Massive at Mt. Hood: Heli Shoot

All the preparation and all the practice came down to one day, really. CP flew an A-Star fitted with a Tyler mount down from Seattle. Based on thoughts from credible sources, this was the first time Mt. Hood had ever seen a helicopter used for ski or snowboard shoot.

It's difficult to fathom what needs to go on for a heli shoot to be a success. The chaos is nearly indescribable. We sat on the in-run up by the skiers while the Red Bull Skiing team manager Pete did his best to relay commands from CP over the roar of the rotors sitting in the shotgun seat. Those little Motorola radios provided little more fidelity than indecipherable bursts of muddled shouting. Nevertheless as the heli dropped low over the top of the in run, and our gloves skipped away across the glacier like bunnies across a field, order somehow manifested itself from madness and the shoot was a resounding success.

See all 25 shots from the massive gallery of the final action shoot for Tanner Hall's film, "The Massive!"