HOTLAPS

Brand overview and significance

HOTLAPS is a ski-focused YouTube and social channel led by filmmaker Andrew Gayda, best known for ultra-close follow-cam work that captures park and freeride skiing from a skier’s eye. Rather than functioning as a traditional gear brand, HOTLAPS operates as a creative label and filmmaking style—tight framing, precise timing, and long, flowing lines where the camera moves with the rider. The approach has become a fixture at marquee freeski gatherings and sessions, from spring park weeks to elite competitions, helping athletes and fans experience tricks, speed, and terrain transitions with unusual intimacy. For skiers, HOTLAPS is a media brand that documents the sport’s progression and spreads it globally through widely shared clips and event recaps.

Across recent seasons, HOTLAPS has produced high-visibility edits around major venues and sessions. You’ll see the name attached to spring park weeks such as Kimbo Sessions in Sweden, training days and highlights around X Games Aspen, and rider-led drops from glacier parks and early-season snowparks. The audience is international, and the roster of featured athletes regularly includes World Cup and X Games medalists, which keeps the channel on the leading edge of modern freeski culture.

Product lines and key technologies

HOTLAPS does not sell skis or hardware; its “product” is video. The signature technique is handheld or gimbal-assisted follow-cam filming performed at the athlete’s speed, often within a ski length or two. That proximity reveals grabs, edge sets, body position, and landing control in a way tripod or drone angles struggle to match. The channel’s workflow pairs fast, on-snow acquisition with careful editing that respects trick cadence and course flow, creating edits that feel like riding along rather than spectating from the fence.

Recurring deliverables include event highlight reels, session montages, and rider-focused mini-features. Shots are often captured at action-sports hubs like Woodward Park City, glacier and high-alpine parks such as Stubai Glacier, and spring sessions at Kläppen during Kimbo Sessions. Competition pieces and athlete collaborations may publish on partner channels as well as HOTLAPS’ own platforms, which extends reach while keeping the visual language consistent.

Ride feel: who it’s for (terrains & use-cases)

Although it’s media, not equipment, HOTLAPS speaks directly to park, slopestyle, and big-air enthusiasts who study trick form and line choice. The edits also resonate with all-mountain freeskiers who appreciate speed control and terrain reading—skills that good follow-cam work makes obvious. For athletes, HOTLAPS content is useful for scouting line options and reviewing technique; for coaches and younger riders, it’s a clean lens on how elite skiers set edges, manage airtime, and exit landings.

If you ride park laps, chase spring slush, or follow the contest calendar, you’re the natural audience. The “ride feel” of HOTLAPS videos is immersive and fast: you hear edge noise and see takeoff timing as the camera knifes into the same transition. That makes the edits valuable beyond entertainment—they’re learning tools and stoke generators before a session or trip.

Team presence, competitions, and reputation

HOTLAPS has become a go-to lens for high-profile athletes and events. The channel’s clips from X Games Aspen have circulated widely, and collaborations frequently include Olympic and X Games champions in slopestyle and big air. The brand’s spring coverage from Kimbo Sessions—an invite-only park gathering at Kläppen—helped define the visual memory of recent editions, showcasing standout runs from top freeskiers in golden-hour conditions. Outside of marquee events, HOTLAPS appears at rider-led shoots and brand activations, adding credibility for sponsors that want authentic, athlete-first storytelling.

Within the ski community, reputation rests on trust: athletes are comfortable with the filmer operating inches away at real speed. That trust is earned through precise skiing, risk awareness, and a collaborative mindset with park crews and organizers. As a result, HOTLAPS is regularly welcomed onto venues where access is limited and timing windows are tight.

Geography and hubs (heritage, testing, venues)

HOTLAPS is itinerant, following snow and competition schedules across North America and Europe. Repeat touchpoints include Woodward Park City for stateside park laps, the Austrian Tirol’s Stubai zone in early season, and Sweden’s Kläppen for spring sessions. The calendar also aligns with Aspen’s winter contest window and periodic athlete gatherings at glacier parks. This mobility keeps the footage current with park design trends—fresh rail sets, revised jump lines, and new course builds that push trick evolution.

Construction, durability, and sustainability

In a media context, “construction” means how projects are built. HOTLAPS shoots favor minimal crew footprints, light camera setups that can withstand cold and impact, and efficient lift- or sled-assisted laps to maximize good weather. Durability shows up as repeat collaboration with athletes and organizers season after season, and as edits that continue to surface in highlight reels long after an event ends. Sustainability is practical: compact travel plans around event clusters, using established resort infrastructure, and producing fewer, better cuts that earn longer watch-life instead of disposable volume. The result is content that ages well in a sport where tricks and courses evolve quickly.

How to choose within the lineup

Viewers: start with HOTLAPS’ event recaps for context—X Games pieces convey speed and pressure on competition builds, while spring session edits highlight creativity and style. Then move to athlete-specific cuts to study signature grabs, axis control, and landings. Coaches and developing riders can pause follow-cam clips to analyze approach lines and timing.

Partners (brands, resorts, events): choose HOTLAPS for projects where authenticity and technical clarity matter. Competition organizers benefit from fast-turn social edits that show runs from the rider’s perspective; resort and park crews gain from session pieces that document build quality and flow; product and apparel brands can anchor launches with athlete-led stories that feel like real laps, not staged commercials.

Why riders care

Because the best camera work disappears and lets the skiing speak. HOTLAPS brings viewers into the pocket—over knuckles, through compressions, and into landings—so you can feel why a trick works and how a course rides. That perspective elevates both entertainment and understanding, preserving the energy of bluebird finals, storm-day training, and golden-hour spring laps. For a community that learns by watching and then trying, HOTLAPS has become a reliable lens on modern freeskiing and a catalyst for the next round of progression.