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For a ski contest photographer, slopestyle is the dark, lonely, sad winter (even when the sun is shining in a blue sky). Generally, I am posted up somewhere far back from the course, hopefully with a passable angle of view on two features—I see someone pop into the sky, land, maybe make a speed check, then lift rapidly up the next takeoff and finally go out of view behind the next knuckle. I can hear the roar of the crowd and, if I’m lucky, the comforting voice of Uncle E will call out some tricks or the score. In the end though, I will not see full runs or even know if the skier stuck the second trick I shot.

My heart lifted last night as I shot practice in the Olympic halfpipe at the H.A.M. (halfpipe, aerials, moguls) site at Rosa Khutor ski resort above Sochi, Russia. I could see full runs. I could hear the skiers talking amongst themselves and some of them yelled at me from the t-bar lift that circulates them from bottom to top after their runs. Jossi Wells called out a trick to me so that I could shoot it on his next run. Matt Margetts made fun of me and laughed. Torin Yater-Wallace stopped on the deck of the pipe and chatted for a few minutes while he watched his competition and checked the shape of the pipe. At the bottom of the pipe, Jossi went wild with a truly excited yell as Kevin Rolland stomped a switch double 1260.

The vibe was lighthearted and fun. The pipe skiers were ecstatic to finally be skiing and, with two days until the event, the pressure of the Olympics was barely in attendance. Tonight’s training session will be more serious, for sure, and on Tuesday, with Olympic medals on the line, game faces will be worn like Guy Fawkes masks. Still, even with the forecast of possibly heavy snow, I will at least be feeling like a part of the proceedings as I shoot photos and watch people do full runs.

Other notes from Sunday’s training session:

In general, the only complaints about the pipe were regarding the heavy vert, especially on the right wall, and the super soft conditions (which certainly contributed to the over-vert feeling as the evening session went on). With two more days of tweaking, plus the colder temps that have dropped on the region today, the pipe should be pretty darn good come game time.

AJ Kemppainen and Lyman Currier had nothing but praise for the pipe, with Currier claiming it was one of the best he’d ever ridden.

American Angeli Van Laanen also called the pipe “perfect,” and added a word of thanks to the course organizers and workers who have been working so hard on making the best pipe possible.

Marie Martinod of France confirmed that as the walls got a bit softer they became over-vert, but said of the pipe, “I love it.”

David Wise commented that it was getting better, and that if the event had gone down [that night] it would have been “all good.”

One cool thing for those watching on TV: a 4-dimensional cable cam will be filming above the halfpipe. This R2D2 looking contraption can follow down the center of the pipe, but also can drop down or raise up all while producing super smooth images thanks to a Cineflex rig. Should look super sweet.

Although I was turned away interviewing (talking gossip with, oops) Jossi Wells, there was high praise for Kevin Rolland’s new trick. Switch-to-switch double 12 would be a first time trick for pipe competition if he puts it to his feet on Tuesday.

Rolland, Yater-Wallace and Wise were probably going the hardest while the Freeskier crew was watching, but a lot of people were working on specific tricks, vs. linking tricks. I would expect to see more full runs thrown down during tonight’s session in preparation for contest day.

The organizers have been bringing in fresh snow for the flat-bottom of the pipe (re-sodding, as it were) and that seems to have helped the overall shape since the snowboard competition. The slipping team is at Olympic levels, 20 or more working in tandem and not a single embarrassing crash from the crew that we saw.

Practice again is scheduled for 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. local time tonight.

Related: Wise Man vs. Wild Man: Comparing, contrasting David Wise and Torin Yater-Wallace