Julien Roserens

In the early 2000's, David Vladyka and a handful of snowboarders discovered the Col de Cou, a major crossing point on the French-Swiss border used by smugglers after the Second World War. This area with its hilly terrain became a legendary place for freestyle snowboarding. 20 years later, Mat Schaer and David Vladyka still come back from time to time to film, but the immaculate slopes are becoming rare. The excitement of the great freestyle years has given way to the hikers. A new page is being turned.

Ghost Resorts is about absence, in places where skiers once frolicked freely. Those moments of joyful laughter on the slopes have been replaced by a mysterious sense of emptiness. But the skiing remains, still. “the Ghost Resorts series is an exploration of the ski culture, of an heritage, a golden age, those places where there was life, that have closed, but where skiing still remains”

In Switzerland, discover the daily lives of seven iconic residents of the Illiez Valley throughout the seasons. Seven, like the seven peaks of the Dents du Midi mountain range that overlooks it. Women and men who are deeply attached to this region and its values.