Today's contest venues are often just plain scary for the competitors.

Skiing has advanced so much over the past 17 years it's hard to comprehend that a 720 used to win a big air contest.

Triple corks on 30 meter icy step downs aren't always fun.

We would like to take skiing, as we know it, back to its roots for a few days.

You won't see an energy drink sponsor at this comp.

You won't see any banners or a lane closure on the course.

We are here to celebrate an individual in the way that he would see fit.

Lets take it back to the good times of skiing, circa 1998.

Love,

The Armada Family

"The King of the Hill Contest in Riksgransen, Sweden 1998 was the first place JP and I met. We shot together for two weeks, including the solo quarter pipe session above, and I quickly realized I was documenting the future of skiing. It was the first time any skier hit a half pipe or quarter pipe with style. In the days before youtube and instagram, this contest was the first place the international ski media and photographers, therefore the world, really got an up close peek at what could be done on skis in a terrain park. JP Auclair and JF Cusson filled the magazines in Europe and North America that following fall with the photos and stories from Riks. Word travelled a bit slower back then.

JP went on to win that contest and he and I hit it off. We went on to spend a good chunk of our adult lives traveling and shooting the world over. We also started Armada together.

In my twenty years of photographing skiing and snowboarding, I can truly distill the birthplace of modern skiing to those couple of weeks above the artic circle at the one of a kind ski resort called Riksgransen.

To pay tribute to JP, we would like to bring it all back to where it started in Northern Sweden and have a freestyle ski contest." - Chris OConnell

All photos from Daniel Rönnbäck, Chris O'Connell, and Josh Bishop at Armada Skis.

For the complete photo recap from Josh, head on over to our Facebook page and view the JP Memorial photo album. --- nwsc.co/JPMemorialAlbum

Recaps by day: nwsc.co/JPMemorialDay1 // nwsc.co/JPMemorialDay2 //nwsc.co/JPMemorialDay3