Gibbons Style Session

Words and Photos: Ilanna Barkusky

Following up a performance by Busta Rhymes, the Gibbons Style Session highlighted the schedule on Saturday night at the World Ski and Snowboard Festival in Whistler, BC. The format of the big air contest in conjunction with the festival has changed over the years, however the energy and excitement for an event taking place in the village like this has remained steady with the organizers developing a creative twist on contest riding.

Utilizing a format completely unique to this event, skiers and snowboarders paired up into teams of two, with each invited athlete having the opportunity to pick their partner. Each team hits the feature together, but get scored individually with the results combined for a team total. With the teams hitting the 40-foot jump at the same time, the stakes were high and crowd-pleasing tricks were thrown.

With the clear skies above and in between various pyrotechnics, the teams took to throwing down for $13,000 in prize money on the line. With many skiers and snowboarders in town for the Canadian national team training camp up on 7th Heaven, the rider list was stacked with locals and contest regulars alike. Each team was given two runs to impress both the judges and the sizeable crowd which packs the village every year.

At the end of the night, the French Canadian duo of Alex Bealieau-Marchand and Francis Jobin came out on top for the guys, throwing down a clean dub flat 7 and backside 900 respectively. For the ladies, it was Brooke Voigt and Emma Stevens taking the win with two well executed side-by-side 720s . Other highlights of the night include the team of Derek Livingston and Taylor Wilson stomping their second run shirtless despite the chilly temperatures, as well as Simon D'Artois' Hawaiian-themed getup. Shout out to all the riders involved for ending the festival in style this year!