THE ECS INVITATIONAL | HAPPENING
Sure there're crews at most resorts spread across this frozen tundra, but the unofficial home mountain for snowboarding in Canada is Mount Seymour. It’s where Party Snakes, The Seymour Skids, The Wildcats, and the Whiskey videos all had formidable years. It's the husbands, fathers, brothers and sisters from those days that still get together for special events like the ECS Invitational.
ECS, or Evan Chandler-Soanes is the man behind the lens of so many timeless photos from Seymour. He is the namesake and brain behind this annual event held at the peak of the mountain. Somehow he convinces 30- to 40-plus friends to hike the almost three-hour pilgrimage to the peak. This is where ECS and a few motivated boarders have hand shaped/dug a massive quarter pipe, and possibly camped out for a few nights in the process. Usually held on a sunny day in mid-spring, it’s warm enough for shirts-off boarding, and even some barefoot manoeuvring.
It's probably the lack of quality quarter pipes these days that fuels this event. It has all the necessary components to give the people what they want. With a few breaks to maintain the pristine vertical shape, the afternoon cruises on with more heart, beer, BBQ, and slams than the body can handle. The nature of this event captivates a close-up audience. In turn, a boarder can be praised or easily be torn apart worse than a scorpion to flat. The hecklers in the crowd seem to have a relentless thrust for blood.
If you're a young shredder with a golden ticket invitation, get hyped and ready yourself for a taste of three decades of snowboarding crashing down at the peak of Mount Seymour. Pick up a shovel and get to work, or start your own event in your scene, it doesn’t have to be polished to be perfect.
“In a nutshell, it’s just a family of friends having a good time.” —Nic Heringa
ECS INVITATIONAL 2016 VIDEO RECAP
ECS INVITATIONAL 2016 PHOTO GALLERY
