For three years in a row Jordan Manley has taken top spot at the Deep Winter Photo Challenge, presented by Arc’teryx. His style and skill behind the lens was most impressive with his epic powder shots...

unique angels, tree climbing and underwater shots that left the crowd in awe and narrowly squeezed competitor Paul Morrison out of top spot.

After an incredible, snowy start the winter and for the first time in the four-year history of the event, the January storm cycle that typically pounds the coastal range took a little break giving way to calmer weather and more sunshine than normal for this time of year. With the weather on their side five pro photographers were sent out Monday January 4th with three days to shoot, edit and prepare for the final show on Thursday, January 7 at 8pm.  

This year’s pro photographer line up included Manley, 1st place and now three time winner of the event; the legendary Morrison, 2nd place plus Best In-Show-Photo and first ever “King of Storms” ; Nicolas Teichrob, 3rd place with an impressive debut at the event, and well-known, crowd pleasing and highly publicized pro snowboard photographers Colin Adair and Brian Hockenstein. 

“As always, the Deep Winter Photo Challenge proved to be a tiring, but fun four days,” says Manley. “We worked hard and tried to be as creative as possible. This year differed in that the sun came out, and we ended up venturing out of the forest and into the alpine, which was weird, but great.”

The judging line-up included iconic photographers Dano Pendygrasse, Eric Berger, Canadian Press and long time Whistler photographer Bonny Makarewicz, as well as Tom Duguid of ARC’TERYX and Mike Berard, past photo editor of SBC Skier Magazine, ski writer and communications specialist at Origin Design and Communications.

“I love this event,” says Berard. “It never fails to inspire me, both to ski and to shoot photographs. The quality of the work produced in these three days is incredible and everyone involved should be proud. The high caliber of the slideshows - especially Paul's and Jordan's - made for a very tough decision in the judging room."

The Deep Winter Photo Challenge, presented by ARC’TERYX kicked off the GORE-TEX Deep Winter Experience, which ran through to January 10, featuring free avalanche awareness tours, Extremely Canadian ski clinics and great discounts on GORE-TEX outerwear.

For more information on the GORE-TEX Deep Winter Experience line-up of events please visit www.whistlerblackcomb.com/deepwinter.

Photo: Jordan Manley, Location: Whistler Blackcomb, British Columbia.