Stevens Pass: In the Mix

In the mix. That’s what we call it when we are tinkering around the edge. It is typically used to describe hanging out in a super intense zone. The phrase is tied to big spine walls, heavy avalanche terrain, and massive jumps with serious consequences. Occasionally you will hear one of the boys say, ”We’re in the mix now.” We use it when we are getting it done and everyone has their “A Game” on. It is like being in the zone, but with a little bit more on the line.
     We just wrapped a two week shoot at Stevens Pass. I was on the team to do the aerial cinematography, which is an area I have spent a ton of my film career devoted too. To give some perspective, I have flown with over 50 different pilots for hundreds of hours in the air. Some crazy stuff has gone down over that time. Helicopters are amazing because they defy logic. They are the ultimate tool. They can put us in places we could never imagine being and help us get incredible shots we could only dream of. Helicopters are also extremely dangerous. One mistake and it could be all over. The typical rules when flying in helis involve staying away from trees, wires, chairlifts and staying high above the ground.
    Over the last ten days, we bent these rules on a continued basis.  We have been filming for our new movie

**Here we are looking around at film patterns and different angles. We have two chairlifts and alot of trees to think about.**

**It looks like we flew under the chairlift. Maybe we did?**

**This is the film set for the **Here is the barrel bonk feature. The chairlift gave us some incredible perspectives when filming.**

**Here is my view from the heli. You can see the riders off in the distance. This was our starting gate for one of the patterns. From here we send the athlete, they drop and we turn the ship between these trees, pick up the rider and then pull hard left between the jump and a tree for a wrap around view.**

**Here we are having wrapped the corner on a shot. This one will look really good since we were nice and low. photo:Peder Lovold**

**This photo kind of speaks for itself.**

**On top of the chairlifts, we had power lines we had to think about.**

**We worked this really cool cannon rail as well.**

**Here is another look at the barrel bonk area. Lots to think about.**

**Here we are nailing a shot of Tanner.**

**Here I am throwing high fives with Josh Nielsen. I just showed him a few shots from the RED camera and he is stoked!**