It’s never a given in this world that we get to turn something we’re passionate about into a livelihood. Christian Pondella is one of the lucky few who have, though, carving out a career behind the lens that’s touched four different decades now. Fast forward to 2026 and he’s documented anything and everything you can fit under the umbrella of outdoor adventure photography.
That all came into focus this fall with a milestone event that Pondella has been a of part of since its inception in 2001 — Red Bull Rampage. The freeride mountain bike event celebrated its 25th year in October, and Pondella has shot the competition every single season. To honor his part in that, Red Bull recently curated a photo gallery in New York City showcasing his images from each year, accompanied by an audio guide narrated by the photographer himself. I got to experience the small, chic space in the West Village that looks and feels exactly like something you’d expect to find in the West Village (think low-rise architecture and winding streets). But what’s not shown through the 25 images displayed on the walls is the walk down memory lane Pondella took curating them all.
“I don’t want to say it was the hard part, but it was just hours,” he told me. He’d been looking for one Rampage image from each year at his home in Mammoth, California. For a career that started when print reigned supreme, that meant digging through actual slides and filing cabinets, not just searching folders on a hard drive. There were photos from ski trips through the years, photos with friends, images he’d sent to publications that were never filed back in their original place.
“I would come across these slides of friends from 25, 30 years ago, or from a ski trip we did, and then I’m sending off text messages to buddies I hadn’t seen or talked to in a while, showing them these photos.”
Pondella’s professional career started after moving to Mammoth with plans to focus on his skiing but soon landed a job shooting for Powder Magazine. If you had a subscription between the mid-90s and 2020, when the publication stopped printing physical copies, then you’ve opened up your mailbox countless times and stared at a Christian Pondella cover shot.
“As a photographer, you know, it was the holy grail of publications,” he says. “That excitement when magazines would start showing up at your house once a month in September, October, you know, and that buzz of the ski season’s around the corner.”
Rampage began in 2001, less than a decade into Christian’s career, and by that point he was shooting an array of sports in every corner of the globe. His photos have been published by National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, and ESPN Magazine, and that’s just scratching the surface. He’s summited Mt. Kilimanjaro alongside ice climber Will Gadd, and he followed Gadd into Alberta’s Athabasca Glacier. Again, just scratching the surface for a guy who’s seen the world while photographing its best athletes. Going back to Rampage every year still holds a special place for him in the midst of all that.
“Twenty-five years of shooting that event, it definitely energizes me. I’ve always said it’s like a long endurance event. We’re there for six days straight, 16-18-hour days. We’re waking up at six in the morning. We’re going to bed at midnight. It’s a grind.”
As Christian puts it, that week with the best mountain bikers in the world isn’t all that different from hanging out with the best skiers in the world, the best BASE jumpers in the world, or whomever he’s with on an assignment. He notes that they all share a mutual respect for one another, no matter the sport.
“We’re all just chasing a passion. Whether you’re in the mountains or you’re in the ocean surfing or you’re riding a bike or even if you’re on a skateboard, we’re all outside.”
And whenever you’re outside, “stuff’s going to change,” he says.
“I think that’s probably one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in photography and climbing mountains and doing a lot of stuff. Stuff’s not going to go as planned. And you’ve got to be able to adapt to those changes and deal with that adversity.”
