Nearly 100 kids descended upon Whistler Blackcomb terrain with cameras in tow on Feb. 16 and 17 in hopes of earning top spot in a new photography contest.
The event featured students of the All Mountain Academy, which is part of the Whistler Blackcomb Ski School and prepares kids ranging in age from 13 to 18 for certifications like avalanche safety, instructor training, and first aid.
Now in its third season, the program doubled in size for 2018-19. "There's a bit more variety," says Tom Hodges, one of about 14 coaches with the program. "(They attend) every weekend of the season, plus a few holidays camps, so they do 28 to 48 days with coaches."
To that end, the coaches decided it would be fun to dedicate one of those weekends to a Deep Winter-like photo contest. (That version takes place every January and features professional photographers heading out with athletes to take the best photos they can in a 72-hour period.)
"With everyone so focused on social media and glossy images in magazines, we thought it'd be fun to put on a Deep Winter-style event to (help them) realize how much work and effort goes into capturing those photos and the high skill level of the glossy magazine images you see," Hodges says.
They put the idea to the students and were greeted with enthusiasm. "They were immediately coming up with ideas," he adds.
The group was initially split into two categories—"pros" being the minority of kids who hauled digital SLR cameras up the mountain and "amateurs" defined as those who shot on their camera phones.
Later, the judges—a.k.a. the coaches—further split the categories into freeride, technical and Team AMA (the latter featured team photos). The winners received donated Arc'teryx gear.
"We were pretty impressed," Hodges says. "For the most part, they had really cool ideas and really creative ideas too and amazing execution. We had so many good ones."
Ultimately, there were two major winners, including Blake Cormack in first place in the pro category and Dash Ervin in first place in the amateur category.
Hodges says he was impressed watching Cormack sacrifice turns to get the best shots during the contest. "He got his camera out on that weekend and took over 700 photos a day," he says. "He was in full photography mode. We'd be going hiking up to the top of Showcase or Spanky's and he'd race ahead and get his camera to take a shot."
His winning image features skier Riley Majawa mid-air and mid-shifty.
Cormack borrowed his dad's digital SLR camera for the weekend and wound up taking a whopping 1,500 photos before whittling the selection down to nine finalists. "I definitely thought it was a real contender," he says. "As I looked back on them, that was one of the best I took."
When it came time to announce the winners last week, Cormack was in California and had to get a friend to Skype him from the announcement. "I was just filled with adrenaline," he says. "It was an awesome feeling."
The other "minor" winners, meanwhile, include Twyla Frid Lotenberg in the pro freeride category; Blake Cormack (again) in the pro technical category; Bryce Stanger for pro "Team AMA"; Fiona Captan for amateur freeride; Georgia Carter for amateur technical; and Lucilla Hargreaves for amateur "Team AMA."
To see all of the photos visit Pique's Instagram at @piquenews.
For more information on the program email [email protected].
