The Mulls ( & Josh)  Are back from Aspen.  To get  a little rest before headed to the Olympics for the first ever team BOBSLED/ JIB EVENT.

Tom put his thoughts of the whole deal down on paper for you to Enjoy.  ( like POW )

The term “Grand Prize” is something we have all read on the back of a cereal box and the phrase “All Expense Paid Trip” is something we have all heard come out of the telephone. Most of the time I wonder if anyone actually “wins”. I never hear it on the news, I never see any proof. But – believe it or not, I have won the Grand Prize and I have experienced the All Expense Paid Trip. And so, I offer the story.

In November of 2008, I found a contest on YouTube hosted by Totino’s Pizza Rolls. The title: Roll into the X-Games. The rules: submit a video that invokes the energy of the X-Games, 60 seconds or less. This contest was a convenient find at a convenient time. My brothers and I did not only collaborate on video projects, but we also shared enjoyment in a relatively new extreme sport known as free-sledding. This sport was, like snowboarding, born in the state of Vermont and since its invention, has developed into a considerably dynamic sport. My brothers and I recognized this fact and drew parallels to snowboarding, skiing, and even skateboarding. We saw the potential and relevance to the Totino’s contest, and so submitted a sledding video. The edit was composed of highlights spanning our past four years of video making, which offered a variety of creative locations and innovative tricks.

After submitting, the next step was to publicize in order to attract votes. In short, our video soon climbed to the top of the polls, but only by a small percentage. The competition included everything from parkour to pogo-stick videos, yet our sledding edit maintained a unique dynamic. By late January of 2009, we were announced the winners and received four thousands dollars and a free trip to the 2010 Winter X-Games in Aspen, Colorado. This contest, unlike that seen on a cereal box, was not a sweepstakes; we had expelled the work and were rewarded. I do not feel embarrassed in using a cliché: all the hard work finally paid off.

I write this now on February 9^th, 2010. We got back from our trip just a week ago, and let me tell you, I have never said anything with so much sincerity: it was by far the best trip I have ever been on. I traveled with my two brothers (Dave Mull and Steve Mull) and our friend Josh Gauthier. Us four had been most involved with the production of the submitted video: Steve, Josh, and I were the ones sledding; Dave was the one filming. Before flying out of Boston we decided to document the whole trip to Aspen, there and back.

Traveling on an Airplane was a very new and exciting experience in itself. Though, this was merely because I had never flown before—I am sure it is no novelty to you—I will spare the detail. Let me tell you this, though: flying over the Rocky Mountains is quite the first experience. On top of that, being in Aspen was enough geographical shock for all four of us. Unlike Vermont, the mountains are higher, the valleys are smaller, all contributing to a cramped, yet gorgeous environment. We had no problem scoping out sled runs.

Though the X-Games were at Buttermilk Mtn. in Aspen, our chauffeur drove us to our condo located in the Village of Snowmass, just around the ridge from the events. The hotel was The Crestwood, our room number was 2212, and luxury was another new experience. Our condo was a few hundred yards from the mountain trials. From the balcony there was a perfect view of the Snowmass gondola as it paced back and forth, awaiting our occupation. Though the prize package also included four day passes, our first inclination was not to ski or snowboard. You can imagine the pride and anticipation we felt for sledding, after all, it was the sole reason for our presence in Colorado.

After dancing to some Billy Idol, we threw on our celebratory bathrobes and made our way to the lobby in order pick up a package: the sleds. Whitney Phillips is the president of Mad River Rocket, a company devoted to designing durable, maneuverable, and enjoyable sleds. Mad River Rockets are the only type of sled that allow full potential when it comes to jumps, cliffs, rails, powder, and any other sort of extreme terrain. They are the only sleds we ride. So, Whitney sent the sleds with this statement: “Enjoy boys…make me proud”. On that note, we changed out of our bathrobes and into our snow gear.

We were well aware of the fact that most mountains do not allow “sleds” on the slopes, but we recognized the difference between classical sleds and Mad River Rockets. So, gave it a shot. We slipped into the gondola and took a run down the bunny slope. The amount of baffled and judgmental looks we received was expected, but it became obvious that we had much more control over our sleds than any skier on the bunny slope. So, we decided to push our luck and conceived a plan to sneak the sleds onto the high-profile gondola. Dave was on a snowboard and Josh was on skis, they both went by the lifties claiming that the sleds strapped onto their backs were actually filming devices. Steve and I followed empty handed, claiming that we only wanted to hike. The plan worked until ski patrol approached us at the top of the lift and explained the Snowmass policy. We had to take the gondola back down.

Getting kicked off the mountain was upsetting, but the anger was forgotten in the luxury of the slope-side hot tub. That night we took a shuttle over to the X-Games. It was amazing to watch super pipe and big air events, but it soon became overwhelming. There were tens of thousands of people all crowded together at the base of Buttermilk. They were all people I did not know and did not particularly care for. We had won “a Trip to Aspen for the 2010 Winter X-Games”, but our most enjoyable moments were spent on the other side of the ridge.

The next day we hiked up a small mountain that overlooked the Snowmass village. We built a jump into the deep powder and enjoyed the foreign terrain. We have never felt so out of our element than on the face of that mountain: waist deep powder was another new experience. Add that to the list. On the third day of our trip, we took advantage of our lift tickets and went snowboarding and skiing. The view from the peak was amazing—just one more memorable moment amongst a mass.

By the fourth and last day, we were not ready for the return back to reality. It seemed necessary to test what luck we had left. So, as soon as the lifts stopped, we poached the terrain park in hopes of getting some sledding footage. Though it was icy, dark, and nerve racking, it proved to be one of the most enjoyable sessions of the year. We left with some decent footage and a good sense of closure.

The following morning we flew back to Boston and I found myself doing homework before I even knew it. Though we all returned to our daily lives, the trip was not necessarily over. The fact that we documented the whole thing offers reassurance: I will have a very difficult time forgetting anything about that excursion.

The “All Expense Paid Trip” is over, the prize money spent (on tuition, by the way). I hope I have offered some proof that these contest actually do have winners, and I hope that I have offered some insight into how incredible the experience actually was. This past trip has given us more than enough motivation to continue on sledding, and it has given us plenty of incentive in pursuing our passion in video production.

Imagery stimulation