This past January, we made a short film. There was no script, no set, no actors. Just mountains as far as the eye could see, powder for days and the hut of our dreams, luring us 11,000 feet up above sea level. We invited Ben Moon to bring a few friends, some cameras and several underlayers, and we filmed the magic that ensued as we headed off the grid, into the backcountry, in the R1T and R1S.  

Like most adventures, this one started with loose plans and willing hearts. We were in Aspen for the Winter X Games, as were a few of our favorite snowboarders and storytellers, and couldn't resist the temptation of a hut trip. 

The San Juan Mountains provided the essentials: staggering beauty in every direction and wild terrain, rugged enough to make even the most fit among us gasp for fresh mountain air now and then.

By design, you can’t bring much on a hut trip, only what you can carry on your back.

“There are no distractions out here. You have no choice but to look up, look out, and connect with whoever you’re with,” Shannon Ethridge says. Ben invited his producer friend for exactly this reason, and for her extraordinary ability to turn any terrain into a dance floor.

“When you’re in the outdoors, you have to be flexible and open. You learn that ultimately, you’re not in control, mother nature is,” Shannon says. “The elements really drive what you can and cannot do and that can either make you crazy or inspire you endlessly.” 

A self-taught photographer and director, Ben (above) is a magnet for good-spirited, adventure-seeking souls. He became fast friends with professional snowboarder Barrett Christy during a shoot for Boarding for Breast Cancer

While on a road trip from Pennsylvania to California, a pit stop in Lake Tahoe altered 18-year-old Barrett’s path. There she saw people “surfing on snow” and before long, she was doing the same. Over the next few years, Barrett managed to do the unthinkable — turn her passion into a career — and go on to compete in the first Winter X Games and the 1998 Winter Olympics on the first U.S. Snowboarding team. Today, she’s one of the most decorated female winter sports athletes.

“My kids have been raised on surfboards, skateboards and snowboards and what I hope they take away from it is a real appreciation for the outdoors, a deep respect for the environment and the awareness that we need to take care of our planet, to keep the dream alive for their kids.”  

Barrett and her husband, Temple Cummings, are snowboarding royalty, according to fellow snowboarder Alex Yoder, who also gushes over his friend as they loaded the R1S. 

When Alex was 14 or so, he started watching snowboarding videos and realized there were people out there making a living doing what he loved. He immediately set his sights on becoming a professional snowboarder. 

“I had a one-track mind. I never considered any other path,” Alex says.

“What I love about the mountains is they are always changing. Snow falls. It drifts. The elements are in a constant shift. The terrain is different in the beginning of the day than it is at the end of the day. And there’s this interaction between you and the natural environment. You leave a track. It’s fleeting, but it’s there and when you look back, you get to see where you and the natural world blended for a moment.”

Alex grew up in Jackson Hole among giants, mountains revered for their beauty and infamous for their challenging terrain. 

“Everything about Jackson is extreme. The actual physical geology of it, the way the rocks are shaped — it breeds a sort of extreme energy and people. And my riding style used to reflect that. It was aggressive and fast, but after a series of injuries, I started to reassess my interaction with the mountain,” Alex says. 

During a trip to Japan, he’d meet Taro Tamai (above), the founder of Gentemstick, and adopt a different approach, one that finally felt true to himself.

“Taro interpreted snowboarding and existing in the mountains much differently than I was used to. For him, it's not aggressive, it's the opposite — it's very fluid and natural. The way he describes it, you should turn around the tree the same way that water moves around a rock,” Alex says.

“Yoder doesn’t snowboard, he floats,” Emilè Newman says. She met Alex in Jackson and made the valley her home precisely to surround herself with people like him — and of course the panoramic snow-capped peaks that have enchanted her for as long as she can remember.  

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do after college, I just knew I had to be in the mountains. I spent a lot of time in Jackson as a kid and decided these are the kinds of people I want to be around. People who challenge themselves physically and mentally. There’s a spirit of self-reliance and grit in mountain towns that I just gravitate towards.”

Emilè found plenty to do once she settled into Wyoming. The outdoor educator, writer, yoga instructor and budding conservationist blends her interests masterfully, and never misses a powder day.

Documenting said powder days was an adventure in and of itself. It helped that the people behind the lens are more comfortable outdoors than in. 

“It’s such a special energy when you’re outside in the elements. It moves your brain to think differently in terms of possibility. There are challenges too, of course, but that’s what keeps things interesting. It forces improvisation,” Chelsea Jolly says. She and Ben met at a climbing gym many moons ago and beyond their love of climbing, surfing, skating and shredding, they both shared an interest in telling stories that weren’t being told. 

Ben Moon is not a magician but getting Directors of Photography Skip Armstrong and Ben Sturgulewski, aka Sturge, on the same mountain at the same time did make him feel as if he had super powers. 

“Sturge’s work is so soulful and full of life. He has a way of capturing the energy of a place and I think it’s because he’s able to zoom in and tune into the details that other people often overlook,” Skip says of his fellow DP. 

What Skip’s learned in the outdoors can’t be taught in school. He knew he wanted more than what his economics degree could offer so he gave up the tie and the office and took a job in Costa Rica. He couldn’t have imagined how his story would unfold but that’s the magic of saying yes to adventure.

“I fell in love with shooting,” Skip says. “Whitewater was my first subject and years later, nature is still teaching me things I didn’t know.” 

“When directing, it’s easy to get lost in the details. There’s always going to be challenges, but I know if I bring the right people together, and the chemistry is there, the story will unfold on its own,” Ben says.

Until next winter, Colorado.

✅ Source: Rivian