The lights went out in Denver, CO this past Friday night as Level 1 pushed play on their 12th annual feature length ski flick for a packed house at Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom.  Crowds lined up early and wrapped around the block in anticipation of what the ski community has come to look forward to as one of the biggest and best parties of the Fall season, and by all accounts, everyone got what they expected.

In attendance; Parker White, Tom Wallisch, Chris Logan, Ahmet Dadali, Will Wesson, Mike Hornbeck, Wiley Miller, Tanner Rainville, and Adam Delorme, as well as friends, media, and industry VIPs traveling from all across the country to be on hand for the night’s festivities.

After DJ Harvitronix’s opening set, our annual Monster Chug wrapped up the prize giveaway and set up 5 lucky fans with rad prizes from Rossi, Klint, DaleBoot, Skullcandy, Bula, Saga, and Electric- everyone went home with something, even if their chugging technique wasn’t working so well.

Parker White’s opening seg was by all accounts, an “eye trip” and far and away the most well-rounded  and all-encompassing part that Level 1 has ever put together, and kicked off 55+ mins of top notch ski action, great music, and all the ingredients that we consider necessary for a successful ski flick.  If the volume of screaming yelling and cheering is a good way to gauge crowd reaction, the 1400 people in attendance seemed to agree.  Highlights seemingly included Chris Logan and Alex Bellemare’s part following on the heels of Parker’s opener, Hornbeck’s strongest segment in years, Rainville’s POV shots, Will Wesson’s first real feature-length seg with Level 1, Adam Delorme’s best seg yet, and Ahmet Dadali doing what he does best.

Much thanks to all the event sponsors that helped this year’s World Premiere go off!  Monster, Rossignol, Freeskier, Skullcandy, Under Armour, Klint, DaleBoot, Powderhuffer.com, Saga, Spy, Scott, Bula, Electric, and Loveland!

Lots of premieres on the horizon!  Two days and counting ’til our SLC Level 1/4bi9 blowout.  This Friday we wrap up the first night of films at IF3 in Montreal, and the next night are getting after it in Seattle with 4FRNT at Evo!

Stay tuned to the Events Calendar for a full listing of After Dark World Tour dates and locations around the globe!

Kyle Decker put together his own mini-movie, “New Era,” back in 2009 with a few select members of the Level 1 crew. Featuring content from Level 1′s feature film “Refresh,” Kyle’s edits are a collection of the some of the best, and, for lack of a better term, “progressive” shots from that year. Truth be told, a couple years later, they still hold up!

In the last of six installments, B-dog throws down in his first full-seg year with Level 1- bringing the style you’ve come to know and love. Nothin’ more needs to be said!

The lights go out in Denver, CO on September 9th at Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom!

This year we’re taking over both Cervantes main room and The Other Side.  Two rooms.  Two huge screens.  Two stages.  Two DJs.  One Reggae act.  Huge raffle.  LOTS of prizes (including skis, outerwear, eyewear, streetwear, etc).  Poster signing with your favorite Level 1 athletes.  Its guaranteed to be the biggest and best Level 1 World Premiere yet- and that’s sayin’ something!  If you were one of the 300+ people that gut stuck in the street after the show sold out last year, buy your tickets early!  And if you were one of the people that did make it in the door last year, well, don’t get stuck without a ticket this time around.  This event WILL sell out.

Its not a party without the Music!
Harvitronix opens things up for the pre-show party- hailing from Boulder, CO.  Not his first rodeo, Harvitronix has played a few of our premieres before, but promises to make this one his best set yet!

Yup.  T Wall seg from New Era is live.

In the fifth of six installments, Wally comes out swinging- crushing everything in his path- kickers in the UT backcountry, huge rails and jibs in downtown Helsinki Finland, massive park features in Mammoth Mountain, CA, and everything in between.

The lights go out in Denver, CO on September 9th at Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom!

This year we’re taking over both Cervantes main room and The Other Side.  Two rooms.  Two huge screens.  Two stages.  Two DJs.  One Reggae act.  Huge raffle.  LOTS of prizes (including skis, outerwear, eyewear, streetwear, etc).  Poster signing with your favorite Level 1 athletes.  Its guaranteed to be the biggest and best Level 1 World Premiere yet- and that’s sayin’ something!  If you were one of the 300+ people that gut stuck in the street after the show sold out last year, buy your tickets early!  And if you were one of the people that did make it in the door last year, well, don’t get stuck without a ticket this time around.  This event WILL sell out.

Its not a party without the Music!
Harvitronix opens things up for the pre-show party- hailing from Boulder, CO.  Not his first rodeo, Harvitronix has played a few of our premieres before, but promises to make this one his best set yet!

If you’ve seen or heard about Eye Trip then you already know the story- Sun Valley Resort, the early bastion of freestyle skiing in the 1970′s and 80′s had enacted a rebirth of sorts. With a little help from their friends at Snow Park Technologies the first park was built on Dollar Mtn with world-class park shoots to follow, hosting the Forum Snowboard crew, and yours truly (Level 1). The coup de gras of last season being the 120 foot transfer gap jump built at the base of Bald Mtn at Warm Springs, which culminated in a blowout jump session that would end up closing out Eye Trip.

In conjunction with the 1^st annual Harvest Festival Sun Valley featured a crop of snow films from the past season including the two aforementioned ones spotlighting the freestyle emergence on their home turf. Level 1 was in full effect as a semi-reunion of the May shoot came to town for the screenings including Tom Wallisch, Parker White, Josh Berman, Stan Evans, Erik Seo, Freedle Coty, and Wiley Miller. Also in tow was musician Taylor Brown who after playing premieres in Utah and Colorado had arranged gigs for the festival.

Friday night started things off at Apple’s Bar & Grill where owner and Eye Trip’s official SV spokesman Hank Minor got an outdoor party going with Taylor Brown, Smith’s ‘Mining Idaho’ and TGR’s ‘Light The Wick’ as featured entertainment. The party then gravitated to downtown Ketchum at the infamous Whiskey Jacques where Forum’s ‘F It’ finished off the evening.

Saturday brought some seasonably cold weather complete with rain showers (and impending snow) to the iconic sunny valley which shutdown most outdoor activity including mountain biking for most of the crew and attendees. Fortunately the opera house at the historic lodge complex played host to the films of the night. With a solid portion of the Wood River Valley population in attendance (combined with people coming from further points in Idaho) made for an excited audience. A local film/edit contest was held, followed by Grete Eliassen’s ‘Say My Name’ with ‘Eye Trip’ as the headliners of the show. To be expected the Sun Valley segment was the most-anticipated piece, and as Hank Minor gave the narrative to Pete Columbo’s jump masterpiece followed by the skiing climax of Chris Logan, JF Houle, Parker White, and Tom Wallisch it clearly brought down the house.

Things were wrapped up with a visit to The Roosevelt later for a proper closing finale, not to mention some soaking in the hot spring creek as snow fittingly covered the Sawtooth Mountains on Sunday. We’ll be back Idaho!

Huge thanks to Sun Valley Resort, Mike Fitzpatrick, Brian Callahan, Pete Colombo, Hank Minor, Kevin Kruse, the park staff, & Mark Oliver!

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Wednesday night (Sept 22^nd) set a new high-water mark for our annual double-feature show in Salt Lake City, Utah with 4bi9 Media. The powerful ski scene in Utah never ceases to amaze- local fans, students from the U of U and Westminster, Wasatch yetis, industry veterans, and even a few parents thrown in the mix drove our highest audience turnout to date.

With a fresh dusting of snow on the peaks to give everybody a reminder of the winter season ahead, things kicked off proper in conjunction with the official opening of 4FRNT Ski’s new flagship store on 2900 S West Temple. A hot dog picnic was provided as people toured the new storefront and skated on the mini ramp in the back warehouse.

Opening up the night at the Rail Event Center was musician Taylor Brown who put on an incredible one-man show that was not to be missed as hometown heroes Tom Wallisch and Wiley Miller signed posters from across the venue hall. SLC-based 4bi9 then took the stage to present their feature film ‘Gunnie Season‘.

With their ever-present entourage in tow consisting of AJ Dakoulas, Tom Wallisch, Tim Maney, Steve Stepp, Dave Euler, LJ Stenio, Tyler Barnes, Dale Talkington, Kevin Steen, Paul Braunstein, Ryan Wyble, John Kutcher, Rich Fahey, Collin Collins, Witt Foster, Brady Perron, and special guest Mike ‘Papa Wally’ Wallisch, the crew introduced their flick to the adoring masses. Covering the Utah scene across the board- from the expected urban domination to a highlight Grizzly Gulch powder expose- with a Stratton, VT park shoot thrown in the mix, ‘Gunnie Season’ brought the energy level to the peak capacity.

Following an homage to fallen ski brother CR Johnson, and a raffle (with help from Mr. Scott ‘Skiierman’ Townes) complete with a Monster chug, Level 1′s Josh Berman, Kyle Decker, Freedle Coty, Tom Wallisch, and Wiley Miller sent off a hugely successful screening of ‘Eye Trip’ into the night.

Day Tripping from Saga outerwear on Vimeo.

Huge thanks to Dynastar, Scott, Spy, Orage, Spyder, Kombi, 4FRNT, Snow Basin, Monster Energy, and Skullcandy for making everything possible.

More recap coverage on Freeskier & Newschoolers

Photos by Rocky Maloney, Max Lowe, and Freedle Coty

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