The Team

Hunter Sykes (Co-Producer/Director, Sound and Lighting Technician and Camera Support) Hunter grew up in the mountains of Colorado and has lived in the Intermountain West for the majority of his life. He has spent more than 15 years working in the outdoor recreation industry guiding, teaching, and working in the retail and service sectors. Hunter has considerable experience with energy conservation issues and substantial knowledge of !lm and video production through years of producing special events and assisting film and TV production crews in the Intermountain West, as well as co-producing, filming, directing, and editing two !lms with Coldstream Creative. He holds a BA in History and Geography from the University of Colorado and an MA in International Environmental Studies from the Monterey Institute of International Studies.
Darren Campbell (Co-Producer/Director, Sound and Lighting Technician and Camera Support) Outside of Coldstream Creative, Darren is involved in Regional and Community Planning in Lake Tahoe. He has helped launch two local !lm festival events and is signi!cantly involved in the local non-pro!t community in a range of issues. Darren worked in the outdoor recreation industry for 10 years, managing a mountain sports retail store, guiding river trips, and traveling to ski for filmmakers in California, Alaska, and South America. He has also worked as a camera and production assistant on several film and TV projects. Darren holds a BA in Environmental Conservation and an MA in International Environmental Policy from the Monterey Institute of International Studies.
Hal Clifford (Screenwriter/Creative Director) Hal is the executive editor of Orion magazine and the author of three books: Downhill Slide: Why The Corporate Ski Industry Is Bad for Skiing, Ski Towns and The Environment (Sierra Club Books); The Falling Season: Inside the Life and Death Drama of Aspen's Mountain Rescue Team (HarperCollins, The Mountaineers); and The Highroad Guide to the Colorado Mountains (Longstreet). He has worked as a journalist, principally in the American West, since 1985, and is the winner, co-winner, or runner-up of numerous awards, including a share in a National Magazine Award. His work has been published in more than 60 newspapers and magazines.
Vladimir Van Maule (Director of Aerial Cinematography, Pilot, production / editing support) Vladimir founded Filmontage Productions in 1976, which he continues to operate presently. He has served in the producer, director and cameraman role for numerous feature films, television series and corporate commercials. Vladimir has been an instrument rated pilot since 1976 and gets his shots from a Cessna 182 equipped with a special FAA approved camera wing mount. Vladimir holds a B.F.A. in Cinematography from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Tom Day (Primary Cinematographer) A short time after Tom moved to Squaw Valley from Vermont he was offered an opportunity to ski for the famed ski moviemaker Warren Miller. After traveling around the world for years to star in some of the genre's most acclaimed films, he migrated to the other side of the lens to begin a career as a cinematographer. Tom has been operating 16mm and 35mm cameras for over 18 years, and has recently been exploring the potential of HD video. Starting out shooting skiing, snowboarding, and winter activities, he has diversi!ed his shooting to other sports action, commercials, travel documentaries, scenery, and time lapses. He has worked as the principle cinematographer for Warren Miller Entertainment since 2000 and continues to shoot personal stock footage and freelance in projects that take him all over the globe.
Steve Siig (Director of Photography and Cinematography) Steve has a BA in Humanities and spent several years working in TV production. He has produced (directed, filmed, and edited) two travel documentaries with an emphasis on skiing and mountain adventure, and has filmed for Matchstick Productions, Standard Films, and Teton Gravity Research, all adventure film production companies with numerous releases. He continues to freelance while running his Landscape Construction Company in Lake Tahoe (which leaves his winters open to !lm!), and assisting Coldstream Creative with video productions.
Megan Lardner (Archive Research Coordinator/Assistant Editor) Megan is a television producer and journalist based in New York, where she produces historical documentaries for HBO and PBS. Her reporting on immigration, politics, and environmental issues has appeared in High Country News, the Wall Street Journal, and the Associated Press, among others. She wrote a chapter in the book Capitalism, God and a Good Cigar: Cuba Enters The 21st Century (Duke University Press). Megan holds masters degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, in Journalism and Latin American Studies.
Aaron Cumashot (Production Assistant) Originating from the mountains West Virginia, Aaron is a GIS Specialist, carpenter, environmentalist and amature photographer residing in Incline Village, NV. He obtained a BA in Geography from West Virginia University, specializing in Geographic Information Science and Biogeography. While serving a prestigious internship with the National Geographic Society in Washington D.C., Aaron performed !lm research, cartography and coordinated large scale educational events. This also gave him the opportunity to screen feature films and work with the Banff Film Festival. Since, Aaron has been a visual technician for a feature length HBO film, pounded many nails, and adventure traveled much of the western hemisphere.
Court Leve (Still Photography) Court is a freelancer, following several years working for the local newspapers the Tahoe World and Sierra Sun. Court's images may be seen in publications such as Warren Miller's SnowWorld, Parade Magazine, The New York Post, the Tahoe Quarterly, ISM, Sierra Heritage, The Weekly, Couloiur, Freeskier, Skiing, and The Ski Mag in Australia. Court's list of clients include Squaw Valley USA, Sierra at Tahoe, Kombi Gloves, Canine Hardware, Spyder, Points North Heli-Adventures and numerous other local businesses.

Advisors for The Next, Best West

Bruce Babbitt, U.S. Secretary of Interior, 1993-2001; Governor of Arizona, 1978-1987.

Gloria Flora, Director, Sustainable Obtainable Solutions (Helena, Montana); former U.S. Forest Service forest supervisor (Humboldt-Toiyabe and Lewis and Clark national forests).

Jeff Goodell, a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and a frequent contributor to the New York Times Magazine; author of four books, most recently Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future.

Elizabeth Grossman, author of four books, including Watershed: The Undamming of America.

Gwen Lachelt, Director, Oil & Gas Accountability Project, Durango Colorado.

Paul Larmer, Publisher, High Country News.

Amory Lovins, cofounder and CEO of Rocky Mountain Institute, author of 29 books on energy and resource efficiency, Macarthur Award winner.

Tom Power, Chairman, Department of Economics, University of Montana. Author of four books, including Post-Cowboy Economics: Pay and Prosperity in the New West, and Lost Landscapes and Failed Economies: The Search for a Value of Place.

Randy Udall, Director, Community Office for Resource Efficiency, Carbondale, Colorado.