Light up the Mountain

If you’ve seen one montage of skiing footage, you’ve seen them all right?

Hours upon hours of skiers (and boarders) shredding through virgin powder, somersaulting off dazzling heights, hurtling through fresh backcountry and swerving fresh pine trees. The internet’s full of it. So how does anyone go about making something original, something fresh, something that makes you sit back and simply say, “Wow”?

Light it up.

Credit: Sweetgrass Productions

That’s what the guys over at Sweetgrass Productions did and boy, did they do good. Take five weeks of filming, 9,000lbs of equipment; operate 70 miles from any road, in temperatures of -15° in the deepest snow on earth and what do you get? An insanely sweet, 12 minute, HD production of four of the best skiers on the planet, dressed in custom-built LED ski suits, hurtling through the snowy peaks of Alaska. Oh and did we mention they did it all in the dead of night?

Afterglow, the 12 minute film created in collaboration with Philips TV, shows Pep Fujas, Eric Hjorleifson, Daron Rahlves and Chris Benchetler fearlessly traverse the slopes at night, impressively illuminated in LED suits. The production team hauled gigantic, high powered lights into the backcountry and lit up entire mountains as a backdrop.

Even though it was said to be a logistical nightmare; producers have said that the creation took, “a national government’s worth of logistics, planning, and civil engineering”, the end result is truly mesmerising. With the full length film set to appear on the film festival circuit, Sweetgrass have released the three minute teaser to whet your appetites, currently being hailed as one of the most cinematically profound ski movies ever made.

But don’t take our word for it, check it out for yourself.

Afterglow Lightsuit Segment - Credit: Sweetgrass Productions