The cover photo was shot during the filming of Matchstick Productions’ Focused. We were in Bella Coola, BC, in one of the best zones ever, “Harrison Hotel.” We had been carrying these water skis — which he had borrowed from Tamara McKinney — around in a clustered heli basket for a week, not convinced he would actually ski them. The peanut gallery — Hugo Harrison, Steve Winter, Steve Reska, our guide Woody Tribe and pilot Richard Lapoint — gently heckled Shane as he scoped this line and got his skis out of the basket. It was time to prove his point: that the water ski shape would work on snow. He dropped in, made five or six turns, and slid the rest of the run sideways down a spine. I was laughing so hard I almost fell out of the helicopter. This was a one-run deal. The screws were so loose that the bindings almost ripped out of the skis. Luckily, Shane ran out of vertical after around 2,000 feet. Point proven.

–Flip McCririck