Alterra Mountain Company's Emmy-Winning Work

Alterra Mountain Company celebrates My Ikon, My Lens, its most inspiring project, having been recognized with a Regional Emmy in the Branded Content category. An accolade confirming what many already suspected: the magic of winter is also written with light.

The program, created in collaboration with Ikon Pass, Arapahoe Basin, Solitude Mountain Resort, and Steamboat Resort, centers on ski photographers—those hunters of moments who, like skiers and snowboarders, chase storms…

Three perspectives, one impulse

The series follows three photographers—Stephen Shelesky, Ben Duke, and Erica Hinck—and the athletes who share their passion for the mountains: Svea Irving, Vicente Katz, and AJ Cutler. Each brings a distinct style, a personal way of understanding the beauty of snow and the thrill of skiing or snowboarding.

For Shelesky, photography is an act of respect for nature: "I try to show the interaction between humans and the environment in a symbiotic and simple way. If a photo moves me, I know I want to look at it forever." His work with skier Svea Irving at Arapahoe Basin reveals this pursuit.

It's not just about technical perfection, but about capturing the unexpected, what compels one to return to the mountain again and again.

The unseen craft

The viewer sees a perfect image in a magazine, an athlete floating in powder or defying gravity. What they don't always see is the effort behind it—photographers carrying heavy gear, skiing backward, waiting for hours for the light to change, enduring wind, cold, and snow in search of the exact angle. It's a job that begins before sunrise and extends until nightfall, always under the capricious rules of the mountain.

The award that affirms a path

The Regional Emmy is not just recognition of the format, but of the passion and creativity that nourish the entire mountain community. A confirmation that stories told from winter, with authenticity and intimacy, have the power to inspire.

Because, in the end, seeing the mountain through a lens is also an invitation: to go out, ski, live, and, above all, to keep a piece of that magic forever.