“My name is Chris Smead and I’m outdoor adventure filmmaker and founder of Outmersive films.

I first discovered backpacking in 2003 and since then have knocked out over 70 backpacking trips, mostly in the Sierra Nevadas.

In 2016 I hiked the John Muir Trail and I brought a camera with me and shot some footage along the way.

When I got home I just decided to start editing that into a little short video and that kind of became my first film. That’s really what sparked this whole passion for me.

Filmmaking is a very laborious and tedious process, and it’s not easy by any means. It takes a lot of time, it’s very consuming and I don’t think I could do it if I didn’t have a passion for the subject matter.

That’s why I tend to focus on films that are outdoors focused, because I really love the outdoors. If I had to make a film focusing on something that’s not outdoorsy I don’t think I could do it, I think it would just kill me.

My last film project was the High Sierra Trail and that is about myself and my friend John hiking over the course of six days across the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

And so far that film is pretty well received and it’s been a really good learning experience which helped me kind of segue and prepare for a much bigger project, which is called Highline.

Highline is a feature length film about 5 friends who spend 10 days traversing these fairly unknown mountains in Utah.

It goes, not only into the modern adventure that they experience along the way, but it also goes deeply into the history of the area, and the history of the hikers.

Each of these 5 people have very interesting backstories and that was a new challenge for me to kind of go more into a fairly serious subject matter, that’s not something i’ve really done extensively in the past.

So this was definitely a fun, good, learning experience, and it’s definitely about 10 steps beyond anything I’ve done before, so I’m pretty excited to have it done.

Outdoor adventure filmmaking is definitely something that I enjoy and tend to do for a long time and thanks to everybody who’s supported this effort along the way.

A huge thanks to the guys at Zpacks for making awesome ultralight gear, without them there’s no way I can carry 10 to 20 pounds of camera gear at a time. That would just be totally impossible if it weren’t for the ultralight gear that Zpacks makes, so thanks for making cool stuff.

My name is Chris Smead and I approve this message!”