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Back for the 9th straight year, The Meeting is now underway in downtown Aspen, CO. One of Freeskier’s favorite annual events, The Meeting draws a large group of brand reps, filmmakers, media, athletes and resort folk to the iconic mountain town for three+ days of action. From film screenings to panel discussions, concerts to fashion shows, art shows and more, the agenda is packed. Not to mention the rowdy brunch affairs, spontaneous midday group hikes or biking sessions (it’s certainly not a bad time to be hanging in Aspen, leaves changing color, and all that), go-carting sessions, group dinners, bar parties and late night hotel room antics. So, after approximately 362 days of anxiously awaiting, it’s game on, once again.

Among the films to be screened this weekend are Level 1’s Partly Cloudy, Poor Boyz Productions’ Tracing Skylines, Sweetgrass Productions’ Valhalla, Sherpas’ Into the Mind, TGR’s Way of Life and—for the first time—a showing of Simon Dumont’s short film, A Decade of Freeskiing Progression, put together in collaboration with Stept, Network A, Level 1 and PBP.

A handful of snowboarding films will also be screened, from Jake Blauvelt’s Naturally, to Nike Snowboarding’s Never Not Part II, Transworld Snowboarding’s Nation and Will Film for Food’s Livin. New this year, the films will be screened in a large tent erected in Wagner Park, while the Wheeler Opera House, previous home of The Meeting, undergoes renovations. The general consensus on the move: A little fresh air never hurt anybody.

Today, from 10:00 – 4:00, attendees will gather in the conference room of the Limelight Hotel—the official headquarters of The Meeting 9—for the annual panel discussion. Sounds dry, perhaps, but the occasion has proven to be a staple of The Meeting experience. A handful of industry and non-industry icons will speak to the group, with a goal of inspiring thought-provoking conversations—around a variety of topics from content creation and distribution to digital landscape, brand activation and connecting action sports with the mainstream—all intended to help facilitate the continued growth of snow sports. Featured speakers include such names as Paul Crandell, Vice President of Marketing at GoPro and Nick Sargent, Global Director of Strategic Alliance at Burton Snowboards, among many more. We’ll be live tweeting throughout the day via @freeskierlive—be sure to tune in.

And lastly, but certainly not leastly, we’re looking forward to doing some good ol’ fashioned networking. With a who’s who of industry insiders gathered in close proximity—most everything goes down within walking distance of the Limelight—the weekend provides a casual, fun setting for folks to kick back, shoot the shit and discuss plans for the upcoming season. ‘Tis a great opportunity for Team Freeskier—rolling in force this weekend, by the way—to generate fresh ideas.

So, what’s in it for you? Throughout the weekend, Freeskier will be uploading audio clips to Soundcloud. With an athlete or filmmaker around every corner, we’ll be conducting many quick interviews and uploading ’em instantly—quick, dirty, unfiltered.

Visit https://www.aspensnowmass.com/en/events-and-activities/events/the-meeting/schedule for the complete film and event schedule, and be sure to follow along with the official hashtag: #TheMeeting9.