Denver, CO
July 12, 13 and 14, 2013
Crowne Plaza Denver International Airport
Denver, CO
$137 for single, double, or quad
Room Cancelation Policy
With the number of invalid credit cards we had last year for room reservations, the hotel will now require one nights charge at the time of the reservation. If you reserve a room and you decide you don’t want it, you MUST cancel your reservation before June 21, 2013, to receive a refund or you will be charged for the one room night even if you do not attend.
NOTE: We are working on coming up with a meal plan option with the hotel. We are hoping to have something setup where you can get a Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner for Friday, Saturday and Sunday for somewhere around $70 or so. We will let you know when we have more information. We are also working on getting Double or Triple points for people staying at the host hotel and will provide updates on this as soon as its finalized.
Membership/Registration Costs
Before May1, 2013 - $105
May 1, 2013 and after $140
**Membership Cancelation & Refund Policy**
Notification
before May 1…………………………………..100% refund
Notification between May 1--June 1…………………………50% refund
Notification after June 1…………………………………………no refund
**No Exceptions
**Memberships purchased in the name of one person CANNOT BE TRANSFERRED into the name of another. You must cancel the first registration (according to cancelation policy), and the other person must register individually.
Standards of Behavior for Public Areas
· No exposed breasts, genitals, or ass cracks
· No groping, lewd language, behavior, or scening
· No walking of slaves or subs through the hotel on leashes, ropes or other bondage implements
· No sexually suggestive propositions to hotel staff
Rule of Thumb: If you have a question about whether something is proper or not, it probably isn’t. Be safe—don’t do it!
Hotel Information
Please be aware that the hotel will sell out, and if you want to make sure you get a room, you should contact the hotel as soon as possible and make a reservation. (Click HOTEL on the side bar for specific details). Credit cards will be charged one night charge on June 1, 2013, for validation of your card to ensure its not expired and that it is still valid. The remaining nights will be charged on check out. If your card is not valid or declined on that day, you may lose your reservation. The hotel will contact you first if the charge does not go through before canceling a reservation.
You should also be aware, however, that if you do reserve a room and you decide you don’t want it, you MUST cancel your reservation before June 21, 2013, or you will be charged for one room night even if you do not attend. This policy is to prevent people who are not sure they really want to attend Thunder from reserving rooms and not canceling them until the last minute, thereby preventing others from getting rooms in the host hotel. So, reserve your rooms early, but if you don’t think you can attend, be sure and cancel them before June, 21, 2013, to prevent an unwanted charge to your card.
Once again, we would encourage you to make plans early so you won’t be disappointed. We are expecting a big crowd again this year, and our presenters are always the best in the nation. Membership in Thunder in the Mountains includes entry into the event, entry into all yearly organizational planning and meetings, and invitations to any other social events which may be sponsored during the year. Once you purchase a membership in your name, it cannot be transferred to another person. Anyone wishing to register for Thunder or to volunteer, or to make a reservation at the Crowne Plaza DIA, or to apply as a vendor, or to enter the contest show should click on the corresponding heading on the side bar. I’d like to add that in our huge play space, we will still maintain our men’s, women’s, and pan areas like we did in prior years. If anyone has any questions about the website or the event, you can email me at Mrlthrco@aol.com. We look forward to seeing you again.
Welcome
From Rich Dockter and Brian Conway, Directors
We want to sincerely welcome you to Thunder in the Mountains! With an outstanding line-up of presenters & classes and, our 40,000 sq. ft. dungeon, and puppy mosh pit and pony track, this promises to be the best party so far. To our returning attendees we would offer hugs of renewal and friendship, and to our first time attendees, we want you to know that we welcome you with open arms as well.
Each year in the text of this website, we discuss the standards of public behavior that we expect of our attendees at Thunder so that you may understand why we impose such rules. And each year some of the long time attendees tell me I sound like I am lecturing a bunch of kids. If you feel like we are lecturing you when reading my caveats, please understand that I reiterate these rules each year mostly for the newbies and inexperienced among us, but we also want everyone (new and old alike) to realize how important our good conduct remains to our ability to continue to host our event in Denver each summer. It takes only one incident (unintended or not) to create a firestorm that can get us closed down. So, when reading through our rules, please take no offense at their tone. None was intended. I am only trying to keep us alive as an event.
Even though the Crown Plaza DIA is renting rooms only to Thunder members on the nights of Friday and Saturday (July 12 & 13) please be aware that there may be people in the hotel for various other reasons (staff, maintenance, non-scene guests, bar/restaurant patrons, etc.). We would ask that you please be respectful of their sensitivities and their sense of morals. There are members of the hotel staff who ARE offended and who do not think this sort of thing is either cute or funny. Please respect their sensibilities as we expect them to respect ours. No matter how strongly we may believe in our own moral codes, it is not up to us to make these judgments for others. Our continuation in this hotel may depend upon how well we are received by all people in the hotel.... staff and others alike. So please be friendly and respectful to everyone.
As we have said above, for many this sort of discussion about standards of behavior is no longer even necessary. Most of us have been to events all over the country, and we understand that our behavior in public venues reflects upon our entire community across the nation. But there are always those people, however, who feel it is proper and necessary to push the envelope and to try and shock those outside our community. So for those people, let us reiterate---at Thunder we maintain a basic, common sense approach to public behavior, dress, and decorum. That means specifically that there will be no exposed genitals or women’s breasts, no groping, no lewd behavior or scening in the public areas, and there will be no walking of slaves or subs through the public areas of the hotel on chains, ropes or other bondage equipment. This means that when you go to the restaurant to eat or when you decide to walk through the lobby area on your way to a demo, vendor space, or play party, PLEASE remember that you are in a public area and that non-scene staff and other citizens may be present. If you are wearing fetish wear that is risqué, cover up until you get into the secure membership-only areas. Your behavior in this regard, whether in Denver or elsewhere, reflects significantly upon our ability to continue booking these great hotels for our leather events. We ask your cooperation here not only because it helps to keep our event open, but because behaving in a civilized manner in a public area is the right thing to do.
At Thunder we remain proud that our event continues to have an absolute minimum of rules imposed by Thunder staff and administration. We can make this claim because Thunder is a gathering where we have some of the most experienced and mature players in the country attending. We want our event to be seen as the one event in the nation where all attendees (both novice and experienced) can feel at ease and feel relatively free to choose for themselves at any one time the proper course of action in public or scene behavior. Such freedom of choice, like all freedom, carries with it a great burden of responsibility, however, and we want to trust the real players who attend Thunder not only to step up to the plate in this regard but to encourage and set an example for the novices and less experienced players who may attend Thunder for the first time. We make or break our national leather events by the way we act as individuals, and we hope to prove ourselves capable as continuing as a part of this premiere event. This year we intend on having another GREAT gathering with the best presenters in the country coming together with the best players in the country, and we hope to see you here.
Rocky Mountain Leather Sir/boy and Community Bootblack
Thunder in the Mountains, LLC, and RMLSb/CBB Producer, Brian Conway, are proud to announce the addition of the Rocky Mountain Leather Sir/boy contest to our big Thunder weekend. The Leather Sir/boy contest grew out of the now defunct International Mr. Drummer & Drummer boy contests started decades ago before by Drummer Magazine in San Francisco, CA.These contests began then and remain today a celebration of male leather sex and leather sex play. The primary goal of the contest winners and of the titles themselves is education, networking, and outreach expressing the eroticism, traditions, and history of gay leathermen worldwide.
The Leather Sir/boy contest is open to gay leathermen and leather boys living in the Rocky Mountain Region of the U.S. (Colorado, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming). The contest categories include a judged interview, formal speech, physique (expressed by contestants in jock straps), and performance of a leather sex fantasy. Contestants may be sponsored by a club, business, individual or may be self sponsored, but all contestants must agree to the list of specific contestant qualifications.
As part of the leather weekend we will also host a competition for Community Bootblack. Unlike the Leather Sir/boy contest, Community Bootblack is open to any person of any gender identity. Bootblacks will be judged on interview, formal speech, technical bootblacking/shine abilities, and interpersonal skills/observation. This contest also focuses on the sexual aspects of the exchange between the bootblack and the customer.
The winners of both the Leather Sir/boy contest and the Community Bootblack contest will be obligated to compete at the International Leather Sir/boy/CBB competition the following year. The international contest will follow the same judging criteria as the regional contests except at the International contest, each region will receive a specific theme around which to build their “fantasy” for the fantasy aspect of the competition. There are 16 separate regions in the U.S. Regional winners must also appear back at the regional contest the following year to present the title to the next year’s winners. Titleholders will be expected to serve as ambassadors for their region and are expected to travel to other leather events around the world to promote the leather philosophy and lifestyle as well as to reach out to those who are curious or new to the scene to provide for them a conduit into the community.
It is with great honor that we introduce to Denver and the Rockies the Rocky Mountain Leather Sir/boy contest and the Community Bootblack Contest. We encourage you to get in on all the fun by attending, and for those of you who are interested and meet the entry criteria, we encourage you to compete!