All hail the ski hill.
The risk, with this mag or anything else, is that we’ll become too unrelatable. Perfect pow shots, sled-accessed summits, fancy flights to the French Alps, Kyrgyzstan treks or cruises to Antarctica.
It’s rad, but for most of us it’s kinda unreachable. Shredding the ski hill, though—anyone can get into that. “It’s easy,” says local photographer Ben Girardi. “Hop on the lift, meet some friends and go.”
Ben made it up Whistler Blackcomb about 50 times last winter. Even the days he’s shredding with his family, he always has some kind of camera at the ready. “If you are looking for fresh pow with no other people around it can be tricky,” he admits, “but I like how that forces you not to care, or to get creative. You can shoot a lot and hone your skills.”
Or you can just go for a rip. For much of his young life, Whistler icon Sean Pettit was one of the most celebrated skiers in the world, known for big tricks on gnarly lines, drops and booters in the backcountry. Then he pivoted to mainly snowboarding, on the ski hill, and having all-day fun. “Riding the chairlift is unmatched,” Sean says. “You can’t get that much riding done in a day without a chairlift. Fresh pow is overhyped; you’ll be a better rider if you ride tracked-out bumpy runs all day. If the snow is soft, I’ll snowboard. If it’s icy, hardpacked, or I want to hike and get on something steep, I’ll ski. That’s the best tool for those conditions. You don’t hammer a nail with a screwdriver.”
And with that mentality, you can always hammer a full day of good laps on the ski hill with your crew. So here are a couple of our favourite inbounds, on-mountain, “shred with my friends” photos to help all of us get amped for the upcoming season. Giv’r!! –Feet Banks
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