dronelife.com
On August 13, Aspen outlawed the use of drones for both professionals working under contract and visitors to the mountains. From here on out, if you want to use a drone on any of Aspen’s four mountains, you have to obtain permission from the FAA, just like ESPN did for the XGAMES.
Before I tell you why I like this move, let me preface by saying that I cannot wait until I have drone footage of myself skiing through the trees. I daydream about that angle; I already have the soundtrack picked out. It has been this way ever since I heard about Lily, which developed a drone that tracks you based on your location, effectively eliminating the need for an operator.
But in order to maintain the possibility of that free-floating angle, we (meaning skiers and snowboarders) need to proceed cautiously with our drone use.
It’s different for surfers or even climbers, where that technology is not only useful but basically free of danger. The only real risk is drones — aside from personal grievances — is flying into other drones, or birds… and I like to think that birds will win that battle. However, our favorite mountain playgrounds present countless opportunities for drones to turn on their environment and wreak havoc. There are chairlifts, trees, people riding at different elevations, and bunny slopes. The last thing the drone industry needs right now is a lawsuit. We are stuck in a serious gray area with regard to the law surrounding these devices; a serious injury, or death, could prevent amateur drone use in ski resorts from being available for a long time.
So, good for Aspen. I hope other mountains follow suit.
The drone companies, and those in charge of regulating drone activity, need to figure out how to make these devices safe for ski resorts. One possibility is avoidance technology. Another is creating a specified range in which drones can fly. Although that type of regulation would solve the problem in flat environments, the slope of mountains complicates the issue.
I imagine that within a year or two, more strict parameters will be set. Once that happens, the drone companies will respond in kind.
Additionally, one benefit of the waiting period is that drone footage of skiers and snowboarders will be limited to professional production companies. Without being able to go online and see hundreds of videos that utilize drone footage of skiers and snowboarders, drone shots will be limited to professionally made videos, decreasing the potential of a played-out effect. Remember when POV angles were a BIG deal? The first person shots that action cams provides are still awesome, but not nearly as exciting as they were when they first started filling our feeds. Back then there would even be behind the scenes footage about how the crew configured the camera on a rider’s helmet. Now those apparatuses seem as bulky and outdated as Gordon Gekko’s cell phone in Wall Street.
So, let us rejoice this move by Aspen Ski Company. Until we can safely operate drones in our favorite ski areas, leave those devices to the pros. And for those who absolutely need drones, don’t you worry — soon enough we’ll be shredding our favorite glades employing drone-canceling headphones to drown out the buzzing overhead.
Which leads me to my final point and plea: figure out how to get rid of that buzzing.
