Now in its third year, Eye of the Condor (EOTC) draws a handful of teams to La Parva Ski Resort, Chile, where they work individually to produce a body of work—in the form of a short video and photo gallery—in one week’s time. With the Andes as their playground, and with skiers of ultra high caliber on the various rosters, the teams produce content that captures the imagination of skiers around the globe, and as such, EOTC has risen to the ranks of the most anticipated annual events. This year, it is TGR and Chill In—the local Chilean contingent—who take top honors.

Press Release, Santiago de Chile, August 11, 2013:

In the most heated contest to date, local team Chill In and Teton Gravity Research (TGR) took top honors in the photo and film categories, respectively, at the third annual Sony Eye of the Condor. An energized crowd at iF3 Santiago played witness to the world premiere of the short films and photo portfolios, with Chill In and TGR narrowly edging out submissions from 4bi9, ValdiVieso, Icelantic, and Discrete.

“Of course, you wish you could give everybody the award, everybody had something that was really strong, that the others didn’t have, it’s almost like a toss up,” said iF3 President and judge Felix Rioux. “For me there were several [entries] that should have won, but you can only give one prize.”

On the photography side of things, that prize went to Chile-based photographer Juan Luis de Heeckeren, with his portfolio that balanced Chile’s unique ski culture with action from teammates Inaqui Irarrazaval, Clemente de Heeckeren, and Sebastian Reyes. “I wanted to show something colorful, something classic, some landscapes, some lifestyles, and something new,” said winning photographer de Heeckeren. “I’m super excited with the win.”

For the film category, cinematographer Nick Kalisz of TGR narrowly beat out tough competition from all the teams, but particularly from ValdiVieso and 4bi9. Kalisz mixed the Condor, a symbol of the Andes, with action from teammates Matt Phillippi, Colter Hinchliffe and Tim Durtschi. “All the edits were really sick, there was lots of good skiing from everybody, and we’re really happy with the way we put our edit together,” says TGR athlete Tim Durtschi. “We’re really happy to have won, but it’s also really cool to see everybody’s edits and see what they did all week.”

Sony Eye of the Condor is presented by La Parva and Delta, and supported by Smith Optics, iF3, Cobb , ValdiVieso, Mallsport, Dark Dog, and Mountain Hardwear. For complete photo portfolios and films, check out https://www.laparva.cl/eyeofthecondor/.

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