Clark,
I too recently saw Lone Survivor and thought the same thing: those peaks can't be in New Mexico.
I was thinking somewhere in the Middle East or Maghreb?
FWIW, I watched the bonus parts of the DVD and there wasn't any mention of special affects for the mt. scenery or foreign filming locations. Then again, I could have missed something. Google seems to be coming up short, ditto for the official movie site, hopefully someone out there might have an answer?
Best,
JM

UPDATE, also this:
http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelf ... rvivor.php

Where was Lone Survivor filmed?

To replicate the rugged Hindu Kush mountain range of Afghanistan's Kunar Province, the filmmakers headed to New Mexico, filming on location in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of the Santa Fe National Forest. Portions of the battle and the sets for the Shah village and the Pashtun village were recreated on the less treacherous terrain of Chilili, New Mexico. Additional filming took place on Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, as well as on soundstages at Albuquerque's I-25 Studios. -Production Notes

There are some significant cliff in the Sangre de Cristo. Even the N side of Lake Peak is dramatic. "Sante Fe National Forest" gives more wiggle room; some of the eroded tuffs in the Jemez Mountains are quite dramatic.

Haven't seen the movie, but I got intrigued enough to watch the trailers, and most of the dramatic scenic shots they show are either the west face of the Sandias or the Ravens Ridge area near Lake Peak in the Sangres. This, for instance, is a very familiar view for me. Like MoapaPk says, there are plenty of cliffs in there. There's just one shot in the trailers that looks like they might have done some digital enhancement, or maybe made a trip up to Colorado, but without seeing more of it I can't say for sure. Got any screen captures? It does bring to mind the way they used digital effects in Argo to make LA look like Tehran under the snowy Alborz.

It looks like the filmmakers did run into a very New Mexican snafu regarding locations:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/was-lone-survivor-wrongfully-filmed-670447

Depending on the angle, the Truchas Peaks are pretty rugged.

FWIW,
I was referring to the soaring, precipitous and craggy mountain scenery that I believe was at the beginning of the film. It looked like it was filmed from a helicopter. If I remember correctly there was another very similar scene later in the film.
Here's a link to a picture of the peaks/cliffs with helicopters in the scene:
http://www.austindailyherald.com/2014/0 ... d-in-film/
Are these peaks located in New Mexico? Moreover, are those helicopters "real?"

Jesus Malverde wrote:FWIW,
I was referring to the soaring, precipitous and craggy mountain scenery that I believe was at the beginning of the film. It looked like it was filmed from a helicopter. If I remember correctly there was another very similar scene later in the film.
Here's a link to a picture of the peaks/cliffs with helicopters in the scene:
http://www.austindailyherald.com/2014/0 ... d-in-film/
Are these peaks located in New Mexico? Moreover, are those helicopters "real?"

Easily could be in NM. Colors look like Jemez.

Jesus Malverde wrote:FWIW,
I was referring to the soaring, precipitous and craggy mountain scenery that I believe was at the beginning of the film. It looked like it was filmed from a helicopter. If I remember correctly there was another very similar scene later in the film.
Here's a link to a picture of the peaks/cliffs with helicopters in the scene:
http://www.austindailyherald.com/2014/0 ... d-in-film/
Are these peaks located in New Mexico? Moreover, are those helicopters "real?"

Can't tell you about the helicopters, but that absolutely looks like the west side of Sandia. Remember, there are technical routes up to 10 pitches in there, plenty of big cliffs.

The Thumb looks pretty dramatic from below... http://www.mountainproject.com/v/106098987

MoapaPk,
Thanks again. I appreciate the word.
Thanks to Google Fu found this too:
Lone Survivor Production Notes
Filming in New Mexico: Design and Locations (Page 25)
http://www.lonesurvivorfilm.com/assets/ ... nnotes.pdf

"Eight days alone were spent 11,000 to 12,000
feet up in the mountains at locations such as Antenna
Ridge, Raven’s Ridge, Benny’s Jump and Loggers Cliff.
There, the temperatures hovered in the high 30s and
low 40s. In all, to approximate the Hindu Kush region
of Afghanistan, the production shot at 10 separate
locations in the national forest. Reachable by chairlift
to a staging area, then by foot to the shooting location, "

Also:
Climbing Mountains to Make Lone Survivor
http://library.creativecow.net/kaufman_ ... Survivor/1

Also:
Climbing Mountains to Make Lone Survivor
http://library.creativecow.net/kaufman_ ... Survivor/1

Yep, one of those pics shows Nambe Lake in the back (NW of Lake Peak). I'd be homesick, if I knew where home was.

MP,
I thought this was your home..
http://www.summitpost.org/moapa-peak/153672

I looked up the filming locations for this movie and supposedly it was all filmed in New Mexico.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1091191/locations

Jesus Malverde wrote:MP,
I thought this was your home..
http://www.summitpost.org/moapa-peak/153672

Though I have been up Moapa peak 6 times, the choice of screen name actually had nothing to do with mountain climbing. I had brain damage in 2002, and when I registered at a brain damage support group, I chose that name. I used to drive by that peak and it became a symbol of independence. I knew I would learn to deal with my handicap only if were independent. I didn't summit the peak till a year later.

I haven't read though all the posts just yet, but I have seen several movies recently about Afghanistan and I am struck by how much it does indeed look like New Mexico. I live in Albuquerque, on the eastern edge of the city and it absolutely looks like the scenery in Lone Survivor and other movies set in Afghanistan. Looking out my window there are mountains (to the east a short distance) that are mostly rock with tall pines and other trees higher up like aspens. That is just what the movie scenery is like.

I wondered to myself why our mountains do look so much like Afghanistan and I think I know the answer. Albuquerque is actually a mile high, like Denver - only here the clime is called high dessert. Where the Afghanistan military movies are supposed to be set are at an elevation of between 5,000 and 6,000 feet above sea level. We are at about 5,300 feet up I think.

We are also on nearly the same lat line as Afghanistan i realized.. Albuquerque is at about 34 degrees north I believe. The places in Afghanistan depicted in the movies are at about 35 degrees north.

I think the similarities in altitude and latitude probably explain why Afghanistan looks so much like the Albuquerque area.

I have read some of the comments now. I grew up in Los Alamos (the Jemez) and none of the scenery in the movie really looks like/reminds me of the Jemez. Northern New Mexico looks like what most people think of when they think of Colorado - tall pines with not much rock.

One way to tell if the scenes are Albuquerque is the coloring, but the relevant color is pink believe it or not. The Sandia Mountains are huge mounds of granite basically, with feldspar in the granite which is what gives the Kspar that pink hue. Sandia actually means watermelon in Spanish, so it's that light pink hue. There are a couple of scenes that I see that pink hue. The pink especially is visible here when the sun it setting and the sun's ray coming from the west hits the feldspar flakes and the whole mountain kinda glows that watermelon pink.