Becoming An “Artlete”: The Story Of Chris Benchetler And Dragon Alliance

In the late 1990s, snowboarding was hot, skiing not so much. The snowboarders had captured the cool factor, drawing in freestyle-inclined youngsters with the promise of rebellion and switch takeoffs. Skiers, in comparison, felt dated.

But all wasn’t lost. A crowd of forward-thinking freestylers was growing – namely legendary crews like the New Canadian Airforce – who were bent on returning skiing to the spotlight. The staging ground for their eventual resurgence? SuperPark: a game-changing event that, at the time, only permitted snowboarders.

The snowboarder-only quo changed when Powder Magazine’s then-editor Keith Carlsen approached Snowboarder Magazine – the hosts of SuperPark – to ask if skiers could get in on the fun. Carlsen proved persuasive, and suddenly, a cohort of freestyle skiers populated the massive jumps and terrain park features at the yearly SuperPark events.

With this barrier broken, the builds at SuperPark began to facilitate a new strain of park skiing, setting the stage for countless firsts and career-defining moments, like Candide Thovex’s infamous, cultural shockwave-inducing cork 540. In short, access to SuperPark was like nitrous for the burgeoning freestyle and park skiing scene.

Among the rabble-rousers was a young, starry-eyed Mammoth Mountain, California, local who would eventually become a freeskiing household name: Chris Benchetler.

During his first-ever photoshoot opportunity at Mammoth Mountain’s SuperPark event in 2001, Benchetler connected with Dragon Alliance, a chance encounter that would foment a decades-spanning relationship between the eyewear brand and one of snowsport’s greatest artist-athletes. From then onwards, Benchetler was a member of the Dragon team.

Becoming An “Artlete”

Benchetler, known today for his distinctive art style that populates the exteriors of countless outdoor products, was a skier first, initially cutting his teeth on Mammoth Mountains' varied terrain.

There, he started as a racer before feeling the magnetic pull of freestyle competitions. Ditching the lycra, Benchetler slowly gained acumen as a professional skier, notching appearances in ski films alongside adding to his growing roster of sponsors.

Dragon was an early supporter of Benchetler’s ambitions, hooking him up with eyewear during a period when the brand primarily focused on surfing and snowboarding. “I think growing up in Mammoth surrounded by board sports allowed me to be the sole member of the Dragon ski team for many years while skiing started to carve a new genre separate of racing,” he says.

All the while, Benchetler pursued a hobby that, at the time, was a sideshow to his burgeoning ski career: art. From a young age, he liked to doodle and paint. While Benchetler “was always the kid that could ‘draw’ in school,” he says, skiing took precedence during the earlier portion of his athletic career.

Then, in 2007, Benchetler switched ski sponsors, jumping from K2 to Atomic. In signing a contract with Atomic, Benchetler proposed that he spearhead the creation of a new pro-model ski, the titular “Bent Chetler.”

This ski was Benchetler’s first chance to properly flex his creative muscles off the slopes. Not only did he provide input to the ski’s construction – Benchetler prioritized the usage of then-fresh rockered design – painting the top sheets was part of the program, too.

“It was the first time that my paintings were seen beyond friends, family, and classmates,” Benchetler says. “Once my art started inspiring others and was recognized in other countries, it became a very humbling experience.”

Dragon remained at Benchetler’s side through this career pivot, eventually opening the door for the skier’s initial foray into eyewear design. In the late 2000s, Benchetler teamed up with close friend and video project collaborator Eric Pollard to produce a line of Dragon goggles that featured each skier’s artwork while bearing the name of Nimbus, a revolutionary ski media house that Pollard and Benchetler co-founded among others.

“This was when I first started experimenting with art on goggles. It was awesome to collaborate with Pollard, who is a creative and dear friend, while having Dragon support our vision of Nimbus,” Benchetler says.

While Pollard has since left Dragon’s ski team, the Benchetler tradition remains. Year after year, fresh renditions of his artwork appear on the brand’s distinctive eyewear. The athlete-sponsor arrangement now mirrors many others throughout the outdoor industry – anywhere you look, from skis to socks or chalk bags, you’ll likely catch Benchetler’s distinctive brush strokes.

Riley Lakovidis, a member of Dragon’s product design and development team, clued me into a phrase the brand uses to describe people like Benchetler: “artlete.” “It's a mix between an artist and an athlete,” Lakovidis explained. “And Chris is the perfect embodiment of that.”

A Next-Level Goggle For A Next-Level Skier

Unrelenting self-determination defines Benchetler’s career. From the slopes to the art studio, he continually marches to the beat of his own drum.

For one, after years as a freestyle competition-focused skier, Benchetler redirected his energy toward the backcountry and powder skiing. In this new realm, he quickly championed a distinct, quickly-popular, surfy approach to skiing, allowing him to occupy a league of his own.

Similarly, his artistic practice is a process that he alone dictates. Over the years, Benchetler says he has learned to “only create what is authentic to me,” never letting “people's opinions dictate what or how I create. Just keep experimenting and evolving my techniques.”

The results speak for themselves.

When you see a Benchetler piece or ski, you know it’s by Benchetler. The bold colors and famous old man winter face – which he explains also “represents the wisdom of the mountains, as well as many of the souls and spirits that have become part of the mountains” – are impossible to misplace, as ubiquitous as any other logo or design in the outdoor gear world.

It’s easy to see what Benchetler’s become since his humble beginnings in California and assume that his contemporary position as a leading voice in the outdoor industry resulted from a grand, complicated effort.

But Benchetler views his status differently. Instead of seeking fame and fortune, he’s always strived to create for creation’s sake, whether with his skis or brush – it’s that simple. Every iota of success that accompanied his accomplishments was natural, not forced.

“I don’t think it would’ve worked if I had expectations. All of our life experiences and choices shape and define us. Everything is coming from the great beyond, and how I approached all of those ‘roles’ was just through my own interpretation and perspective of the world as I saw it. There was never a plan,” Benchetler says.

This season, Benchetler’s wild colors adorn the NFX2, a Dragon goggle with immense staying power despite being developed years ago. The goggle boasts proprietary Swiftlock technology, allowing skiers to easily and efficiently swap lenses, a feature that quickly became popular amongst Dragon’s team members.

“It's one of the only pieces where Chris really pours out his artwork on the entire thing. So that means the frame, the strap, and the logos,” says Lakovidis of the NFX2. “To this day, it’s one of the athletes’ favorites… [The] NFX2 has carried its weight for, you know, over a decade in sales.”

With this season’s Chris Benchetler NFX2 release, Benchetler's commitment to art and innovation in action sports meets. This combination defines Benchetler’s unique path, wherein he’s successfully straddled two worlds simultaneously. Of course, I had to ask if he feels preferential towards one direction – skiing versus art – or the other. During our email conversation, I posed the following question to Benchetler: “Do you consider yourself more of a skier or an artist?”

“One and the same,” he replied. “I was always an artist; it just took life experiences and hardships to recognize the importance of it in my life and how they complement each other.” The response didn’t shock me – if it isn’t evident to you by now, Chris Benchetler is an “artlete” through and through.

The Chris Benchetler NFX2, alongside an accompanying range of sunglasses, is on sale now.