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The Meeting snow-film festival fires up Aspen

Andre Salvail
The Aspen Times
Dusty Diaz, right, sponsorship and events coordinator for Aspen Skiing Co., hands over a T-shirt and other materials for The Meeting to David O'Connell, of Edwards. Registration for The Meeting, Skico's annual pre-winter conference, started Thursday at the Limelight Hotel, headquarters for this year's event. The Meeting continues on Friday and Saturday, with many professional and social events planned.
Abby Margulis/Special to The Aspen Times |

The Meeting, Aspen Skiing Co.’s annual snow-film festival and busy weekend of conferences, speakers, networking, music and fashion, begins in earnest on Friday following today’s registration at the Limelight Hotel and this evening’s video-awards presentation in the event’s Wagner Park tent.

Generally, The Meeting serves to get Skico workers and others involved in related Aspen-Snowmass winter-sports operations fired up about the coming season, Skico spokesman Jeff Hanle said. This year marks the ninth anniversary of the gathering.

He called it “an excitement factory for the winter.”



“It’s to bring together some of the influencers of the ski industry, along with all of the people who run in that world, interested in the season,” Hanle said. “It started with providing this informative setting where people can get together and talk about (making ski movies). It’s become much more than that. And it’s a perfect time of year — we’re supposed to have snow Friday night.”

“It’s to bring together some of the influencers of the ski industry, along with all of the people who run in that world, interested in the season,” Hanle said. “It started with providing this informative setting where people can get together and talk about (making ski movies). It’s become much more than that. And it’s a perfect time of year — we’re supposed to have snow Friday night.”


The conference portion of the meeting is being produced by Group Y, an action-sports collective of people focused on “uniting industries and igniting ideas,” according to a Skico news release. On Friday, for example, conversations that begin at 10 a.m. at the Limelight Hotel will cover a variety of topics rooted in the snow-sports business.



Confirmed panelists include:

  • Paul Crandell, vice president of marketing at GoPro, makers of the versatile camera often used in the recreational and professional winter-sports arena.
  • Danny Grant, general manager of Orchard Sports, a digital distributor of action-sports films. He works directly with filmmakers and brands to syndicate worldwide content.
  • Nick Sargent, global director of strategic alliance at Burton Snowboards.
  • Ricardo Crespo, an executive with Th13teen, a company prominent in the design and branding industries.
  • Brooke Wentz, founder of the Rights Workshop. Wentz has more than 20 years of experience in the field of intellectual property rights, working in television, cable, film and recording industries.

Also, seven of eight film showings are planned for the Wagner Park Theatre, this year’s temporary movie-screening venue that was set up because of renovations at the Wheeler Opera House. Tonight at 6 p.m., the Wagner Park Theatre will host the NEPSA Video Awards, to be followed by the first film screening, “Partly Cloudy,” which starts at 8:30 p.m. The eighth film showing will be held Saturday night at Belly Up Aspen.

Aside from the conferences and films, however, there is the party element of The Meeting. A lounge has been set up in the Wagner Park for participants for each late afternoon and evening (Thursday through Saturday), and other recreational and social activities are planned as well, including:

  • D&E Ski and Snowboard Shop/Four Mountain Sports present a fashion show at Belly Up Aspen, 9 p.m. Friday (free and open to the public).
  • Music by DJ Shadow at Belly Up Aspen, 11 p.m. Friday (ticket required).
  • Cart racing at the Woody Creek Racetrack, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
  • The Meeting Happy Hour at Limelight Hotel, 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday.
  • Musical performance to be announced, Belly Up Aspen, 11 p.m. Saturday (following film screening).

The Limelight Hotel is serving as the official headquarters for The Meeting. A special discount in all room categories is available for guests of the event. A two-night minimum stay is required to guarantee the special rates. Interested visitors should call 800-433-0832 and reference “The Meeting.”

Sponsors for The Meeting include Bud Light, Helly Hansen, Red Bull, Audi, Target, Resqwater and GoPro.

For a complete film and event schedule, visit the following web link: http://www.aspensnowmass.com/themeeting/schedule. To register for The Meeting online, visit http://www.aspensnowmass.com/meetingreg.

Tickets to movies at the Wagner Park Theatre will be sold separately through the Wheeler Opera House box office or online at http://www.aspenshowtix.com starting Friday at 9 a.m.

asalvail@aspentimes.com

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