Pro ski mountaineer Chris Davenport has logged ambitious lines on all the聽continents,聽including Antarctica,聽but the pinnacle of them all, he says, is the Super C Couloir near Portillo, Chile. Its 5,000 vertical feet makes it mightier than anything in North America (鈥淥nly the Messner Couloir on Denali can compare with it,鈥 says Davenport),聽yet no film crews had ever documented a descent down the聽iconic chute聽because it had never been practical to haul in heavy, bulky camera equipment.
Why not heli the stuff in? There's a聽local moratorium on聽flights that could鈥檝e delivered film crews and gear to the chute鈥檚 entrance. Henry Purcell, Ski Portillo鈥檚 owner, forbade heli-assists to the Super C, maintaining that skiers should have to earn their turns down the king of couloirs. And the Super C鈥檚 convoluted shape frustrated attempts to film it from the air.
鈥淎s GoPro technology got better, I started to think this would be the perfect place to capture with little cameras,鈥 explains Davenport, who has skied the Super C more than 30 times (10 of those with ski legend Shane McConkey, who died in 2009) in his fifteen consecutive years聽skiing and coaching in Portillo.
So last summer, Davenport and Park City-based pro Sierra Quitiquit documented their Super C climb and descent using the GoPro Hero4 Black. Just 5.5 ounces and 2.8 inches wide, it captures 4K Ultra HD video鈥攇ood enough to let filmmakers Caleb Farrow and Matt Cooke produce the first pro-quality Super C ski video, which they unveiled on Wednesday.聽
鈥淢other Nature gives us this canvas,鈥 says Davenport, 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 up to us to decide how to ride it.鈥 This new video captures the artistry. But it hasn鈥檛 quenched Davenport鈥檚 thirst for Super C adventure. 鈥淣ext on my hit list is skiing it twice in one day,鈥 he says. 鈥淚t鈥檇 be huge, but totally doable in the right conditions.鈥