It was early March 2020 when pro skier Chris Benchetler asked me if I’d help him write the coffee table book that would accompany the collector’s edition vinyl package for his Fire On the Mountain project, a collaboration with the Grateful Dead. Never mind that I didn’t know all that much about the Grateful Dead. Of course, I said yes. When Chris Benchetler has an idea and asks you to help, you say yes.
I couldn’t have known then that the entire world was about to shut down in the midst of a global pandemic. Or that my kids’ preschool and elementary school would be closed for months on end and I’d become their primary teacher. That we wouldn’t see or hug friends or grandparents for what feels like an eternity. I didn’t know any of that then, so I said yes.
By mid-March, when it became clear that COVID-19 would alter reality as we knew it, I was only a couple of pages into Benchetler’s book. I had a ton left to do. So for the first month and a half of quarantine, it became my project. Other people baked sourdough or organized closets. I turned up the Dead late at night when my children were asleep and wrote. It felt like a load to bear, but it was also great distraction from all that was happening. And it was fun. I got to call up people like surfer Rob Machado and snowboarder Jeremy Jones, who both appeared in the Fire on the Mountain film. I got to take a crash course in Grateful Dead history. And I got to work with Chris, who’s as brilliant and creative with his film and media ideas as he is on skis.
The behind-the-scenes hardcover book, along with a limited edition DVD of the film and a collector’s edition Grateful Dead vinyl are now available for order on Chris’ website.
