Video: RAW Season 2 Ep. 3: End of Season Riding in Châtel

End of the season in Châtel Bike Park. Lifts are shut down. Nobody rides the trails. It's wet and cold.

The day when we arrived at Châtel it was raining and we were told that it has been raining before as well. We just missed the sunshine.


On the first day we went to shoot a new trail that the guys at Châtel have built in a handful of days. It was still fresh. The berms were not packed in and still soft. Rain. Slippery to get down. We started shooting with light fog at the top of the trail, which was rad to see and as we moved further down it got clearer. Despite these minor set backs in respect to the conditions at hand, we got some sweet shots that day. The dark clouds moved in and with them there was more rain.


The next morning the weather was calmer. We met up with Ben Walker and went down to the bike park for more shooting. There was no rain, the trails were fun and we even had a solid filming session without any rain to mess it all up for us.


Day three. More rain. It seemed like it wasn't going to stop at the time. One of the builders at Châtel bike park, Francois, showed us his own trail. He named the trail after his dog, Falco. The story behind the trail is that when Francois was building it, Falco was beside him every step of the way. The trail itself wasn't too far off from Francois' home and he was kind enough to get us there. It's a great trail without a doubt and quite steep as well.


We shot throughout the day on the trail and Falco was with us every step of the way. Francois told us that he usually does not allow Falco to follow any bikers down the trails, because it can be very dangerous. However, Francois got him following Nico. At first it wasn't clear for Falco what he should be doing, but in just a few tries he got the idea and we got the shots quickly. An amazing dog and very loyal to the owner.

It was one of a kind experience in respect to the whole atmosphere of these shoots. We didn't have a lot of time at our disposal, therefore we had to battle it out with the weather on the last day and push on. Filming with Nico was an absolute pleasure. Just being in the company with him makes it worth the while. You forget that the weather is bad and it's just pouring down, that your feet are wet, but you still press on simply because the motivation and the mood is so positive at that moment in time. Nico has that about him. His aura is one of a kind and it made me feel welcome.


The morning after it was like we were on a completely different planet. Blue skies, no clouds and quite chilly. It was time to say goodbye to Châtel for now and hit the road.

If we had such a good weather during the shoot it would not have had the same vibe to it at all, so I have to admit that am glad the conditions were not the ideal ones.

Special thanks goes to Francois and Falco for the hospitality and for being an awesome human and an awesome dog! Also thanks to the guys at Châtel for helping us out with shuttles as well.

Story and photos by Dmitri Shushuyev