Meathead East Coast Skiing Adventure Movies & Films

October 10: Boxes upon boxes of stickers, movies, T-shirts, banners, sponsor schwag and of course, duct tape. All of it needed to fit into our Subaru Outback in order for us to hit the road on time and kick off our New Hampshire portion of the "Snow Gods" movie tour. Easier said than done. After many minutes of arguing Rooster and I finally piled into the car around 3:30 pm and sped down the highway toward Hanover, NH the scene for our first tour stop in the Granite State: Dartmouth College.

Hanover is an interesting town. A cross between rugged outdoorsy people and straight-laced preppy professionals, the town centers around the Dartmouth campus. The most famous club at Dartmouth is the D.O.C. (Dartmouth Outing Club), which has been around for a very long time and has actually played a significant role in the evolution of Eastern skiing (see our movie, "Epoch" for more details). Anyhow, the DOC members and local community came out strong for the "Snow Gods" premiere and many happy faces were seen leaving the theater with various items won in the raffle. A special thanks goes out to Elan Guterman and Conor Frantzen of the DOC for helping make the event a success.

After cleaning up the theater, Rooster and I headed over to "India Queen" restaurant after getting a hot tip from a Dartmouth student. The food was amazing, the décor was outstanding and as if it couldn't get any better: the owner had an insane mullet! We regret not having a photo... he left shortly after we arrived. We stayed the night at our roommate's friend's house (thanks Ryan), playing a dart tourney late into the night, and cruised to Plymouth the next morning.

Plymouth is a 100% rugged, party-hard population. The local die-hards and students came out in record numbers for the premiere, creating a raucous in Boyd Hall. With the energy high after the show, not even the pouring rain could stop us from hitting the downtown. Jose's, a new Mexican restaurant/ bar, had just opened and we headed there to test Plymouth's newest dive-bar addition. It did not disappoint! Jose's served terrible food, awful margaritas and cheap beer - it was awesome. After that it was a quick jaunt over to the Lucky Dog, the most infamous bar in town. We closed out the night there with some more rounds and met a local, George, who posed for some pics (see them below). Big thanks to Rodney Ekstrom and Zack Allen for helping us out with the show and lodging!

North Conway the next day. A real mountain town for sure, though at the moment it is under some intense construction (all of Main St. is dirt). We arrived at Cranmore early in the day and got things set up ahead-of-schedule at the 10th Mtn. Pavilion tent. Although the crowd was not huge that night, they were still enthusiastic and we got a formal invite to come back during winter when the town is chock full skier and riders. Thanks to Tina Gutierrez, Garcia, Ben Wilcox, Rick Wilcox, and Maurice for a great venue, the screen, and good beer.

Friday was our premiere in Manchester at Milly's Tavern, home of the only microbrewed beers in town. We also had a band lined up for the evening so anticipation was high. After some minor struggles to get banners hung up around the place while people were still eating their meals and indulging in happy hour, we kicked off the movie to a nice-sized crowd and a blaring sound system. Pumpkin Ale was the drink of the night and Randy "The Hammer" Grasso was throwin' ‘em back like there was no tomorrow. After all he had a lot to celebrate: Hometown (or close to it) premiere of "Snow Gods" with family and friends and the movie showcasing his amazing Killington segment... not to mention it was his anniversary with wife Cindy! After the show and a grand prize giveaway of some brand new Head skis, the cover band, Blue Matter, took over until late into the night and even gave Randy and his wife their own anniversary dance (Randy was looking a little tipsy, but managed to keep it together).
After sleeping off our late night, we cruised back to Burlington for a weekend off and then it was down to University of New Hampshire on Monday... The UNH Ski & Board Club, along with UNH student and Meathead Films athlete, Pat Colburn, helped us organize and promote, resulting in an impressive turnout. Fire On The Mountain Ski & Board Shop was an event sponsor and contributed some sweet prizes for the raffle (they're hosting a rail jam on Dec. 2 and we're screening Snow Gods afterward - see our tour schedule for details). Over 200 people showed for this event, including once again, The Hammer (and his parents), and athlete Chris Germain's dad and sister. Germain's sister was actually involved in a push-up competition for a pair of gloves during the raffle. She lost, but we still hooked her up with a prize. Thanks to Elise Messier from the UNH S&BC for all your help!