4th of July Parade Grand Marshals for 2025 - Kimmy Fasani & Chris Benchetler

Chris Benchetler grew up in the shadows of California’s eastern Sierra Nevada range, where his skiing and art making evolved organically in concert with the natural world. “Mother Nature was and continues to be my best teacher!” he says.

His backcountry skills and dynamic artistry have secured major sponsors and screen time in ski movies like Afterglow. In 2007, he co-founded Nimbus Independent, an artsy ski film company, with fellow pros Eric Pollard, Pep Fujas, and Andy Mahre. Chris also designed topsheet graphics for Atomic’s wildly successful Bent Chetler pro model skis and was recently appointed Creative Director of Freeskiing at Atomic. He’s created artwork for other top brands including Smartwool and Dakine.

One of his most artful collaborations—a group of backcountry ski essentials emblazoned with the Grateful Dead’s imagery—inspired the film Fire On The Mountain. The award-winning film, narrated by Bill Walton, stars Chris and action sports icons like Kimmy Fasani–his wife and pro snowboarder, surfer Rob Machado, pro skier Michelle Parker, and pro snowboarders Jeremy Jones and Danny Davis.

Though skiing is one way that Chris expresses himself, he has also embraced painting, and his artwork is a deep form of self-expression. His home studio in Mammoth is a canvas in itself—paint-covered floors and bright splashes of color throughout. “Creating art is a process of discovery. I’m embracing my self-taught nature and throwing paint at the canvas!”

Kimmy Fasani is a trailblazer in professional snowboarding. After a standout segment in the 2016 movie, AfterForever by Absinthe Films, she was named Women’s Rider of the Year by TWSNOW and earned both Women’s Rider of the Year and Women’s Video Part of the Year from Snowboarder Magazine. In 2017, her segment in Turbo Dojo earned another nomination for Rider of the Year.

In 2018, Kimmy welcomed her first son and became a vocal ambassador for women in action sports, advocating for mothers to maintain their place as elite athletes. Her sponsors, including Burton, have supported her through every chapter of her career.

In late 2021, just nine months after giving birth to her second son, Kimmy was diagnosed with aggressive stage 3 inflammatory breast cancer. She underwent chemo, a double mastectomy, and 30 rounds of radiation—and had a complete pathological response. In 2023, she returned to competition and earned a remarkable third-place finish at The Natural Selection Tour, one of snowboarding’s most prestigious events.

Kimmy’s journey through motherhood, recovery, and competition is captured in her new documentary, Butterfly in a Blizzard, filmed over six years and shares a deeply personal look into her extraordinary journey into motherhood while balancing her career as a professional snowboarder.