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The vibes are high at Steamboat Springs this weekend; The ski resort’s springtime tradition, Springalicious, always goes down in the first two weeks of April and offers up rockin’ activities including the Splashdown Pond Skimming Championships and loads of free music (this week’s lineup included acts like Ozomatli, Leftover Salmon and Giant Panda Guerrilla Dub Squad). Adding to the mix this year, too: FREESKIER rolled into town to display its much-talked-about “pARty Gallery Tour.” We set up shop yesterday at Steamboat’s Base Club, just a stone’s throw away from the snow at the base of the ski hill, and attracted skiers in the prime-time après hours of 3-6 p.m.

If you’re not up to speed on the pARTy Gallery Tour (Putting the “art” in party — See what we did there?), get the full run-down, here. In short: We’re hosting the events in conjunction with our web-based Photo Shootout contest. The tour consists of 20 blown-up photographs, free, tasty hors d’oeuvres, cocktails galore, DJs, raffles and prizes, and good ol’ fraternization among mountain folk. It’s our way of saying “Thanks,” and giving back to the hard-working ski photographers out there.

Regarding the photos on display, the top-ranked images from the Photo Shootout (and many other great shots, too) were printed with infused dyes onto specially coated metal sheets; The metal prints take on a spectacular luminescence, and because the images are infused into the metallic surfaces and not on ’em, the archival qualities of this unique process are top-notch. Essentially, we’re dealing with durable, archival prints without glass. They’re absolutely beautiful, and almost every individual who soaked-up the scene at Base Club yesterday (this marked stop # 2/5 on the tour) approached one of our staff to inquire along the lines of, “What’s up with the metal prints? They’re amazing.” Indeed, they are.

We’re packing our bags this morning (after a rather raucous night in downtown Steamboat — Thanks, Schmiggity’s!) and looking ahead to the next stop on the tour. Will you join us? Upcoming pARTy Gallery events include:

• Copper Mountain, CO
  Friday, April 15, 2016
  @ Incline, 3-6 p.m.
  RSVP link coming soon

• Portland, OR
  Thursday, April 21, 2016
  @ Basecamp Brewery, 7-10 p.m.
  RSVP link coming soon

• Bend, OR
  Saturday, April 23, 2016
  @ Velvet, 7-10 p.m.
  RSVP link coming soon

Note: All events are 21+

About FREESKIER’s Photo Shootout contest:

FREESKIER introduced its inaugural Photo Shootout this past fall, a web-based photo contest through which photographers could submit imagery for a chance at winning up to $10,000. With more than 4,000 photos submitted (from 1,126 photographers) it’s safe to say the contest was a smashing success. Our readers cast north of 65,000 votes for their favorite photos, helping us to narrow the vast pool of imagery down to a batch of finalists. Our esteemed judging panel then had the tough task of picking winners for categories including action, scenic, lifestyle, abstract and overall. And now, we take things one step further: As outlined above, we’re taking the winning photos on the road.