About Chris:

Chris, a California native grew up skiing Mammoth Mountain, which was home to one of the first snowboard parks in the Nation. By virtue of his surroundings and peers he was heavily influenced by snowboarding and art, which seemed to shape him into one of the more stylish skiers out there. Caring more about how a ski turns and glides through the snow, led Chris into designing and developing his own pro model ski with Atomic; The Bent Chetler. “I try to have my ski be an extension of me, and try to look at the mountain as one continuous line, instead of compartmentalizing it into one single cliff or air.”

His art and designs have also made it on other signature pieces for Dakine, Dragon, Reef, and Clif Bar. Including his most recent art endeavor of painting a 70ft mural with Skye Walker, on the side of the EVO store in Seattle, WA. Starting his career competing in slope-style, he shortly after met the film crew Poorboyz Productions, and realized he could ski powder full time. He quickly bailed on the contest scene and started chasing his true passion; deep snow and creativity.

Now Chris is known for traveling the world and skiing in front of a camera. Between creating the GoPro Series ‘Chasing El Nino’ and followed by the series ‘Chasing AdVANture’ plus multiple other edits for GoPro’s channels, he has also played a roll in starting Nimbus Independent, a production company founded in 2008 by Eric Pollard with help from Chris, Pep Fujas and Andy Mahre. In addition, he has been featured in films with Teton Gravity Research, Sweet Grass Productions, Warren Miller, MSP and Poorboyz Productions.

Jokingly tormented during the summer for his passion for surfing and love of climbing, he tries to stay close to home in California as much as possible where he is at peace in the mountains and in striking distance to the sea.

In this episode we discuss:

Chris & his wife (professional snowboarder, Kimmy Fasani’s) anniversary tradition

How being present allows Chris & Kimmy to balance adventure with parenting

How Chris landed a gig directing & producing an official Grateful Dead ski & snowboard film

The power of starting before you’re ready

The challenge of making people believe in your vision

How Chris has learned to blend his many passions into a unified career & lifestyle

Tweetables:

“No line is ever the same. Sure, you can ride the same line twice, but you’re never gonna turn in the exact same spot. And you’re gonna always approach it the second time differently than the first because you have more knowledge and you have a larger toolbox of skills.”

“To make people believe in a vision is a whole other job in itself.”

Resources:

Watch Fire on the Mountain - The Official Grateful Dead & Chris Benchetler Film

Follow Chris on Instagram

Check out all of Chris’ pursuits & shop his pro models on ChrisBenchetler.com!

Thought Experiment:

One of the recurring themes in this episode was Chris’ willingness to begin before he was completely ready. He doesn’t dwell on his lack of skill or experience in certain areas he just gets started and learns along the way. Confidence and capability are qualities most of us believe we need in order to accomplish great things. But, what’s often overlooked, is that both confidence and capability are created through the actions we take not from speculating from the sidelines about what we need to do.

Which brings us to this week’s thought experiment. It’s a simple one: ask yourself what it is that you’re not doing because you believe you don’t have the skills or the know-how required to achieve it. Then, pick one small action step you can take toward making it a reality. As Mark Twain said, “The secret to getting ahead is getting started. The secret to getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks and then starting on the first one.”

Once you’ve done that, drop us a comment below so we can be your accountability buddies! You’re far more capable than you believe.

As always, thanks for listening to the BalancedPursuits podcast. Until next time.