How a Skateboard Helped Chris Benchetler Film Climbing at Night

Originally posted on Powder | By Izzy Lidsky | Last updated May 7, 2025 8:12 AM ET

Chris Benchetler has released the latest behind-the-scenes look into his new film project, and this week he's swapped skis for skateboards.

Benchetler's new project, Mountains of the Moon, sets the best action sports athletes across skiing, snowboarding, surfing, mountain biking, climbing, and diving in surreal nightscapes backed by the music of the Grateful Dead. What we've seen so far has some of our favorite athletes decked out in glowing skeleton suits getting after it by night in some of the coolest environments to recreate in.

As you can imagine, the whole thing is pretty darn high production value and Benchetler has tapped in some of the best of the best in the sports production world to make his vision come to life.

If you're not familiar with action sports film production, picture taking all the expensive camera, light and sound equipment of a Hollywood production, and then add in the challenges of putting that in a remote and sometimes harsh locations and then make all your actors their own stunt doubles. Now for Benchetler's specifically, multiply that by every sport and environment he's included and then make it night time and triple the amount of lights needed.

Click below to see just how much of an endeavor this one is.

Want to keep up with the best stories and photos in skiing? Subscribe to the new Powder To The People newsletter for weekly updates.

The latest episode gives viewers a peek into some of the more intricate rigging that went into the project. For the film's climbing segment, crews dragged film equipment, generators, you name it, into a canyon that's also a popular climbing spot.

A crucial piece of this gear was a dolly cam, or a camera mounted to a track or wheeled apparatus that allows it to move more smoothly than it would handheld. The dolly cam track was then hoisted 60 feet up a wall and temporarily mounted to the wall. In order to leave the landscape as they found it, rather than drag the dolly cam up the wall, crew members mounted a skateboard to the back of the rig so it could seamlessly roll up the wall without dinging the rock or leaving marks.

The operation took a team of highly specialized individuals with skills in not just cinematography, gaffing, or lighting, but who are also talented climbers. While they've kept the final visuals from the film pretty close to the vest, this level of production with Benchetler's mind behind it, is sure to produce an absolutely incredible film.

Mountains of the Moon is slated to release Fall of 2025.

This article first appeared on Powder and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: