BEST PERFORMANCE BY A MALE

Tanner Hall
Teddy Bear Crisis

The competition was fierce, and the decision was difficult. After a painstaking process that included surveying a 25-person panel of industry insiders, sifting through hundreds of hours of footage, and finally viewing and reviewing segments over and over again, Tanner Hall emerged as the winner of one of skiing’s most coveted awards: The Powder Video Award for Best Performance by a Male.

At first glance, Tanner’s part in [i]Teddybear Crisis[\i] doesn’t have the big lines that would normally be requisite for a serious Best Male contender. But, in our rounds of watching and rewatching the nominated segments, the one we were repeatedly psyched to see was Tanner’s. There is no question he was aided by great presentation and production (this is a video award, after all). However, Hall’s performance on the slopes was surreal. Sage Cattabriga-Alosa, C.R. Johnson, and J.P. Auclair put together more diverse segments, and Eric Hjorleifson attacked the big mountains better, but no one ruled their genre the way Tanner did.

Tanner soars through an X Games practice run.

Tanner put together a never-before matched mix of huge, fluid, and stylish airs off backcounty booters, gaps, and natural terrain, mixed together with urban rails, structure jibs, and deep powder. This award comes as a bit of redemption for Hall, whose season—and almost his career—was cut short when he knuckled the landing of a switch 900 over Chad’s Gap and broke both ankles. His crash, which was best presented in The Bigger Picture’s [i]Pop Yer Bottlez.[/i], was awarded Worst Slam.

Hall, 22, has won numerous Winter X Games medals for Slopestyle, Superpipe, and Big Air. This was his first trip to the podium at the Powder Video Awards.