ALL PHOTOS BY NICOLAS TEICHROB // DENDRITE STUDIOS

NUMINOUS, by Dendrite Studios and Kye Petersen, dropped this past fall and was instantly touted as one of this year's best ski films. The entire film takes place in the backcountry of British Columbia, also known as Kye’s backyard. When awards season rolled around, NUMINOUS took home Movie of the Year at Powder Awards, as well as Best Male Freeride Segment, Best Cinematography, and Standout Big Mountain Film at IF3 Movie Awards. Needless to say, NUMINOUS is the film to watch this year if you dream of huge pillow lines and dreamy cinematography. I caught up with one of the masterminds behind the film, Kye Petersen, to discuss one of the most powerful films of the year.

Dendrite dropped their first ski film Out of The Shadows back in 2010, and they took home Best Big Mountain Film at IF3 that same year. Nicolas Teichrob and Athan Merrick had been in and out of the ski industry since Out of The Shadows, but their creative background is what drew Kye to working with them to put together what he had in mind. “On top of that, I had a good friend of mine that was beginning a drone filming business,” Kye told us, “We soon figured out how to capture something that we had never seen before and this motivated me to start the first year of filming.” Kye joined forces with Chris Flynn (drone) and Guillaume Tessier on some trips during the first year of shooting, and while this was all happening he started to put together creative ideas with Nic from Dendrite. “We came up with 'Numinous', a cinematic backcountry skiing film all shot in British Columbia with visual location storytelling throughout,” Kye explained.

Nic Teichrob of Dendrite came up with the title NUMINOUS while bouncing around ideas that first winter. “The more we looked into its meaning we realized that it really reflected with the spiritual feeling and physical experience that skiing gave to us, and that’s what we wanted to show with Numinous,” Kye told us. The film wasn’t all about showing off the best skiing or creating a film with the highest production quality, but instead giving off a ‘NUMINOUS’ vibe by sharing the authentic feelings like fear, fascination, awe, and attraction between the athletes and the mountains.

NUMINOUS isn’t the first video part Kye has shot, but he was determined to include both the highest level of skiing combined with the very best cinematic images on this full-length project. “NUMINOUS was just the first time it worked out to have an all-encompassing crew,” Kye said, “But I’m excited to have created growing bonds- and the level is still out there to be pushed”.

I have personally watched NUMINOUS upwards of five times now, and I’m consistently baffled by the number of back-to-back incredible shots. “A typical day of filming consists of a lot of standing, hiking, planning, scoping, and then hopefully some skiing,” Kye explained, “Some days you come back with only one or no shots, and then others you get two or three days in a row where conditions, locations, and crew all line-up and you get twenty shots a day.” The constant bliss and powder behind the film come from getting up early, getting home after dark, and being prepared to capitalize on the good days and respect the bad.

As far as what’s next, Kye plans to continue on bringing NUMINOUS to the masses and work on smaller projects in between. In terms of his recent split with 4FRNT and next moves on the sponsorship front he told us “I’m working out where I’ll be going still but I assure you it will be a good choice and an exciting new beginning.” Additionally, when the time is right and creative forces align, Kye hopes to bring more creative ideas and new projects to the world of skiing.

For more, head over to http://www.numinousfilm.com/ and download the full film on Vimeo!