2011 Snowcial – From the Depths of a Smirnoff Ice and Back

Credit:Tristan Retzlaff / Special to Metromix

EPIC HEAVENLY VIEW!

For the third year now the Tahoe Snowcial has come together in South Lake Tahoe to redefine the meaning of skiing/snowboarding and social media. The Tahoe Snowcial is an event where you can keep up to speed with today’s fast paced social media environment and make some killer turns at Heavenly Ski Resort. The resounding term this year seemed to EPIC, epic turns, epic parties, epic thuggies and Epic Mix. With the 2011 Tahoe Snowcial in the books here is the Epic wrap-up and finger pointer.

I could write the same review that might be seen on every blog out there of people who attended the event but I would much rather explain a few key points I feel that the social media world is in and is currently going in.

First, Heavenly along with its parent company Vail Resorts have an amazing new feature for resorts guests, Epic Mix. For those who may yet to visit a Vail owned ski resort the Epic Mix is a social skiing/snowboarding feature that lets you track your entire day on the hill (well, what lifts you ride, it won’t however tell you what bathrooms you use or bars you frequented). The Epic Mix is a fun way to see what your friends and others are doing while out on the hill. Rob Katz CEO of Vail Resorts was very enthusiastic about the program and I would agree that it will change the way you experience your next visit to a Vail owned property.

MC Hammer - The speaker

Second, if you are looking for a way to satisfy your intellectual craving (or inner nerd) the conference portion of the event is everyone’s high point. The list of speakers this year was another who’s, who in the world of social media. We started the day off with MC Hammer, who as per usual, is brilliant and up to date with the constantly evolving social media scene. Next it got a little weird, like your brain and millions of neurons traveling to the brain telling me to jump off a cliff weird. Well, more so why I get the urge to go snowboard off a cliff and enjoy the experience. Dr Duncan Berry of Buyology Inc. explained the finer points of persuasive visual communication. Rob Katz was next to hit the stage and if I cover more of how amazing his Epic mix is you might think I was looking for a new job, so lets continue on to our next speaker David Norton of Harrah’s now Caesars Entertainment. I do not envy his job and how many different properties that he helps manage the marketing for all while allowing them to keep their own individual identity. We moved into the world of travel and leisure with Chris Elliot, Rich Beattie and Johnny Jet. One of the best counter lines that came out of the panel was an argument on why not everyone needs a blog or to socially market their brand. Josh Williams of Gowalla next stepped to the stage to discuss the current state of the social media check in. Not to place myself in the super nerd category but I remember when he was doing icon factory back in the day and his theory behind Gowalla along with a check-in based service is much different appeal than a simple Foursquare or Facebook style experience. The final regular speaker of the day was Dave Morin of Path, and in normal person terms this guy is smart and in nerd terms this guy is still really smart. He has developed a new social community that you only keep track of your 50 closest friends. The final group of the conference was a lightning round of 5 speakers with 5 minutes a piece and slides that changed every 5 minutes. Matt Harvey from Freeskier started it off in a thuggie talking about Curious George and drinking beer from a shoe. Next up was Jeremy Tanner from Snap Count who used images from The Day After Tomorrow and got heckled. Laura Lippay from Nine by Blue spoke about the dangers of the Snow Cougar and gave great examples of how to survive a possible attack. I must admit I missed Greg Prosi from broadbandsports.com but for good reasons, with Sonny Mayugba almost up I though it a perfect time to go grab a Smirnoff Ice, so I must apologize but I missed this one. With Corey Rich – Photographer up all I was anticipating was Sonny’s icing but I must admit Corey takes some stunning images. Finally Sonny Mayugba – Sacramento Press stepped to the stage and I need to send a shout out to Matt Harvey for helping with the Icing. With Sonny finishing up I think everyone in attendance was ready from dinner and a performance from Hammer.

MC Hammer the Entertainer

With Day two in the books we headed to the lifts for from friendly competition, the Epic Mix scavenger hunt. Team PRESTIGE WORLDWIDE formed by Jon Sluaghter from Boreal, JP Lagos from Iron Fist Media, Aimi Xistra-Rich from the Heavenly Foundation and myself quickly grabbed Heavenly instructor Dan Rich and decided we were the team to beat. We quickly devoured most of the lifts on the mountain going for the elusive Conqueror Pin which meant riding every lift that had Epic mix at Heavenly. By the time we arrived at lunch we only had 3 lift to go and were already over 20,000 vertical feet . If you are ever starving at Heavenly and need to satisfy a craving for espresso rubbed steak then stop into the Lakeview Lodge by the Heavenly tram and let you taste bud melt. With a happy belly we trotted out of lunch knowing we were slightly behind but determined to gain as many points as possible  before the lifts closed. When 4pm rolled around and our legs finally gave out we had ridden 30,000 feet in elevation and obtained over 450 point per person. On a special note, when you celebrate with shots after an epic day of riding DO NOT WALK AWAY! Jon slaughter took a phone call and his easy shot of whiskey quickly turned into a 151, and an epic bitter beer face.

Pre - Christian Loredo catch attempt

We rolled into the Awards dinner fully expecting to be one of the tops teams hoping no one was crazy enough to try and accomplish such foolish feats as riding all the lifts as we did. Harrah’s served up wine and amazing food but Team Prestige Worldwide was only thinking about victory. Well when the prizes were laid out and we found out that THUGGIES would be for the second place team we decided that being the first looser would be way better. Team Prestige Worldwide took a strong second place and quickly dawned our EPIC second place price – THUGGIES. And with winning drinks flowing we made a pact that we would ride the next day with Thuggies in full effect.  We tried to go to Ok-Go honestly but again 30k of vert on a snowboard wipes you out so team Prestige Worldwide sipped a few more winning drinks and crashed out early.

Dan Rich - Triple Fat Burger with Egg and Bacon

“You’re not going to not wear a Thruggie” and with that statement we all put our Thuggies on and toured Heavenly in full Thuggie fashion. Hopefully Rob Sandie gets the video together soon so the evidence can speak for itself. We rode as much as our tired legs would carry us until finally total body fatigue gave way and we called out 2011 Snowcial experience finished.

Me and Ripperoo

The 2011 Snowcial will go down with High fives from Ian Karnell, Rob Sandie, Christain Loredo, Mike Henderson, David Laplante, Rich Saake, Russ Pecoraro, Shannon Johnson, Jon Burns, Sonny Mayugba and Eugene Lee and if I forgot anyone I am sorry. Thank you all especially One to One interactive, Tahoe Snowcial, Harrahs, Heavenly and all attendee who make this event so special every year!

EPIC THUGGIE

Sorry for the wordy write-up but how do you condense Epicness?

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