Here’s an action-packed video segment of another afternoon at Northstar. This time, join Loni as she walks through the “magic door” and into a gondola on a ride up to the 8,000 ft. summit of the resort mountain.

As luck would have it, our gondola was full of gnarly snowboarding character. Let the good times roll, dude. If you ever wondered what what a green, homemade ski suit looks like made out of hemp… now’s your chance. Oh, and then there’s the 14-year old wine lover… well there’s a reason actually why… check out the video to find out the story.

When we arrive at Schaffer’s Camp, a rustic, cozy restaurant, bar and lounge for Tahoe Mountain Club members, we are treated to panoramic views, including Squaw Valley, site of the 1960 Winter Olympics. Then we learn all about Peroni on draft. A first! This and a behind the scenes tour courtesy of Brad Kohler (no relation, even though Loni checked, to the faucet family) of the kitchen.

As usual, my director’s commentary follows.

This is one of the remaining standard definition videos we shot. As I mentioned in a previous post, SSC has upgraded to HD. Yes, full 1080p. Glorious. But I’m not sure you’ll see much difference watching them here on this web channel though. Apparently the picture quality should be sharper, and colors more vibrant. We’ll see soon.

For people that care about audio, we shoot on-location with 3 possible set-ups: lavalier mic, camera mic or traditional handheld microphone. Depending on the situation we can provide a close-up sensation for host-like work that Loni does throughout, or add more ambiance using the camera mic. On deck, a shot-gun mic. Soon, soon.

Premiere Elements is quite inadequate for these videos. It chokes, even on 10 minute segments. Adobe Premiere Pro is a different story and will markedly reduce our production times and hopefully increase quality over time.

Then there’s the gloss factor. We debate just how slick to make these things… on the one hand, I want them to look great (and I know we still need to improve). But I realize we’re not CNN. So I like leaving little mistakes in there that Loni makes sometimes tripping on a word or two. Perhaps it keeps everything down to earth and fun, no? In fact I positively love when something crazy happens… like when the guy in this video shouts out “I hate wine!”. Then again, maybe it’s just me.

Thanks for tuning in to the Stark Insider “travel channel” in Tahoe. We’re having a lot of fun sharing these adventures. And hopefully it shows.