While Sherpas Cinema’s film Children of the Columbia, a Skier’s Odyssey has been nominated for 6 Powder Awards, Christina Lustenberger talks about the shooting and the emotions she felt participating on a movie project in her home mountains.
The phone rang one day, it was Mitch Scott asking me if I wanted to work on a Sherpas project in a few weeks. My thoughts: yes I’m in. No matter what. He hadn’t even told me what the project was yet. It didn’t mater, I would have carried Leo’s camera bag around if he asked.
What I was about to find out was that the project was based filming the essence of the Columbia river. The valleys and mountains I grew up in. Authentic, local, and emotionally attached.
“Home is not always as far from us as we believe.”
“On n’est jamais si loin de chez soit qu’on ne le croit”.
Skier: @christinalusti
Photo By: @blakejorgenson
For the first week of filming I was in awe of the Sherpas. The craftsmanship they put into their work. It was humbling to see the unique creativity and hard work put into the project.
We started in Trail pointed north with Mica and the Kinbasket lake as our final destination. Skiing was on our minds, but taking in the river, dams, forestry and everything else feeding off the shores of the Columbia soon became our obsession.
Christina Lustenberger gets ahead of the whitewash on a tasty right-hander in the BC backcountry.
Christina Lustenberger s’extirpe de la machine à laver avec une belle esquive à droite dans l’arrière-pays de la Colombie-Britannique.
Photo By: @blakejorgenson
It was unique to see such a familiar place from a different perspective. Taking the time to appreciate and capture the old growth Forrest. Taking note of giant cut blocks that plague our land as far as the eye can see. Judgement free of the industry, I observed quietly from our diverse locations.
For sure I dream about simpler times, smaller footprints, and living off the land. But this place is what’s shaped me. My parents passionate skiers one from the west coast and one from Switzerland met working the CMH in the early days.
Drawn to the mountains, our family has curated a lifestyle intertwined with the mountains and rich ski culture. The mountains contributing to the Columbia is where I call home.
