2011 Red Bull Cold Rush Imagery

After spending 4 years in the frigid north of Canada, Red Bull —the iconic international energy drink and lifestyle company—brought their annual Cold Rush skiing event to the extraordinary mountains of Silverton, Colorado. Cold Rush is a three-day backcountry skiing event spanning big mountain, slopestyle, and cliff skiing contests. When the athletes aren’t sending it or skiing the perfect line, they are down in town for interviews, late night video judging, and all around fun.

Besides tapping The Public Works for all of the on- and off-hill branding, Red Bull also asked us to capture still images of the event alongside Christian Pondella and Eric Seo. Shooting a backcountry ski event is tough enough, but four photographers proved to be an interesting exercise in teamwork when a singular vision is usually the driver of these shoots. On each day of the contest, we would scout the venue together and combine our respective photographic visions and skill sets to come up with a plan that could cover the shot list for the day. Whether it was one photographer in the helicopter and the others stationed at strategic points on the mountain or a different configuration, we worked together to capture this unique event to Red Bull’s high standards.