Tapping into the YouTube craze of homemade videos online, Vail Resorts launched a post-it-yourself video website.
The site is intended to display footage of skiers blasting through pillows of deep powder, snowboarders slicing up the groomed runs and little Johnny in his first day of ski school.
“I love watching skiing and snowboarding videos, and I think others do too,” said Vail Resorts chief executive Rob Katz, who gave the green light for MySnowTV.com, the ski company’s newest venture. “I think it’ll be a lot of fun.”
Promoted strictly by word of mouth so far, the website features about 40 brief videos, ranging from amateur footage of Texas skiers mashing moguls to previews of full-length features shot by professional producers such as the filmmakers at Pin Pin 7.
The content is expected to expand, however, as a result of media coverage, Web-page links and the lure of a $500 gift certificate for the most popular video each week.
MySnowTV is not specifically a vehicle for Vail Resorts – the company’s name doesn’t appear anywhere on the website, and officials don’t have a problem with video footage depicting other ski areas.
Already, participants have submitted footage from Winter Park; Mammoth, Calif.; and Zermatt, Switzerland, in addition to several polished videos generated by the Vail marketing department.
“Anything that creates excitement for the industry is good for us,” Katz said.
He envisions vacationers posting their video compilations and then directing friends and family around the world to the website so they can see the fun.
Still in the beta-testing phase, the technology can be a bit rough, and some videos must be loaded and reloaded a few times before they display on a high-speed connection.
Noting the trials at YouTube and other video websites, officials also are cognizant of legal and moral concerns, such as dealing with copyrighted or inappropriate material. Vail’s monitors will remove offensive videos.
Adam Miller, Vail’s senior online-marketing manager, said the content monitoring is being done in-house, at least until the volume of submitted videos becomes overwhelming.
“When it gets to that point, we’re anticipating more resources from a staffing standpoint,” Miller said.
Staff writer Steve Lipsher can be reached at 970-513-9495 or slipsher@denverpost.com.
