who built the van, built all the picture frames out of the same reclaimed wood that’s in the roof. That’s a big exclamation point on a whole year’s worth of shooting. Tell me about your idea for the film. I really wanted to highlight a lot of the people that have inspired and influenced me. It was basically finding masters of different crafts, whether it was painting, building, surf-ing—all the things in my life that are truly important to me. I wanted to show how snowboarding and surfing and climbing have helped shape me into the skier I am. We tried to really document that, and highlight people who have mastered each of those sports. And glean a little knowledge from them? Exactly. I was able to link up with [professional surfer] Rob Machado, who’s been a long-time influence of mine. Funny side story, but when I was developing the Bent Chetler [ski], I saw a board Rob had shaped, with distinct contours underneath the board. I had been trying to figure out how to increase flotatation and surface area on my ski without losing the turning radius or hampering how it performed, and that board sparked an idea. Then we just took it from there. It was cool to talk to him about shaping [surfboards] and why he does certain things. He was obviously stoked that I took inspiration from something he had built, and it opened his mind a little bit about snow sports and the fact that we do pay attention to what surfers are doing. Since then, we’ve hung out a number of times and surfed together, and hopefully have a few other projects in the works. He came up to [Mammoth] and went snowboarding, and I took him snowmobiling. I’m hoping to get him on a noboard next year. I think he’ll probably rip on that thing. 058 The Ski Journal
The Ski Journal Volume Eleven, Issue Four: Page 58
