The first place award from the judges went to "Apres 101" by professor Pat Sewell, a local self-proclaimed expert in advanced apres ski techniques and a professional apres skier. The short film had a nice clean logic to it, a collection of good local footage of Sewell, and ended with a splash. Should make a great self-promotional short. Second place was give to "Aspen Extreme Redux" and third place went to "The Flight of the Sniper Cub" by Mike Cuseo, which provided a bird's eye of early-morning Ajax from a camera on a small remote-controlled plane, complete with a Tecate beer can patch on the fuselage.
There was also some nice work from Nate Berkel on appreciation of neon and the dangers of fixation, while Aaron Berne and Chace Dillon shared some classic footage of closing day parties at Highlands. The biggest gasp of the evening came during "Speed Riding: Attack of the Killer Gringos," a film from Darrell Miller of Jackson Hole that featured skiers using paragliding-style canopies to ski and swoop off cliffs. Completely unhinged - yet apparently a very effective and graceful method of getting down a mountain.
The Vegas theme for the evening seem well-appreciated by the inebriated crowd. Chris Davenport makes for an athletic Elvis, Naka G on the turntables was right on it, and the NEPSA/Vegas sign was spectacular. The Meeting event continues today with a session on the state of the snowports industry and screenings at the Wheeler and the Sundeck. The Wheeler screenings begin at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. and the movies at the Sundeck start at 10 p.m. The gondy starts running at 9 p.m. for the event.
