Eliel Hindert, 27, is a sponsored Patagonia freeski athlete who has traveled the world skiing big lines, but he is no one-trick pony. He is also enamored with being behind the camera, looking to capture far-off locations and unique landscapes.
For a change, Hindert and a group of friends explored an area closer to his home in Salt Lake City, Utah this past winter. Although, from looking at the footage, he could have been filming on Mars.
The landscapes of Southern Utah can be space-like, especially in winter. And that is where Hindert went to shoot for the most recent episode of Epic T.V. called “Gone Tomorrow,” that went live on May 27. Snow covered hoodoos and giant red rock buttresses dominate the screen as Hindert takes people to a place that is seemingly from another planet, but is actually in his own backyard.
Here is what Hindert had to say about filming “Gone Tomorrow.”
Backcountry Magazine: What is your background in skiing?
Eliel Hindert: My dad had me on skis when I was two years old. That just eventually grew into moving up to Vancouver to go to school at the University of British Columbia. I adopted Whistler as my home mountain and that accelerated things and gave me opportunities to start skiing for companies like Patagonia.
BCM: How did you become interested in videography?
EH: I was in one of those situations where I had enough free time when I was doing the pro skiing thing, waiting around or sitting looking up from the bottom of a line and I realized that I had a really good angle for shooting. I just needed a camera. So I started bringing a camera with me.
BCM: What is the difference between being behind the lens and in front of it?
EH: I have spent many years doing both. It is just how we [my friends and I] shoot each other with our iPhones or whatever that may be, and this [getting into videography] was just an extension of that and allowed for more creativity.
BCM: Tell me about why you put this video together about skiing in the desert southwest.
EH: It is part of a series for Epic T.V., where we go to remote places around the world or places that are less traveled. But this one specifically was [important to me]—I grew up and spent a lot of my time in southern Utah; I actually spent some time on a cattle ranch down there—and so a lot of my childhood was spent roaming around Utah’s red rock area. As a kid and now as an adult, I saw all of these amazing red rock spines and cliffs and I could imagine them covered in snow. And then every couple of years the area would get a fair bit of snow and it prompted us to really make an effort this year to be there whenever that happened because it usually melts within the first two days. We had to really commit to doing three or four trips down there and being ready to engage with these areas.
BCM: What were some cool geologic features that you enjoyed shooting?
EH: Some of the red rock fins that are extremely prominent that we were skiing next to and within and sometimes off of were mind blowing. It is amazing that those can exist in nature at all, and then to have it covered in snow and being able to interact with it on this [a skiing] level, it is otherworldly.
BCM: What feeling were you trying to capture with your video?
EH: For me the impact came from growing up around that area, much like Carston Oliver and Jay Bayer who were down there with me as well. We are all from that area and we have a deep association with the [southwest]. There was also the fact that we were spending time in these new areas that you typically don’t associate with skiing. It pushes your imagination as far as what you think is possible and where it is possible. That is something that we always try to do with our skiing. We try to go to these far off places, but not just for the novelty of skiing somewhere. We try to look for places that are dynamic. We try to steer clear of the low hanging fruit. We want to expand people’s perceptions of what is possible with these videos.
BCM: Do you have any future projects in mind?
EH: There are some amazing areas that I have been shown photos of in the Middle East that I would love to check out, but it would be a big time commitment. The situation over there is constantly changing and is pretty politically complicated at the moment. I think there are some places over there that are world class [for skiing] that are going to come to light in the next decade or so.
El – You were one. Almost two though. Dad
Superb Video .. Brings back many memories of the years I spent climbing in this wonderful area of Utah. Paul Ross.