2005 Banff Mountain Photography Competition
Best Photo — Mountain Landscape
Peter Mathis: “Crystal Hills, Hohenems, Austria”
“After a very heavy snowstorm in December, I went for a randonnée ski up to the Hohe Kugel, a mountain not far from home. About 50 centimetres of fresh snow had fallen. I came around a corner and saw that slope with all those tiny little hills and waves. Due to the low temperature, the snow crystals were extraordinarily beautiful. I returned to that spot several times over the winter, but it was never again like on that special day.”
Peter Mathis is a self-taught photographer born in 1961 who lives in Hohenems/Vorarlberg. Having come to photography through mountaineering, he became an independent sports photographer in 1986. He is involved in every aspect of outdoor photography and specializes in skiing, snowboarding, climbing, alpinism and mountain biking. Today Mathis works for numerous international companies, magazines and agencies. In 1992 the first of his many books, Fascination Snowboarding, appeared. In June 2005 Mathis became the first Austrian photographer to be recognized as a QEP — Qualified European Photographer.