The sunset shoot is a staple of all action sports media. The ingredients are simple…
– Gather up the sickest athletes you can find.
– Invite the best photographers around.
– Wait for the light to get just right.
– Have your riders throw down.
Sounds simple enough, right? Wrong. Months of planning go into these shoots. Permits are acquired, access is granted, patrol pulls double duty, lifts are run after-hours and in this case 4WD trucks are brought in to bring our crew from the Whistler-Blackcomb village up the rugged mountainside to our final destination, the Hortstman Glacier.
We’ve been carefully scoping the weather all week alongside the 4FRNT team, finally after some deliberation we decided that all systems were go last night for what turned out to be one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. Before I go any further let me assure you, we didn’t have any assorted cheeses, wines and a copy of Pure Moods 11 playing in the background. Instead, the atmosphere was charged up by Dr. Luke Van Valin’s antics, Matt Sterbenz’s reggae blasting backpack and enough snus logs from Andre Llovas to build our own Swiss Family Robinson log cabin.
The 4FRNT team made their way to the top of the course while photo extrordinaires like Matt Harvey set up their remote flashes, battery packs and other nonsensical techno gadgetry to ensure that they got the shot.
While the 4FRNT team warmed up, the photographers scoped around for their favorite positions. One by one, each rider got more comfortable with the massive CoC pro jump line and the sun crept into prime position.
Just starting to look epic at the top of the park. I think we’re almost there.
Yep, this is the money shot.
Thanks to Connor Scofield and Camp of Champions for the video from the night shoot.
