The Story

Verbier was the place. Clambin became the culture. Hollywood took it to the world. Together, they helped redefine modern winter adventure.

Long before Red Bull and social media, a small ski-in, ski-out chalet hidden in the forests above Verbier, Switzerland became home to a remarkable international community. Young skiers, filmmakers, photographers, and adventurers left ordinary lives behind to pursue something extraordinary.

What began as a shared passion for the mountains quickly became a creative movement. Pushing beyond the marked trails, this tight-knit group pioneered new lines, inspired groundbreaking films and photography, and helped shape the future of winter adventure.

As stories and images of Clambin spread around the world, the chalet became a pilgrimage for generations of skiers, filmmakers, and mountain storytellers.

“Clambin was about the collective good of the group, the strength of many contributing to a common goal. Love was free, and a revolving network of people arrived from all over the world”
– The Ski Journal 2001

More than a ski film, Clambin is a story of friendship, creativity, loss, and belonging. It’s about the people who found one another in the mountains—and, in doing so, helped redefine winter adventure.

Because in the end, Clambin isn’t just a place. It’s the people, the passion, and the sense of belonging that can change a life.

Perhaps we’re all searching for our own Clambin.

From a Swiss Chalet to the World

Clambin didn't stay hidden for long.

What began as a small international community in the mountains above Verbier captured the imagination of filmmakers, photographers, journalists, and athletes around the world. Through the pages of Powder magazine, the films of Warren Miller and Willy Bogner, and Hollywood classics including James Bond, Hot Dog… The Movie, and Aspen Extreme, the spirit of Clambin reached millions.

Australians, New Zealanders, Germans, Canadians, Americans, and British skiers each brought new ideas and perspectives, creating a truly international community that helped redefine modern winter adventure.

Long before social media, Clambin became the place everyone had heard about—and many dreamed of finding.

This is more than the untold story of a Swiss chalet. It’s the story of how an extraordinary community inspired generations of athletes, filmmakers, photographers, and storytellers, forever changing the culture of winter adventure.

The Originals

JohnFweb-624x414
THE GURU
John Falkiner
John Falkiner is an Australian/Swiss skier and mountain guide. Born and raised on a sheep farm on the old man plain...
1985_switzerland_0072akp
THE GODFATHER
Mark “Marko” Shapiro
Marko hails as the “Godfather” of freeski photography, having been one of the pioneers to document the movement of the 1970’s...
Ace Kvale
THE STORYTELLER
Ace Kvale
From the ski hills of Minnesota to the mountains of Telluride to the Alps. Ace Kvale came to Verbier seeking bigger mountains to ski...

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS

The Clambin Kids

As stories and photographs of Team Clambin spread through Powder magazine and ski publications around the world, a small chalet above Verbier became a pilgrimage for the sport’s most adventurous souls.

Olympians, World Cup racers, mountain guides, photographers, filmmakers, and future legends came from around the world in search of deep powder, bigger mountains, and a community unlike any other. Among them were Glenn Plake, Mike Hattrup, John Eaves, Scot Schmidt, and Kit DesLauriers, the first person to ski from the summit of the highest peak on every continent, along with dozens of others who helped shape the future of winter adventure.

The spirit of Clambin didn’t end when the chalet’s doors finally closed. Its influence lives on through the Verbier Xtreme, the Freeride World Tour, pioneering mountain brands such as Faction, Vallon, and Bozeman-based Beringia, and through the athletes, filmmakers, photographers, entrepreneurs, and storytellers who continue to redefine mountain culture.

Some came for a season. Others stayed for a lifetime.

The legacy of Clambin is still being written.

In the press

News

The Swiss Chalet That Fostered The Ski Bum Freeride Revolution

The Swiss Chalet That Fostered The Ski Bum Freeride Revolution

POWDER 06/25/2026 Legendary skier and producer/director Dan Egan is creating a documentary about Verbier’s Clambin Chalet, where dreams of ski …
Home Of Creativity

Home Of Creativity

YouTube 6/23/2022 Verbier is known worldwide for its skiing, freeriding, conviviality and contrasts. But the destination is also full of …
Meet John Falkner & Mark Shapiro in Verbier Switzerland

Meet John Falkner & Mark Shapiro in Verbier Switzerland

YouTube 02/07/2023 Falkner’s advice, “Keep on doing it, always look for something new, the run you haven’t done is the …
This Clambin team that changed the image of Verbier forever

This Clambin team that changed the image of Verbier forever

Besson Immobilier SA 01/18/2022 Once upon a time, there was Verbier and skiing. Let’s go back in time to the …
Team Clambin – John Falkiner and friends changing perceptions of skiing and Verbier

Team Clambin – John Falkiner and friends changing perceptions of skiing and Verbier

Mountain Aire 01/05/2018 Where do you start telling a story like this? The honest truth is that we are only …
Depth of Field – Mark Shapiro

Depth of Field – Mark Shapiro

POWDER 06/16/2021 Born in Toronto, Canada, Shapiro took his first photos at the age of seven when his grandfather gave …

Podcasts

LOOK & FEEL

Before there were action sports icons, global mountain brands, the Freeride World Tour, Red Bull athletes, or Olympic freeride skiing, there was a small chalet in Verbier where a group of friends quietly reimagined what life in the mountains could be.

Clambin is far more than a ski film. It is a cinematic journey into the birthplace of a movement that helped redefine adventure, storytelling, and mountain culture around the world.

The film will blend never-before-seen photography, rare archival footage, contemporary cinematography, animation, and intimate personal storytelling to immerse audiences in the extraordinary world of Clambin.

At its heart is the remarkable visual archive of legendary photographers Marko Shapiro and Ace Kvale. Their largely untapped collection captures not only the birth of extreme skiing, but also the friendships, creativity, humor, and spirit that made Clambin unlike anywhere else in the world.

That visual legacy is complemented by the archives of POWDER magazine, whose covers, feature stories, and iconic photo essays chronicled the rise of an entirely new generation of mountain athletes.

The film also explores how Clambin’s influence reached far beyond the ski world. Through the pioneering careers of John Falkiner, John Eaves, and the filmmakers and athletes who emerged from this remarkable community, the spirit of Clambin found its way onto the world’s biggest screens.

From Warren Miller classics and Willy Bogner films to James Bond adventures, Hot Dog, Aspen Extreme, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, and countless Hollywood productions, members of the Clambin generation helped redefine how mountain action was filmed. Their pioneering work transformed skiing from a niche sport into cinematic storytelling, establishing a visual language and technical standard that continue to shape today’s adventure films, action sports media, and global entertainment industry.

What began as a handful of skiers risking everything for a single film paycheck has evolved into a global industry where adventure athletes inspire millions, build worldwide brands, and compete on the world’s biggest stages. That evolution can be seen in champions such as Bobby Brown and Arianna Tricomi, the rise of the Freeride World Tour and Verbier Xtreme, the global reach of Red Bull athletes, and the arrival of big-mountain freeride skiing on the Olympic stage.

The blueprint for today’s mountain culture was drawn decades earlier in the mountains above Verbier.

Combined with contemporary interviews, breathtaking mountain cinematography, and extraordinary archival photography from Marko Shapiro, Ace Kvale, POWDER magazine, and John Falkiner’s remarkable film archive, Clambin creates an immersive cinematic experience that reveals how one small Swiss chalet became the unlikely birthplace of modern mountain storytelling—a movement whose influence continues to shape adventure sports around the world.

At the same time, the film remains a tribute to the innocent beginnings of that movement: a group of friends brought together by the mountains, driven not by fame or fortune, but by freedom, creativity, risk, friendship, and the simple desire to live life differently.

TONE: KISMET

Whether it’s a mountain, an ocean, a studio, a stage, a neighborhood café, or a startup garage, we all search for that place where we truly belong—a place that challenges us, inspires us, and brings extraordinary people into our lives.

Clambin is one story. But the feeling it represents is universal.

Have you found your Clambin?

Promotional Partners

Online Distribution Partners in UK, USA, Europe, Asia: The film will partner will key magazines for PR and marketing opportunities in key markets.

POWDER MAGAZINE

Online Distribution Partner

For over 50 years POWDER has been an essential component of the skiing lifestyle. After a short hiatus, POWDER has been uplifted with a refresh from The Arena Group regaining its place in the skiing community as the largest voice in the industry. POWDER is a key pillar of the Team Clambin story and joined us to distribute the film through their network of online platforms. This partnership will play an important role in amplifying the film across the skiing community.

 

THE ARENA GROUP

 

TOTAL MONTHLY USERS: 109 + MM

The Arena Group has enormous reach across multiple platforms and medias. This includes but is not limited to Sports Illustrated, Mens Journal, Surfer, Snowboarder and Powder Magazine and Transworld Skateboarding
Magazine

POWDER AT A GLANCE

 

MONTHLY TOTAL REACH: 3 MM

DIGITAL USERS: 2.1 MM

SOCIAL FOLLOWING: 792 K

NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBERS 72K

PRODUCTION TEAM

Dan Egan
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Dan Egan
An award winner film and television producer, since the 1990’s. Egan’s productions have been featured ...
charlotte-p
DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
Charlotte Percle
Dancing between the world of action sports and documentaries, Charlotte has had a hand in some ..
tom-g
PRODUCER
Tom Grissom
After graduating film school from UCLA, Grissom embarked on a world-wide journey...

Help us tell the story

If you would like to be involved in supporting this film, we would like to hear from you.

Thank YOu!

John Falkiner

THE GURU

Raised on a sheep farm in rural New South Wales, Australia, John Falkiner left home in the 1970s in search of bigger mountains and a bigger life. He found both in Verbier.

A gifted skier, mountain guide, and natural leader, John helped transform a small chalet in the Swiss Alps into the legendary home of Team Clambin. His open-door philosophy attracted adventurers from around the world, creating a community built on friendship, creativity, and an insatiable appetite for the mountains.

Beyond Clambin, John became one of the world’s leading ski stunt performers, appearing in more than 80 films, including the James Bond classic A View to a Kill. He also earned international certification as a UIAGM mountain guide, ski instructor, examiner, and race coach.

More than four decades later, John’s influence continues. He was recently featured as “The Guru” in a Warren Miller film, skiing the mountains of Greece with longtime Clambin protégé Tom Day behind the camera.

For generations of skiers, John will always be remembered as the man who welcomed everyone to Clambin.

Mark “Marko” Shapiro

THE GODFATHER

Raised in Toronto, Canada, Marko Shapiro traded city life for the mountains of Verbier, where he arrived as a ski bum and became one of the most influential photographers in the history of winter sports.

Known for his blunt honesty and uncompromising eye, Marko helped redefine ski photography in the 1970s and ’80s. His images captured not just the action, but the spirit of a generation. During Clambin’s heyday, his work appeared on seven Powder magazine covers, and in the 1984 Powder Photo Annual, one of his images earned the simple caption: “Best Photo. Period.”

Marko also changed the business of ski photography. Long before professional athlete endorsements became the norm, he insisted on paying his ski models, helping establish the professional standards that would eventually grow into today’s multi-million-dollar athlete and brand partnerships.

His photography has appeared around the world, working with Europe’s and North America’s top skiers and the sport’s biggest brands, including K2, Scarpa, and The North Face.

Today, Marko is remembered not simply as one of skiing’s greatest photographers—but as the visionary who helped define how the world would see the sport.

Ace Kvale

THE STORYTELLER

Raised on the ski hills of Minnesota, Ace Kvale chased bigger mountains west to Telluride before finding his way to Verbier. One chance meeting with photographer Marko Shapiro changed the course of his life.

As Marko’s favorite ski model and one of the original Clambin Kids, Ace became both student and collaborator. Under Marko’s mentorship, he grew into one of America’s pioneering adventure photographers, documenting the birth of extreme skiing while helping define a new era of expedition storytelling.

His assignments took him from the Alps to some of the world’s most remote mountains, working with leading publications and brands including National Geographic, Patagonia, Marmot, The North Face, Nike, and many others. Along the way, he helped pioneer the modern adventure lifestyle, where athletes, photographers, filmmakers, and sponsors came together to tell stories from the world’s wildest places.

A longtime member of the Telluride adventure and film community, Ace now lives in a remote cabin in the canyon country of southern Utah. There, he continues to explore, build, photograph, paint, and create films—including the award-winning short Ace and the Desert Dog, inspired by a 60-day journey through the desert with his loyal blue heeler, Genghis.

After a lifetime of exploring the world’s wild places, Ace has never stopped exploring.

Dan Egan

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

An award winner film and television producer, since the 1990’s. Egan’s productions have been featured on United Airlines, Discovery, ESPN and countless other outlets. He appeared in over 14 Warren Miller Films and is an Honored Member of the US Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame. He has covered 3 Olympic Games, 2 FIS World Championships, 2 ISAF World Sailing Championships and the 35th America’s Cup. His credits include “Ski Bum, the Warren Miller Story and his latest documentary features legendary UK footballer, Clyde Best.

Charlotte Percle

DIRECTOR, PRODUCER

Dancing between the world of action sports and documentaries, Charlotte has
had a hand in some of the world’s biggest ski movies & action sports events as of late— from TGR’s annual ski film to Red Bull Rampage, Charlotte has worked on everything from feature length films to same-day event coverage with clients like Red Bull, The North Face, Teton Gravity Research, the Freeride World Tour, and many more.

Tom Grissom

PRODUCER

After graduating film school from UCLA, Grissom embarked on a world-wide journey of making action sports films.  First with the legendary Warren Miller Entertainment Company in which he captured classic footage of the top extreme skiers of the 1980’s 90’s in places like Turkey, Alaska, Canada and beyond.  Known for his skiing skills, he carried the POV camera down the hardest downhill runs at Olympics and World Championships for CBS.

In the mid 1990’s major brands came calling for his talents from Jeep, Adidas, Nike and others for their television commercials and brands.    Grissom has been on the highest peaks and inside boardrooms with his signature attention to detail and flare for capturing the moment and emotions of athletes, brands and corporate executives.