Three years of travel squeezed into about three minutes: that was the idea behind this fast-cut montage by High on Life, a group of friends from the Vancouver area of Canada who turned their adventures into a YouTube channel and business. Matador Network shared the film in February 2015 with a simple warning that watching it would trigger wanderlust.
The High on Life travel montage
High on Life was founded by four childhood friends, among them Ryker Gamble and Alexey Lyakh, and its videos were published on the YouTube channel SundayFunday. Their style was simple and energetic: a group of friends on the move, cliff jumps, beaches, mountain viewpoints, city nights and quick cuts timed to the beat of the music.
A montage like this works through compression. Three years of footage become a few minutes of highlights, with no airport queues, laundry or long bus rides in between. That is what makes it such a strong piece of inspiration, and it is also a reminder that real trips are built from the slower hours the edit leaves out.
Watch the video
Video: High on Life via the SundayFunday channel on YouTube, as shared by Matador Network.
Yellowstone, national park rules and the group's later story
The group's fame later took a darker turn. In May 2016, a video posted on their page showed members walking on Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park. The spring is the park's largest hot spring and the third largest in the world, about 110 metres across, with water around 70°C. Its famous rainbow colours come from fragile mats of heat-loving bacteria and archaea, and leaving the boardwalk there is both illegal and dangerous.
After the video went viral, Gamble and Lyakh returned to Wyoming to face charges and were each sentenced to seven days in jail. Investigators also issued violation notices for the group's activities at Zion, Death Valley, Mesa Verde, Corona Arch and the Bonneville Salt Flats.
On 3 July 2018, Ryker Gamble, Alexey Lyakh and Megan Scraper died at Shannon Falls near Squamish, British Columbia. According to witnesses, Scraper slipped from rocks at the top of the falls into strong current, and the two men went in after her. The loss shook the travel-video community and led many creators to talk more openly about risk on camera.
Making your own travel film
The best part of the montage is easy to borrow: friends, movement and a strong sense of rhythm. To make your own short film of a trip:
- Plan four kinds of shot for each place: an opening wide view, one close detail, a moment of movement and a closing scene.
- Film people only with their permission, and keep the camera from taking over the day.
- Choose the music after you have picked your clips; let it support the story you already have.
- Try watching a draft without sound, then with it, to see how much the soundtrack changes the mood.
Stay on marked trails and boardwalks for the shot: in national parks, rangers enforce the rules, and the most memorable footage is the kind you are around to share.
For a different look at travel imagery, see our feature on travel expectations and reality, and our guide to enjoying the planning stage.
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