Action Photos on Colored Snow

We're so used to seeing images of daredevil skiers shredding on mountain slopes covered with pure, white snow but Mammut pro freeriders Nicolas and Loris Falquet, with photographer Jeremy Bernard, are bringing some "color" to the sport by capturing unbelievable action photos of skiing on colored snow.

On the mountains of Les Marécottes in Switzerland, the Falquet brothers, Bernard and another freerider, Jérémie Heitz, used an atomizer — a Ghostbusters-style portable motorized vaporizer — to spray environmentally-friendly colored pigments on a large area of snow. They spent the next 15 days skiing on the vibrantly hued powder, shooting ski images unlike any the world has seen before. It's a project they titled "Colors." 

"Snow is not white, it is transparent," said Nicolas Falquet. "The white color is simply an illusion created by the refraction of light beams in the transparent snow flakes. As a child, I never questioned the changing appearance of snow."

But after 10 years as athletes and filmmakers (the Falquet brothers have produced and starred in numerous ski films), the Swiss-born brothers have begun to see skiing — and snow — differently, although Falquet says it remains "poetic."

Action Photos on Colored Snow

"We aim to combine our sporting achievements with an artistic challenge," said Falquet. "[The 'Colors' project] allows us to portray skiing in a new and unexpected light."

Though the photographic results are spectacular, the project saw its share of problems.

Mammut pro freerider Nicolas Falquet with the colored pigments he, his brother Loris and photographer Jeremy Bernard used to color the snow in Les Marecottes.

"It took two whole months to complete the project in Les Marécottes," said photographer Jeremy Bernard. "Each attempt raised new problems in terms of ensuring the even application of the colored pigments and having to constantly flee from the sun. We found that the best approach was to film very early in the morning, on cold north faces. This ensured that the snow was still light enough."

Professional skiers gliding down slopes make for already interesting photographic subjects, but Bernard believes the colored snow takes the image to a whole new level.

"The color adds a whole new dimension," said Bernard. "The snow takes shape, gains volume and texture, it's an amazing sight for the viewer. It's exactly the way I had envisioned it." 

To view behind-the-scenes footage of the project, watch here.

Click to see more photos

Action Photos on Colored Snow

Action Photos on Colored Snow

Action Photos on Colored Snow

Action Photos on Colored Snow

Action Photos on Colored Snow

Action Photos on Colored Snow

Action Photos on Colored Snow

Action Photos on Colored Snow