Bike to Run Adventure With La Sportiva - Getting Ready for Ski Season

Biking to Mountain Running

When we were brainstorming what we wanted to film to showcase Davide’s training for an exciting season of ski touring we knew we wanted to be a big adventure. On our last episode we ran up a 13,000ft peak and while it was a bit of a challenge it was only a 3hr endeavor so we wanted to go a little bit bigger for this one. In preparation for long days of ski touring, Davide loves to find ways during the offseason to stay outside and moving his body for a long period of time.

We also wanted to showcase how you can create really amazing memories just by going from your front door. So, Davide teamed up with a few friends and decided to bike from his home in Boulder to a trailhead about 30 miles (and 6,000+ft) out in the mountains. From there, the gang would transition from the bike to a 10 mile trail run (and another 2,000+ft) up to the summit of a mountain in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. As evident from the film… it was an epic adventure.

Doing Things with Friends

One of the most fun factors to ski touring, trail running and biking is the community that comes with it. For Davide and I, a lot of our closest friends are also regular fitness partners. When you go out in nature with people you can start to form really tight bonds because I believe we’re our best selves when we’re outside and present. Shoutout to Ryan Petry, Tyler Butterfield, Meg Cooke and Will Nabours for joining us on this sick adventure and laughing along on how ridiculous this whole thing turned out to be.

“Wow Roo, you do what they do but with a camera!!”

Yes, but not really….

Although I’m slowly beginning to consider myself more of an athlete I didn’t feel like I really belonged in this group of elites. The crew who is featured in the video had a combined century worth of pro endurance sports in their legs - A couple Olympic participations, and dozens of professional Ironman, triathlon and cycling victories. And I was there running alongside them with a camera.

We filmed this about two weeks before my first ultra marathon which I had been training for for months. So although I wasn’t a former Olympian or current ski-mountaineer racing champion, I didn’t feel too beaten down thankfully.

Professional Athlete vs. Athletic Filmmaker

Over the past six months, I’ve really started to lean into my passion for outdoor sports as a vehicle to get me to film alongside more professional athletes which has been a total highlight of my career. Although from the outside it looks like I’m doing what they are, there is a SIGNIFICANT physical difference between what Davide is capable of and what I am. Sure, I run anywhere from 30-40 miles a week right now but I’ve only been doing that for a short time.

Being a professional athlete and an athletic cameraman requires a very different level of fitness.

Davide has been an elite athlete for years and watching him exercise is mind boggling to me. He’s won an uphill ski race at Arapahoe Basin last week and is just super humble about it all. That’s one of the biggest reasons I enjoy creating this series and other videos like it - these athletes aren’t just fitness junkies, they’re my friends. They’re kind people thinking through how to make their passion contagious and spread joy to others - which is what I’m trying to do with my career as well.

We’d love to hear from you!!

After you watch the video above, please let us know what you want to see in the next one as we hit finally the slopes and teach you how to ski tour.

We have FOUR more episodes coming and would love to hear your thoughts on what adventures you want to see. Davide and I are given a lot of freedom on what we decide to film for this La Sportiva series so are open to showing the best of what ski touring offers…

And, if you want to come along while we film, let me know because we’d love to potentially include you!!

About Roo Smith

Roo is a commercial/documentary filmmaker and photographer based in Boulder, Colorado but travels all around the world for his filmmaking career.

He has produced films for Outside Magazine in Ireland, camera operated for Netflix in the Rocky Mountain West, photographed among indigenous communities in Peru and Ecuador, directed videos with professional climbers in Mexico and has received notable recognition in his hometown of Orcas Island in Washington State for his work telling uplifting stories in the outdoor space.