Active Junky's homepage.

Active Junky's rapid ascent of the retail mountain has changed the game for consumers and retailers alike.

The outdoor gear cash-back aggregator shopping site drives traffic to its retail partners and gives rewards to its members, benefiting everyone on the outdoor gear and lifestyle shopping mountain. With more than 250 retail partners including Sports Authority, Athleta and Backcountry.com, Active Junky expects to have five times its current membership by the end of 2013.

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All photos by Carl Scofield.

Mongolia's winning design.

Fifteen teams competed in the 2013 International Snow Sculpture Championship in Breckenridge last week. From January 22-26, groups from across the globe hand-carved 20-ton blocks of snow into frozen art over a 65-hour period. Yesterday, team Mongolia took home top honors for its impressive snow statue of two riders on horses (above). For photos of the winning sculpture and the process behind all fourteen entries, visit our full slide show.

Continue reading for some of the highlights.

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- Photos: International Snow Sculpture Championship 2013
- Photos: The process behind the International Snow Sculpture Championships in Breck
- Team Canada-Quebec wins International Snow Sculpture Championships in Breckenridge

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Photo by Tim Kemple, courtesy Forge Motion Pictures

On Monday filmmakers Anson Fogel and Skip Armstrong of the Carbondale-based collective Forge Motion Pictures released Cascada, a new adventure short produced in partnership with NRS, the Idaho-based gear brand. The film documents a trip to the jungles of Mexico with photographer Tim Kemple and some of the world's top kayakers -- Erik Boomer, Tyler Brandy, Galen Volckhausen, and Blake Hendrix -- in search of spectacular waterfalls. The 7:40 short stands as proof that they found adventure-film gold, but Fogel tells Westword it took a lot of misadventure to uncover.

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- Sender Films, Forge Motion Pictures win big at 2012 Banff Mountain Film Festival
- Anson Fogel, Colorado filmmakers top 2011 Banff Mountain Film Festival awards
- Filmmaker Skip Armstrong concludes Of Souls + Water series with The Elder

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In 2012 Westword reported on the award-winning arty adventure films from the Carbondale-based collective of filmmakers known as Forge Motion Pictures nearly a dozen times -- they just might be the hardest working film team in Colorado -- and the crew is kicking off 2013 with a splash: over the weekend directors Anson Fogel and Skip Armstrong released a teaser for Cascada, a documentary of their paddling journey through Mexico in search of epic waterfalls worth risking life, limb, and kayak over.

See Also:
- Sender Films, Forge Motion Pictures win big at 2012 Banff Mountain Film Festival
- Filmmaker Skip Armstrong concludes Of Souls + Water series with The Elder
- Filmmaker Anson Fogel on Colorado's stunning new tourism campaign

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The Logan Ice Theater in progress.

Icy objects are familiar sights in Vail, but a ten-foot-tall wall of ice used as a projection screen is definitely a first in this mountain town. The Logan Ice Theater will be unveiled tonight at the Sixth Annual Triumph Winterfest, coming alive with videos and images of the past fifty years of the town, since the ski resort is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary. And, weather permitting, the theater will stay in business through February.

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- Ski porn pioneer Roger Cotton Brown on fifty years of filming at Vail
- Photos: Opening Day at Vail
- The Logan Ice Theater Grand Opening

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Photo: Shaun Boyte, Boyte Creative, courtesy MHM

Denver-based backpack company Mile High Mountaineering (MHM Gear) won the top prize at the local Something Independent Awards in October; in July, MHM's "Snake-Loader" Salute 34 pack made the cover of the 2013 Backpacker Magazine Gear Guide and also won an Editor's Choice Award. And this week the local brand got its first major international recognition: MHM is among the finalists for the ISPO BrandNew Awards at ISPO Munich, an international sporting goods trade fair scheduled for February 3 through February 6 in Germany. The BrandNew Awards are billed as the world's largest start-up competition in the sporting-goods industry, with a focus on innovative products from brands younger than four years old.

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- MHM Gear wins second annual Something Independent Entrepreneur Award
- Experts agree: Made-in-Colorado snowboards are the best
- Folsom Custom Skis, RMU, Icelantic dominate Freeskier Top 10 "Microbrew" list

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All photos by Brandon Marshall.

The idea that it's hard to look good while getting warm is a myth -- one dispelled by Boulder's Neptune Mountaineering last night at its combined winter fashion show and retro costume party. In addition to more than thirty current cold-weather looks, the event featured several blasts from winter style past, and Westword photographer Brandon Marshall was on hand to capture the night. Continue reading for our twenty favorite looks -- and visit our full slide show for more photos.

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- Slide show: Neptune Mountaineering's Winter Fashion Show
- What's in your bag? A Swiss army knife, hairspray and more!
- November 2012 in Photos

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Something Independent

Casey Lorenzen, Jeff Popp and Patrick Crowley of MHM Gear won the Something Independent 2012 Entrepreneur Award.

Last night I had the honor of serving as one of ten judges on the selection committee for the Something Independent 2012 Entrepreneur Award, a $1,500 prize designed to showcase the next wave of Colorado business leaders. After viewing 90-second video pitches from 23 semi-finalists, we narrowed it down to three finalists -- Mile High Mountaineering (aka MHM Gear), CondorCam and Apex Ski Boots -- before ultimately awarding the prize to MHM Gear.

"I think we're all just blown away that we were even in the top-three finalists, much less winning it," MHM brand manager Casey Lorenzen says. "It's huge for us. The exposure alone is going to be great for our company, and I think that's the biggest part of it. Obviously the money helps, too: We're going to grow our brand with it. We have a lot of ideas in the pipeline for how we want to expand with new lines and new innovations, so this helps for sure."

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- Flylow Gear wins first annual Something Independent Entrepreneur Award
- Folsom Custom Skis, RMU, Icelantic dominate Freeskier Top 10 "Microbrew" list
- Colorado's smallest ski companies are going big

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It seems like every weekend in Denver there's another fun run with a theme, which is great, really. Sure, there are themed runs (often involving beer before, during or after) in other cities, but probably not with the frequency, participation level or gusto as we can boast here in Colorado. It's an active culture in Denver, and that translates right into dressing up like an idiot, meeting up with other idiots dressed the same, and hitting the bars. After a 5K, usually.

So with the plethora of themed events in Denver, how do you know which one is right for you? We've devised this service-y flow chart for you, Show and Tell readers. And one other thing: If you think you've landed on an event that's suited to your tastes, click your mouse on it and you'll be taken to a slide show with photos so you can be sure.

Happy hunting!

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Photos by Natalie Gonzalez

Greg Paproski with dad Mike and trusty dog Buddy.

Like many twelve-year-olds, Greg Paproski likes to board. But unlike most of those twelve-year-olds, he's focused on longboarding -- and spending the summer competing in races. With the help of his new sponsor, Dregs Skateboards, he's "hit" (longboard lingo for competed) three races in the North American Downhill Series: the Vernon DH (Downhill 8) in Vernon, British Columbia; the Grand Prix of New York in Windham, New York and the Maryhill Festival of Speed in Goldendale, Washington. He currently ranks number one in his region and third in the world of the Junior Division ages eight through thirteen of the International Gravity Sports Association.

As Greg and his father, Mike, prepare for Colorado's big international race, the Buffalo Bill Downhill Bloodspill, we met up with them at one of Greg's favorite shops, BOARDLife, to talk about longboarding.

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-- Go Skateboarding Day: 303 ways to skate down a set of stairs
-- Denver Urban Assault Ride
-- Top ten people who resembled their scooters at Mile High Mayhem 15
-- What type of Wash Park fitness weirdo are you?

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