The Mountain Project | Experience the mountain

Ace Kvale

When Ace Kvale found a copy of Playboy is his brother’s dresser at age 12 his destiny was sealed: he would become a photographer. Somehow this skinny Minnesota native found his way to Verbier in 1978 when sex was safe, mountain biking hadn’t been invented, and people skied on narrow skis without helmets. There he met the three most influential people of his life; Mark Shapiro, John Falkiner and of course Bernie!

Christian Pondella

Christian Pondella is an adventure sports photographer based in Mammoth Lakes, CA. As a participant in a lot of the sports he photograph, he tries to capture an image through the athlete’s perspective, instead of the spectators view. One of his goals is to give people an intimate and more personal view, capturing the viewer’s emotions and making them feel like they are part of the action.   Christian is a Senior Photographer for Powder Magazine and his images have been regularly published in Powder for the past 14 years.

Dave Heath

Dave grew up a poor black child in the southern slums of Calgary. After realising he was destined to become a slave to the white redneck urban society of Alberta, he moved his skinny black ass out to British Columbia and made a new beginning for himself there in the town of Nelson. Soon he discovered his "special purpose" and 22 years later he's still shooting photographs and is the only black photographer in the area.

Erik Seo

Since his first strobed photographs Erik Seo has produced more flashing than a fundraiser full of bikini clad sorority girls. Born and raised on the far West Coast, Seo carefully honed his taste for IKEA and Asian manufactured automobiles while remotely firing his way into the world of ski photography. Seo's work has appeared in countless US magazine and a handful of countries we would love to believe he can pronounce.

Hank De Vre

Hank was born in Amsterdam, Holland and moved to America with his family when he was 9 years old. They settled on the East coast. His father was a part-time photographer and got him interested in photography. His first photography job came as an apprentice in a commercial photography studio in Manhattan. In 1972 he move to California to get away from the city life. He moved to the Tahoe area and continued working in photography at local ski areas, working on advertising, brochures and publications.

John Falkiner

With an eclectic and successful career in the mountains John is an industry personality whether guiding clients or supporting a diversity of films such as Aliens 4, Bridgette Jones Dairy, Touching the Void and more.

His vast experience in the mountains skiing and climbing, plus a broad knowledge of the needs of film crews and world wide contacts have made him an indispensable member of many film projects since 1975. He has worked on over 70 films, as skier, athlete, stuntman, safety, production, tracking and high altitude video cameraman, location assistant and location manager.

Jordan Manley

Jordan Manley is a Vancouver based ski and mountain bike photographer. The 25 year old has travelled from Alaska to Antarctica documenting skiers and their relationship with the mountains. Jordan is Senior Photographer for Powder magazine, and the winner of last year's Olympus Pro Photographer Showdown. When not photographing or skiing or riding, he is completing a Political Science degree at Simon Fraser university in Vancouver.

Kasha Rigby

I was recently asked my greatest accomplishment in the mountains all I could think of was 30 years skiing and still adoring it - of countless expeditions where my partners and i have come out safe and better friends than ever, already planning our next adventure together. We have traveled the globe together – the US, Canada, Alaska, Tibet, China, India, New Zealand, Europe, South America, Central America, Greenland, Baffin Island, Lebanon, Mongolia…the list goes on…with no end to the adventure in sight…documented on film, in magazines, and course in our mind

Mark (Marko) Shapiro

My grandfather gave me a Brownie for my birthday when I was a kid.

It went from there. As things were in the late 60’s early 70’s one thing led to another and I ended up in Verbier, winter of 70-71. Coming from B.F. Canada, that winter was a major eye opener and it went from there, to who I am today.

I like Ace’s motto bit so here is mine - Un-knowingly we turned a lifestyle into a way of being. The definition of an adult is someone who can eat a much ice cream as they want.

Mitchell Scott

Mitchell has been writing professionally for over a decade, cutting his teeth in the outdoor industry as an editor-at-large for California-based Powder and Bike magazines. Having been published in Skier, Outside, The Globe and Mail and a host of other titles around the world, Mitchell’s work has fetched him Tourism British Columbia’s coveted Media Award. With experience working for brands such as Electronic Arts and Kona Bicycles, Mitchell brings an element of expertise to the role of KMC Editor.

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