A new short film traces Québécoise splitboarder Christine Bérubé-Martin’s mountain journey through loss and addiction.
Ambition drives many mountain stories: the pursuit of summits, speed or personal bests. Other stories begin somewhere far more fragile, shaped not necessarily by goals, but by the need to endure what life sometimes throws our way.
For Christine Bérubé-Martin, the mountains aren’t about leaderboards. They represent a place of solace, a path toward healing and ultimately, a way back to herself and what matters.
She grew up in Gaspésie, Québec, where the outdoors isn’t a destination so much as a way of being. As a child, she felt most alive under open skies—sleeping under the stars, wandering until dusk and moving freely through the natural world. Those early years were rooted in a sense of belonging that felt instinctive.
But that connection was disrupted by loss. When Christine was 10 she lost her mother, and the foundation beneath her shifted. In the years that followed, the ease and joy she once found outside gave way to a more turbulent path. Her teenage years were marked by rebellion, struggles with addiction and a persistent feeling of dislocation. It would take time before the mountains re-entered her life, not as a backdrop, but as a guiding force.
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The mountains offered something she hadn’t realized she was missing. In the snowbound silence, in the rhythm of movement and in the rawness of being exposed to the elements, she began to reconnect with her body and her sense of self. The mountains didn’t demand anything from her. Instead, they created space for reflection and clarity.
On a splitboard deep in BC’s Monashees, Christine reclaimed the outdoors as a lifeline.
Now a nurse in the Yukon balancing long, demanding shifts with time in the mountains, she’s learned that joy and purpose don’t just appear, but must be cultivated through the places and people that keep her grounded.
“The mountains have always felt like home to me,” she says. “They’re where I learned to listen to myself, to trust my instincts and to fully step into who I am. Being outside strips everything back to what’s real—movement, breath, connection, presence.”
Captured in this short film by Rab, Christine’s journey unfolds as a portrait of resilience. It’s a reminder that the mountains are not just landscapes to be conquered, but places of healing.
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