If ever there’s a time and place to get hyped on the season ahead, it’s at The Meeting in Aspen. The fall foliage is always in full-swing, and it’s the place to watch the newest videos premiere with all your buddies. The drive up I-70 was snowy, icy and spectacular, all at once. We stopped by the Snowmass park on the way into Aspen, and gave it our all. Kealan and I gave it a try, and Steve shot some photos of the action (and spent some time trying to annoy a dog with the new Dog Whistle iPhone app). Weird. Buddy had an original Vision deck. Kealan, feeling it. Kealan, feeling it. Enough of that…it was time to get down to business. We checked in, put on our business jeans and started in on the festivities. In case you’re still scratching your head about what goes on at The Meeting, don’t let the title fool you. These are the kinds of meetings that go down. This is casual to the max, as Kevin Keller and Pat Moore can attest to. Keystone’s Christian Knapp. Shaun White’s new keeper, Gabe L’Heureux. On night one, Stance and Burton’s The B premiered at the Wheeler Opera House, and everyone was pumped on both. Nothing like watching shred flicks while there’s snow-capped mountains nearby. Leter in the evening, at some point, we got on the gondola, and headed up to the top of the mountain. The extra few thousand feet in elevation fueled the party, and I have no photo… Satuday morning, I had a little “me” time. This meant getting up early, and getting after it on the Frying Pan, just North of Aspen. The waters are infamous, and in my first outing there, I realized why. Fish were stacked on top of eachother. Big fish. I only ended up with two in the two hours I had on the river, but this chubby brown was a fun fight. I had to ditch the waders for my moto gear. Over at Buttermilk, right beneath the X Games halfpipe, the American Supercamp folks had set up a small track for the guests of The Meeting to enjoy. Having a moto background, I had to attend, of course, inflating my ego by running my snowboard friends off the track. Pat Moore, Kevin Keller and Adam Moran, getting ready for action. Pat and Adam’s matching elbows. The track had a double, poppy tabletop and some good berms to rip around. After a few hours, it was back to business. This time, the talks shifted toward filming and the Olympics. Here’s where things go off on a tangent. Somewhere, up some canyon in the Aspen area, Hunter S. Thompson had a ranch. The enigmatic guy passed away a little while back, and Kealan and Steve decided to go in search for his ranch… They end up with a moving truck. Meet Larry and Bob, and ask for directions to the Thompson ranch. Are given this map…pretty straightforward. And get completely lost. Ok, Back to The Meeting… Steve, and bear. BLOOD premiere. Zach Hooper, Wyatt Stasinos and Aaron Hooper. The indie flick BLOOD is honestly one of the most inspiring movies to get you up off the couch and out snowboarding. Much of the film is helmet-cam, follow cam and ALL powder. Every second of it is something that the snowboarder in you can relate to, which makes it so good. I got a copy, and have watched it a few times since…good shit. Afterwards, Zach Hooper had a gallery showing at Radio, Aspen’s raddest shop. Derek, and a shot of him at the manly Snowmass park. Two of the videos had a golden ticket in them. Buy one, and you had a shot at some goodies. This little guy was stoked! Radio show. I ended up at The Regal, where the Role Model video was premiering. Doran was DJing for a bit, and the place was packed with ladies. I couldn’t believe it. At one point, the ratio was about 3:1. Everyone’s a winner. Of course, I was just chatting them up. Sunday, it was time to head home. We decided to take the scenic route, and we’re glad we did. Kealan’s stomach didn’t care for the windy roads, but he was out-voted. Steve and I decided to bust out the cameras, and get after some scenics. I had my 4×5, and Steve had his 5D MKII. Kealan, hard at work. Steve. Steve’s shots…mine still have to be developed. Man, those words sound weird. Tree graffiti? Independence Pass. Glorious. Kealan, Steve and I. That was the end of our trip, that ended up being a bit of a journey. Special thanks to Meredith, Melissa and Deric up at Aspen, OC from Red Bull, Keller from Forum, Adam at Burton, and the Hooper clan. Can’t wait ’till the next meeting. Hopefully, it’ll be on a powder day.