Richard Permin doesn’t think like a regular human. He feels fear, yes, but he’s also quite happy to ski on the ridge of a mountain before launching himself up fifty feet high. He might do a backflip, or pirouette a few times before landing gracefully on the other side. Sometimes he’ll race down a near-vertical cliff edge, or jump over an actual road. Where most see danger, he sees fun or, more recently, opportunity.
The 37-year-old Frenchman once competed in international ski competitions and the X Games, but now he indulges his creative side, producing viral skiing videos that are the wintery equivalent of Ken Block’s Gymkhana series. One of his latest sees him ski rooftops in Avoriaz (3 million views), while in another he jumped a 150 feet canyon.
For his latest, he’s collaborated with Moncler. Channelling Permin’s immense talent on the slopes, the Italian house brought in director Jonas Lindstroem and cinematographer Matias Bouchard (Athena) to shoot what is one of the most dramatic campaign videos you’re likely to see. Dressed head to toe in Moncler Grenoble, the video sees Permin slice down Chile’s Quetrupillán volcano as a tumbling avalanche aggressively chases him. It’s a powerful, cinematic sequence that wouldn’t look out of place in a Bond film, and which Permin states is a highlight of his 22 year career. GQ sat down with the skier to discuss how it all came about, his worst injuries on the slopes and what’s next.
GQ: Where does the passion for skiing come from?
Richard Permin: I started skiing at two years old with my mum. It was my passion straight away, and I was not too bad at it. I started ski racing, and won the French championships at seven. I was living in Lyon so I went to the mountains on Wednesdays and during the weekends.
How did you develop on those early years?
At 15 I quit school to be a ski teacher in La Plagne. I'd practice jumping all over the place next to the slope, and I got my first sponsor from there. That's where I started my career. I then went to all the international competitions and freestyle contests like the X Games. At some point I got a bit bored, because I was always doing the same thing and skiing the same slopes. From there I moved to big mountain skiing and that's where I started freeriding. I did that for seven years in Alaska, Japan and Norway and then started to shoot for most of the biggest ski productions.
So you mainly work on making videos now?
We work on videos every year. It can be a documentary or a small clip of just 3 minutes that's going to go viral. We try to combine the filming, editing and skiing to tell a story. That's why Chile and Patagonia were something special - to work with Moncler and Jonas Lindstroem and Matias Boucard. There is no limit to big mountain skiing. It's just your imagination. You look at the mountain and you have more creativity and personality in the way you're skiing.
How did the relationship with Moncler come about?
I started to talk with Moncler in May and we went to Chile to start filming at the end of June. So it went super fast and we all had a great fit together. It was such an adventure. To be there in Chile, it's quite a highlight. There's no company that does campaigns there anymore because it's super tricky with the weather forecasts. I think Moncler took some risks to go there and I was really impressed by that. And you can feel it in the video. The quality of the footage and the landscape were amazing.
What challenges did you face out there?
We were supposed to be there for six days, and it ended up being two and a half weeks because of storms. For the first week we were just in the lodge, watching the snow falling. And It wasn't a real avalanche. I'm not used to shooting something that has special effects. So it was a really different way of working and doing things in the mountains than I am used to.
Do you have to mentally prepare for stunts?
Actually, mentally I don't prepare myself anymore because it's in my blood. I have to prepare more physically. If I'm a bit injured, that's when I start to question myself. It's been 22 years I've been doing this and I do get scared. But I'm prepared for that and I love it. When you're not afraid anymore or you're not scared, that's when you make mistakes.
What's your worst injury?
Breaking both my heels. That was my big injury and I was off for nine months. It's all about the way you do the rehab and the way your brain has to switch from the pain. I love skiing too much. You get injured and that's part of the game. You just get back on your feet as soon as possible.
What else have you injured?
I've broken my ribs seventeen times, seven contusions, my shoulder, and knees. We have a lot of injuries in skiing. But that's not just with big mountain skiing. It's the same for freestyle and even ski racers, they have a lot.
What is it you like about Moncler?
I really like what they do, especially with the Grenoble collection (launching today). I'm super impressed by the quality of the product. It can't be better. Even the shape. Some other brand's have good materials but the jackets are sometimes too short, so I was really impressed that the fit was perfect. I love the shell jackets, but also the trousers too. The cargo pants that I wear in the video, I wear them every day to go skiing.
What's your favorite place in the world?
I love Europe. But my two favorites are Japan from January to February, that's where the conditions are just perfect; and Alaska at the end of the season. They get so much snow during the winter, and with the humidity from the ocean, the snow sticks to some super steep slopes. You have to ski down them pretty fast, so it looks really impressive. And the landscape is amazing.
What’s coming next?
I started a project a few weeks ago. It's going to be a three minute clip where I end up skiing under water. We always want to appeal to people who aren't interested in skiing, so you have to find the little ideas that will make people watch till to the end, while also making them question how you did it. So we found a way to ski underwater and to have that effect. We did it in Paris two weeks ago. We started with the end of the video, and now we're going to start filming the skiing. In your 22 year skiing career, what are you most proud of? From skiing in the south Alps as a kid, and to ending up in the middle of Chile with Moncler is something special for me. Mathias was the director of photography for Athena and is nominated for an Oscar, so to be able to work with some people like that, it's an honor.
This story originally ran on British GQ with the title “Richard Permin does skiing the hard way”
