Big-sir telemark free skiing,Vail

The flame was pretty gnarly,” recalls 23-year-old telemark freeskier Chris Ewart. “But the size of the jump itself was enough to make me completely forget that there was even a flame there!” The local freeheeler took first place for landing a huge double front-flip off a 70-foot jump during the Telemark Big Air competition last Saturday on Golden Peak during the inaugural Winter Teva Mountain Games in Vail, Colorado. In the first event of its kind, the skiers alternated with ten of the world’s best freestyle mountain bikers, who dazzled the crowd in the Best Trick Bike competition. BMX rider Chad Kagy took top honors for his backflip tail whip. Many of the riders had never practiced on snow until the day of the event. Likewise, Ewart had never tried this trick in competition before, but decided to go big. “All the bikers and freeheelers were super positive in the drop-in gate and it was crazy to see people from both sports throwing down. The crowd was cheering and getting excited. The whole mood of the night got me really stoked up to try it out,” says Ewart, who is also an EMT. Such audacious feats happening in the air come with some carnage in the landings. Yet after each crash, the competitor shook it off with great style to the delight of the crowd of 5,000 people. “I crashed a couple of times,” says Ewart. “Some of the other guys had some nasty falls, but props to them for continuing and throwing down hard even afterward.” For the mountain bikers, the frosty terrain brought some benefits. “The snow makes it much harder to land, but it doesn’t hurt nearly as bad when you don’t,” says rider Cameron Zink. The festival’s events included races for elite and amateur athletes in mixed climbing, Nordic skiing, ski mountaineering, snow biking, snowshoeing, and running, as well as gear demos, bands, parties, and great conditions for skiing and snowboarding. Getting the Shot “Photographing the Teva Mountain Games is always a blast for a variety of reasons, but mainly the vibe they create is so fun you want to be there,” says photographer David Clifford. For this shot there were two big-air competitions going on at the same time, within about 20 to 30 feet of each other. “It was tricky. I was under the jump, shooting from a lower angle to get some big-air perspective. The telemark skiers and mountain bikers would intermittently take turns on the jumps and the bikers could choose from two different ramps,” says Clifford. "We had different focus points and lighting adjustments to make each and every time. Often times the skier would be way past the zone I was lighting, and then the fire would go off.” Photo shoots always come with unexpected challenges, and Clifford had his fair share during the Winter Teva Mountain Games. Just an hour before the competition his Elinchrome Quadra completely died. "I ran down the ski slopes, borrowed a bike, got my Profoto 600-watt backup pack and head. The reflector was missing, so we placed the head inside the head of the Elinchrome, upside down, and bounced the light off the wall of the jump. It was brilliant because we got some direct light for the bikers and some reflected light on the foreground for the tele guys.” Later, Clifford was about to head to cover the ski-mountaineering race and discovered someone had stolen his ski boots. “I pride myself on getting the shot and over coming anything, but that was a new twist.” Clifford used a Canon Mark IV with a 16-35mm, 2.8L lens. Clifford’s lighting gear included two MultiMax pocket wizard transceivers, one built-in pocket wizard, a Profoto 7B with two heads, and a Profoto AcuteB 600R.