Chris Benchetler Opens Up About New Collaboration With the Grateful Dead: 'Mountains of the Moon'

Visionary artist and professional skier Chris Benchetler, the man behind the ubiquitous Atomic Bent Chetler skis, just announced his latest creative project, Mountains of the Moon. 

Recently, at Dead & Co’s opening night at the Sphere Las Vegas, a selection of Mountains of the Moon’s vibrant visuals were on full display for the audience, but it sounds as though this is just the beginning.

Dead & Co currently has a residency at the Sphere until July. Benchetler's earlier film, Fire on the Mountain, featured music from the Dead, with a narration from self-professed Deadhead, Bill Walton, so the pairing of Chris' visual expressions with the sounds of the Dead was only natural.

With a stacked cast list, including Rob Machado, Elena Hight, Danny Davis, Michelle Parker, Dennis Ranalter, Jared Elston, Mike Gardner and Benchetler, the surreal, glow-in-the-dark nighttime visuals continue with Mountains of the Moon. But this time around, things are bigger, better, and better organized than ever before.

We caught up with Chris Benchetler to hear more about the project.

Chris Benchetler Mountains of the Moon Q&A:

What inspired this showing at the Sphere?

"When I connected with Mickey [Hart] about what his visuals would be for drums in space, we started going back and forth."

"I shared my vision with him because he was already aware that I was going to be making another film that's coming out in 2025. I am working with Arc'teryx and the Dead and Mammoth, and I'm producing, directing, skiing, and painting all the things in another film. I'm calling it Mountains of the Moon, which is another Dead song." 

"I just called Mickey once I caught wind that the Sphere was a thing, and talked to him about coming up to Mammoth and playing drums on a sculpted stage of some of my artwork that was a hip."

"The whole premise was that his rhythm and drumming was going to bring the mountain to life. That ties into their experience, currently."

Wow. That's so rad. How long did it take you to construct that? 

"There are a lot of layers. I'm still constructing. There is going to be a lot more sports this time around. Not just skiing and snowboarding and surfing, but a ton of other action sports and some other conceptual things I'm working on and a lot of layers of art. So in regards to constructing the whole vision, it's a work in progress."

"Specifically in regards to constructing or just pulling off what we pulled off here in Mammoth, it took months of planning and organizing and phone calls. I feel like it almost took a year. So I've been planning things for quite some time here."

You said this is not a sequel?

"It is not. It is inspired by it, for sure, but just like any of my paintings, it's my entire existence that's kind of an extension of me and coming through me and my projects and my art. 

This is going to have a lot more layers than just films. This is like a full multi-medium, multidimensional art project with an immersive experience as well."

Can you talk a little bit about more about what specifically that immersive experience might look like for people who come? 

"I don't want to quite yet, unfortunately. We're a little too soon. The only reason I am exposing that we're doing a project is because this Sphere opportunity was a big one. It felt like the right time to share with people that a new project is just getting underway." 

"But we've only shot the very first location, and there's gonna be about 7 locations. But there will be art and sculptures and projections and all kinds of layers. We developed some insane skeleton suits this time around with Arc'teryx that were an incredible amount of R and D and design work."

"My friend Shane Treat, who is on the project, is is a mastermind with lighting. So him in conjunction with the Arc'teryx design team, we created a masterpiece for the outerwear. Whereas the first film, I created them all myself, and they were not that functional."

"If you look back, you'll see ribs that were missing and all kinds of stuff because it was just a single string of LEDs. These ones are extremely well thought out and tested."

Although this next film is not a sequel, do you feel like improvisation is still something that's coming through in this next project? 

"Improvisation is still very crucial. The best example I can give is the Grateful Dead have been playing shows for almost 60 years. Well, they're not the Grateful Dead without Jerry anymore, but an iteration of the Grateful Dead is still touring today, and every show is different." 

"It's not like a show is a sequel to their last show. There will certainly be threads of inspiration that match the first one and music that inspires it in the same way. But I've evolved since 2019. I have new athletes mixed in with this one. I have new sports mixed in. I have new lighting tech. I have new artistic concepts." 

"So there will certainly be elements of it that make it feel familiar, but it will dive much deeper into human consciousness."

Is that what prompted you to make Mountains of the Moon, or was there some other specific, driving force? 

"There was the fact that I didn't have all of the resources and all of the necessary relationships and connections that I have now to make the first one what it deserved to be."

"I've been conceptualizing another project since the first one ended. So it's taken me 5 years now to finally be able to pull the trigger on what I'm trying to pull off. It's extremely complicated."

"Getting footage in the Sphere is a feat in itself that was months and months and hours and hours, and I was pulling my hair out and learning and evolving. I'm trying to go extremely, extremely deep. I guess that is what's driving me for this entire project is just the inspiration to create."

"I can't help but push my own creativity, and into the unknown. It's what inspires me as an artist. These things are just a gift from the great beyond, and they kinda come through me. If I just leave them stuck in my head and don't express myself, then I would probably go crazy."

Is there anyone else, without revealing too much, on this next project who you're especially excited to work with? 

"The entire cast is incredible, as usual. I am very close with Rob Machado, and so he's going to be a huge part of this next one. I have a couple of climbers from Arc'teryx and some other sports and things. There's a lot of people I'm excited about for sure."

For someone who has so many creative outlets, I know a lot of people pair surfing and skiing, but why do you feel like those go together so well? 

"They're two sports that are so unpredictable."

"All the elements that come into play in perfect harmony are so out of your control, and you're so immersed in nature and so present. That is very, very similar with surfing. Just how complicated it is for a wave to even be created out in the ocean and then for it to hit the reef at the right time or the sandbar and for the wind to align."

"You only have that one moment in time to ride that wave, which will never be the same again unless you go to Kelly Slater's wave pool, which is a whole different scenario."

Is there anything you think people should know going into this project?

"I'm releasing it in fall of 2025. We've exposed that we're making a project, and I will be kind of releasing things behind the scenes as we continue down the road. Just little teases here and there to kinda give people a a concept of what's happening. People can just stay tuned. The easiest place is probably on my Instagram, where I'll keep sharing the journey."

"In regards to the Sphere, everybody should go, on the planet. It is the most immersive, the most insane venue ever built for Dead and Co. It is an experience. You can't explain it until you see it. Just the visuals, the sound, the Dead and Co. are playing so well together right now, too. They're on fire."

"The whole experience from the Sphere staff and the people and the energy... it is so worth every penny to go check it out. It's so cool."

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