Some last minute tweaks to the landing off the Gap-o-Tron. I needed new pants after simply standing up here, let alone throwing myself off it on a bike.

Alright, here it is – the incontrovertible climax of the nine days of the Crankworx festival, and the reason the whole exists in the first place – Slopestyle Finals. The day started early with a re-run of the Slalom finals, following the debacle of the previous day. I took some pictures, but to be honest, they look pretty the same as the ones I did yesterday, so I’ll save the wear-and-tear on your mouse buttons by not including them in today’s report. Greg Minaar and eternal favourite Tracey Moseley won the pro events, and the whole thing ran smoothly, so that was nice.

Meanwhile, there were rumblings afoot in both the village and out on the slopestyle course, as spectators and riders arrived for the big show about to unfold. With the action only an hour away, practice finished and an uneasy calm settled over the Boneyard. As those watching jockeyed for the best viewpoints, I spent far too long setting up an intricate system of strobes that in the end, I used twice. Awesome, time and money well spent, Dan. Still, I guess it made me look like big photographer dog on campus. In my own head.

And with that, the contest began in earnest. Two runs each this year, the riders had double the chances to horribly maim and injure themselves, though thankfully most eschewed the opportunity in favour of actually getting down the hill in once piece. The runs themselves were on the reserved side of awesome – in some cases the riders even seemed to be hitting their lines with a certain amount of trepidation; certainly the last Gap-O-Tron gap was mainly the domain of straight airs and dead sailors. Only the brave dared do anything out of the ordinary off the drop – Boyko’s 360s must surely go down as one of the ballsiest moves ever, and it’s surely a large part of the reason he won the overall contest, ahead of Lacondeguy.

With giant cheques awarded and winners appropriately congratulated the masses hit the bars and clubs to celebrate another year of progression. Me, I marked the occasion by falling asleep in Spaghetti Factory. I’m so rock and roll.

Straight air off the road gap? Everyone keeps their hands in their pockets. Tough crowd.

PEDAL LITTLE JOHNNY, PEDAL! Whistler locals on the prowl for fallen riders.

He’s a man with a big gun, aimed accidentally-on-purpose at the chairlift.

In case you didn’t know, Ian Nelson is kind of a big deal around here.

Darcy Turenne frames the action. That I have a bit of a crush on Darcy has nothing to do with me including this shot, oh no.

NSMB.com rider Ian Nelson surprised everyone, including himself, by not only making the finals, but finishing 10th overall with two beautifully smooth runs.

Every angle of the course was covered – if all the photographers worked together I’m sure we could put together some pretty nifty “Matrix-style” 360 degree sequences.

Lovely whippage off the big step up. The gusting wind probably helped on this one.

Laying it flat on the step down.

It’s Andreu Lacondeguy’s happy face, I’m told.

Off the Gap-O-Tron before the assembled masses. I committed the cardinal photography sin of not showing the take-off on this one – suffice to say, it’s somewhere within the stratospheric layer.

All pics: Dan Barham