On Thursday, Thomas “Trailer Tom” Miller will celebrate the blu-ray launch of his new documentary “1st Chair Opening Snowboarding the White Ribbon of Livin'” at CO bar in Frisco.

From there, he’ll head directly to Eagle County to begin camping out for Vail Mountain’s Opening Day, which is set for 9 a.m. on Friday.

Vail’s opening will be one more stop in Miller’s annual pilgrimage around the state to catch as many first chairs as he can with his snowboarding buddies Nate Dogggg Nadler and Chad Otterstrom. His documentary focuses on those annual first chair quests, which Miller has been taking on for 32 years since he was a teenager growing up in Summit County.

At Thursday’s party at CO bar, Miller will give away free copies of the Blu-ray to anyone who attends. This is an exclusive offering as Miller does not intend to sell the Blu-ray and will only give them away at events like Thursday’s party and Friday’s Opening Day at Vail.

Thursday’s party will double as a pinball tournament, at which time CO bar plans to debut its newest pinball game, “The Uncanny X Men” from Stern Pinball.

In addition to snowboarding, pinball is Miller’s other passion — on those long, cold nights camping out at Loveland, Arapahoe Basin and Wolf Creek the night before the season begins, Miller often brings a generator and a pinball machine to pass the time, hitting the flippers with a gloved hand.

First Chair Crew

Those ski areas are featured most in the documentary, but other resorts like Vail and Keystone also make appearances. Vail’s “First Chair Crew” of locals like Cesar Hermosillo, Jen Natbony, Tyler Moore and Taylor Parris are featured in the film, as well.

The film goes behind the scenes to capture the rush to open from the resorts themselves, which is every bit as competitive as the rivalry among the skiers and snowboarders vying for the early chairs at those resorts.

One of the most competitive Opening Days in recent years occurred at the start of the 2019-20 season when Keystone announced it would be opening on Oct. 12, 2019. Arapahoe Basin received the announcement and opened at 2 p.m. on Oct. 11, edging out Keystone at the last minute.

Nadler was camped out at Keystone at the time, and when he received the news, he made a break for A-Basin and was able to board the first chair there instead.

‘NBD from 4Gs’

But that accomplishment can’t compare to this season, when Nadler, amazingly, managed to be on the first chairs up the mountain at both Arapahoe Basin and Keystone, despite the fact they both opened on the same day, Nov. 2.

Nadler shared the story on Otterstrom’s “Chad O Snowboard Show” on YouTube, saying he didn’t think he’d be able to be on the first chair at both resorts, but since Arapahoe Basin was set to open at 8:30 a.m., and Keystone at 9 a.m., it occurred to him that it might be possible.

“I went down to Keystone and measured the time, and it took me 13 minutes to drive from one to the other,” Nadler told Otterstrom. “So it would have been cutting it real close.”

But Arapahoe Basin opened earlier than expected, and Nadler found himself on the lift heading up the mountain at 8:14 a.m.

“I was like, I’m doing it. I’m going for it,” Nadler said. “We took our first chair at A-Basin — me, Trailer Tom, Big Ant and Chris — went up A-Basin, came down, snowboarded right to my Jeep and rallied to Keystone.”

Nadler parked illegally, leaving his keys in a visible location in his Jeep in case anyone would want to move the vehicle, and found a group of what he estimated to be about 500 skiers and snowboarders waiting in line.

Amid the chaos, Jim Hooley from Fox31 Denver noticed Nadler and asked him for an interview, and Nadler used the opportunity to move closer to the front of the line for Hooley to frame his shot.

“I chatted with him, did an interview for 30 seconds, after that was done I sneaked into the very front of the line,” Nadler said. “I just tried to be as quiet as I could, sitting in the corner to see what would happen.”

Nadler’s knowledge of Keystone’s gondola policy benefitted him at that point in his mission, as he knew that eight people were allowed on each car.

“As people were going in, I’m counting, and I’m like oh my gosh, there’s only seven,” he said.

He slid into the car, the doors closed, and he found himself on the first chair at Keystone, a mere 30 minutes after riding the first chair at A-Basin.

“It was absolutely insane how magical this moment was because this is something that’s almost impossible,” he said.

Otterstrom described it as “an NBD by 4Gs,” using the NBD acronym for “Never been done,” and calling Nadler “4Gs” for his nickname, Nate Dogggg.

“It will probably never be done ever again in the history of first chairs,” Otterstrom said.

Miller says he will share details from that adventure as well as other tales of first chair glory at Thursday’s Blu-ray launch party, but for anyone who can’t make it, the film is available to stream on Prime Video by searching “1st Chair Opening Snowboarding the White Ribbon of Livin’.”

Thursday’s party at CO bar, located at 610 Main Street in Frisco, is scheduled to take place from 6 p.m. to midnight.

This story is from VailDaily.com