A film was recently released by The North Face, directed by Natasha Mynhier and co-directed by Sony Alpha Collective member, Nate Luebbe. The film, The North Face Presents: Beyond the Summit is a stunning short that shares an epic adventure for a greater cause. After becoming the first person to ski the Seven Summits, team athlete Kit DesLauriers found herself searching for purpose beyond herself. And through an epic adventure of athleticism, survival and conservation, she found it. Beyond the Summit explores her two weeks of traversing the arctic on skis, telling the story of a diminishing snowpack in one of the most pristine wilderness areas in the world—the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

We were in awe of this beautifully shot piece and the important conservation efforts it documents. We sat down with Nate Luebbe to learn about his experience shooting the film and participating in this intense athletic feat. 

The North Face Presents: Beyond the Summit

Kit and Nate's career have some interesting parallels. They both originally studied environmental science, and then led very different careers. Both of them excelled in their chosen career, and then began to look to make more impact in their work. This led the two of them on this expedition to aid in the study of snowpack and help protect Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which has been opened for drilling. 

This film was quite a challenge, even from the initial pre-production stages. Just planning the logistics somewhere that far and remote proved intense. Once they arrived on location for filming, it was also tough. “Once we were out there, the challenge was just being somewhere that remote in the middle of winter. That's not easy, no matter what. I was with four of the most skilled wilderness athletes alive, and it's just still not easy, you know? That's part of what makes it fun.”

Photo from The North Face Presents: Beyond the Summit

While filming, the plan was to have a basecamp for the entire expedition. Once they finished skiing the mountain, they found that all the snow had melted and the helicopter that dropped them off could no longer land to pick them up. So they had to make a new game plan. The new plan was to ski all the way to the town, as is seen in the film, where there is a paved airport. This, of course, meant skiing with all their gear, in sleds that they pulled behind them, which each weighed about 100 pounds. 

Luebbe's experience with backpacking and other adventure sports was critical to his success on this expedition. He also trained for quite a few months leading up to the trip. He is excited to work on a project like this, which is truly a culmination of all his experiences and interests. The film, which has over 400K views on YouTube, is making a true conservation impact. There were a number of aspects of this trip that made it special to Luebbe. “I just love that area. And it was really cool to spend time with people like Kit DesLauriers and Jim Morrison, who are literally living legends in the ski mountaineering world.”

The Gear

The film was shot on several Sony Alpha 1, Sony Alpha 7S III and Sony FX3 cameras. The team used a variety of Sony lenses, primarily the Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 G Master, Sony 35mm f/1.4 G Master, Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 G Master, Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 G Master, Sony 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 G Master, and Sony 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G. 

Alpha Collective member Nate Luebbe

Aside from the physical challenges of the expedition, the remoteness proved difficult with the camera gear. They had a limited number of batteries, and in the cold weather, the team was worried about the length of battery life. Luebbe said that he would put batteries in his sleeping bag with him at night to keep them warm. “I was snuggling Sony batteries at night when it was 10 below zero.” 

One epic shot of the group climbing Mt Hubley was shot from across the mountain range. The team used the Sony 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G lens with a 2X teleconverter. It was shot in APS-C mode, which means they were shooting at close to 1500mm to get that shot. “That was really cool because it’s such a lightweight portable lens, and the guy filming was like a mile away from us. He climbed a separate mountain to get that shot.”

Photo from The North Face Presents: Beyond the Summit

Overall, this was just a special project for the team. Luebbe described one day, “we went like five miles from camp up to a little hill, and it was just like the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen. The sun doesn't actually go down, so it was just like a couple hours of pink and purple clouds. And we woke up the next morning and there was a herd of caribou coming through the valley right next to us, which was just a very magical experience.”

Learn more about the threats to the Arctic Refuge HERE and to learn more about how you can get involved in efforts to limit proposed oil and gas projects text ‘Arctic’ to 65351.

See more of Nate Luebbe's work on his Alpha Universe Profile and on Instagram @nateinthewild.