Durango local Sven Brunso’s unlikely journey from a skateboarder in Huntington Beach, California, to a fixture in professional ski photography is a testament to his talent and work ethic. Throughout his 35 years as a professional skier, Brunso has appeared in over 2,500 published ski photos and on over 135 magazine covers, including 10 Durango Magazine covers, with SKI magazine naming Brunso “the most photographed and published skier in history.” His longevity and success reflect his attention to detail and willingness to take risks—but he is more than that. His journey from California beach brat to a wildly successful pro alpine skier makes Sven Brunso the backcountry embodiment of the American dream.
I realize that that is a bold statement. However, it is one that I can support from Brunso’s remarkable life story. The idea of the American dream is attributed to historian James Truslow Adams in his 1931 classic, The Epic of America. According to Truslow, the American dream is the belief that anyone, no matter where they’re from, can attain their definition of success in a society where upward mobility is possible. Truslow stressed that it is not merely a dream of financial success but “to attain the fullest stature of which they are innately capable.” The American dream is achieved through sacrifice, risk-taking, and hard work rather than by luck.
Now, let’s apply these principles to Brunso’s life. As a child in Huntington Beach, Brunso was an avid surfer and skateboarder. He never skied. That changed on Christmas 1979 when Brunso’s cousin from Indiana gave him his first ski equipment. Brunso was hooked. After high school, Brunso spent a year at Fort Lewis College in Durango before transferring to the University of Arizona, where he saw the illustrious ski movie The Blizzard of AAHHH’s. It featured extreme skier Glen Plake and his iconic bleached-blonde mohawk. That night after the film, he called his dad and said, “I want to be a professional skier.” That may seem unrealistic for someone raised in California and Arizona, but Brunso was embarking on his pursuit of the American dream—and he didn’t even realize it.
To chase that dream, one must be assertive and a risk-taker. Brunso is both. A few months later, Brunso saw Plake at a ski convention in Las Vegas and introduced himself. When Plake kindly offered Brunso his autograph, Brunso replied, “I don’t want your autograph. I’m coming to Lake Tahoe (Plake’s home) on a ski trip and want to go skiing with you.” Plake agreed and gave Brunso his number. Two months later, they reconnected in Lake Tahoe, and Plake invited Brunso over to his home to talk skiing. The next day, the two men skied Kirkwood.
“That one day moved my skiing forward more than any single day in my life,” Brunso reflected
There is debate about whether it always takes an element of luck to reach one’s American dream. Brunso humbly admitted that his career success combines “good fortune, luck, and hard work.” Two of his earliest successes illustrate this point. In the early 1990s, Brunso received a call from a Phoenix photographer interested in exploring ski photography. Brunso had a similar interest, so they met at a Denny’s near the base of Mount Lemmon in Tucson, Arizona. On their drive to the ski area, they noticed the novel sight of a saguaro surrounded by a couple of feet of snow, so they did a shoot of Brunso skiing by the cactus. Next, they did a shoot off a nearby 10-foot cliff, resulting in a photo published on several postcards marketing ski resorts throughout the mountain West. Brunso got his big break. He had steady work from the ski areas and local photographers for the next two years.
Next, Brunso took a chance that further elevated his career. He realized, “If I want to do this, I should work with the best.”
At that time, the best was Canadian ski photographer Henry Georgi. Brunso contacted Georgi and asked if he could shoot with him. When Georgi agreed, Brunso drove 30 hours straight and arrived in Canada just as Georgi was packing his gear into his minivan for the shoot at Whitetooth Ski Area. Although Brunso was exhausted from the 30-hour drive, he immediately suited up for the shoot. Their collaboration that day resulted in 10 separate magazine covers featuring Brunso. The next day, a different shoot with Georgi produced one memorable photo landing on the cover of Men’s Journal. Brunso added that a bit of good fortune also led to many more published photos from that one shoot. Soon after Georgi and Brunso’s session, Whitetooth was sold and renamed Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, which continued to use the images of Brunso in its marketing campaigns of the resort. The photoshoot with Georgi “resulted in over 80 published photos,” Brunso explained.
The other positive aspect of Brunso’s trip to Canada was that he and Georgi developed an excellent working relationship. In future collaborations, Georgi would travel to Durango to shoot with Brunso. When the weather permitted, Brunso and Georgi would shoot ski photos in the morning and mountain biking photos in the afternoon. This unique combination once resulted in Brunso being featured skiing on the cover of Powder Magazine and mountain biking on the cover of Bike.
Of course, in 2024, no matter your success, you have yet to truly achieve the modern American dream until a movie tells your story. And so, a biopic of Sven Brunso’s fascinating life will soon be released, first at film festivals and then to general audiences. Brunso’s longtime sponsor, Osprey, funded the project but left creative control to director and cinematographer Gabe Rovick and FD4 studios. Although the official release date will depend on which of the various festivals accepts it, I was informed that we can expect to see it later this year.
While we wait to see Brunso’s larger-than-life story on the big screen, we won’t be surprised to see Brunso skiing locally. He reminds me that while he loves traveling the world and chasing Endless Winter, Brunso still loves returning to Durango and the incomparable San Juan Mountains.
By Phil Brown
