As you may recall, in December, we reported that GoPro had dropped off 20′ shipping containers at Bear Mountain, Northstar-at-Tahoe, Park City and Sun Valley; the containers included a smorgasbord of terrain park features, including the following:
- Four 2″ x 20′ round tubing
- One 2″ x 20′ round tubing
- Four 4″ x 20′ round tubing
- Four 6″ x 20′ round tubing
- One 20″ x 20′ round corrugated tube
- Four 1 1/2″ x 20′ square tubing
- Fifteen 2″ x 20′ square tubing
- Three 10″x 20′ square tubing
- Four 3′ x 4′ x 4′ square GoPro cubes
- Two 8′ x 16′ wall rides
- Four gallons of paint
- “Unlimited” plywood
GoPro’s message to the four resorts was simple: Battle it out to see which of the popular shred destinations could build the best features and terrain parks using the provided materials. The resorts were limited to a 200×200’ grid on their respective mountains. There would be prizes for best overall resort activation, best resort video and best Instagram posts (the Insta prizes would be awarded to park shredders who captured themselves jibbing the GoPro-branded features). So it happened that GoPro’s “Out Of The Box” challenge was born. By mid-January, each resort had unveiled their GoPro-inspired parks to the public. All winter long, the masses proceeded to dominate the parks. Earlier this month, the resorts were hard at work piecing together edits that highlighted their “Out Of The Box” ideas. And today, at long last, we’re excited to announce the big winners and to showcase the fine work of not just the winners, but all four resorts.
Overall Activation Winner: Bear Mountain
Bear Mountain took home $10,000 and the serious bragging rights. Deservedly so. Bear hosted a crowd-sourced #GoProPark design contest that offered one lucky winner a chance to session their dream setup with 100 friends after the mountain closed down for the season. Bear received over 180 submissions from its faithful fans. That was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to Bear’s social promotion; i.e. the Bear Park Crew was determined to promote the fu#k out of this contest. In addition to digital efforts, Bear included the original shipping container in its annual Hot Dawgz & Hand Rails event, and also went so far as to stencil “#GoProPark” and “#BearBuilt” on each and every feature. It’s the thoughtful touches that get you ahead in life, folks.
Snowboarding star Tim Humphreys said of Bear’s setup, “It’s set front and center of the sun deck for all to admire your selfie prowess. Every feature is set up prominently with lots of open sky backdrop to work with, and was prone to late-day hike sessions with all the homies, which made for some awesome golden light opportunities. The features were set up on one tier, not in a line, which made it easy to focus on one thing at a time and get shots.”
Best Edit: Bear Mountain
Winner, winner, chicken dinner. Bear Mountain earned an additional $5,000 for its unique edit, embedded below. The parameters: 60 to 90 seconds, shot 100% with GoPro. Bear’s Lee Stockwell was the brains behind this piece, and for his efforts he takes home “the ultimate GoPro setup.”
#GoProPark Honorable Mention
Sun Valley’s #GoProPark catered to a wide range of abilities, coupling mellow jib setups with larger, multi-option wallrides and a hefty drop feature, too. For good measure, Sun Valley featured the original shipping container in its annual Trailing of the Sheep Festival.
Northstar-at-Tahoe’s #GoProPark was designed as a flow course, i.e. skiers and snowboarders could hit multiple features in a row. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as connecting a series of tricks. Additionally, Northstar built up the transitions all around the shipping container, making for endless ways to go over, through and along its body.
Park City built its entire #GoProPark into a halfpipe, a moved that proved to be a huge hit with locals and visitors alike. It’s not everyday that you see a pipe erected with jibs along its deck. Pumping transitions: The best. Handplants: The Best. This was certainly a slick move by the folks at PC.
Instagram Contest Winners:
Guests of each of the four participating resorts were encouraged to capture and share GoPro photos (and videos) on Instagram using the #GoProPark and #GoPro hashtags. GoPro selected winners from each of the four resorts, granting ’em $1,000 each. The top-dawgz are as follows, from Bear, Sun Valley, Northstar and Park City, respectively.
Related: Chris Benchetler x GoPro drop new web series; Ep. 1 feat. Mammoth pow shred
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