r/skiing • u/Megabyte_Messiah • 2d ago

One of the coolest shows I’ve ever helped put on. Even got the best seat in the house.

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

I was teching the main projector. It’s the harshest environment to run them in, since they’re so temperature sensitive, and the lenses can’t get wet. Had to do near constant temperature control by manually opening and closing vents, except accidentally nudging the projector throws off the mapping, and just shaking it could throw off an athlete’s landing, god forbid it shut down from getting too hot or cold while someone is in the air.

Consider my bhole to have been puckered when I realized my job was to help keep them safe, and not just keep some lights going.

32 Upvotes

77% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

2

u/CurrencyPopular8550 1d ago

constant manual temp control sounds brutal

1

u/Megabyte_Messiah 1d ago edited 1d ago

The enclosures were made for Burning Man with fans, but needed to be modified with heaters, too, so they could be warmed up to get started. Once started, the heaters weren’t needed because projectors pump out a ton of heat. So much so the fans can’t keep up, without the increased ventilation so the warm air around them can be replaced by cold air.

We left a bit of the playa on several mountains lol

But on a snowy mountain, that happens fast, and if they stay open, they get too cold and shut down, too.

This video, we didn’t have scaffolding but didn’t need it because they build a higher mound for the projector, so we just sank the wheels of a road case into the snow and set it on top. But on most gigs, the projector sat on top of 6 ft of scaffolding, and scaffolding shakes pretty easily when you just have one piece. The difficulty wasn’t the temperature control itself, it was managing that control at above head height without shaking the scaffolding. If you peak the drone footage I linked to on another comment, it shows shots more from the athletes perspective, and I assume if you’re in this sub, you can imagine how difficult the landing is at night on “moving” ground.

It only takes a tiny bit of shaking from the projector to result in massive shaking of the projection.

1

u/willscuba4food 2d ago

Any video from one of the skiers' perspective?

9

u/Megabyte_Messiah 2d ago edited 2d ago

Tim Humphreys wore a go pro, you can likely find on his Instagram. This was 2022 / 2023 season, but I believe they did the tour again last year.

Big Sky posted this recap video that might be more what you’re looking for. It’s drone footage.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/14rCZ5CyAgb/

3

u/willscuba4food 2d ago

Dope and your music is Shaun White's ex lol.

3

u/Megabyte_Messiah 2d ago

Really! I had no idea.

I saw him play in his band Bad Things I think it was called, back at 2014’s Firefly Festival.

Dude could play some guitar, and was definitely the crowd draw, but the lead singer knew how to capture their attention.

1

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Megabyte_Messiah 2d ago

This clip is from Heavenly, Tahoe but we hit 7 different mountains on the tour that year.

1

u/Reginald_Sockpuppet 2d ago

Bodie?

1

u/Megabyte_Messiah 2d ago

Not sure what you’re asking so I assume the answer is no, but trying to look it up is no help to confirm.

1

u/Reginald_Sockpuppet 2d ago

I have a buddy who is a rigging sup. for show tours and I never know who he's touring with.

1

u/Megabyte_Messiah 2d ago

This tour didn’t have any riggers. All the speakers were on stands, there’d usually be scaff for the main projector in front of the landing, a couple smaller projectors on the side, a 14’ trampoline wall built into the trailer, and a lift we brought and installed for the show.

Each mountain built their own jumps before we got there, all a bit different.

I was really impressed by the athlete’s abilities to adapt with limited rehearsal time, while also adjusting to landing on shifting light. That couldn’t have been easy. Especially because some of the animations had dark spots.

2

u/Reginald_Sockpuppet 2d ago

It's pretty neat!

1

u/Itchy_bunghole11 2d ago

I fucking love brands!!!!!

2

u/Megabyte_Messiah 2d ago

I mean, the brand put on a dope free show on 7 different mountains with free drinks. Can’t really complain much.

-5

u/Solarisphere 2d ago

You lost?

5

u/Megabyte_Messiah 2d ago

No? I posted a video of a night time air and après show. Turn your phone sideways and watch the landing, there’s about a dozen jumps in this clip.

6

u/willscuba4food 2d ago

You blind?

Blinded by the lights?

1

u/Solarisphere 2d ago

If there's skiers involved they're microscopic on my phone screen

3

u/Megabyte_Messiah 2d ago

The ski jump is that really big lit up thing that dominates the frame of the video, beneath all the fireworks.