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Aspen Film’s Radical Wednesdays invites audiences to ditch their helmets in favor of colorful headbands (only for the films — not on the mountain, of course) and spend hump nights watching retro ski and skating films. This year features “Hot Dog, the Movie” on Feb. 5; “The Good, the Rad, and the Gnarly” on Feb. 12; “Fistful of Moguls” on Feb. 19; and “Blades of Glory” on Feb. 26. Filmmaker and freestyle champion Greg Stump returns again this year to screen his two vintage films Feb. 12 and 19.

It all begins with “Hot Dog” antics, including the famed Chinese Downhill, as a teenage runaway tags along with Harkin Banks (Patrick Houser), who’s heading to the ski championships at the former Squaw Valley.

“‘Hot Dog’ is hilarious, but when I first saw it, I was pissed off,” Stump said, referring to it depicting competitive skiers as a heavy partying bunch. “It was the antithesis of what I — and my friends — were. We didn’t drink or smoke.”

But he did applaud it for featuring Lynne Weiland, who played Banana Pants and performed all of her own stunts in an era where women were rarely showcased in ski movies. As he pointed out, if films did include women, they mostly depicted them as just pretty trophies, as opposed to real athletes. When Stump began making ski films in the early 1980s, he set out to change that.

“I wanted my female skiers to be better than most men,” he said.

As he introduces his two films, each followed by a Q&A session, Feb. 12 and 19, he’ll remind audiences to take themselves back to the 1980s, when the internet didn’t exist to promote films or make them go “viral,” so to speak. Instead, VHS tapes changed hands from ski enthusiast to ski enthusiast.

“The first time I watched Greg Stump’s ‘The Good, the Rad, and the Gnarly,’ I was a ski racer and thought, ‘Wow, those guys are having way more fun than me.’ I also thought Greg Stump was a unique and skilled filmmaker,” said Kim Reichhelm, pro-skier and founder of Ski with Kim Adventures. “When I met Greg in 1989 filming ‘License to Thrill,’ my thoughts were confirmed: Greg Stump is incredibly talented — and a little bit whacked.”

As The Atlantic pointed out: “(He) does not make G-rated, safe-and-sane ski travelogues with elevator music. What he does make are wildly original, nonstop ski action films with comic and dramatic subplots and original scores.”

On and off skis, he’s a legend. In 1978, he had his first major win, becoming the Junior National Championship. He ultimately became the North American freestyle champion, due to his strengths in moguls, ballet, and aerials.

By 1979, Harry Leonard’s revolving ski decks featured him at ski shows throughout the nation. That’s where he met Barrymore and appeared in “Vagabond Skiers,” followed by a 1983 Warren Miller film. The experiences convinced him he could make his own films, which changed the norms of ski movies, with modern soundtracks and intense, athletic action.

“Music was one of the biggest things. As a radio DJ, I was really tuned into the cutting edge of what was going on musically,” he said, adding that he also edited ski footage to skiers’ rhythmic motions.

Growing up in theater and honing his radio voice also benefitted the narration.

At age 26, he set out to make “the ‘Blue Velvet’ of ski movies,” as he describes “The Good, the Rad, and the Gnarly.” Although it didn’t go over well at the time, it has since garnered a strong following, due to the amazing bump skiing, BMXing, skateboarding, and more.

His 1998 “Fistful of Moguls” followed up-and-comer Jonny Moseley for two years before the 1998 Olympics in Nagano. Turns out Glen Plake had predicted Moseley’s Olympic gold medal and complained to Stump about how the ski industry was ignoring the new generation of mogul skiers.

Fueled by a powerful soundtrack, including songs by Seal, Art of Noise, Adamski, and Bran Van 3000 — and world-class bump skiing — he said it was his most “beautiful” film he had made to date.

“It’s got this killer ending, with the triumph of Jonny,” he said. “I was at the top of my game in photographing ski action.”

His 2009 release, “Legend of AAHHHs,” which screened at last year’s Radical Wednesdays, marked his swan song. It came after a close call with an athlete while filming in Siberia.

“TGR had taken it further in the extreme genre … and a couple guys got severely injured,” he said, also noting that Shane McConkey died from a ski-BASE stunt. “I knew I couldn’t live with myself if one of my friends was to die tragically … nobody’s going to get hurt in front of my camera.”

So he turned his attention to producing, filming, and directing commercials, of which he has completed hundreds from the start of his career to now, including a 2000 Super Bowl commercial for Disney, as well as serving national clients from Aspen to Coors, Adidas, and Chapstick. His music video and documentary credits include those revolving around Willie Nelson, Seal, Art of Noise, Merle Haggard, Neil Young, The Beach Boys, and many more.

He also tours, showing his vintage ski films throughout the nation, and he’s particularly stoked to return to Aspen.

“Showing your ski movies in Aspen is like performing halftime at the Super Bowl,” he said.

The Radical Wednesdays series ends with “Blades of Glory,” starring Will Ferrell. It’s another wacky, hysterical film — this time about men’s figure skating. It also acts as the third film in Aspen Film’s Science on Screen Series, which blends film and science by hosting guest speakers. The theme of the evening is: What goes up must come down.

A 15-minute film, “Fallet,” runs after “Blades of Glory” as part of the Science on Screen series. It follows Agnes and Ragnar, a couple in their late 20s, who plan to climb a mountain in northern Norway. They run up against a deadly situation, requiring trust and testing their relationship, as Agnes reveals Ragnar’s disturbing secret.

Following all four Wednesdays of films, the Aspen Collective gallery hosts after-parties, featuring Stranahan’s whiskey and Lalo tequila.

This year, Aspen Film introduced its Radically Short Contest, calling for “action films that pack a powerful punch in a pint-size package.” Submissions were due Jan. 20, and the 1-5 minute winning shorts will debut during the Radical Wednesday series.

“Aspen Film’s Radical February is guaranteed to reaffirm your love of skiing and serve as a colorful, funny, action-packed reminder of what a wild and wacky realm our beloved sport occupies,” said Lorenzo Semple, owner of Suit Yourself and voted Mr. Aspen in the 2024 Best of Aspen and Snowmass. “All four of these films are unique ski culture timepieces and have aged particularly well.”

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