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Vail Resorts launches ‘ski YouTube’

Edward Stoner
Vail correspondent
Aspen, CO Colorado
Vail Resorts has set up a new website, mysnowtv.com, for skiers and snowboarders to post their videos.
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VAIL ” When Dan Genditzki rides through the terrain park on Vail Mountain, he sees an average of three video cameras filming people hitting jumps and rails, he said.

He’s seeing more and more filming on the mountain, he said.

Cameras have gotten cheaper, smaller and easier to use over the last few years.



“You see a trick on a snowboard video, and you want to re-enact the move,” said Genditzki, an Eagle-Vail resident.

At the same time, the “YouTube revolution” has given homemade videos worldwide exposure. For instance, two Chinese boys lip-synching a Backstreet Boys song has been viewed a million and a half times on YouTube.




Vail Resorts is capitalizing on the trends with a new website, mysnowtv.com.

“It’s a bit of ski YouTube,” said Rob Katz, chief executive officer of Vail Resorts. “Anything that fosters excitement around our company is a good thing, and we saw it as a natural fit.”

The site allows visitors to upload videos of skiing or snowboarding powder, the terrain park, backcountry or bumps ” or anything else that has to do with snow sports. Among the dozens of videos already on the site, titles include “Just ripp’n the pow” and “Dan Pedro shreds the gnar!”

Visitors to the site can rate the videos on a scale of one to five and post comments.

Austin Porzak of Boulder posted a video of himself skiing the backcountry near Vail over Presidents Day Weekend, and it’s now the most popular video on the site, with nearly 500 views.

“People like to see videos of things they’re never going to do,” Porzak said. “When people see the backcountry with snow up to the neck and 80-foot cliffs, it really catches their eye.”

Porzak works in Vail Resorts’ legal department in Broomfield. The company launched the site by advertising it to its employees last month.

The site actually has almost no mention of Vail Resorts. Company officials said the site supports snowsports in general, not simply Vail Resorts.

Vail Resorts will give away a $500 gift certificate to GearDirect.com every week to the most popular video, from March 10 until April 8.

Katz was noncommittal about posting a ski video of himself.

“Maybe,” he said. “I might try and win the $500.”