3/26/99

Photographer Tony Harrington demonstrates what would have happened if Tim Vlandis hadn't dropped the 50 footer that helped Tony win the "best cliff" category.

Make believe you're one of the best snowboard photographers in the world. Now imagine choosing your favorite snowboarder and flying with him/her to one of the most expansive lift-serviced regions in the world. While there, you're given 100 rolls of film and a week to go out and photographically document five different aspects of snowboard photography: best turn, best cliff, best panoramic, best lifestyle, and best sequence. Every night you turn in your film, and by the next evening you get the developed slides back. Then you're either completely stoked or pulling out your hair in frustration.

Rider Jason Haynes accepts the "best panoramic" award for Australian photographer, Scott "Need Ham" who was forced to leave Austria early for a three-week Indo surf trip.

That's exactly what happened in Austria's Arlberg region March 20- 27, 1999 at the first Winter Crystal Awards. Conceived by Dani "Kiwi" Meier, the Crystal Awards was a contest designed to highlight the teamwork involved with capturing snowboarding action on film. The contest pitted 10 photographer/rider teams against each other to see who could come back with the most impressive images. The teams were given one week to shoot. At the end of the week each teams best pics would be shown on a giant screen in front of 40 judges (including the photographers and riders) to see who captured the best moments in time‹eye candy for judgment day.

The Teams

Photographers:	Riders:
Jeff Curtes (USA)	Dave Downing (USA)
Mark Gallup (Canada)	Jason Ford (USA)
Trevor Graves (USA)	Josh Dirksen (USA)
Tony Harrington (New Zealand)	Tim Vlandis (Australia)
Scott Needham (Australia)	Jason Haynes (Australia)
Vincent Skoglund (Sweden)	Jacob Soderquist (Sweden)
Taki Takiguchi (Japan)	Jun Kamata (Japan)
Vianney Tisseau (France)	David Vincent (France)
Roberto Trabucchi (Italy)	Massimo Perotti (Italy)
Richard Walch (Germany)	Martin Rutz (Germany)

What photographers do on down days. Scott Needham models the shaving cream as Jeff Curtes holds the background for a Vianney Tisseau photo.

On The Hill Action

The Arlberg region was at the tail end of its best winter in 100 years. But snow as a Catch 22 offered nervous vibes to the teams as worldwide news reported massive avalanches. As the teams entered St. Anton by automobile and rail, they saw old-growth pines splintered and snapped along the roads and wreckage of destroyed buildings reminding them to get the goods but safety comes first.

Jeff Curtes thanks Dani "Kiwi" Meier for putting on The Crystal Awards and giving him the opportunity to walk away with two categories: "best turn" and "best sequence" thanks, in part, to rider/teammate Dave Downing.

All teams wore avalanche transceivers, and carried probes and shovels, and they started each day with an avalanche report at breakfast delivered by Andy, the event's resident guide and avalanche expert. Still, the unexpected is sometimes inevitable. The Swedish team of Vincent Skoglund and rider Jacob Soderquist met with tragedy on their first day of shooting when Jacob was caught in a small avalanche. The debris pushed him into a grouping of tiny trees where his leg was pinned and broken. An air-rescue successful transported him to a nearby hospital where he awaited surgery of his femur. A speedy recovery and event T-Shirt riddled with best wishes by the riders and photographers was also sent to the hospital.

Such an event brought concern, sorrow, and an additional helping of waryness to the snow pack, but as professionals faced with such dangers, the teams continued in their hunt for terrain; event photographer Peter Mathis followed various teams and documented both the on-snow and off-snow moments. Some teams met on chairlifts, and in the backcountry, while others never saw their fellow competitors.

On one snowy roll, the good-humored Italian team made up of Roberto Trabucchi and rider Massimo Perotti yelled down at Richard Walch playfully as Richard put his camera gear back in its pack. "You didn't get up earleee enough . . . "

Tim Vlandis straddles the ice pond nozzle where his evil twin brother took a dip after a night on the sauce. .

When Roberto set up to shoot a pow turn with Perotti, Richard left to hike 3,000 vertical feet for his sequence‹a cliff drop. That was the beauty of the event. Some shots were right below the lifts, some were far and away from the nearest road, some urban, some mountain, all beautiful. From the "power lines" panorama of Scott Needham, who only shot four rolls of film the entire week, to the Vianney Tisseau chamois atop a rocky point to the Vincent Skoglund documentation of Jacob's heli evac. All moments in time you'll no doubt see in various magazines and Web sites throughout the coming year.

The Winners

The overall concensus of all photographers involved was that any one of the photographers invited could have won every single category. This alone attests to the photographers' mutual respect and the overall skill of those invited. All winners will be invited back next year to a location yet to be announced.

The overall winning team of American photographer Jeff Curtes and rider Dave Downing took both the "best turn" category with a surfy off-the-top in a St. Cristoph gully, and a secret-spot jib sequence in surreal snowy conditions atop and off the roofline of some half-buried mountain hut in the St. Anton Valley.

The remaining three categories were won by New Zealander Tony Harrington and rider Tim Vlandis ("best cliff") with a spectacular 50-foot drop, a silhouette, against a jagged Austrian Peak as a backdrop.

Richard Walch shoots rider Martin Rutz in the quest for the perfect powder turn. .

"Best panoramic" by Australian Scott Needham of a slow-exposure horizontal of power lines made stunning with a beautiful mixture of composition and light. Scott's teammate Jason Haynes accepted the award due to Scott's early departure for a three-week surf trip in Indonesia where he's sitting somewhere in warm salt water without a clue as to his sucess. Needham said, before his departure, that the one powder day after the week's biggest storm was his most frustrating experience ever as a photographer. With some photographers shooting as much as 18 rolls that day, Scott only shot one roll as he scouted for locations, but always found them tracked out, without proper light, or just not right.

The "lifestyle" category was taken by Trevor Graves whose team rider Josh Dirksen was captured walking the streets of St. Anton in cosmic late afternoon light after a hard day of riding. It was a story all those involved could relate to and appreciate.

Frenchman Vianney Tisseau went ape shit when forced to edit the weeks photos down to his favorite five slides. .

Moments in time, captured by the eyes of the world for eternity. As Kiwi put it, "when it's all said and done, I'm going to be able to go back through my life and skim through the books, the magazines‹the photos, that's the one tangible thing we can all have forever. And that reason was the inspiration for this event." Thanks to the photographers who carry heavy packs on perfect powder days, and sit in dangerous locations to bring us images we can drool over.