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Boundless — A Sam Anthamatten Portrait
Sam Anthamatten’s new video portrait from Faction puts the spotlight on a skier whose talent and vision aren’t constrained to a single sport.
Sam Anthamatten doesn’t fit neatly into any boxes. Yes, he’s a freerider. But he’s also a mountain guide, a paraglider, an ice climber, a father, and any number of other descriptors. It’s probably easiest just to say this: Sam Anthamatten is a mountain man.
This season’s Portraits video series from Faction is putting the focus on some of the brand’s most interesting unique athletes. Following features on Alex Hall and Elisabeth Gerritzen, Anthamatten is the next to step up for his moment in the sun.
Find someone who looks at you the way Sam Anthamatten looks at the mountains.
Frederik Kalbermatten / Faction Skis
Sam unites everything you could want in a freerider: A unique and playful approach to terrain. A deep and nuanced understanding of the mountains. A touch of freestyle and a healthy dollop of freeride.
At the same time, there’s Anthamatten the mountain guide: Calculated and cautious. Knowledgeable and didactic. A risk-management veteran.It’s these two opposing facets of Sam Anthamatten—plus his propensity to do things like access massive mountain faces with paragliders—that make him such a captivating figure.
“Boundless” dives directly into this dichotomy, as Sam addresses how his desire to send it as a freerider is tempered by his experience as a guide.
Of course, there’s plenty of jaw-dropping skiing from Sam as well—the first line is a doozy, and it doesn’t stop there—as well as cameos from other Faction riders like Martin Bender, Yann Rausis and Elisabeth Gerritzen.
Faction is one of the ski companies doing the best job of showing off its team riders in all their depth and complexity. “Boundless” succeeds in doing exactly that. If you’re not a Sam Anthamatten fan yet, you should be after watching this.
From YouTube:
Ski-mountaineer Sam Anthamatten lives a split life: when you’re both a measured mountain guide and a daring professional freeskier, which hat do you wear?
Dividing your career this way is a challenge. Guiding requires the highest level of safety, and professional freeskiing demands immense risk. Sam walks this tightrope every day on the mountain. His balancing act draws admiration from every generation of the skiing community, from scrappy freeride hounds to the most experienced technical ski-mo pros.
We return to Sam’s lofty Swiss Alps backyard in this third and final episode of Portraits, steeped in big-mountain action. Joined by fellow freeride competitors Elisabeth Gerritzen, Martin Bender, and Yann Rausis, Sam ponders the central challenge of his career.
A co-production with Blue Max Media
Directed by Etienne Mérel
Shot on location in the Swiss Alps