Eighth Annual Big Sky Winter Shootout highlights community preservation

On a cool April night in Big Sky, Montana, a rowdy hoard of people gather at the doors of The Waypoint theater, swapping stories from another revered day exploring the mountains of southwest Montana. The cold air catches their breath in a frosty vapor, and most have one hand clutching a beer and the other tucked in a warm pocket. As they wait to be let inside for the third and final showing of the Big Sky Shootout to celebrate the end of an epic ski season in Big Sky, the evening chill is a reminder that even in a rapidly changing resort town, winter is an enduring force.

In its eighth year since inception in 2014, the Big Sky Shootout raked in a record number of 16 team film submissions and 52 photo submissions, many incidentally threaded together by a theme of honoring and preserving community culture. All submissions had to be shot in the Big Sky area during March. 

“The Shootout is a full-on visual celebration of Big Sky's ski and mountain culture,” said Erik Morrison, founder of Second Season Co., which produces the event. “It pays tribute to our local customs and traditions, gives voice to social issues, showcases the work and talents of the many creatives that call this place home, and does it all with a smile, tear and a laugh.”

Second Season is a project that seeks to onboard visitors and new residents of Big Sky through education, culture and experience. The Shootout is an impactful expression of Second Season’s mission. 

A handful of both photo and film submissions paid tribute to the Lone Peak Tram, which after 27 years of bringing skiers and riders to the 11,166-foot summit of Lone Mountain at Big Sky Resort will be replaced by a new gondola in the coming season. One film, submitted by longtime local and tram regular Rob Leipheimer, featured clips he shot from a helicopter in October of 1995 during the tram’s construction. Though not eligible for awards since films and photos had to be shot during March of this year, the submission’s homage was brought home in juxtaposition with local Dirtbag Queen and artist Heather Rapp’s film, “Tram Tribute,” which featured shots of the beloved buckets in action alongside scenes from Big Sky’s dirtbag day. Rapp’s film, which won the Best Lifestyle award, was also backdropped by an original parody to John Lennon’s “Imagine,” penned and performed by local musician Terry Stebbins. 

“You may say I’m a dirtbag, and I’m not the only one,” Stebbins sang. “I hope someday you will join us, and the tram will live as one.”

A handful of film and photo submissions did the due diligence of filling the screen with face shots and cold smoke slashes, a permanent record of a season that brought more pow days than not and a visceral reminder of what it feels like to float down the south face of Lone Mountain.

Especially indicative of the most resonant themes of this year’s shootout were Chris Kamman’s “Don’t Change,” and Andrew Robin’s “Weekend Warrior”, which won first and second place in the esteemed People’s Choice categories respectively.

Robin, who covets two first-place People’s Choice awards from his comical double entendre films sharing ski tales of “the masterblader,” interrupted his duology for a brand-new concept this year chronicling the weekend commute of his best friend and Shootout team member Grant Ganoom, who grew up in Big Sky but now lives in Belgrade. “Weekend Warrior” hilariously toggled between sharp cuts of Robin and his Shootout team members Tucker Roundy, Mathias Tellstrom and Howie Robin enjoying fresh snow at Big Sky throughout the week while Ganoom battled the hum drum of the 9-to-5. When he finally made it to Saturday, Ganoom confronted famously tedious Gallatin Canyon traffic, a full parking lot and pow-day lines for a funny take on what a popularizing Big Sky can look like in reality, especially for those Gallatin Valley commuters.

“I love the shootout for many reasons, but mainly it brings the local community together in a fun and creative way,” said Robin, who grew up in Big Sky. “You get to laugh together—and sometimes cry—and it’s just a great way to celebrate the town we all love and remind us that we all live in a very special place.”

While “Weekend Warrior” was one of those laughing instances, Kamman of SkyLab Media House took a more sincere approach to social commentary. “Don’t Change” is a profound statement on the evolution of Big Sky, documented by words from Big Sky founder Chet Huntley thrust against footage of Big Sky in its current development surge. Huntley’s narrative outlined his intentions for Big Sky as a place of open space and shared use, which Kamman thrust against both shots from Huntley’s days of Big Sky as well as modern-day large-scale building and “private property” signs. The film not only critiqued this contradiction, but also celebrated parts of the community Kamman intended to lift up: the smiling faces of widely known locals at Dirtbag Day, time-honored traditions and the simple joy of skiing and riding in an unmatched setting.

“I think the culture here is still alive and very vibrant, but it’s being squeezed out and overshadowed by a lot of the new development and advances in Big Sky,” Kamman said. “It’s important now more than ever to push through and show ‘hey, we’re still a community. We’re still a town of people that live here that are creative and are skilled.”

For Kamman—who participated in the first ever Shootout in 2014 when it was run by Lone Peak Cinema’s Scott and Sally Fisher and there were only four submissions—the Shooutout has always been that place to show the version of the community he loves and fight for its cultural preservation. 

Shootout producer Morrison echoed this, nodding to the words of Dutch philosopher and historian Johan Huizinga whose work invited readers to truly experience the ways people in the past lived, felt, and thought: “If we are to preserve culture we must continue to create it.”

“That level of awareness and understanding is what I am trying to cultivate in real time with The Shootout and Second Season: for residents and visitors new and old to find a deeper connection to our community, a deeper appreciation for our culture and hopefully inspire an embodied practice of how we live here in the mountains,” Morrison said. “I think the essence of this was really felt at this year's festival by our artists and audience alike as evident by the strong heartfelt reactions to the social/cultural themes prevalent throughout.”

At the final showing of this year’s shootout, the hoard from outside found relief in a packed warm theater, their earnest faces lit up by the silver screen as they were immersed in the expressions of Big Sky’s rich and long-preserved culture. Some wiped tears from their eyes, and a few friends clutched one another’s hands, these emotional expressions a testament to another piece of Big Sky as enduring as its winters: the community that loves it.

The Big Sky Shootout is presented by Second Season and made possible by a network of community sponsors, volunteers and creatives.

People’s Choice Awards Film : Presented By Big Sky Conoco

1st Place Don’t Change 

2nd Place Weekend Warrior

3rd Place Jamaica Ski Team

People’s Choice Awards Photo: Presented By Ace Hardware Big Sky

1st Place Jonathan Stone 

2nd Place INOAH Photographer

3rd Place Tim Redigan (Ice Fox)

Film Awards: 

Best Cinematography Presented By The Wilson Hotel - Park PSA

Best Line Presented By The Rocks - Snow Way Out

Best Social Commentary Presented By The Cave - Don’t Change

Best Trick Presented By Scissor Bills Saloon - Steez Lords

Best Powder Presented By Gallatin Alpine Sports - South Face Anomaly

Best Lifestyle Presented By Herbaceous- Tram Tribute

Photo Awards:

Best Landscape Presented By The Wilson Hotel - INOAH Photographer

Best Wildlife Presented By Love Street Media - Delaney Coveno

Best Trick Presented By Scissor Bills Saloon - Remy Stern

Best Powder Presented By Gallatin Alpine Sports - Tim Redigan (Ice Fox)

Best Lifestyle Presented By Herbaceous - Jonathan Stone

Best Social Commentary Presented By The Cave - Jonathan Stone

Best Line Presented By The Rocks - Jonathan Stone

All 2023 Shootout submissions are available here.