Free Radicals

The long awaited 2nd episode of Candide Kamera. Candide skies some of the gnarliest backcountry lines and amaze you with his ability to ski like you only wish you could.

In June 1978, Patrick Vallençant made the first ski descent of the southeast face of Artesonjaru in Peru, in the Cordillera Blanca, 6,000 meters above sea level and 60° of slope. He left Huaraz on horseback, a donkey carrying his equipment. While crossing Cajas, the last village on the trail to Lake Paron, he was greeted by Victor and Cesar, two Indians who accompanied him to the lake. The climb to the summit was tiring, requiring as much effort from his arms as from his legs. The beginning of the descent was hesitant, the slope extremely steep. He achieved his feat on June 9, his thirty-second birthday.

Eleven-year-old Papik (nickname for Yannick Vallençant) dreams of climbing Mont Blanc with his father, Patrick Vallençant. After serious training, the adventure begins: they set off from the summit of the Aiguille du Midi, climb the ridge of the three Mont Blancs, bivouac at the Col de la Brenva, cross the Mur de la Côte and reach the summit of Mont Blanc. No child his age had ever before achieved this feat by this route.

René Collet, skier member of the French team, guides a friend from the summit of the Aiguille du Midi. This descent is an opportunity to focus on the remarkable elements of the terrain: the cable car and its work still in progress, the surrounding peaks (Capucin, Mont Maudit, Mont Blanc). The two skiers stop regularly, here to observe climbers scaling the south face of the Aiguille, there to visit the Cosmiques Laboratory. They even take the time to rescue a skier stuck in a crevasse at the Séracs du Géant, before continuing their descent in style onto the Mer de Glace.

A team of international skiers embark on a two-week glacier traverse connecting two remote research stations in Kazakhstan. The Tien Shan's 4000+ meter peaks host an active scientific community, leveraging the rare environmental conditions for groundbreaking research. Established during the Soviet Union's occupation, the high-altitude research stations here are home to some of the longest-standing glacier and cosmic radiation experiments in the world - and are surrounded by deadly alpine terrain.

From the mind of Chris Benchetler comes TGR's latest short film collaboration. Improvisation is the silver thread that weaves this crew together. Just as the Grateful Dead did not fit their music into an established category, this short film finds a cast of some of the world’s best athletes on a spontaneous journey of skiing, snowboarding, surfing, and music, complete with a soundtrack comprised of only Grateful Dead music.

Witness never-before-seen footage of the Warren Miller film crew and athletes as they take on the world's most exotic mountains, treacherous terrain and red-hot ski resorts. Listen as they share their untold stories acres-ski. The only way to get closer to the action is to be on skis.