One of the things I've been working on lately is a park installation at Mt. Seymour for Nike 6.0. The idea is to take iconic urban features and build them in one place. In an Olympic year, a lot of kids find themselves either unable or uninterested in participating in any of the Olympic shenanigans so this whole thing is for them. By the time the "Greatest Hits" park is done you will be able to go up Seymour and ride facsimiles of three legendary spots that have seen a lot of coverage in ski and snowboard media over the years.

We started with the Quebec's Red Ledge. It was made by the folks at snowpark solutions and installed on the 28th of January and then on Saturday the 30th was opened to the public. The Nike 6.0 version of the Red Ledge is a little smaller and a little less steep than the real thing, but it's been awesome to see people come out and take a swing at it. Here is Duff testing it out.



You can check all of Geoff Andruik's photos from the Red Ledge Jam here and the video that we made here.

The next event is coming up on February 20th. We're recreating the famous Burlington High rail but this time there will be no concessions on size. This thing is going to be Identical. Come check it out or sign up for the jam. We're going to have some very special guests there with all the heads in town for the Olympics.

Catch a glimpse of the real one here (especially ender shots) and here

Tags: Mt. Seymour, Nike 6.0, Red ledge

Right now there are five photographers that are totally exhausted. They are competing this week, in the Deep Winter photo contest that Arc’Teryx and Whistler/Blackcomb have been putting on for the last several years. The idea behind this contest was to highlight the fact that some of the best riding that ever takes place in Whistler is during storm season, and the first week of January is a fairly safe bet for storms.

Yesterday, today and tomorrow the photographers head up the mountain and shoot enough photos to present a 3 to 5 minute slide show on Thursday night in front of 700 or so people. The rules state that you have to shoot in bounds and during regular operating hours. That essentially gives you less than 24 hours of total shooting time. Having done this contest twice, I can tell you that it is the most exhausting and exhilarating week of the season.

This week I’ll be judging the slideshows, so come out to the Fairmont Whistler on Thursday night and watch the work of some of the best photographers in the business. Jordan Manley has won it twice, Paul Morrison has won it and I’m really looking forward to first time competitors Colin Adair and Nicholas Teichrob.

Here are some of my favourite shots from my two efforts and you can watch my second slideshow here.

Good luck out there guys.

-Dano

Tags: deep winter, Photography, Slide show, Contests, Whistler

Here is a shot from a few years ago of Kevin Pearce. Kevin was hurt riding halfpipe the other day and is in a Utah hospital as we speak. Head injuries are always scary but the best thing about them is that they can end up with no long term effects. Everyone is crossing their fingers for Kevin.

I only met him this day. He was quiet, shy, new to the media circus. Now, in the run-up to the 2010 Olympics, his crash makes the US national news.

Send him good vibes here or drop by the frends site. Snowboarding is a massive brotherhood and we're all thinking of this little brother today.

-Dano.

Tags: Portraits, Photography, Kevin Pearce, halfpipe, injury