“The image above says ‘2011’ like I’ve done this for years, but in reality, this is the first edition of such prestigious awards. Unlike other awards, you didn’t have to apply for these, just a judging panel of one (me) made a list of the best and eliminated them one by one until a winner was selected.”

With these awards, part of my goal was to recognize the small stuff. Rather than view the season as a whole, look at single elements that worked well. Today, I’ll recognize single photos. Not surprisingly, the winning photos were taken during the early season, opening day period. This is due to two factors. First, resorts are really stepping up their game when it comes to photography this year. Second, the combination of new snow, early-season buss, and snowmaking create some really picturesque opportunities. All of these were shared on social media.

Without further delay, the winner is (come on, click play first, you know you want to):

WINNER – Best Ski Resort Photo: Aspen/Snowmass
A beautiful photo and a simple announcement. The result was 622 likes, 299 shares, and 85 comments. Not bad for one photo, eh? I love the simplicity and the consistency of font and message when compared to the rest of their photos. Great work.

HONORABLE MENTION: Mont Tremblant
Facebook’s photo processor killed the colors a bit, but this is still a beautiful photo that combines a scenic view that hints, “we’re opening soon.”

HONORABLE MENTION: Loveland Ski Area
Other resorts have groups of people dedicated to creating content. Not so at Loveland. Dustin Schaefer wakes up early, especially during snowmaking season, to capture awesome opening-day photos likes this one, then returns to the office to manage group sales and social media. Last year he produced some great opening-day photos and this year was no exception.

About Gregg & SlopeFillers
I've had more first-time visitors lately, so adding a quick "about" section. I started SlopeFillers in 2010 with the simple goal of sharing great resort marketing strategies. Today I run marketing for resort ecommerce and CRM provider Inntopia, my home mountain is the lovely Nordic Valley, and my favorite marketing campaign remains the Ski Utah TV show that sold me on skiing as a kid in the 90s.