The Meeting brings media, athletes, filmmakers together for open forum in Aspen, Colorado.

Ski industry mainstays, Teton Gravity Research, Matchstick Productions, Level 1 and Poor Boyz all premiered new movies to sold out crowds.

The fifth annual Meeting in Aspen went down this past weekend and Freeskier was in attendance to cover all the action. This anticipated gathering of film makers, snow industry creatives and marketing minds has become an annual pilgrimage for our people who work in the industry to celebrate snow sports, the coming winter and the films that put a spotlight on the deepest, biggest, steepest and most fun aspects of skiing and snowboarding.

By all accounts, the event was a huge success and the crew at Aspen pulled out all the stops to ensure their spectacular town was enjoyed by all.

Thursday night kicked off with the NEPSA awards and a welcome party at Belly Up and local shop D&E presenting a fashion show. The local team of Pat Sewell and Jeremy Rubingh took first place at the NEPSA awards winning $2,000 as well as a $1,00 Target gift card. James Logan, Tyler Middleton, Derek Koster and Greg Ernst took second as well as the crowd favorite award and Mike Cuseo took third.

The fashion show at the Belly Up went off really well with great styling from D&E and local models strutting their stuff.

Friday kicked into gear with the weather clearing up and providing the perfect setting for some road bike rides and the Town Hall Meeting at the Sky Hotel. Following that, the historic Wheeler Opera House opened her doors to the industry once again with the screening of Nimbus Independent’s film Contrast and Everyday is a Saturday from Poor Boyz. Dane Tudor absolutely killed it in the PBP flick. This kid is the real deal; from park to urban to huge lines in Alaska, Dane made it all look good.

Our crew cooked up a mean feed during the screening of the Snowboard films. Frias properties of Aspen hooked us up with a mad nice condo in the Silverglo complex and Keri and Angeli went to town knockin out some tacos. Tacos led to dresses as we donned heels and jewels for the gondola ride to the Sundeck on Aspen Mountain for the screenings of TGR’s Re:SEssion and Empire Attire’s Transitions, a documentary film created primarily by Riley Poor to showcase Simon Dumont’s road through the ranks while giving props to those who paved the way. “I wanted this film to be something that when a kid who is out skiing everyday is asked by his parents what he’s doing, what he’s working for and what park skiing is all about, he can hand them this DVD and they can come away with a better understanding,” said Simon about this film.

On a side, personal note, but perhaps even more exciting than the movies, Riley asked his longtime girlfriend Katrina to marry him in front of the crowd while introducing Transitions. A “yes” from her and the crowd went wild. Katrina has been extremely instrumental in all of Riley’s progress throughout his recovery from an accident last December that resulted in his partial paralysis. It was an amazing moment for Riley, Katrina and all of their friends there to witness it.

Saturday started off with a bang as Red Bull put together a motocross track at the base of Buttermilk and provided 15 dirt bikes for us to all session. Needless to say, there was some competitive natures coming out and dirt flying. But everyone was super pumped on the experience.

More meetings followed at Buttermilk with some panels put together to talk about the nature of the competitive landscape of skiing and snowboarding followed by the business of films. The Association of Freeskiing Professionals was a topic of discussion with Simon Dumont, last year’s overall AFP World Champion, on the panel to help explain the AFP’s place in the competitive landscape and how it fits into X Games and events like the Dew Tour, European Open and other global events. Stay tuned to Freeskier.com for more on the AFP in the future.

To conclude the weekend, the Wheeler opened again with the Forum movie, Refresh by Level 1 and MSP’s In Deep.

After party at Belly Up rounded out the festivities and Aspen was once again restored to its peaceful nature come Sunday morning.

One last huge thanks to Aspen for putting it all on. This gathering continues to grow and attract both creative and focused business-building energy.
Big thanks to Ryan Miller, Derek Gunshore, Melissa Rhines, Meredith McKee, Jeff Hanley and John Rigney for all playing key roles in putting this event together.