The past week has been one for the books. The only way I can describe it is by saying it was like Disneyland with all your best friends…but better (and free).
I hopped on a plane at 7 am last Wednesday morning on route to Denver CO for the Gopro Family Summit at the Mountain Games in Vail. I had no idea what to expect besides that I would be surrounded by excited GoPro advocates like myself.
The shuttle from the airport was long and my mind was racing with guesses of what was to come. As we weaved the last corner into the pleasant town of Vail, I was ready for anything.
Activities:
The days were packed with activities to get us bonding and pushing our photography skills to the limits.
Thursday afternoon half our group hopped onto a shuttle to some beautifully scenic landscape. We geared up to race ATV’s around the backcountry. Throughout the day, I hooked my Gopro to a side mount on my helmet, a handlebar mount, 3 way stick and used the chesty for some POV shots. Check the slideshow for the angles!
Friday we hopped into a raft and cruised down class IV rapids on Eagle river. It was my first time whitewater rafting and I was terrified to say the least haha. As the guide went over the directions I could feel myself begin to sweat (and not just from the wetsuit and rain guard in summer weather).
Crashing down the river was scary and exhilarating but a good chance to work with some water photography/video. I used the chesty mount and was happy with the wet and wild shots I got out of it. Remember to lick and dip your lens for keeping clear shots! Thanks to everyone on the raft for keeping me laughing instead of crying haha.
My favourite team activity was the Mountain Games Mud Run. It was a 5km track of obstacles and tons of mud! Gopro had a team together and we raced through it giggling and slopping goop on each other. It was an awesome chance to use the “burst mode” function on my Hero4. I was so excited about my shots and got a trending photo in top posts under #GoproMtnGames! For these captures I used the 3-way mount and lots of time-lapse photos at .5 sec.
Learning:
We did several sessions on editing content and learning to optimize our Gopro usage. Different mounting options and finding cool angles was one of the highlights for me. Sometime I get stuck in routine with using the same style of shot. Seeing other advocates and Gopro staffs perspective was super beneficial! I’ve still got a long way to go before I master my cameras but this was a good step forward.
Highlights:
The whole 5 days was like a dream come true for me. I constantly felt like pinching myself. From the amazing dinners, staff and people from all over the world – it was glorious. Some highlights for me were: Meeting Kelly Lund and his awesome dog Loki, getting some awesome new gear for shooting and checking out the games! From middle school slow dancing with the Gopro Bombsquad to dinning with journalists – heres one for the books!
Gopro Goals:
Some take-aways from this trip (aside from feeling on cloud 9) are wanting to amp up my photo and video editing skills and push my website towards a bigger audience. Seeing some of the other advocates footage was an eye-opener to just how much you can do with these little cameras!
Thanks again Gopro family – hopefully see you all again soon!
Mountaindarlin 
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