Words by Dan Carr

Photos by Dan Carr & Dana Flahr

What better way to end the summer glacier season, than with a good old fashioned sunset shoot and BBQ……

With the final session at Momentum underway in late July, camp owner John Smart made plans for his annual sunset shoot. This summer saw some of the best weather on the Horstman glacier in years but on the morning of the shoot things were not looking promising as thick clouds rolled into the valley. With only a few days of camp left though, and uncertain weather in the coming days, John made the call to stick to the plan. The weather gods had been kind to him in previous years and yielded some stunning sunsets so we crossed our fingers passed the time in the restaurant at the end of the day.

Frank Raymond & Josh Stack discuss the meaning of life while waiting for sunset...

...while Spriggs, Henitiuk, Tudor and Lamond sneak in some snow trundling. photos: Dan Carr

As the last of the campers left the glacier John showed up with a truckload of beer and BBQ food. At least we’d have some fun even if the weather didn’t go our way! At 5pm it was still overcast and clearly going to be a while before any skiing needed to happen, so the BBQ was fired up everyone relaxed with a few drinks and a burger or two. Then another two hours passed and it was still gloomy and grey outside, and a collection of shotgunned beer cans suggested a few people had given up any hope of skiing again that day (Cosco was already passed out on the floor at the back of the restaurant).

Hayward about to give Cosco a lil shower. photo: Dana Flahr

But then it began to clear…At first I thought it was just a hole in the cloud layer blowing over but looking towards the horizon the peaks around the Whistler valley were slowly starting to appear from the murk. With less than two hours until sunset we had to act pretty fast.

the mighty Horstman. photos: Dana Flahr

On all the other sunset shoots I did this summer there was just a small group of skiers and photographers.In keeping with the style and atmosphere of his camp though, John had invited everyone from diggers to coaches and the many, many friends of Momentum.

Cosco rises to the occasion. photo: Dana Flahr

On hand were coaches John Spriggs, Ian Cosco, Frank Raymond, Chris Turpin, Josh Bibby, Mike Riddle, Dana Flahr and Matt Hayward along with diggers Jon Brogan and Jen Crichton.  Salomon had invited Mike Henitiuk, Dane Tudor and Paul Bergeron, and Tucker Perkins and Tanner Rainville were there filming for Greg Stump’s new movie Legend Of Ahhhs.  There must have been 30 skiers in total!

Tucker Perkins. photo: Dana Flahr

Tanner Rainville. photo: Dana Flahr

While a group of us put the finishing touches to the jump at the bottom of the main lane, Mike Riddle set about trying to re-invent the sport of mogul skiing by hopping round to switch at the bottom of the middle section and sending huge switch cork 9s straight into the final mogul line! Unfortunately I had a shovel in my hand and not my camera at this time so you’ll just have to take it from me, it was SICK!

the sunset begins...

photos: Dana Flahr

With so many skiers we needed to spread out for the shoot, half the group opted to hit the super smooth 80 ft step over on the far side of the park and the other half stayed to hit the largest jump in the main lane where most of the photographers were hanging out. Time was of the essence though and by the time the jumps had been speed checked we probably only had an hour left before the sun hit the horizon. I decided to shoot the main lane jump with the Salomon crew and Brogan among others, and everyone was up to speed on it pretty quickly with some notably stylish stuff from Paul Bergeron.

Paul Bergeron. photo: Dan Carr

Jon Brogan. photo: Dan Carr

I wont bother keeping you in suspense about how epic the skiing and the sunset were because by now you’ve probably glanced at the photos further down and they speak for themselves.  As the sun’s last light bounced off the remaining clouds the sky burnt up and produced the most dramatic backdrop I have ever seen. The clicks and flashes from photographers were relentless as everyone dropped in one after another trying to squeeze in one last hit before the light was gone. Having so many people up there made for a fantastic atmosphere heightened by the music cranking from the Salomon/Skullcandy tent at the bottom of the park. It was a perfect way to put an end to a great summer season on the glacier.

Mike Henitiuk. photo: Dan Carr

Justin Dorey. photo: Dan Carr

Dane Tudor. photo: Dan Carr