Bakerview: Cole Richardson and Reid Ferguson Talk Process and Crew

Some projects hit closer to home, and Bakerview is one of them. For Cole Richardson, returning to Mt. Baker, where his first film trip took place, was a full-circle moment. It meant bringing a new generation of skiers into the same energy that shaped him. Filmed and edited alongside longtime friend/collaborator Reid Ferguson, the project grew from a ski graphic promo into a full film defined by style, personality, and a deep appreciation for the people who make skiing matter. This is a story about community, process, and the joy of creating something real with your friends.

The following is a conversation with Cole and Reid about their latest project.

Enjoy :)

Cole: Bakerview was an extension to HEADCASE, a video I made with ECOOK last year in whistler to promote my new graphic for my ski. When I first started to design the ski the goal was really to develop a crew around the ski. Then it was to design a ski around the crew. I really wanted to try and use it as an opportunity to give some kids I believed in the spotlight. I also wanted to just ski with my friends and bring them into the process. The boys apart of the crew are the sickest upcoming skiers and the freshest people. That's why I really wanted the ski to have that feeling. 

I wanted it to represent much more than just me. When I was 17 I went on my first film trip to Mt. Baker the day the resort closed just to hike and build jumps. That trip changed a lot for me. I wanted to give the crew the same experience. So I booked the exact Airbnb for the exact same dates. We went and built a lot of the same jumps I built on that first trip. It was pretty special for me to bring something I’d created back to where it all started for me 6 years ago. That felt like a very wholesome full circle moment.

Cole: Hard to say honestly. I feel I’m always pulling inspiration from so many different places that there’s not really a “main” inspo. I like a lot of things. As I continue to look further and further outside of skiing for inspiration my vision is growing and changing a lot. Reid and I are always pulling most of our inspiration from skate videos or music videos. This video specifically was definitely influenced by that.

Reid: I get inspiration from everything outside of skiing, mainly music videos. I also get inspiration from filmers that work in the music scene. There’s also a local skate crew from Calgary that influenced my filming/editing style a lot.

Cole: If anything it just felt like I was stepping back into something that I knew. It felt more natural. If you’ve been following my career or watched many videos I’ve produced or been a part of, I always try to use the two styles to compliment each other. If I ever release something more polished and “cinematic” I always release something more raw and true to me right after. Reid and I have been making videos since we were like 16 and I’ve always been more inspired by videos that are more similar to BAKERVIEW so I’ll never stop making them. I usually end up feeling pretty bummed when I see my skiing portrayed in a too commercial and polished way. So it’s super important to me to always be making videos for the core audience as well... And my core audience is my friends so in reality I’m just trying to make videos that they would want to watch. I think it’s important to do both but these are the projects I always care the most about.

Cole: The Drinkbutter mag is greatly just a book about the homies. That’s what I love about it so much. Most of the boys in bakerview are also featured in the mag… so it only made sense. I’m super proud of Michael and Eric and everyone else behind that mag. They did a good job. It was really fun watching their process of bringing it to life. I was stoked to help them out and be a part of it. They both came to NYC to support me on the release of my Intermission project last year. So it was cool for us to all roll out and support them as well. Also Colby Johnson got the ender of Bakerview with his switch 12. So it felt special to premier it in SLC so he could be there with his friends to watch it for the first time. The goal is to just always do shit with my friends so when I heard they were doing the release party I thought it was a perfect place to show it.

Cole: Reid and I have been working together for a long time making videos. We’ve spent an insane amount of time filming and editing together. So it’s pretty natural at this point. We have a very similar if not the exact same vision of what we want and how we want everything to look which makes it easy. This one was really special though because it was our first time collaborating 100% on the filming and editing together. 

Usually I’m skiing and Reid’s filming but since I was injured this year I stepped behind the lense with Reid and we did the whole thing together. We kinda divided the video into different sections/songs and edited our own parts separately to start. After that, we came together for some very long days and nights to put it all into one timeline. The goal was to make it feel cohesive. That was where most of the collaboration came from. 

Reid’s a genius though and he always inspires me so much when it comes to making a video. I love editing in a room with him because he always has a way to make something look better and he notices so many mini details that I always miss. It’s really cool seeing the progression of our videos, I can’t wait to see how they look in 10 years.

Cole: There’s a few aspects to it. I really wanted the crew to have a different feeling than your average “freeride” crew. When I first started trying to decide who I wanted to be a part of these videos, I was focused more on the boys’ personalities and style than their skiing ability. The goal was for them to feel different and feel more like a skate team than a ski team in a sense.

I hate how serious and polished most big mountain freeride films are and how they portray the sport. My goal was to make something that more kids could relate to that felt like a weekend skiing with your homies. But more than anything I just wanted it to be my friends and wanted to bring people together that I thought would become friends once they met. BAKERVIEW was special though because I had some of my other closest life long friends join that weren’t a part of the first one and that made it feel much closer to home and more like a reunion trip than anything. Some of them weren’t even skiing they were just there to hang but in my opinion they added a lot to the vibe of the video. I also had my girlfriend there and watching her sesh the jumps with all the boys was so fire. That trip was really just a big party, it was mad fun! Best one yet.

Cole: There weren’t any guide lines or directions from anyone really which was perfect. Nobody saw the video before it was released and we didn’t get any approval from anyone. We had full control over it which is always the goal. I just used my personal travel budget to pay for the whole trip so we really had full freedom.

Reid: Right when Colby did his switch 12 I knew how the video was going to be laid out. Cole and I wanted to have the video build up to that moment and really try to express how that moment felt. Colby was talking about doing that the whole week and bussed it out first try on the second last day, it was some real movie ender shit.

Cole: Haha definitely the hardest part was just trying to wrangle and motivate the boys in the mornings. Once they get going, they’re going, but the boys love to chill and take er’ slow. I’m sure you can tell by the video that it’s not the most conventional group of skiers… That’s what makes it perfect though. Everything else just came together how it was supposed to, it all worked perfectly.

Cole: To literally just go and make things with your friends. You don’t need a fancy camera or a professional team, you don’t need a big budget or a reason to do it. You just need to work with the strengths of the people around you. You’ve got everything you need to make something special.

Bakerview isn’t just a ski film. It’s a reminder of how far style, friendship, and creative freedom can take a project when the right crew comes together.

You should watch it now, linked below.