Podcasts about Brian Norton

The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast supports bears, quadrangles, and liberal interpretations of The Iliad. Sign up for the free or paid newsletter to get updates on none of these things. Thank you for supporting independent ski journalism.Welcome to the Storm's short-form, news-focused podcast. Don't worry, I will still write newsletters too. Paid subscribers can leave a comment in the article below, or by joining The Storm's chat (also below). I'll respond to some comments in the next episode, which is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 14.The Zoom transcript (click “transcript” above for the Substack transcript, which will zoom to any point in the video when you click on the associated text block; timestamps below DO NOT MATCH THE VIDEO)Stuart Winchester: Welcome to The Storm! I'm your host, Stuart Winchester. It is September 10th, 2026, and we have some big, big news in Ski World today.00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:14.000Stuart Winchester: So one of the things that I focused on since launching the storm in 2019 is the rapid.00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:30.000Stuart Winchester: Exponential growth in US based multi mountain ski passes and one of the biggest icon pass today released five new partners for the 2026 to 27 season. So I'm gonna break those down for you.00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:46.000Stuart Winchester: I am going to talk a little bit more about IndyPass and some of their partner shuffles. Then we are going to be joined by IndyPass owner, Eric Mogenson, who will give us a breakdown on all things happening with Indy, Black Mountain, and Entebeni Systems.00:06:46.000 --> 00:07:01.000Stuart Winchester: reader reaction, but I want to jump right into Icon Pass. Icon hits us today with, as I said, 5 new ski areas, 3 are full partners, and those… which means 7 days on the Icon Pass.00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:06.000Stuart Winchester: 5 days on the Icon Base Pass. All 3 are in Asia.00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:13.000Stuart Winchester: The first is Matarau, Japan. That will be ICON's 10th ski resort in Japan.00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:28.000Stuart Winchester: And then, Icon, last year, was the first U.S.-based pass to add a ski area in China, and Icon adds two more today, though they're nowhere near the ski area that it added last year. They are sort of close.00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:47.000Stuart Winchester: to each other. So, we're gonna break those down first, and then ICON added two mountains to its two-day tier, uh, which it calls Bonus Mountains, which ICON insists are not ICON Pass members, uh, but I insist they are, because you can access them with your ICON Pass. Therefore, they are on.00:07:47.000 --> 00:07:53.000Stuart Winchester: the Icon Pass, no matter what Altera tells us. So, let's start with Montreal, Japan, and if you're on…00:07:53.000 --> 00:07:55.000Stuart Winchester: The…00:07:56.000 --> 00:08:04.000Stuart Winchester: If you're on the video, I'm going to share my screen here because we're going to do a little visual helping.00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:10.000Stuart Winchester: All right, so let's take this away. All right, so the first one I want to break down.00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:12.000Stuart Winchester: is…00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:26.000Stuart Winchester: Madarao, Japan, and I've actually written about this ski area before, because they were an IndiePass member, and this is the article that I wrote back in 2023, when Madarao joined IndiePass, and Indie's been a big leader in.00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:27.000Stuart Winchester: Bye.00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:40.000Stuart Winchester: building out a network in Japan. So, the ski resorts in Japan are interesting. I've not skied there, but I've been there in the summer and ridden the lifts around.00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:45.000Stuart Winchester: And the skiing is very much like a mix of…00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:58.000Stuart Winchester: The Cottonwoods and New England. And what I mean by that is, if you're looking at the screen here, you can see the stats on Mattarau. 512 inches of average annual snowfall.00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:12.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, but not a lot of vert, 1,444 feet, and as you can see from the trail map, if you're looking here, it's not a big trail footprint. So, what I mean when I say Cottonwoods is the snowfall, and when I say…00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:29.000Stuart Winchester: New England, I mean the size. They tend to be not huge vert, sort of compact. If they do have a lot of vert, like the Jacuba Valley ski resorts that are on Vail, they tend to go, uh, kind of straight up and be side by side. You don't have a lot of the mega resorts as you would have.00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:40.000Stuart Winchester: in North America, or especially in Europe. So, it's good that the passes are all building density in Japan, because the ski areas are not…00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:43.000Stuart Winchester: This is not a place that you would go to necessarily.00:09:43.000 --> 00:10:02.000Stuart Winchester: like Vail Mountain and spend a week, or like Whistler. Another thing I want to note about Japan, you can see here that Matarau has some glade zones marked. In a lot of cases, skiing off-piste or in the trees, even though that's what Japan is known for, in a lot of cases, my understanding is that that's pretty heavily policed and forbidden.00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:17.000Stuart Winchester: So you really have to research your ski areas before you go over to figure out which ones will actually allow you to go off-piste, which is what most of us want to do, right? If we're coming from North America, we're going there for the big powder. Japan is a little more of an on-piste tradition.00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:21.000Stuart Winchester: a little bit more like Europe. So, I…00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:33.000Stuart Winchester: there's… to underscore the scope of what we have now available to us in Japan as U.S.-based pass holders. So, with the addition of Madarao today.00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:49.000Stuart Winchester: Now, 53 ski areas in Japan have joined the Epic, Icon, Indy, or Mountain Collective Passes. And I actually, I want to show you something I have that's really cool. So, I have this gigantic chart, and it's kind of…00:10:49.000 --> 00:11:04.000Stuart Winchester: it's kind of hard to navigate, but I'm slowly making it a little bit better. And so this is a chart that's variously called a bunch of different things. Right now, I'm calling it the Encyclopedia Britannica. Sometimes it's been the Passmaster.00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:17.000Stuart Winchester: 5,000. And I just kind of change the name whenever I want, but the link is always the same. And what I've… it's a really slow Google Sheet, and I definitely need a better platform, but if you go, there's all these tabs.00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:33.000Stuart Winchester: Down at the bottom, and again, this is where it's nice to have the video, so you can see what I'm showing you here. So I have all these tabs. One of the tabs is all MegaPass ski areas. So I have this divided up, and these are just little tables that pivot off the main table, so all the stats are up to date.00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:35.000Stuart Winchester: So first, I have this…00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:42.000Stuart Winchester: chart here with all ski areas that are on any U.S.-based pass, and we'll talk about that a little bit more in a second.00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:43.000Stuart Winchester: Then I have…00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:59.000Stuart Winchester: all U.S. ski areas, then I have New England, I have Japan, so let's pause on Japan for a moment. 53 ski areas, 11 Epic, 10 Icon, 32 Indy, 1 Mountain Collective. You can see all the stats down here. Again, not big.00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:16.000Stuart Winchester: skiable acre footprints, and really, Japan measures things differently than North America. They tend to measure snowpack rather than inches of snowfall. I did find a good average annual snowfall chart on Powderhounds, which is a great site that I'll talk more about.00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:25.000Stuart Winchester: for international research of ski areas. But if you see these acreage totals, you know, there's really nothing much.00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:35.000Stuart Winchester: Here's Niseko United, it's 2,100 acres, that's 5 ski resorts combined, right next to each other. Rasutsu is, uh, is 2,000, but most of these are under…00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:51.000Stuart Winchester: 500, so you really prepare yourself for that. It's one place, I think, Japan, where it would help to get a guide. Everything tends to be pretty cheap once you get on the ground. In Japan, the lift tickets are nothing, so having someone to show you around and show you where you can go under the ropes.00:12:51.000 --> 00:12:57.000Stuart Winchester: is a good idea. And, you know, I want to jump ahead to reader feedback for a moment. So I had…00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:14.000Stuart Winchester: this comment from Allison Wood. She said, I look forward to seeing your future efforts. I know there's enough in American skiing to discuss, but I'd be curious if you would further discuss European Alps destinations. It seems to be growing in popularity due to competitive pricing versus U.S.00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:28.000Stuart Winchester: Western resorts. A week at Big Sky appears to be the same price as a week in Switzerland for those in the Eastern USA. The answer is absolutely yes. I do want to cover the Alps and Japan and all of these international destinations more.00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:43.000Stuart Winchester: I don't have the personal on-the-ground knowledge base with those ski areas that I do with the U.S. ski areas, so I'm reaching out to my contacts in Europe, in Japan, who know these resorts intimately, and I'm gonna bring them on the show to try to help us make sense, because if you go back.00:13:43.000 --> 00:13:47.000Stuart Winchester: We go back to the Encyclopedia Britannica for a second.00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:49.000Stuart Winchester: You'll see that…00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:52.000Stuart Winchester: The, uh… if I can get to it…00:13:52.000 --> 00:14:05.000Stuart Winchester: Okay, so Japan has 53 ski areas, Canada has another 55, and most of us can sort those out easily enough. The harder ones is Europe. I mean, Europe, there's 61 ski areas, and sometimes a ski area in Europe is, you know.00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:21.000Stuart Winchester: 10 ski areas that put together are as big as all the ski areas in Utah. So I really need some help to break those down. But that's the great thing about this new format is that it will allow me to bring in more voices more frequently since there's more frequent shows. All right.00:14:21.000 --> 00:14:38.000Stuart Winchester: Icon also today added two ski areas in China, and the best site to just get the basics of any ski area in the world is, I've found, skiresort.com. They have a profile of every ski area. They tend to keep it up to date. I don't know who runs the site.00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:54.000Stuart Winchester: I would like to connect with them at some point, but this is really my go-to for… so this is Betahu, I'm sure I'm pronouncing that wrong, one of the ski areas that ICON added in China, and they have all the basic information, the elevation, which is not high, it's all in meters, obviously, out of the U.S.00:14:54.000 --> 00:15:01.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, what I really like is the lift breakdown and the trail map. So, the… the thing about the ski areas in China.00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:07.000Stuart Winchester: is just like everything else in China, they're pretty much brand new. I read this really interesting.00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:13.000Stuart Winchester: quote in the New York Times several years ago, and the notion.00:15:13.000 --> 00:15:16.000Stuart Winchester: was basically China…00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:31.000Stuart Winchester: stayed pretty much in the 19th century for all of the 20th century, and then it got to the 21st century in about 10 years. So, you go there, there's high-speed rail, everything's new, there's new buildings. The ski resorts are new as well, and you can see this in their lift fleet. I mean, this…00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:34.000Stuart Winchester: You know, they have a…00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:49.000Stuart Winchester: six eight-person gondolas, one six-person gondola, two high-speed six-packs, three high-speed detached quads, no fixed grip lifts at all, and then you take a look at the trail map, and again, this is probably a little more like Japan, where these are.00:15:49.000 --> 00:16:03.000Stuart Winchester: a little bit smaller ski areas than what we're used to, uh, as far as the Mountain West. But, you know, it's all very well interconnected. I would expect a lot of on-piste skiing. You know, with a… with a immature ski culture, I wouldn't expect a lot of glade stuff.00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:19.000Stuart Winchester: to be developed. Kind of talking on my rear end, to be honest, because I've not skied in China or even been to China, but these are my perceptions with the different ski cultures I know. I'll try to track down someone who knows better. Here's the other Icon Pass resort, Lake Songwa Resort, and I want to make…00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:30.000Stuart Winchester: that we kind of have an Aspen-Crested Butte situation going on here, so Sangua and, uh, this other one they added, uh…00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:49.000Stuart Winchester: Beidou, there, as you can see on this Google map, they're 24 miles apart in the mountains, but it looks like about a 4-hour drive, so there's not really a road through the city. It's the same kind of deal with Aspen and Crested Butte, where they're pretty close, but it's a long drive around. These are seasonal roads that Google doesn't know about, so it's about a 5-hour drive in the winter.00:16:49.000 --> 00:16:51.000Stuart Winchester: I believe. So…00:16:51.000 --> 00:17:03.000Stuart Winchester: We have these, and then, if you want to go to China to experience skiing, Icon gives you the means to do so. And then, Icon added…00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:16.000Stuart Winchester: to their 2-day tier, which again, they're saying is not IconPass. I want to talk about the 2-day tier a little bit in general. So, Icon started this 2-day tier.00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:23.000Stuart Winchester: last year, and I think what they were trying to do is mirror what Vail did.00:17:23.000 --> 00:17:37.000Stuart Winchester: with its feeder ski areas and all these little places that are bought all over the country, Mount Brighton in Michigan, and Afton Alps in Minnesota, and Wilmot in Wisconsin, and all the resorts around Cleveland.00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:49.000Stuart Winchester: and you know, Alpine Valley. And then there's the names escaping me. Boston Mills, Brandywine. I just skied there and did a write-up on it. So so yeah, they're.00:17:49.000 --> 00:18:04.000Stuart Winchester: Vail bought up all these ski areas. Well, Icon, instead of doing that and buying, has added two days only on the full Icon Pass, which is currently $1,449, uh, two days to 11 different ski areas around the country.00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:19.000Stuart Winchester: It's been growing that list. Silver Star was one last year, and it converted to full Icon, but right now, if you're on the screen share, you can see the 11 that are currently on the Icon Pass two-day roster. So we…00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:23.000Stuart Winchester: had today the additions of Cabarfay Peaks in Michigan.00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:25.000Stuart Winchester: And…00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:37.000Stuart Winchester: In Wyoming, we had snowy range. So Caberfay Peaks is actually, it's an awesome ski area. It's one of my favorite ski areas. I grew up about an hour and 15 minutes from there.00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:40.000Stuart Winchester: And with Cabot Fay, it…00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:55.000Stuart Winchester: It's a really fun place. They're constantly building it up. And what the cabaret you see today is very different than the cabaret that existed a long time ago. It basically used to be a two mile sprawl of rope tows and starting in the 1980s.00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:59.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, the families that owned it dug up from the bottom here.00:18:59.000 --> 00:19:07.000Stuart Winchester: and added to the top. So they went from a couple hundred vertical feet to 485 vertical feet, and it continued to…00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:18.000Stuart Winchester: expand, and they have another expansion in the works over here on Green Mountain. Should be coming 27-28, and I'm gonna have Tim and Pete Meyer from Calgary Fay Peaks on next week to talk about that a little more.00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:20.000Stuart Winchester: And then we have…00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:36.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, it's Snowy Range, Wyoming, and Snowy Range might seem like a little bit of a weird one, but Snowy Range is actually very logical. They've had a long-standing relationship that's in southern Wyoming. It's not, it's only a couple hours from Steamboat. They have a long-standing relationship with Steamboat.00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:51.000Stuart Winchester: to a snowy range season pass for 300 and some dollars this year. They changed that to half off in a 3 day icon session pass, which is good at Steamboat and several other mountains. And now, if you have a full icon, you would also get 2 more days at Steamboat.00:19:51.000 --> 00:19:54.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, or you would actually get 2 days at Snowy Range.00:19:54.000 --> 00:20:00.000Stuart Winchester: if you were, you know, wanted to escape the crowds at Steamboat one day. So, we are gonna…00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:03.000Stuart Winchester: Come back to…00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:16.000Stuart Winchester: IndyPass in a moment. Actually, I have one more IndyPass update, then I'm gonna go to Eric. So, Mission Ridge and Blacktail in Washington have left IndyPass.00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:17.000Stuart Winchester: And…00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:19.000Stuart Winchester: Hold on, let me just…00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:25.000Stuart Winchester: So Eric, I'll be right there.00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:30.000Stuart Winchester: We'll get to Mission to Blacktail in a minute. I'm gonna bring Eric in.00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.000Stuart Winchester: And I'm going to stop my screen share.00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:42.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, Eric?00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:43.000Erik Mogensen: What's up, man?00:20:43.000 --> 00:20:57.000Stuart Winchester: How you doing? Joining us now is the director of IndyPass, the founder of Entebeni Systems, and the operator of Black Mountain, New Hampshire. Eric Mogenson is a good friend of the storm, and he joins us now from where? Where are you, Eric?00:20:57.000 --> 00:21:05.000Erik Mogensen: I am, uh, calling in from Black Mountain, New Hampshire, our new home, and I'm up at the Alpine Cabin.00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:18.000Stuart Winchester: I want to start on the Alpine Cabin. Tell us what the Alpine Cabin was when you arrived at Black Mountain and what it has turned into from what it is and from a revenue standpoint.00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:07.000Erik Mogensen: Yep.00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:34.000Erik Mogensen: Yeah, so, um, I spend the first 8 to 10 hours of my day working with our engineering and product teams, and most of it is in front of a computer or on the phone, but by 5 PM I try to be up here on the mountain every.00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:52.000Erik Mogensen: night. Like, doing trail work, on the excavator, snowmaking, lift work. But I keep a desk up here in the summer. Couldn't keep a desk here in the winter. Um, but I do keep a desk up here so that when I have an idea, or I want to come write something down, or I want to watch a YouTube video, or do something, this place is super productive for me.00:21:53.000 --> 00:22:11.000Erik Mogensen: It's like my peaceful, happy place in the summer. In the winter, there is nothing peaceful about this place. This, this place rages, uh, European style. So, when we took over Black Mountain, the Alpine cabin, the credit card receipts from the Alpine cabin the year before.00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:22.000Erik Mogensen: were $38,000, uh, for the season in sales. Um, and the year after, our first year that we took it over, it was over $300,000.00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:29.000Erik Mogensen: Um, and then our second year, it was over $600,000, and most of that comes down to champagne.00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:38.000Erik Mogensen: But don't look at champagne as something you drink. Champagne is something that you use to celebrate. And so I think.00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:50.000Erik Mogensen: The long-winded answer to your question is, is the Alpine cabin is truly a place to celebrate the sport and culture of skiing, and people are definitely holding on to that.00:22:50.000 --> 00:23:03.000Stuart Winchester: It's an amazing space, and if folks aren't familiar with Black Mountain, that's the main double chair to the summit right behind you, and it goes right over the alpine cabin. It's a party scene, and it's a lot of fun.00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:00.000Erik Mogensen: Oh, yeah.00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:20.000Stuart Winchester: Going from $38,000 to $600,000, 20X in revenue, I mean, Eric, that's the kind of revenue stream that could change the path of a lot of small ski areas. Is that replicable, do you think, at some of these smaller family-owned ski areas around the country that.00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:25.000Stuart Winchester: are really tied to old revenue models and just need a little spark.00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:32.000Erik Mogensen: Yeah, I don't know if you can scale the champagne necessarily, but you can definitely scale.00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:51.000Erik Mogensen: the focus on the culture of skiing. And I think that's really what the independents do so well, is that, you know, the wood fireplaces smell authentic, the people are very authentic, the ski trails are authentic, they're weird, they're quirky, the lifts are slow, right?00:23:51.000 --> 00:24:06.000Erik Mogensen: Those a lot of people look at those things. We've been programed as skiers to see those things as liabilities. They're actually our biggest assets. And so, yeah, the Alpine, you know, the Alpine cabin was a little 200 square foot patrol shack.00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:11.000Erik Mogensen: that sold some, you know, beer and hot dogs.00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:21.000Erik Mogensen: But we never looked at that as a liability. We never looked at that as, hey, we need to go build a 20,000 square foot mid-mountain lodge, take on a ton of debt.00:24:21.000 --> 00:24:32.000Erik Mogensen: Um, we really looked at it as an opportunity, and I think every single small ski area has that exact same opportunity to focus on the authenticity of the product that they deliver.00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:48.000Stuart Winchester: There's been a ripple effect, too. I mean, what can you tell us about skier visits before and after you purchased it? Because Black, for background, for people who are not familiar with Black, the reason you own Black is because they announced they were closing on Facebook. They said, we're done. The skier has been open since 1930, whatever.00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:57.000Stuart Winchester: said, we're done, this was 3 years ago, and you said, no. And you tried to find a buyer, looked for a year, uh, and decided to buy it yourself. So, so…00:24:57.000 --> 00:25:03.000Stuart Winchester: You took a dying skier, what did the skier visits revenue look like when you got it, and what do they look like today?00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:15.000Erik Mogensen: It was about $700,000, $750,000 in top line revenue when we bought the whole ski area. Yeah, including the $32,000 in hot dogs and beer at this cabin.00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:11.000Stuart Winchester: That's the whole ski area.00:25:11.000 --> 00:25:12.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:16.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:27.000Erik Mogensen: Um, so it was the entire ski area. I don't quite know what the skier visits were. Um, we know what the ticketed visits were, but I would guesstimate that the skier visits were somewhere between, you know, 10 and 15,000.00:25:19.000 --> 00:25:20.000Stuart Winchester: Mm-hmm.00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:43.000Erik Mogensen: Um, in our second year, we took it to $2.5 million in top line revenue. Um, we've surpassed $5 million, uh, here in our 25th or 26th month. And skier visits, you know, all in, including employees and the whole thing, right about 55,000.00:25:43.000 --> 00:25:48.000Erik Mogensen: So it's been a big turnaround. It's been interesting, learned a lot.00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:50.000Erik Mogensen: And.00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:56.000Erik Mogensen: I think this is 100% doable by most of the smallest areas on the planet.00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:02.000Erik Mogensen: You just have to realize that if you want a different and better result, you have to take different and better action.00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:05.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, I mean, you proved me wrong, because I, you know…00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:16.000Stuart Winchester: I thought Black had maybe just had its time, because it's surrounded by two Vail Own Mountains and Cranmore, which is a high-speed lift. Sunday River is right down the road. Uh, you have intense competition from Epic.00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:26.000Stuart Winchester: and… and Black Mountain is not an especially snowy mountain, like, say, Smuggler's Notch, we'll talk about in a minute. I… I didn't know if… if it had enough aura.00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:38.000Stuart Winchester: But it seems like you've either tapped the aura or created it, and really turned it around, and really given me a lot of hope that a lot of the ski areas that we see around the country, that…00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:45.000Stuart Winchester: Seem to be up against this modernization curve, they can't quite get ahead, might be able to take other routes to get there.00:26:45.000 --> 00:27:00.000Erik Mogensen: Yeah, and I think, too, Stu, it's worth noting, like, yeah, I'm proud of what we've done here, but there's a lot of really good operators out there that have done this, too. You know, having grown up in Buffalo, which I'll call, like, the Eastern Midwest of the Midwest.00:26:59.000 --> 00:27:00.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:10.000Erik Mogensen: Right? There's really well-managed ski areas that focus on the food and beverage, that focus on the authenticity, um, that drive a ton of other revenue.00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:23.000Erik Mogensen: Um, that are creative, uh, in that way, and I think we just have to be accepting of those things. We have to be accepting of them, we have to share what works, uh, share what doesn't work, and collaborate, um.00:27:23.000 --> 00:27:29.000Erik Mogensen: And and then we'll be fine. We'll be fine. These little skier is have a huge advantage.00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:39.000Erik Mogensen: in the fact that they are… they are run by authentic and passionate people. That… they… they are… they are run…00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:46.000Erik Mogensen: not as a profit center. Um, and yes, they need to be profitable to be sustainable and have reinvestment, right? But…00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:51.000Erik Mogensen: These little ski areas have such a remarkable advantage over some of the big areas.00:27:51.000 --> 00:27:57.000Erik Mogensen: and and how they're managed and what their direction looks like. We just have to take advantage of it and talk about it more.00:27:57.000 --> 00:28:06.000Stuart Winchester: this is just the beginning of the story, too. All right, let's switch over to Andy Pass, and, you know, my questions around Black, when you were initially taking it over, were…00:28:06.000 --> 00:28:24.000Stuart Winchester: how many retro ski areas does New England have room for in a market? Like, Mad River Glen has crafted its whole image around being this retro ski area. You know, they groom, they make snow up to 2,000 whatever feet, the single chair is a 1940 whatever, but they rebuilt it in 2007, so…00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:27.000Stuart Winchester: It is a well-maintained place.00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:42.000Stuart Winchester: as sort of like a museum. It's… it's… it's… the facade is old school, and it skis that way, but really, it's… it's been well tended to. Smuggler's Notch is another one of those that feels like 1960s, around 1960s haul lifts, including.00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:57.000Stuart Winchester: One of the longest in the country, the Madonna lift. Uh, and I saw black in that same mold and said, okay, how many of these do we have room for? But Smuggs is, at the end of the day, a awesome ski area, and you added it to IndyPass. I mean, how big of a victory is that for New England skiers?00:28:57.000 --> 00:29:03.000Stuart Winchester: to now have Smuggs, Jay, Waterville, all these ski areas on the one pass.00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:11.000Erik Mogensen: I mean, look, you've got… you've got Smogs, you've got Jay, you've got Bolton, you've got Cannon, you've got Waterville, um.00:29:11.000 --> 00:29:28.000Erik Mogensen: we've really leveled the playing field in the East, and it's exactly what we intend to do in other places of the country, and also around the world. Uh, and I think what we're proving here in New England, there's been a lot of focus with IndyPass in New England over the last two years, and a lot of that has to do.00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:44.000Erik Mogensen: With Black Mountain and our move and our things there. But what we're proving we can do here, we are going to replicate in other markets. There's no question in my mind. And I think what we're going to replicate is the fact that you don't have to be epic. You don't have to be iconic.00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:50.000Erik Mogensen: to be a really stable, well-earning business. You can be part of an independent group.00:29:50.000 --> 00:30:09.000Erik Mogensen: and still push and plow forward, and compete. So, you know, and I… look, I don't judge a ski area by its vertical. Don't judge a ski area by how many high-speed lifts it has. I think that's the mistake that we keep getting pulled into in skiing. And our… it's the mistake that we make as well as operators, and we…00:29:53.000 --> 00:29:54.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah. Okay.00:30:09.000 --> 00:30:16.000Erik Mogensen: we pass that mistake on to the consumers, right? Bigger is not better, it's just bigger.00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:33.000Erik Mogensen: Faster is not better. It's just faster, right? More lifts. Sure, that sounds great, but you have to pay for those lifts as well. And so that is going to there's that money doesn't just come from the sky that that money is going to be passed on to the consumer.00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:41.000Erik Mogensen: And the more and more we continue to do that, the more and more expensive and exclusive skiing's gonna become. So, again, I'll bring it back to…00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:51.000Erik Mogensen: One of the greatest advantages these places have are being small, are having slow lifts, are being independent, are being authentic. And that's exactly what Smugs is.00:30:51.000 --> 00:31:01.000Stuart Winchester: However, SMUGS also has 2,600 feet of vertical, 1,000 acres of skiing, and 322 inches of average snowfall. The numbers do help.00:31:01.000 --> 00:31:08.000Erik Mogensen: They do, but I'll leave the numbers to your spreadsheets that I can barely understand at this point.00:31:01.000 --> 00:31:03.000Stuart Winchester: The numbers do help, though, it's offline.00:31:06.000 --> 00:31:10.000Stuart Winchester: Well, that makes two of us and probably everyone else.00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:11.000Erik Mogensen: Those will speak for themselves.00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:16.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, so having Jay and Smugs on there is an awesome combo. You know, I think that…00:31:16.000 --> 00:31:28.000Stuart Winchester: Indy and Doug before you, when Doug… I know Doug's still heavily involved, but the founder of the Indy Pass, Doug Fish. I think you have done a great job of building these little nodes of skiing.00:31:28.000 --> 00:31:44.000Stuart Winchester: around the country, and now around the world. So the… the donut hole has always kind of been Colorado, Utah, Tahoe, and that's because that's where Epic and Icon logically went. Those are the three biggest ski markets. But I want to talk a little bit first about the Midwest, where.00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:59.000Stuart Winchester: Indy built a really nice network, and you have a lot of ski areas in the Midwest. You have… 37. Uh, you've had some big departures this year. Lutzen, Granite Peak, and Snow River, run by Midwest Family Ski Resorts.00:31:59.000 --> 00:32:16.000Stuart Winchester: Went over to Icon, and Lutzen is, for the listeners, biggest ski area in Minnesota. It skis like a New England ski area. Granite Peak, you know, lots of high-speed lifts. Charles Skinner really turned that place from a dump into something nice. And the Snow River's on the come up. It's in a nice snow belt in Michigan.00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:19.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, you know, how much…00:32:19.000 --> 00:32:27.000Stuart Winchester: Did you see those as drivers of IndyPass sales in the Midwest? And how concerned, if at all, are you that they departed?00:32:26.000 --> 00:32:41.000Erik Mogensen: Well, look, let's… let's talk… I mean, the moose in the room here is that that… that loss sucks for us. Like, there's no way around it. Um, it… it… it's a bummer. It stings. Uh, I really like Charles Skinner. I really like Charlotte. I think they're both.00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:34.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah. Okay.00:32:41.000 --> 00:32:57.000Erik Mogensen: really great operators. They're very, very smart. They're very, very sharp. We had a we had a great call around when we kind of showed them what the revenue was in their last season, and we talked through it, and very, very amicable. I've always relied. Have some great, you know, dinner conversations with Charles.00:32:57.000 --> 00:33:12.000Erik Mogensen: And and I think they're great. They they have to make a move. They made a business decision to go to Icon and Icon makes that very, very, very attractive. You know whether or not that initial sales pitch.00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:29.000Erik Mogensen: translates into the long-term vision? I don't know. I firmly believe that, you know, Midwest skiers are some of the most authentic and purposeful, you know, skiers on the continent, and they'll figure it out. I think we have lots of options, there's no question.00:33:29.000 --> 00:33:38.000Erik Mogensen: But none of them are going to be quite like those Midwest family resorts. And so we'll have to see what happens. It stings, but I don't.00:33:38.000 --> 00:33:42.000Erik Mogensen: What I've really learned about Indy is that.00:33:42.000 --> 00:33:47.000Erik Mogensen: Our our strength is in the diversity of of.00:33:47.000 --> 00:33:56.000Erik Mogensen: the resorts that we've put together. It's not on a… it's not on a single one resort, or a single resort operator. Um, so…00:33:56.000 --> 00:34:01.000Erik Mogensen: I hate losing resorts, but I'm never afraid to lose them and/or replace them if necessary.00:34:01.000 --> 00:34:12.000Stuart Winchester: So, when they go to ICON, there's a couple different tiers for ICON. So, Midwest family went to the traditional 7-5 tier of 7 on full ICON, 5 on ICON base. Today.00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:19.000Stuart Winchester: I kind of announced that Cabaret, a former IndyPass partner that actually just left Indy, was a founding member in 2019.00:34:19.000 --> 00:34:32.000Stuart Winchester: left for Icon. That news just broke. I don't know if you have any thoughts on that. Buck Hill similarly left Indy for Icon today, a couple of years ago. Is that too new to process, or what are your thoughts on Cabra Fact?00:34:31.000 --> 00:34:48.000Erik Mogensen: Yeah, I think it's exactly the same where, you know, we, we, you know, Cabrifay is a great ski area. Um, we're sad to see them go. We, you know, look, they're independent for a reason. They get to make their choice. They've made their choice. They're going to go to Icon. The consumers can make their choice of where they go and where they want to.00:34:48.000 --> 00:35:05.000Erik Mogensen: they want to spend their time and money. You know, we're going to fight as hard as we can to drive as much value for the operators and the consumers as possible. I can tell you, we had some people that had left for that icon two day product that now want to come back because of the payout.00:35:02.000 --> 00:35:04.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:22.000Erik Mogensen: Or lack thereof. So, look, none of this is static. One thing I can absolutely guarantee everybody on the pass and everyone listening to this is, is this is going to happen every single year forever. You're going to have people come, you're going to have people go. And we're all going to think it's way more consequential.00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:11.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:35:22.000 --> 00:35:33.000Erik Mogensen: than it actually is. The reality is, is that indie sales for the last 7 seasons continue to go like this, and we're directing more and more.00:35:33.000 --> 00:35:39.000Erik Mogensen: revenue, meaningful revenue to these independent resorts. And that's not going to stop.00:35:39.000 --> 00:35:43.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah. The, uh… another place you have…00:35:43.000 --> 00:35:45.000Stuart Winchester: Good.00:35:46.000 --> 00:35:55.000Stuart Winchester: cluster is the Pacific Northwest. Mission Ridge and Blacktail, which are jointly owned, recently announced that they left, and I reached out.00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:57.000Stuart Winchester: to…00:35:57.000 --> 00:35:59.000Stuart Winchester: Mission Ridge.00:35:59.000 --> 00:36:06.000Stuart Winchester: COO and GM Matt Neubauer, and I just asked him, you know, what's going on, and this was his email, this is a quote.00:36:06.000 --> 00:36:15.000Stuart Winchester: Mission Ridge's agreement ran through the end of the 25-26 season, and we declined to seek a new one. Being independent means making the calls we think are right for the mountain long term.00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:32.000Stuart Winchester: So, that's basically echoing what you just said, the mountains will make the right decision. Uh, Blacktail's situation is different. This is a continuation of the email. Uh, they reached out to establish a new agreement before the old one ended and did not get engagement on it. Indy did reach out after passes, went back on sale September 1st, but by then, Blacktail had moved on.00:36:32.000 --> 00:36:42.000Stuart Winchester: and was preparing for the season ahead. So that was the rationale that I have for Matt. He didn't want to talk about it further publicly, but that was his on-the-record statement.00:36:43.000 --> 00:36:59.000Erik Mogensen: Yeah, I, I, you know, look, Stu, I, I think as good as it is for your ratings, you know, I, we're not gonna hang out every, every scary as, you know, laundry and every single conversation. Um, I would disagree with how that was had. I think, I think one of the greatest things about India is we have.00:36:53.000 --> 00:36:55.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:36:59.000 --> 00:37:09.000Erik Mogensen: 300-plus resorts around the world. One of the hard things about Indy is that we have 300-plus resorts around the world. It's a lot of contracts to manage, it's a lot of things.00:37:06.000 --> 00:37:07.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:37:09.000 --> 00:37:19.000Erik Mogensen: I could, like, tell you from the ski area operating, um, perspective, like, I feel everything's nice and chill all summer, and we're doing really good, and then all of a sudden it's, you know.00:37:19.000 --> 00:37:35.000Erik Mogensen: September 1st, and it's like, wow, we got a lot to do in the next 60 days before we make snow. And I think every single ski area operator runs through that. Uh, and there's a lot going back. Stu, sometimes I have to go look at your spreadsheets to understand who's on the pass.00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:52.000Erik Mogensen: That's why we usually give everything to you ahead of time so that you can, like, count them up and do the math and do everything. So it's hard. But I would say, that team at Blacktail is world class. Jesse is and is incredible. We've I've always had a great relationship with Jesse.00:37:52.000 --> 00:38:08.000Erik Mogensen: We'd welcome them on the pass. I don't think that that's changed. And I think that Blacktail and Mission Ridge are two very different ski areas. And I'm really fascinated and hopeful that they figure out a way.00:38:08.000 --> 00:38:10.000Erik Mogensen: how to make the whole thing work between the two of them.00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:28.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, you still have a really nice set of resorts out there with White Pass, and 49 Degrees North, and Mount Hood Meadows, and Bluewood, and Brundage, and Tamarack. And Tamarack's interesting, because so Tamarack, and I want to clarify this, I've actually gotten a lot of inquiries about this, people emailing me telling me my charts are wrong.00:38:28.000 --> 00:38:43.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, which… which happens, you know, they're… they're big and… and, uh, unwieldy, so I get things wrong, but that's… they're always a work in progress. But, uh, they're telling me Tamarack's not in the past because they joined Icon today, which… which obviously they did. Uh…00:38:43.000 --> 00:38:46.000Stuart Winchester: So what's going on with Tamarack? Are they on Indy?00:38:46.000 --> 00:38:59.000Erik Mogensen: Tamarack's on Indy, um, you know, we're excited about Tamarack, we've always been excited about Tamarack. Again, Scott, really great operator, um, super smart guy, great ownership group.00:38:59.000 --> 00:39:13.000Erik Mogensen: You know, I think we could probably comment on that a little bit further. But you know my job is not to speak for these resorts, Stu. My my job is to support them, and there's a difference between supporting them and speaking for them.00:39:07.000 --> 00:39:08.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah. Okay.00:39:13.000 --> 00:39:20.000Erik Mogensen: So, I'll always support them, and what Tamarack decides to do and where they decide to sit is good, but.00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:23.000Erik Mogensen: I'm comfortable saying that Tamarack's on Indy.00:39:23.000 --> 00:39:37.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, in general, you know, when Buck Hill joined the Icon 2 Day last year, you said adios. I think that's what was my understanding from a distance, correct me if I'm wrong. What was different about the Tamarack situation? Why are you making the exception for Tamarack?00:39:37.000 --> 00:39:52.000Erik Mogensen: Look, I think, look, Icon's aggressive. They're aggressive. They're trying to add as many people as they possibly can to that two-day pass. You know, I think that there's a lot of promises on that, and I think they have a very aggressive sales team.00:39:52.000 --> 00:40:08.000Erik Mogensen: Which is which is good. They're they're, you know, trying to replicate what Indy has done. So we'll just have to see what happens. But I would say that I would I would say that, you know, I have a I have a good relationship with a couple people over in that organization.00:40:08.000 --> 00:40:15.000Erik Mogensen: And I think they're trying to figure out what they're going to do. But there's no question that we're in, you know, pretty intense competition right now.00:40:08.000 --> 00:40:09.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:40:16.000 --> 00:40:18.000Stuart Winchester: All right, let's…00:40:18.000 --> 00:40:32.000Stuart Winchester: wrap up on that. Let's talk about Snow King, because the Indy Pass, you know, part of the reason the Indy Pass is able to grow so fast, from my point of view, was Doug had this great insight that the ski areas that Epic and Icon were overlooking.00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:38.000Stuart Winchester: Did have value collected onto a pass, and when you put them all together as a dynamite product.00:40:38.000 --> 00:40:47.000Stuart Winchester: and now I think, as you said, ICON's going for that, and then you have the Snow Pass, and the Snow Pass, uh…00:40:47.000 --> 00:41:02.000Stuart Winchester: has signed Snow King as a partner, and that's a long-time Indy Pass partner, and I can read these emails if you'd like, or you can just talk through it yourself on how you see the Snow King.00:41:02.000 --> 00:41:03.000Stuart Winchester: um…00:41:03.000 --> 00:41:05.000Stuart Winchester: conflict here.00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:20.000Erik Mogensen: Yeah, look, I wouldn't really say that there is any controversy here. I think Snow King is staying on Indy. Um, you know, Ryan and I never discussed any sort of litigation, and I connected him directly with you so that he could, you know, explain the situation for himself.00:41:21.000 --> 00:41:36.000Erik Mogensen: Look, again, it's not my job to get out in front and speak for these resorts. These are really great resorts with phenomenal and sophisticated operators, and they can speak for themselves. So, what I can do, Stu, is, you know, say, hey, Ryan.00:41:36.000 --> 00:41:43.000Erik Mogensen: you know, you're on Indy, and you're not on the snow pass, copy you on that email, and then you can read the email to the group.00:41:43.000 --> 00:41:46.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, the email…00:41:47.000 --> 00:41:50.000Stuart Winchester: from Ryan said.00:41:51.000 --> 00:42:06.000Stuart Winchester: Stuart, hi Stuart, this is Ryan Stanley, General Manager of Snow King. That is correct, we're going to remain on the Indy Pass this upcoming season and also offer two free tickets to the Snow Pass holders without receiving compensation, meaning Snow King will not receive compensation.00:42:06.000 --> 00:42:16.000Stuart Winchester: We are fairly desperate for some skier visits and are working on an offer for free and or $20 tickets to other pass holders as well. You know, I…00:42:16.000 --> 00:42:18.000Stuart Winchester: Ran this…00:42:18.000 --> 00:42:20.000Stuart Winchester: Bye.00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:22.000Stuart Winchester: Snow pass and.00:42:22.000 --> 00:42:26.000Stuart Winchester: I can read this email from Joe Heschen that he sent me today.00:42:26.000 --> 00:42:33.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, he said, Hi Stuart, I'm a bit confused by how this has become so complex. As stated, we have signed a signed agreement with Snow King.00:42:33.000 --> 00:42:43.000Stuart Winchester: While I would like to keep their details confidential, you are welcome to share ours. Our goal with this is not to profit, but rather to gather a group to work together for the betterment of the industry.00:42:43.000 --> 00:42:56.000Stuart Winchester: And then, it sounds like Snow King will be working with Indy and Snow Pass this season, which is great news for them. Thank you. Go Hessian. So, from Snow Pass's point of view, Snow King is still on both passes.00:42:57.000 --> 00:43:16.000Erik Mogensen: I don't know, Stu's starting to sound like a big old, you know, fun high school group text message here. I don't, I, you know, I don't know what to tell you. Um, again, I think Ryan's email's pretty clear. I'm not gonna speak for Ryan, not gonna speak for Joe. Um, they're definitely, you know, Snow King is definitely on the Indy Pass. We're definitely gonna pay them, just like we have.00:43:16.000 --> 00:43:21.000Erik Mogensen: every year. We're definitely gonna push a lot of visits to them. Um, you know, I'm not…00:43:21.000 --> 00:43:33.000Erik Mogensen: entirely sure, uh, beyond that. Uh, and, and, you know, Ryan, again, Ryan's a really smart guy. I've enjoyed talking to him. Um, I've spent a…00:43:33.000 --> 00:43:49.000Erik Mogensen: few, you know, longer phone calls, and he is desperate for skier visits, and I get that. He's a small skier area in the shadow of Jackson Hole, and doesn't have a ton of population to pull from. Most of the population that's coming through is destination visits.00:43:49.000 --> 00:43:57.000Erik Mogensen: And he needs more skier visits. We… we want Snow King to get skier visits. We… we… and if Ryan wants to comp…00:43:57.000 --> 00:44:07.000Erik Mogensen: you know, snow pass holders, or icon pass holders, or epic pass holders, then that's fine. I think that's great. But just because Ryan is going to comp.00:44:03.000 --> 00:44:04.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:44:07.000 --> 00:44:18.000Erik Mogensen: the Snow Pass doesn't mean that he's on the Snow Pass, and just because Ryan is going to comp Icon Pass holders, that doesn't mean that he's joined the Icon Pass. Um, all I can come down to, again.00:44:18.000 --> 00:44:27.000Erik Mogensen: is that Snow King's on the Indy Pass, um, and from our perspective, they're giving some free tickets to some of the other passes.00:44:27.000 --> 00:44:35.000Erik Mogensen: Hopefully, that checks everyone's box for early September ski area drama.00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:43.000Stuart Winchester: All right, it is an ongoing story. I just have a lot of conflicting information from…00:44:42.000 --> 00:44:56.000Erik Mogensen: What we should do is just, you know, get Uncle Joe on the call, and get Ryan on the call, and you on the call, and we all talk about it, right? Like, I think it's… I don't think it's that complicated, and frankly, it's not that big of a deal.00:44:56.000 --> 00:45:12.000Erik Mogensen: And I question the intentions behind making it a big deal. I think that, you know, Snowpass is definitely looking for us to bite into a controversy, and we're just not going to.00:45:12.000 --> 00:45:22.000Erik Mogensen: We're just not going to. We… our job is to focus on the independent resorts and make sure that we drive more visits to more independent resorts.00:45:22.000 --> 00:45:23.000Erik Mogensen: more often.00:45:23.000 --> 00:45:31.000Erik Mogensen: It's really simple, you know, and I think, I think in general too, Stu, like, you know.00:45:24.000 --> 00:45:26.000Stuart Winchester: Do you? Yeah.00:45:31.000 --> 00:45:46.000Erik Mogensen: What I've gotten from a lot of our operators and partners and people in skiing is they're just very confused by this. And again, it might be good for ratings or listeners, but there is no litigation here.00:45:46.000 --> 00:45:56.000Erik Mogensen: there is no problem with Snow King. They're a great, valued partner. You know, this comment, you know, an idea around democratizing skiing, right? Like.00:45:56.000 --> 00:46:08.000Erik Mogensen: you know, let's let every resort build their own reciprocal deal with, you know, Jersey Joe's commission-based software pitch, right? That's cute, that sounds nice, but in practice, IndiePass exists for a reason.00:46:08.000 --> 00:46:12.000Erik Mogensen: It's a lot more work for skier is and most importantly.00:46:12.000 --> 00:46:20.000Erik Mogensen: It's much more fragmented and a confusing product for the consumer. A single pass with a single price point.00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:22.000Erik Mogensen: And a lot of partners.00:46:22.000 --> 00:46:28.000Erik Mogensen: you know, mitigates the patchwork of one-off deals, and that's the whole reason IndyPass exists.00:46:28.000 --> 00:46:37.000Erik Mogensen: More people skiing more often at independent resorts, right? Like, we redirect tens of millions of dollars a year to independent operators.00:46:38.000 --> 00:46:48.000Erik Mogensen: Arguing that somehow the absence of the IndyPass is better for the industry is nonsensical at best. It would just give Icon and Epic a more…00:46:48.000 --> 00:46:51.000Erik Mogensen: More opportunity to eat our lunch. So…00:46:51.000 --> 00:47:02.000Erik Mogensen: you know, we can… we can dive into all the muddy details all day long, but I don't see any controversy here. We're super excited to have snowpack… I mean…00:47:02.000 --> 00:47:04.000Erik Mogensen: Snow King.00:47:04.000 --> 00:47:15.000Erik Mogensen: on the Indy Pass. Um, and, you know, maybe you just have to come up with a different color for it on your spreadsheet, like some sort of gradient between the two. Whatever you want to do, we trust you.00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:32.000Stuart Winchester: Let me zoom out a little and make this a little more conceptual, because you've told me before that IndyPass doesn't make money, and I believe you're still sticking to Doug's original ratio of 15% for admin, which I doubt covers admin. So 85% traditionally was paid out to the resorts, correct?00:47:33.000 --> 00:47:49.000Erik Mogensen: Correct. Oh, yeah. Still the case. Yeah. No, I mean, look, we, we, you know, 85% of every passport just goes back to the independents. And remember, look, we, we take 100% of our money in on credit cards. We pay the ski resorts in check cash. Right. So we're also eating that credit card fee.00:47:33.000 --> 00:47:36.000Stuart Winchester: Is that still it? Okay.00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:41.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:47:49.000 --> 00:47:59.000Erik Mogensen: So now you're down to, you know, 12% in change. Running a pass like this, it's not profitable. We never looked at this as being profitable.00:47:52.000 --> 00:47:53.000Stuart Winchester: Right.00:47:59.000 --> 00:48:10.000Erik Mogensen: I really bought IndyPass because I knew that Doug was going to exit and needed to exit, and I thought some of the other people that would buy the pass.00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:21.000Erik Mogensen: would view it more as a media company or a marketing opportunity, and less of something that I think is very important for the independents. So…00:48:21.000 --> 00:48:39.000Erik Mogensen: Uh, you know, Snowpass has committed to giving 80% back, um, to the resorts in their first year, and then something else beyond that, right? And the difference between 80% and 5%, right? You know, it sounds like 5%, but if you actually do the math, that's a 25% difference.00:48:39.000 --> 00:48:49.000Erik Mogensen: Uh, and so we pay every resort the same percentage back of their, you know, top ticket price. We've always done that, um, so…00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:55.000Erik Mogensen: That's what we do, that's what we've done, that's what worked, and that's what we.00:48:54.000 --> 00:48:59.000Stuart Winchester: So to zoom out to the conceptual level a little bit here, I want to look at…00:48:59.000 --> 00:49:09.000Stuart Winchester: Snow King's neighbor, Jackson Hole. Okay, so Jackson Hole is on Icon. They're also on Mountain Collective. You've taken a pretty firm stand that Indy.00:49:09.000 --> 00:49:16.000Stuart Winchester: partners should be exclusive with Indy. If you're looking at a ski area like Snow King that is desperate for.00:49:16.000 --> 00:49:18.000Stuart Winchester: for visits.00:49:18.000 --> 00:49:24.000Stuart Winchester: why cut that pathway off? Why is it important to make indie exclusive and not say, okay.00:49:24.000 --> 00:49:39.000Stuart Winchester: case by case, if you're, uh, you know, certain resorts, if we don't have an exclusivity agreement with you, like, maybe you want to give, you know, Brundage a higher payout because they're a destination and… and to be exclusive, but maybe some of these other ones, you give them all the tools in the toolbox. What…00:49:39.000 --> 00:49:42.000Stuart Winchester: Why is that not an option? Or is it an option?00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:48.000Erik Mogensen: Yeah, I just, I think it complicates things, number one. Number two, I just don't find it very equitable. The great thing about IndyPass, look, I get…00:49:48.000 --> 00:49:58.000Erik Mogensen: There's a lot of conversations all the time when we have a larger resort wanting to join, or has joined, or wants to renew about getting a bigger payout.00:49:58.000 --> 00:50:08.000Erik Mogensen: What I can tell you for as long as I own and run IndyPass, I'm going to treat every single resort the same. I'm not going to make special side deals.00:50:08.000 --> 00:50:14.000Erik Mogensen: That's just what we're going to do. I think it's a mistake to do that.00:50:14.000 --> 00:50:20.000Erik Mogensen: Everyone's going to get the same. Everyone's going to be the same. Everyone's going to get the same percentage payout.00:50:14.000 --> 00:50:15.000Stuart Winchester: It.00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:17.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:23.000Erik Mogensen: No special deals.00:50:23.000 --> 00:50:37.000Stuart Winchester: So let me wrap on that point. So you added Smugs, your New England network is lights out. You know, like I said, Jay, Smugs, Cannon, Waterville, Saddleback, and a bunch of smaller places, including Black Mountain. Doug was concerned when he started the pass.00:50:37.000 --> 00:50:48.000Stuart Winchester: About dilution in the marketplace, and if you put too many ski areas in a market, you would both cannibalize their season pass, and drive down their yield, or their eventual payout.00:50:49.000 --> 00:51:04.000Stuart Winchester: you have filled in a lot more density, and when I've asked you about it in the past, you said that's a data-driven decision, so can you break that down for us, and what gives you confidence that adding smugs is not going to take away from.00:51:04.000 --> 00:51:08.000Stuart Winchester: Fulton Valley, or Jay Peak, or Cannon, or Titus.00:51:08.000 --> 00:51:23.000Erik Mogensen: Well, we know exactly how many pass holders we're adding every single year, right? We, we have a unique control over how many passes we sell, right? So we have, we know the data that comes in on one lever and we 100% control the amount.00:51:11.000 --> 00:51:12.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:51:23.000 --> 00:51:43.000Erik Mogensen: of passes in that lever that we sell. So it's just simple math, right? It isn't even that complex of a spreadsheet. Uh, you wouldn't even have to have it in a spreadsheet. So we need to add enough customers to make sure that we don't over dilute Bolton's payout or those things. And what's remarkable is the data shows us this is, I think now our fourth season.00:51:43.000 --> 00:51:49.000Erik Mogensen: of owning and operating the IndyPass is that we just keep going in the right direction.00:51:49.000 --> 00:52:04.000Erik Mogensen: And that's the reality. Like, JPEAK and Bolton's payout, the check that they get from IndyPass and take to the bank to pay their bills and buy more chairlifts and more snowmaking pipe and pay their employees, is only getting bigger and bigger.00:52:04.000 --> 00:52:08.000Erik Mogensen: With smugs on the pass. And again, I cannot.00:52:08.000 --> 00:52:23.000Erik Mogensen: reiterate enough how sophisticated of an operator these guys are. Like, the DeLauriers are smart. They see the numbers, you know? Christian Knapp at PGRI, he sees the numbers. Steve Wright, these are smart guys. John Schaefer, the…00:52:23.000 --> 00:52:27.000Erik Mogensen: Really smart. You know, if they figure it out.00:52:27.000 --> 00:52:30.000Erik Mogensen: I think that that itself.00:52:29.000 --> 00:52:38.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, Jay has been, uh, has recommitted to Indy several times, uh, through one-year contracts. All right, Eric, IndyPass is still on sale?00:52:38.000 --> 00:52:56.000Erik Mogensen: Uh, 80 Pass is on sale right now, yes. I think what we've announced is we've said tomorrow's the day. I think we could go into midday Saturday. Um, it's… it's hard to tell, right? We look at a couple numbers, we look at people that have put things in their cart, and what the potential conversion rate is, and where things go, and…00:52:56.000 --> 00:53:01.000Erik Mogensen: the geography around them. We definitely have a very firm ceiling on what we're gonna sell.00:53:02.000 --> 00:53:10.000Erik Mogensen: When we're going to sell that through, that's the hard part. But yeah, we've identified that tomorrow's the day.00:53:08.000 --> 00:53:16.000Stuart Winchester: And this will be the end of 26-27 IndyPass sales guaranteed, or is there a chance for a flash December sale or something?00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:30.000Erik Mogensen: There is never a guarantee of anything in this thing. We are talking to some pretty major additions as well that I think would be meaningful, and we'll have to decide if that's a this year thing or a next year thing with them.00:53:19.000 --> 00:53:20.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:53:30.000 --> 00:53:46.000Stuart Winchester: I mean, you've already added over 40 new partners. India has more partners than Epic, Icon, Mountain Collective, Snowpass, and Mountain Collective Capital's Powerpass combined around the world. So you're saying we should expect or could expect more partners?00:53:31.000 --> 00:53:32.000Erik Mogensen: Alright.00:53:46.000 --> 00:53:49.000Stuart Winchester: In advance of the 26-27 winter?00:53:48.000 --> 00:54:02.000Erik Mogensen: Yeah, for sure. I mean, I can tell you that there will definitely be some more. And I think, Stu, it's actually about 60 new additions. And I know you don't like to count the cross-country ski areas, but we should maybe find a separate tab for them on the spreadsheet.00:54:02.000 --> 00:54:04.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:54:02.000 --> 00:54:12.000Erik Mogensen: Every ski area matters to us here, whether it's cross country or downhill or big or small. I think that's what makes us different.00:54:11.000 --> 00:54:27.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, you know, I didn't start stop counting them out of malice. I stopped because I couldn't really understand them, and the maps kind of looked like a brain scan, and some would leave, and it was just a lot. I was already trying to track too much.00:54:27.000 --> 00:54:44.000Stuart Winchester: I will take that piece of advice, though, and I will see if I can find a place where they make sense. Eric, really appreciate everything today, appreciate everything you're doing with Indy and Black Mountain, and look forward to catching up with you again really soon.00:54:44.000 --> 00:54:49.000Erik Mogensen: Yeah. Thanks so much, Stu. Keep those spreadsheets going, dude.00:54:46.000 --> 00:54:47.000Stuart Winchester: Alright.00:54:48.000 --> 00:54:51.000Stuart Winchester: That's all I do.00:54:49.000 --> 00:54:52.000Erik Mogensen: Yeah, I know. See ya.00:54:51.000 --> 00:54:53.000Stuart Winchester: All right, take care.00:54:52.000 --> 00:54:53.000Erik Mogensen: Bye.00:54:55.000 --> 00:55:05.000Stuart Winchester: All right, that was Eric Mogensen, director of IndyPass, owner of Black Mountain, responding to some of the questions.00:55:06.000 --> 00:55:21.000Stuart Winchester: initial conversation I had with Joe Heschen the other day. So, uh, that's great. We have no more clarity on Snow King, and this episode went a little off the rails, because I need to… there's gonna be a lot of experimentation here, guys.00:55:21.000 --> 00:55:35.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, the… the opening take, I'm realizing, I don't know if I should be recording that before the guest. I think maybe I need to start with the guest, because otherwise, I end up having to cut myself short. So…00:55:35.000 --> 00:55:39.000Stuart Winchester: I want to get to some reader reaction.00:55:39.000 --> 00:55:42.000Stuart Winchester: To close us out today.00:55:42.000 --> 00:55:44.000Stuart Winchester: And…00:55:44.000 --> 00:55:47.000Stuart Winchester: The first comes from…00:55:47.000 --> 00:55:49.000Stuart Winchester: Matt Hart.00:55:49.000 --> 00:56:03.000Stuart Winchester: He said, really, this is in reaction to Brian Norton's interview yesterday about Loon Mountain's expansion. Matt Hart, really good, loved Brian's description of the expansion and how they will make it work from an operations point of view.00:56:03.000 --> 00:56:06.000Stuart Winchester: Catcher's mitt for snow, love it.00:56:06.000 --> 00:56:21.000Stuart Winchester: And then, and then Matt asks, did he give you grief for calling the Timbertown expansion that little one LOL? I, no, he didn't, but, but it is, I mean, it was a 30 acre expansion on a huge ski area. So, uh, I don't know, maybe, I think they, uh.00:56:22.000 --> 00:56:36.000Stuart Winchester: you know, I'm always the tourist, so anytime I'm asking these guys anything, they… I think that it sounds a little ridiculous, because they live it every day of their life. It would be like them asking me a question about my cats, you know, it's something that I'm around every day.00:56:36.000 --> 00:56:46.000Stuart Winchester: All right, this is a comment from Robert, a paid subscriber, which is the way you can interact with the show is to be a paid subscriber to the Storm Skiing Podcast.00:56:46.000 --> 00:57:00.000Stuart Winchester: Robert says, again, of the Brian Norton pod yesterday, great second effort. Are you planning to stick to a drop time of about 4 p.m. Eastern time? What is your anticipated schedule? Daily, four days a week, three?00:57:00.000 --> 00:57:07.000Stuart Winchester: 4pm drop makes for a nice way to wrap up the day, at least for those in a compatible time zone.00:57:07.000 --> 00:57:22.000Stuart Winchester: And then Brian Bench, paid subscriber, says, ditto on sharing the anticipated schedule. We humans are creatures of habit, and so would be great to know when we can generally expect these to land. Excited for your chat with Eric today. Well…00:57:22.000 --> 00:57:23.000Stuart Winchester: Brian.00:57:23.000 --> 00:57:26.000Stuart Winchester: I have an amazing guest.00:57:26.000 --> 00:57:29.000Stuart Winchester: scheduled for…00:57:29.000 --> 00:57:46.000Stuart Winchester: Sep

The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast is a reader-supported publication. The only way to interact with the podcast is to upgrade to The Storm's paid tier. Thank you for supporting independent ski journalism.Welcome to the Storm's short-form, news-focused podcast. Don't worry, I will still write newsletters too (I blasted out this post on Smuggs joining Indy Pass this morning). To browse a podcast transcript, click the “transcript” button above - click on any block of text and the audio will jump to that point in the conversation. Paid subscribers can leave a comment in the article below, or by joining The Storm's chat (also below). I'll respond to some comments in the next episode. The Zoom transcript (click “transcript” above for the Substack transcript, which will zoom to any point in the video when you click on the associated text block; timestamps below DO NOT MATCH THE VIDEO)00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:56.000Stuart Winchester: Welcome to Storm. It is September 9th, 2026 on a Wednesday. I've got a really great show for you today. We are going to visit with Loon President and General Manager, Brian Norton, who has been on the show before.00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:04.000Stuart Winchester: But we are going to have him on to talk about the Blackridge expansion that Loon announced last week.00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:10.000Stuart Winchester: There's actually a couple of expansion items in the news today, and I want to hit on those first before we get to Brian.00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:27.000Stuart Winchester: Altera today confirmed a couple of things we already knew in their 2026 to 27 capital plan. So unlike Vale who tends to release all their lifts and expansions and projects at once, Vale or Altera lets them leak out.00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:41.000Stuart Winchester: and then officially announces them sometime later. So, we had a pretty good idea these were coming. The first one will be up at Mont Tremblant, and Tremblant is…00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:44.000Stuart Winchester: If you've been there, it's…00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:55.000Stuart Winchester: an IntraWest legacy, so it has one of these really nice walkable villages of the sort that I'm always pushing for, and it has really great ski terrain. Busiest… it's…00:02:55.000 --> 00:03:11.000Stuart Winchester: Traditionally, Intrawest had the three busiest ski areas in Canada. They had, uh, Whistler was number one, obviously. Number two was Tremblant, and number three, surprisingly, was Blue Mountain, Ontario, which we covered on in the podcast.00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:14.000Stuart Winchester: Pretty recently, but I want to…00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:19.000Stuart Winchester: show you something here. So this is why it's cool to watch, because you can see…00:03:19.000 --> 00:03:31.000Stuart Winchester: some of these things on YouTube or Substack if you're watching the podcast. So this is Tremblant's timber expansion that they're gonna open for 27 to 28. They're gonna have a new.00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:46.000Stuart Winchester: quad, high-speed quad, coming up to the Timber Summit with 8 new trails over here. Uh, and that's gonna be… let's see, they gave an acreage on that, 62 acres. So sometimes it's hard when you see these things, especially if you don't know the mountain.00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:57.000Stuart Winchester: to really know where it fits in. So this one, here's from the top, you can see the new trails, the timber trails, coming down here off of the new.00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:09.000Stuart Winchester: high-speed quad that'll come out of the Versant-Soleil base. And then here is the existing, if you're watching, here's the existing lift that comes up to the current Tremblant Summit.00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:19.000Stuart Winchester: And you can see that right here. So the new expansion will go bloop right up here, and we'll have some new trails over there. And then Altera also announced.00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:32.000Stuart Winchester: or not really announced, but reconfirmed, that will be when the Club Med is open, so that all-inclusive experience will be there for Tremblant. So, nice expansion coming for Tremblant. Obviously.00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:42.000Stuart Winchester: Altera has had a big expansion ongoing at Deer Valley for years and years. So, Deer Valley, prior to 2023.00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:46.000Stuart Winchester: was really just Bald Mountain.00:04:46.000 --> 00:05:02.000Stuart Winchester: On over to Empire. Uh, and then here's the front side, and then this little baldy peak was here. But over the past three seasons, they've really blown the place out and added thousands and thousands of acres. Uh, Deer Valley, believe it or not, is now the…00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:18.000Stuart Winchester: Sixth largest ski area in America. And, and they're opening 200 more acres this year. Hale Peak will be another high speed quad. I don't have a vertical on Hale Peak, but they did confirm today that Hale Peak will be.00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:29.000Stuart Winchester: 200 acres, so Deer Valley will now total 4,500 acres. It looks, it sounds pretty big, but right next door to it is Park City, which.00:05:29.000 --> 00:05:45.000Stuart Winchester: Combined with the historic canyons is 7,300 acres. That's the largest ski area in the United States. So those are a couple of the expansions that we have coming up. We'll talk about another one in a little bit with Loon. And the reason I wanna talk about expansions with you.00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:47.000Stuart Winchester: Is… is I… I…00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:58.000Stuart Winchester: I write about this over and over again, but sometimes when I write an article, it fritters off into the wilderness, and I'm not able to…00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:12.000Stuart Winchester: it doesn't have the staying power necessarily where people might find it sometime later. So I want to revisit some of these points that I made in the past about expansions and how important they are. So I wrote this article a few years ago.00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:14.000Stuart Winchester: And…00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:18.000Stuart Winchester: I was looking at…00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:34.000Stuart Winchester: So everyone always gets hung up on this active ski ski areas number. And the NSA has tracked this for years and years. And here's the numbers you can see on the screen if you're watching in 1991 to 92 season.00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:46.000Stuart Winchester: The United States had 546 active ski areas. As of 2023 to 24, it had 486. The number for this season was right around 490.00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:49.000Stuart Winchester: So, oftentimes.00:06:49.000 --> 00:07:04.000Stuart Winchester: We will see articles usually written by folks who are not ski media, just general media, and they'll write about this number and they'll find this statistic and they'll point to the declining number of ski areas and say, skiing is dying. Climate change is killing skiing.00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:17.000Stuart Winchester: But there's actually a much more nuanced story behind that. So I pulled this number last year when I was reading an article from The Motley Fool, which is an investor site that I use. I love The Motley Fool.00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:24.000Stuart Winchester: But it was talking about MTN stock, which a lot of you know is the stock ticker for Vail Resorts.00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:33.000Stuart Winchester: And the Motley Fool article pointed out that in 1992, and this was their bear case, their case against buying MTN stock.00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:44.000Stuart Winchester: During… I'm gonna quote here, the Motley Fool. During the 1992 ski season, there were 546 ski areas operating in the United States, compared to 486 today. This article's from 2025.00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:57.000Stuart Winchester: Supply, says the fool, is flat to shrinking. On the demand side, 3 of the top 5 busiest ski seasons on record occurred each of the last 3 years. Demand is up. So, they were trying to make the point that.00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:07.000Stuart Winchester: Vail Resorts had a very valuable commodity, because the number of ski areas was shrinking. I said, wait a second, this doesn't really make sense, because…00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:11.000Stuart Winchester: How are you having so many fewer?00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:25.000Stuart Winchester: ski areas, and so many more skier visits? Well, the answer is pretty simple. We have a lot more ski terrain. In fact, I did an analysis in response to that Fool article.00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:27.000Stuart Winchester: And I found, just examining…00:08:27.000 --> 00:08:30.000Stuart Winchester: The 11 western ski states.00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:40.000Stuart Winchester: that, minus Alaska, that those 11 states had 54,598 more acres of terrain.00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:50.000Stuart Winchester: available at their ski areas, their lift service ski areas, than they had in 1994. So, yes, there are fewer ski areas.00:08:50.000 --> 00:09:00.000Stuart Winchester: now than there were in the early 90s. There were 546 in 92, 486 today, but there's a lot more terrain, and so what ended up happening was.00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:08.000Stuart Winchester: The ski areas that were successful expanded. It was as simple as that. And when I did this analysis.00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:10.000Stuart Winchester: I looked at…00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:24.000Stuart Winchester: I looked at 92 ski areas that I had the data for from 1992, and they happen to be some of the biggest ski areas in the West. And I compared their acreage in 1994 according to a guidebook I had from that date that I'd kept.00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:30.000Stuart Winchester: 107,671 acres was the total for these ski areas.00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:45.000Stuart Winchester: Fast forward to 2025, when I did this analysis, those same 92 ski areas had grown from 107,671 acres to 159,754 acres.00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:55.000Stuart Winchester: Then I added in a few ski areas that had opened since then, places like Tamarack in Idaho, Blacktail in Montana. There hasn't been a lot, but there's been a few.00:09:55.000 --> 00:10:11.000Stuart Winchester: And then I subtracted the lost ski areas. The biggest of them was Ski Rio in New Mexico. But for the most part, the ski areas that closed were small surface tow operations and they were in the region of a much larger area and most likely failed in large part.00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:29.000Stuart Winchester: Because they couldn't compete with that full service area, which could offer folks not only beginner terrain, but a progression up to more interesting terrain. So, there's a lot more ski terrain than there used to be, and to give you an idea of how much terrain 54,598 acres is.00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:36.000Stuart Winchester: Currently in Colorado, the whole state of Colorado, which has a quarter of the ski terrain in the entire United States.00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:42.000Stuart Winchester: there's 45,552 acres of terrain. So we've added the equivalent of another Colorado.00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:45.000Stuart Winchester: Now, there's a caveat to that.00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:48.000Stuart Winchester: The ski industry has been able to grow by expansion.00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:58.000Stuart Winchester: But it hasn't necessarily been able to grow where it needs to grow, and I made another point, a related point, in another recent article that I wrote.00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:11.000Stuart Winchester: for… about the U.S. Forest Service, and how most of the ski areas in the western United States are built on U.S. Forest Service land. They're leased from the U.S. Forest Service under 40-year terms.00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:18.000Stuart Winchester: However, following the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, those permits.00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:33.000Stuart Winchester: got almost impossible to obtain new permits. The Forest Service had lots and lots of ski areas proposed, but they were all shut down. Everyone except for Beaver Creek and then Blacktail in 1998 were shut down with.00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:51.000Stuart Winchester: court challenges that came out of NEPA in 1969. So, while we have more terrain, skiable terrain, than we had in 1994, the reason it often feels as though the mountains are overcrowded and insufficiently distributed.00:11:51.000 --> 00:11:57.000Stuart Winchester: is because they are. Because we've only been able to expand the ski areas where they were.00:11:57.000 --> 00:12:10.000Stuart Winchester: rather than building new ski areas where people move to. Look at snowy regions like Washington and Oregon, some of the snowiest ski areas in the country. A lot of them still don't have snowmaking because they get so much snow there.00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:22.000Stuart Winchester: Washington in 1980 had 4.1 million people. Today it has 8.2 million people, double the population, but fewer ski areas and some larger.00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:37.000Stuart Winchester: Stevens Pass has certainly grown, Crystal has grown, Mission Ridge has grown. Oregon, same thing, went from 2.6 million people in 1980 to 4.3 million today, but has fewer ski areas now than it did in the 1980s. So…00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:48.000Stuart Winchester: For better or worse, we are stuck right now with growth through expansion. So, I want to get to an expansion. First, I want to tell you about one of my awesome partners.00:12:48.000 --> 00:13:00.000Stuart Winchester: I've been working with Bonfire Collective for a long time, and if you run a ski area or an outdoor brand, you should consider hooking up with them as well.00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:10.000Stuart Winchester: Bonfire Collective is a fractional marketing team that collaborates with ski areas and outdoor brands to give your marketing a fresh perspective and better storytelling.00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:16.000Stuart Winchester: Bonfire can help you rethink your approach in ways that can turbocharge your business.00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:31.000Stuart Winchester: Bonfire Collective, for example, took on the marketing at one New Hampshire sea area and doubled revenue in just three years. And when the storm was ready to invest in its first ever digital marketing campaign last year, I worked with Bonfire to make it happen.00:13:31.000 --> 00:13:36.000Stuart Winchester: I could not be happier with the results. I think you will love working with them too.00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:40.000Stuart Winchester: To get started, you will want to talk to Eric over at Bonfire Collective.00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:56.000Stuart Winchester: Eric was a co-founder of Bluebird Backcountry Colorado, the first human powered ski area. He knows the ski business, as many of you know from that episode of the Storm Skiing Podcast that he appeared on last year. Visit bonfirecollective.com or I will be happy.00:13:56.000 --> 00:14:03.000Stuart Winchester: to make that connection for you. Alright, with that, let's go to our guest for today.00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:08.000Stuart Winchester: And…00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:15.000Stuart Winchester: Here he is, Mr. Brian Norton. Brian, what an awesome background! Where are you at?00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:19.000brian norton: Uh, I'm in my office, but that's hanging outside my office, so…00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:24.000Stuart Winchester: Oh, okay, cool, I thought maybe you were in the, uh, the kink barn with the, uh…00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:27.000Stuart Winchester: With that, with the cool groomer behind you.00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:44.000Stuart Winchester: All right, well, let me give you a proper introduction here. Uh, my guest today is president and general manager of Loon Mountain, New Hampshire since 2022. Loon claims New Hampshire's tallest vertical drop at 2,190 feet.00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:58.000Stuart Winchester: served by 13 lifts. Last week, Loon announced the 272-acre Black Ridge expansion that, when added to the resort's existing 403-acre footprint.00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:08.000Stuart Winchester: will make Lune the largest ski area in New Hampshire, and the sixth largest ski area in the eastern United States at 675 acres.00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:23.000Stuart Winchester: He began his Loon career in 2001 as a Lyft attendant, and now he's running the place. He is Brian Norton. Brian, welcome back to the storm. Always good to see what's new at Loon, because there is always something new at Loon. How you doing today, Brian?00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:29.000brian norton: I'm doing awesome. It's sweatshirt weather right now, so we're getting closer.00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:33.000Stuart Winchester: Nice. Did you do a snowmaking test yet, or is that Sunday River's ter.00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:38.000brian norton: No, we have not done that yet. Sunday will probably beat us to that one.00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:54.000Stuart Winchester: All right, let's talk about Black Ridge. This is really an amazing project, and I've been pretty vocal and frank over the years about what I saw as Loon's biggest shortcoming, which was not enough real expert terrain, and by that I really meant glades, wild terrain.00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:58.000Stuart Winchester: Talk to us about Black Ridge, what it is, and how it's going to change Loon.00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:14.000brian norton: Yeah, I mean, it's a pivotal project for the ski resort. As you mentioned, it's almost doubling the size of the ski resort. For those not familiar with it, it's this kind of secret shoulder glade skiing. It's been there.00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:30.000brian norton: It was developed over time by some locals just kind of going out there, you know, maybe not necessarily following the rules, certainly not at our approval, but people have been skiing there. I mean, I think the first time I went skiing over there, I was in college, like 2001, and it was like you had to kind of find your way over there. You had to commit to it.00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:28.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:42.000brian norton: beautiful, um, beautiful area. It's like a big catcher's mitt off the side of the ski resort that just holds snow really well, and there's a lot of, um, it's a mile and a quarter.00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:51.000brian norton: hike, uh, across a ridgeline. You can actually ski or skate most of it. There's a few sections where you have to, you know, unclick and walk and…00:16:51.000 --> 00:17:09.000brian norton: um, you just get this incredible glade scheme that brings you right back to the bottom of North Peak, so it's like this full circle, you're way the heck out there, there's a couple viewpoints where you can stand at this cliff and just look back at the ski resort and look into the town of Lincoln, you're like, whoa, I am way out there, but a completely different view than, you know, most people would.00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:23.000brian norton: would ever get to see from Loon. And so, yeah, we've been working on it for a couple years with the Forest Service, trying to, like, wrap that into our special use permit. And, um, yeah, super happy to have that announcement, kind of. Like I said, planning.00:17:23.000 --> 00:17:28.000brian norton: For a long time, but awesome to have that hit the newsstands the other day.00:17:27.000 --> 00:17:34.000Stuart Winchester: So help us understand Loon's Forest Service footprint. This is a conversation I'm accustomed to having with.00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:53.000Stuart Winchester: your partners who run western ski areas. There's very few, just 7 in New England, that touch Forest Service land. My understanding is that Loon is not entirely on Forest Service land. I believe it's Kissing Cousins Lift. You're riding up, and you see a sign, welcome to the White Mountains National Forest. So, where are those boundaries at?00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:55.000Stuart Winchester: at Loon.00:17:54.000 --> 00:18:05.000brian norton: Yeah, it's really just the bottom. I mean, like, pretty much if you can hit a golf ball there, you're on private land from a base area, hit it up, and then everything above there is forest service land, so…00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:00.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:02.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:05.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:09.000brian norton: Yeah, it's the top 95% of the skewers work.00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:07.000Stuart Winchester: So how?00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:16.000Stuart Winchester: Right, so Loon went through quite a process as I remember it back in the 90s to open up South Peak and there was…00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:22.000Stuart Winchester: a lot of resistance to that locally, and ultimately, you got it opened.00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:25.000Stuart Winchester: was…00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:30.000Stuart Winchester: if you look at Black Ridge, it's… there's no new lift, right? It's essentially…00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:35.000Stuart Winchester: Glade thinning. So, so I want to talk about the process for that in a minute, but.00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:45.000Stuart Winchester: What was the process like of working with the Forest Service? Did they seem much more amenable and does the local community seem much more amenable?00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:54.000Stuart Winchester: to this given the small actual environmental impact? And was that a consideration in deciding how to develop this terrain?00:18:54.000 --> 00:19:10.000brian norton: I mean, it was definitely a consideration for us as we think about, you know, growing the ski resort sustainably. I think the, you know, and our partnership with the Forest Service is a really great one. I hear, you know, different stories from around the industry or around the country.00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:26.000brian norton: I just can't speak highly enough of our team here and the relationship that we have with them. And, the fact that this was kind of already skiing, the fact that it was super low impact, we weren't ever going to put a lift or a lodge or some sort of, you know, driving snow cats over there. We're not even doing any of that.00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:31.000brian norton: really, so it was a small lift, I think, to bring this kind of.00:19:31.000 --> 00:19:43.000brian norton: thing that people were skiing into the permit boundary, which really, you know, there's some work to clean it up and to create slightly better access, mostly for our patrol team to react out there.00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:44.000Stuart Winchester: Mm-hmm.00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:46.000brian norton: But this is, um…00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:48.000brian norton: It's a small lift to bring our…00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:52.000brian norton: Services, so that we can go, you know, in the past.00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:56.000brian norton: Someone would get hurt, someone would get lost ‘cause they thought they knew where they were going.00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:57.000Stuart Winchester: Yep.00:19:56.000 --> 00:20:14.000brian norton: technically, we're supposed to call fish and game, and they're supposed to go rescue them. A lot of times, we helped with that. So, by bringing this into the permit boundary, we're allowed to help manage it. So, um, this is really a win-win for everyone. It's a win-win for the skiers, it's a win-win for the Forest Service, because now we can actually manage something that wasn'.00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:02.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:16.000brian norton: That's a great opportunity for us.00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:28.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, it's going to be tremendous terrain. You know, another big difference between working in the East and the West is sometimes if you want to open 500 acres of glades in the West, you just drop a rope.00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:39.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, in the east, there tends to be a lot of undergrowth. Now, I don't know if that's the case at Loon, because maybe you have some old growth there, where the canopy is, is, has, you know, shut out some of that little stuff.00:20:39.000 --> 00:20:45.000Stuart Winchester: 200 and what is it, 267 acres? That's a lot of acres to clear.00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:55.000Stuart Winchester: What does it look like in there, and what is the… what is the labor lift gonna be like to glade that out and make it so that you don't need 4 feet of snow to ski it?00:20:56.000 --> 00:21:08.000brian norton: Um, we'll talk about snow in a minute, but in terms of glading, you get across the ridgeline, and you get to this… it's not the high point, like, the actual peak of the mountain, but the high point of the ridgeline.00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:23.000brian norton: And you kind of drop in there, and then it just funnels out both directions. And from that point, it's all hardwoods. And it's just… it's really open. You can kind of ski wherever you want. Now, we're gonna manage it slightly better, so there's better waypoint finding, you know, kind of…00:21:23.000 --> 00:21:42.000brian norton: more organized corridors. There's a river, uh, a stream valley that is between what I would call, you know, Black Ridge proper and, like, the North Peak Glades and Walking Boss, um, that you don't want to end up in, so that's kind of the part of the land that, you know, we're going to try to manage away from, and.00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:43.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:53.000brian norton: kind of cut that, you know, the extent of it, kind of clear those glades a little more, so that it's obvious, like, no, no, no, I want to go this way, or I want to go that way, so you all come back out to the… to.00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:50.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:57.000brian norton: But it's not a heavy lift to cut a lot out there.00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:54.000Stuart Winchester: So I.00:21:57.000 --> 00:22:13.000Stuart Winchester: So as far as snow goes, you mentioned a, a little catcher's mitt and along North Peak, and there are some terrific glades in lower New England. Stratton, I think has really, really excellent glades. Magic Mountain has some excellent glades. They're in a little bit different.00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:33.000Stuart Winchester: snow pocket, obviously, than you are, but also farther south. So, so talk to us, you know, Loon averages 160 inches of snow per year, but I don't know where you measure that, and I know that snow stays on different parts of the mountain in different ways, right? Because you can ski in New Hampshire in June on natural snow at Mount Washington and Tucks.00:22:33.000 --> 00:22:34.000Stuart Winchester: But…00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:39.000Stuart Winchester: That's not the case in most places. So, so talk to us about.00:22:39.000 --> 00:22:48.000Stuart Winchester: the snow in that area, and how often you think you'll realistically be able to offer that glade skiing experience in Black Ridge.00:22:48.000 --> 00:23:06.000brian norton: Yeah, I mean, I think it's gonna be… it's definitely a different experience, so we're gonna have different, um, opening protocols when that part of the mountain will open versus your traditional glade skiing, so it's gonna be a little more raw, a little more rugged, we're gonna be a little more free with opening it. Um, we're working through those kind of details with our patrol team right now.00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:23.000brian norton: Um, in terms of holding snow, predominant northeast wind here, everything cuts across the ski resort as you're looking at it, right to left, and guess what's far left? This, right? So, um, I'll tell you a funny story. We were walking over there with the Forest Service this.00:23:23.000 --> 00:23:25.000brian norton: Spring, and we're walking along the ridgeline.00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:38.000brian norton: And we're contemplating, like, how we get snowmobile access out there for our patrol team to, you know, manage this terrain in a reasonable amount of time to, like, respond to an incident. And we get to these two big boulders.00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:47.000brian norton: like, oh man, how are we gonna get a snowmobile through here? Like, it's… we can't get a machine all the way out here to move these boulders, what are we gonna do? And then it, like.00:23:47.000 --> 00:24:06.000brian norton: I don't remember seeing these boulders in the winter. That means there's 4 feet of snow here on this ridgeline, so it's like… it just… it's not the same as the rest of the ski resort when you think about, like, how that pocket holds snow and takes all the wind-deposited snow from the whole area and just stacks up in there, so it was a bit… it was eye-opening for us to be like.00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:54.000Stuart Winchester: Wow.00:23:57.000 --> 00:23:59.000Stuart Winchester: Right.00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:11.000brian norton: Wait a minute, we don't see these in the winter, and they're 4-foot boulders, so.00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:28.000Stuart Winchester: Oh, man, you're really making me want to get back in there. You know, I did not mention in the intro that Loon is owned by Boyne Resorts, one of the 11 ski areas in the Boyne family. And Boyne has done just a tremendous amount of work over the past decade, putting in new lifts and doing expansions.00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:30.000Stuart Winchester: In fact, I think…00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:42.000Stuart Winchester: the last 5 expansions in New England were all Boyne Mountains. It was Brackett Basin, Burnt Mountain, it was, uh, Merrill Hill at Sunday River, it was the little one you did at Loon the other… the other, uh, couple years ago, and… and.00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:54.000Stuart Winchester: Black Ridge, you know, the one that this most echoes for Sugarloaf fans, and Sugarloaf is far, far, far, far north, but it's worth going to, is… is they opened that several hundred acre.00:24:54.000 --> 00:25:04.000Stuart Winchester: terrain expansion of Brackett Basin back in 2011. They expanded it with Burnt Ridge a few years later, and it's all natural bladed. How much…00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:06.000Stuart Winchester: Did you…00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:21.000Stuart Winchester: did Loon and the team at Loon use Bracket Basin as an inspiration, either… either to see as, like, a proof of concept this'll work, or… or just to imagine a… a different way of, uh… of expanding the resort without necessarily having to spend.00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:28.000Stuart Winchester: you know, $20 million on a new lift. Just talk about it, if there's any relationship there, or, you know, learning how to manage it, etc.00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:51.000brian norton: A lot for me personally, and for the team here. I mean, I'm not the the people that have been out there developing that glade skiing probably aren't necessarily thinking about bracket basin, but 100%. That was the equivalent. That was, you know, I've referred to it through this whole planning process as our version of bracket basin. We've been in communication with the team up there about how they manage it, what their entrance looks like all of those things. So.00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:31.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:25:51.000 --> 00:25:54.000brian norton: Yeah, it's our version of that, 100%.00:25:54.000 --> 00:26:12.000Stuart Winchester: And just from a liability point of view, it's funny, because I grew up in Michigan, and I've been skiing the Boyne Mountains there since the 90s, and I remember you weren't allowed in the trees, and that was a big no-no. So now here you have, fast forward 30 years, and they're developing these enormous glade skiing pockets, and obviously Jay Peak was a leader.00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:17.000Stuart Winchester: our early leader in that, in New England. But what has Boyne learned, do you think.00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:25.000Stuart Winchester: by operating Brackett Basin for the last 15 years, about liability and skiers' abilities to self-manage in terrain like that.00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:36.000brian norton: Yeah, I mean, Sugarloaf, they're Sugarloafers, right? So they're a slightly different clientele than we have here, so I'm sure we'll learn different things. I think the big thing is, you know.00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:30.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:50.000brian norton: clear messaging, and… and with this project, it's… it's very different. I said it earlier, it's different than the rest of the Glades here, so, um, you gotta know what you're doing, and it's gonna be messaged that way, but it's gonna be managed that way, too, and…00:26:50.000 --> 00:27:06.000brian norton: it's gonna pull people around the resort and move people around to places that, you know, it's a bit of a destination now. Camp 3 in North Peak was already a destination, and now you've got another, you know, 300 acres or so just past there that's serviced by the same portal, so…00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:15.000brian norton: yeah, I think our patrol team's gonna have a little bit of work cut out for them, but frankly, the guys and girls that work for our team that are gonna end up over there, like.00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:18.000brian norton: They… they're looking forward to that, so…00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:22.000Stuart Winchester: Alright, well, let's talk about access a little bit. I'll tell you…00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:39.000Stuart Winchester: That, or the listeners at least, people who haven't been there. So you access this expansion through the North Peak lift. It's a high speed quad built in 2004, 1500 vertical foot, 4,800 foot long. But the view off the top is an absolute showstopper. It's one of the best.00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:49.000Stuart Winchester: in New England. I just love it. Uh, my question for you, Brian, is Flight Path 2030, your… your Loon 2030 plan, essentially 10-year plan, published around 2020.00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:55.000Stuart Winchester: did consider an upgrade for the North Peak lift. Now, it's obviously not a very old lift.00:27:55.000 --> 00:28:10.000Stuart Winchester: But I would imagine that there may be some volume considerations as you look to expand the terrain available off this lift. So, A, am I right in seeing that you will be able to fully lap Black Ridge?00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:17.000Stuart Winchester: on the North Peak lift? And B, do you have thoughts on what might be next for North Peak lift?00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:26.000brian norton: Um, yes, you access it from the top of that lift. The entrance is 150 feet from the top of that lift, maybe, off of Whatcom House.00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:26.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, thank you.00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:45.000brian norton: the primary exit is slightly lower in elevation than North Peak. You come out onto Brookway Extension there, so if you really wanted to lap it, you'd probably unclick and go down there. More often than not, I think what people will do is they'll ski down Brookway, go up Seven Brothers and a gondola, and get back over there if they want to do it again.00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:32.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:28:46.000 --> 00:29:06.000brian norton: So, yeah, I mean, access is pretty strong. In terms of replacing North Peak, yes, that lift is on our planning process. It's probably equivalent to South Peak on any given day, or Lincoln Express, I should say. On any given day, I flip-flop which one's more important. You know, we did the Timbertown expansion, and we thought, oh, these people are over here.00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:03.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:22.000brian norton: maybe we should be focused on this lift, and now we're doing this thing over here, or maybe we should be focused on North Peak, and, um, I'll tell you that the RFID data that we, you know, 3, 4 years ago, we put RFID gates at North Peak, remote up mountain, you can't get to it without passing another gate, and everyone was kind of looking at us, like.00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:19.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:29:22.000 --> 00:29:29.000brian norton: What are you doing that for? Data collection, 100%. The things we've learned about how people use that terrain have…00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:26.000Stuart Winchester: Right.00:29:29.000 --> 00:29:40.000brian norton: driven our snowmaking philosophy, our investment philosophy. Uh, it's… it's last winter that Lyft opened on day one and closed on day 151, I think it was, so it was open every day of the season, so…00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:45.000brian norton: Maybe today, if you're asking me, that one gets done before Lincoln Express.00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:48.000Stuart Winchester: And are you thinking a six-pack? One of those nice D-lines?00:29:47.000 --> 00:29:51.000brian norton: Yeah, I'm sure that's what it would be at a minimum, yeah.00:29:49.000 --> 00:29:51.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:29:51.000 --> 00:29:56.000Stuart Winchester: Okay, do you like the bubbles, like the one you have at CANC and up at Sunday River?00:29:55.000 --> 00:30:17.000brian norton: The bubbles are awesome for all the reasons they're awesome, but there are some hidden challenges with them as well, particularly when they come into the terminal. They're aerodynamic when the chairs are on the line, but when they come into the terminal, if the wind's blowing the wrong way and the bubbles opening and the wind wants to shut it or vice versa.00:29:58.000 --> 00:29:59.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:30:17.000 --> 00:30:26.000brian norton: Uh, there's a little give and take there. I… we'd probably end up with bubbles, I think, but, um, yeah, there are… it's not all… it's not all easy with them.00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:24.000Stuart Winchester: That's that.00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:34.000Stuart Winchester: It's Boyne style, right? I was surprised, actually, when I got out to Brighton, and the, uh… their new Sixer, their D-Line out there does not have bubbles. I was like, oh, this.00:30:27.000 --> 00:30:28.000brian norton: Yep.00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:42.000brian norton: Or footrests, or footrests, which is the only one that I think doesn't have footrests, and as a snowboarder, I appreciated that when I rode that.00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:36.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:52.000Stuart Winchester: Right, right, right. Yeah, well, the Utah guys don't want to bring the bar down anyway so So, you know, I always think of this expansions like this first, Brian, as a skier.00:30:52.000 --> 00:31:10.000Stuart Winchester: Unless as a customer or as someone, you know, doing a business, I'm really curious. Loon has already historically been the busiest skier in New Hampshire and the pub, the skier visits aren't public anymore. But I would imagine that's still the case. It is busy, busy, busy all the time. It is the idea here.00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:18.000Stuart Winchester: Is it to bring in more skiers, or is it to create more variety at a mountain that…00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:28.000Stuart Winchester: I really think has traditionally had the reputation as a good intermediates family mountain. To maybe start to nudge that a little bit more toward a…00:31:28.000 --> 00:31:40.000Stuart Winchester: uh, more of a Killington profile, where there's… where there's more than one kind of skier? Like, the whole family can have fun there. So is it… is it more skiers, or more terrain for the same amount of skiers to spread them out better?00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:46.000brian norton: Um, both, and I'll clarify more skiers, because, um.00:31:47.000 --> 00:31:58.000brian norton: as the ski resort develops, and as the town develops, we inch closer to destination ski resort instead of day ski resort. I think we're still a day ski resort, but we're working our way towards destination.00:31:54.000 --> 00:31:55.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:31:58.000 --> 00:32:18.000brian norton: Um, and as you become a destination, your skier visits spread equally over the 7-day week, right? We're heavily skewed to weekends right now. We're not talking about more skiers on the weekends. We're already managing tickets and limiting sales to keep guest experience where we want it. I think we can have more visits mid-week, or early season, late season.00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:33.000brian norton: this will certainly help with that, but on your peak Saturday in January, like, no, we don't… we're… we're not having more skiers here. We're… we're happy with where we're at. Um, in terms of terrain, yeah, I mean, you and I talked about it, I think, the last time we were together talking about glade skiing here.00:32:33.000 --> 00:32:40.000brian norton: We need more of it. Variety of terrain, um, is important, and this is a huge step in the right direction.00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:48.000Stuart Winchester: So I think in New England, when you talk about more skiers, more capacity, reflectively, we think parking, but you have this interesting project going on.00:32:48.000 --> 00:33:05.000Stuart Winchester: Where a pulse gondola is set to leave from near the new Timbertown quad that you put in 2023, go over the river, uh, and land, not exactly in the town of Lincoln, but to service some resorts there. Uh, I thought that project was gonna open.00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:15.000Stuart Winchester: This winter, it doesn't look like that's gonna happen. Tell us about that Pulse Gondola, Brian, what you hope to achieve with it, and kind of where you're at with approvals and permits.00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:33.000brian norton: Um, yeah, me too. I was hoping it was gonna open this winter, too. Um, yeah, we've said with that project all along that we're not really in a rush, and we want to do it right. More importantly, we want to get buy-in from all the current stakeholders, and that's where the project, um, lives. It's a really unique thing where.00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:48.000brian norton: you've got three different parties that are involved, two different completely owned land, uh, landowners, plus Loon being the easement and holders on some of that land, and, um, just working with the town currently and trying to.00:33:48.000 --> 00:34:08.000brian norton: none of us have been through this. I can't think of another example where you've got so many different entities trying to get one project approval. I actually have a planning board meeting tonight, and we're on the docket. So if you're if you're not doing anything at 6 o'clock tonight, feel free to join the zoom. Yeah. So we're we're still working on that. We've gotten essentially approval on one side. And now we're working on the loon side.00:33:56.000 --> 00:33:57.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:23.000brian norton: our hope is that that project still comes through in the next year. It's unique in the sense that it doesn't need to happen, like, for day one of ski season. It can be built during the ski season, because it's not replacing something, it's a true add to the ski resort, so…00:34:21.000 --> 00:34:22.000Stuart Winchester: Right.00:34:23.000 --> 00:34:38.000brian norton: the Daubmeyer team that would do the lift is kind of excited that, you know, they have a project that they can work on out of cycle, keep their team busy year-round, have the electricians there when they'd otherwise, you know, not be doing anything, because the crew's still standing steel somewhere else, that kind of thing.00:34:38.000 --> 00:34:39.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, okay.00:34:39.000 --> 00:34:44.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, Boyne's had a lot of success doing those sorts of lifts at Big Sky, and it's amazing what.00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:59.000Stuart Winchester: Even if it's a low capacity, low use lift, like the one and only gondola or the lift that connects to the montage out there in Big Sky, it really gives the skiers a lot of freedom. And I think it really would make a big difference in being able to connect to the town. So let's talk about a lift.00:34:59.000 --> 00:35:01.000Stuart Winchester: That would not be easy.00:35:01.000 --> 00:35:18.000Stuart Winchester: Let's talk about that. Uh, the four passenger gondola you have, I believe it's the last four passenger Gandhi left in the east. It is a monster. This is a 1738 vertical foot lift, 6970.00:35:18.000 --> 00:35:30.000Stuart Winchester: foot long, uh, and recently Loon filed an application with the Forest Service to replace it, so tell us, Brian, what you want to do with the White Mountain Gondola.00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:32.000brian norton: Yeah, so, um…00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:44.000brian norton: a really cool old lift. You probably know better than me, but one of the oldest detachables in New England. It's one of the highest utilized lifts in Boyne's network.00:35:44.000 --> 00:36:00.000brian norton: around this 10-plus months out of the year, you know, between winter and summer. Uh, two years ago, I got a text message from our lift mechanic showing me the hour meeting that was 8675309. Um, it's nearing… it's nearing 100,000 hours now, so yeah, it's due for replacement.00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:10.000brian norton: Um, we filed some paperwork with the Forest Service to get in the queue. We're still working out the details of that project, that's why we haven't really addressed it publicly.00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:23.000brian norton: Try to figure out how it fits, where it goes. It will be a D-line Omega 10, you know, 10-person cabins. Boeing style, as you like to say, you know, we're gonna do it right. It's a pivotal lift for us.00:36:19.000 --> 00:36:20.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, okay.00:36:23.000 --> 00:36:29.000brian norton: the main base area that opens first and closes last, and, um, yeah, we want to make sure we do it right. So, we will.00:36:29.000 --> 00:36:48.000Stuart Winchester: One detail I thought was really cool in the permit, Brian, was, and obviously I'm not holding you to this, the permit is, you know, the application is the application, but this notion of moving the load terminal, it gets set 100 feet or 80 feet up the hill, away from the Octagon Lodge, I imagine that opens all kinds of possibilities for you.00:36:48.000 --> 00:36:52.000Stuart Winchester: Talk about what you have in mind there and how that would change just the whole flow of Loon.00:36:52.000 --> 00:37:02.000brian norton: Yeah, the problem is that the current lift is inside of a building, and the new one, you know, without tearing the building down, is not going to go inside of the same building, so…00:36:56.000 --> 00:36:57.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, thank you.00:37:01.000 --> 00:37:03.000Stuart Winchester: Right.00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:21.000brian norton: how do we handle that? And, you know, I'd say there's a couple options on the table. Some of them is, you know, partially modifying that building, putting the lift against it, and or the polar opposite of that is just pushing it into the hillside as far as you can, and, um, you know, using the building for something else, which we have some cool ideas for.00:37:21.000 --> 00:37:36.000brian norton: Um, this lift is gonna need parking. That's a big space constraint that we don't necessarily have. I mean, those cabins aren't small, and you're talking, you know, another Kank 8 size. Probably not that big, but close to Kank 8 size, you know, parking structure to park all the cabins in, and.00:37:36.000 --> 00:37:42.000brian norton: Is parking at the top? Is parking at the bottom? You know, how do we, uh… how does our… if we put it…00:37:42.000 --> 00:37:57.000brian norton: upslope, not in the building, how does our food and beverage team that uses that as their main, you know, mover up the mountain, get food and everything else up, how do they get their food to the Summit Cafe now in the winter? And so, there's a lot of challenges with that, and that's why we haven't, you know.00:37:57.000 --> 00:38:13.000brian norton: really detailed the project, because we're… I mean, just this morning, I was walking out there, driving stakes in the ground, like, trying to visualize, okay, if we did this, how would it work? How would that work? So, yeah, ongoing, um, super exciting project, and I can't wait till we have that nailed down, and we can really start.00:38:13.000 --> 00:38:15.000brian norton: Showing people what we're doing.00:38:14.000 --> 00:38:20.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, that would be huge, and maybe quiet at the Peanut Gallery, because I know a big storyline.00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:31.000Stuart Winchester: when the cant gate went in was, why'd they do that before the gondola? And I know there's a lot of reasons for that, but… and I love the cant gate, but I'm sure you heard those same narratives. You know.00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:40.000Stuart Winchester: Out with the old, I guess. Quick note, Brian, the little sister, a 1966 Hall double.00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:57.000Stuart Winchester: has taken its last ride. I just made this connection prepping for this podcast. That's actually an original lift from Loon's opening, right? So tell us about Little Sister. It was a small lift, a hall lift, but you took it out this summer. Why was it time to retire Little Sister?00:38:57.000 --> 00:39:01.000Stuart Winchester: And what are you doing with the lift, the chairs, the pieces, the parts?00:39:01.000 --> 00:39:07.000brian norton: Yeah, so, um, Old Lyft, um, couple things. One…00:39:07.000 --> 00:39:10.000brian norton: When we installed Seven Brothers.00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:21.000brian norton: the skiers really stopped using that lift, because… sorry, when we upgraded Seven Brothers Triple to the Seven Brothers Quad, which was the old Kank Quad and got rebuilt.00:39:13.000 --> 00:39:14.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:21.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:39:21.000 --> 00:39:37.000brian norton: the lap time off Seven Brothers was just as quick as Little Sister, but you got more vertical, and we had more uphill PPH. So, um, no one was really using it for skiing. We maintained it for tubing for a while, we got out of the tubing business.00:39:37.000 --> 00:39:56.000brian norton: Um, we'll maybe be back in the tubing business in the future, but not in that location. So, um, at the same time, it needed some maintenance work. Our friends at Cypress, one of the other Boyne properties, um, needed some spare parts to one of their lifts. We had them in the drive here at Little Sister, so…00:39:56.000 --> 00:40:13.000brian norton: Um, plus, in a base area that's crammed for space, when that thing eventually, you know, physically moves away, it'll be additional space, it'll open up skiing possibilities, it'll open up more space for our seasonal programs that are in that base area, or that part of the base area over there. Uh, in terms of what we're doing with the lift.00:40:13.000 --> 00:40:30.000brian norton: Um, towers are still standing right now, the terminals are still standing, we'll hopefully get that down next summer. The chairs were all auctioned off recently, we sold a few to employees, like myself, I bought one, I'll have that hanging on my porch at my house.00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:27.000Stuart Winchester: Nice.00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:44.000brian norton: Um, the rest of… I think we sold… there was 20, or there was 31 chairs… 30 or 31 chairs, and um, we sold some to employees. We're keeping 5 for spare parts, maybe future auction-type stuff. The rest of them…00:40:44.000 --> 00:40:50.000brian norton: were auctioned off to the public, and they're benefiting two incredible local charities, one, the Pemi Valley.00:40:51.000 --> 00:41:07.000brian norton: Uh, Upper Pemi Valley Historical Society, um, who's, you know, I saw some really cool historic stuff, check out their Instagram feed, there's some cool stuff about the Riverwalk Gondola, and then they just put a couple posts. Um, and then, uh, Lincoln Friends Iraq, which, you know, one of our purposes is making sure.00:40:57.000 --> 00:40:59.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah. Okay.00:41:07.000 --> 00:41:15.000brian norton: That we're connected to the community and doing everything we can for the youth of the community, and so that's what we're doing with the money, and we're proud to say that.00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:30.000Stuart Winchester: So don't go looking for Little Sister Lift this year. It is gone. That leaves you with one haul lift, a 1968 East Basin. I didn't see a map for that gondola proposal. Brian, is part of that proposal removing that East Basin haul lift?00:41:18.000 --> 00:41:20.000brian norton: And it's gone.00:41:31.000 --> 00:41:39.000brian norton: I started at East Basin and as long as I'm here, East Basin will, you know, I shouldn't say that. And maybe it'll go away, but it's not going away as part of.00:41:33.000 --> 00:41:34.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:41:34.000 --> 00:41:37.000Stuart Winchester: Okay, I love it.00:41:39.000 --> 00:41:55.000Stuart Winchester: Love that. All right, Brian, hey, I really appreciate you joining us today on the New Look Pod. You're my second guest ever, and I really want to make this timely, so the fact that we could talk about this new expansion at Loon is awesome, and I hope I can be up there on opening day.00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:57.000Stuart Winchester: And I hope that's next winter.00:41:57.000 --> 00:42:00.000brian norton: Yeah, and I hope to get out there on Black Ridge with you.00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, yeah, definitely. Well, good luck at your planning board meeting tonight, Brian. Talk to you.00:42:04.000 --> 00:42:05.000brian norton: All right. Thanks, Stuart.00:42:04.000 --> 00:42:06.000Stuart Winchester: Thanks so much. Bye.00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:06.000brian norton: Bye.00:42:08.000 --> 00:42:10.000Stuart Winchester: All right, so…00:42:11.000 --> 00:42:17.000Stuart Winchester: That is Brian Norton, President and General Manager of Loon Mountain.00:42:17.000 --> 00:42:25.000Stuart Winchester: Before we move on to the closing segment, I want to tell you about my friends at Profile Search International.00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:31.000Stuart Winchester: A lot of you come to this podcast to hear from the best minds in skiing, guys like Brian Norton.00:42:31.000 --> 00:42:41.000Stuart Winchester: Managing mountains that are making big moves like Loon. But, what if you want to find one of these great leaders for your own mountain team? Brian is pretty happily employed.00:42:41.000 --> 00:42:46.000Stuart Winchester: I'd like to introduce you to the folks at Profile Search International.00:42:46.000 --> 00:42:59.000Stuart Winchester: Profile Search are ski industry talent acquisition experts, and they are the only executive search and recruitment firm in the world that is 100% focused on the ski industry.00:42:59.000 --> 00:43:05.000Stuart Winchester: ProfileSearch has used their intimate understanding of skiing and related industries.00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:14.000Stuart Winchester: and of available candidates worldwide to place hundreds of transformational leaders at the best and most progressive ski areas over the past 30 years.00:43:14.000 --> 00:43:21.000Stuart Winchester: With offices in the US and Canada, they find and negotiate with the right leaders for your team.00:43:21.000 --> 00:43:33.000Stuart Winchester: You can reach out to Profile Search directly at profilesearch.com, or contact them by email or phone, or send me a note, and I will connect you directly with this expert team.00:43:33.000 --> 00:43:40.000Stuart Winchester: Alright, I'm really looking forward to this next segment. As promised, I am going to use this segment.00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:52.000Stuart Winchester: to read reaction to the previous podcast. I'm not at a point where I can do the podcast live, maybe someday, but right now, we are…00:43:52.000 --> 00:44:08.000Stuart Winchester: Read and react the next day. So, uh, the way that you can interact with the podcast is to make a comment on the article that accompanies this podcast on stormskeeting.com. Only paid subscribers can do that.00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:23.000Stuart Winchester: You can upgrade to the paid tier of the storm, which is the very best way to support the product@stormskiing.com. That will get you 100% of the content below the paywall, and it will also allow you to interact with the podcast, but.00:44:23.000 --> 00:44:31.000Stuart Winchester: everyone can listen to the podcast. The podcast has always been for everyone, and my intent is to keep it that way. So…00:44:31.000 --> 00:44:40.000Stuart Winchester: Some reaction to yesterday, and a lot of this is just reacting to… So yesterday, as a reminder, Joe Hessian came on, talked about…00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:43.000Stuart Winchester: The Snow Pass, uh, talked about…00:44:43.000 --> 00:44:51.000Stuart Winchester: Indy Pass and Snow Pass, both claiming Snow King and the confusion around that.00:44:51.000 --> 00:45:00.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, and I talked a little bit about, just in general, uh, the Indy Pass and the fact that smugglers not to join. So…00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:14.000Stuart Winchester: Reading the comments from top to bottom. And again, these are all paid subscribers, so thank you very much, and a lot of these folks I have been in dialogue with for years, so they're not necessarily new to me, but perhaps new to the community.00:45:14.000 --> 00:45:17.000Stuart Winchester: Starting with Peter Schlachtes.00:45:17.000 --> 00:45:21.000Stuart Winchester: So, just under an hour, in the short format?00:45:21.000 --> 00:45:27.000Stuart Winchester: I liked it. I had heard the backstory on Hessian and didn't need to hear it again.00:45:27.000 --> 00:45:30.000Stuart Winchester: It focused on the compelling stuff.00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:44.000Stuart Winchester: But remember that your growing audience, I hope, consists over time of more and more people who won't have heard or remember that context and texture and won't necessarily seek it out on an old podcast that features your speaker.00:45:44.000 --> 00:45:59.000Stuart Winchester: By the way, though, you really must make a point of steering people to relevant past podcasts that provide the backstory on guests and mountains you cover in the new format. Mention it, flash it on the screen, put it in a subtext, and leave it there, because people won't know they're interested in learning more until…00:45:59.000 --> 00:46:00.000Stuart Winchester: They are.00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:08.000Stuart Winchester: Yes, Peter, I appreciate the short comment, and short has never been my…00:46:08.000 --> 00:46:25.000Stuart Winchester: Strength. So expect some experimentation. Uh, expect me to play around with this a little bit. Expect some episodes to be longer than others. I truly will try to get some bite size episodes out there, but I, I find that the podcasts that I listen to that are news focused are usually right around an hour and.00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:34.000Stuart Winchester: And I don't run out of steam with that, as long as what they're talking about is interesting to me. As far as your point about linking to past podcasts, look.00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:38.000Stuart Winchester: One of the reasons that…00:46:38.000 --> 00:46:42.000Stuart Winchester: I had to move to a different podcast format.00:46:42.000 --> 00:46:43.000Stuart Winchester: Was that…00:46:43.000 --> 00:47:03.000Stuart Winchester: the old podcast was becoming too laborious, and part of the reason was I was too concerned with building a big story around it, and making sure that everything I mentioned had some context that a reader could go back to. And what that… and it was great, and a lot of people appreciated that, and again, I'll still do some long-form product…00:47:03.000 --> 00:47:17.000Stuart Winchester: Podcasts and I'm still doing plenty of writing, but it actually gummed things up to the point where I was just not making as many podcasts as I should be. So my goal here with the new short format podcast, keep it light, keep it moving.00:47:18.000 --> 00:47:33.000Stuart Winchester: The trend is toward search, right? So with all the AI tools and everything available, it's pretty easy to find my old podcast. I do have a master list that I linked to from the homepage, uh, and, and.00:47:33.000 --> 00:47:38.000Stuart Winchester: As much as I agree with you, it would be nice, I think that most people…00:47:38.000 --> 00:47:50.000Stuart Winchester: will just Google Joe Hessian Storm Skiing Podcast, and it will pop right up. But, we'll see how it evolves. Next comment from Mimi Ma, another long-time paid subscriber. Shout out to Mimi.00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:57.000Stuart Winchester: Like the format, especially good that I can skim read if needed, and then jump to the sections of interest. Keep up the good work. I want to make that point.00:47:57.000 --> 00:48:09.000Stuart Winchester: there is a transcript for every single episode. You can click on the transcript, and when you're reading it, you click to any section, and it will go to that section of the podcast, if you're on Substack.00:48:09.000 --> 00:48:22.000Stuart Winchester: If you're on YouTube, you won't have that capability, so you can always check out the video version on Substack. Again, if you're listening via audio on Apple or Spotify or something, you also won't have that. So, go to stormskiing.com to get that capability.00:48:22.000 --> 00:48:36.000Stuart Winchester: Comment from Robert. Quote, I think Joe's comment about Eric self-describing himself as the, quote, anti-collaborator, and I'm curious to hear what his, Eric's, answer is.00:48:36.000 --> 00:48:39.000Stuart Winchester: To what is apparently a self-reference.00:48:39.000 --> 00:48:58.000Stuart Winchester: I don't see how you can't be anti collaborative and run a ski area, not to mention operating what is effectively a business to business service business and to Benny and the need to work with all their customers. What's the business justification for not wanting to collaborate outside the sphere he controls?00:48:58.000 --> 00:49:14.000Stuart Winchester: The ski Cooper thing was a bit different in many ways. Here we're talking about two third party systems meant to drive skier visits, and at least at the moment, given the portfolios, I think it is a relatively small percentage of skiers that are most likely choosing between the snow pass and Indy.00:49:14.000 --> 00:49:27.000Stuart Winchester: Most of them, I would assume, are likely NYC Metro-based. Good stuff on the new format. Looking forward to its evolution. Look, Joe was referencing a conversation that he had with Eric. It wasn't…00:49:27.000 --> 00:49:39.000Stuart Winchester: a publicly available conversation, so this is why I'm going to get Eric on the podcast tomorrow, to give his reaction to it. I… you know, Eric, from my point of view.00:49:39.000 --> 00:49:55.000Stuart Winchester: Look at the explosive growth of IndiePass under his tenure, right? He's, he purchased the pass, I believe in 2023, and, and I believe the number of partners, and I can double check this, uh, has more than tripled since Eric took it over, and he's really done a phenomenal job.00:49:56.000 --> 00:50:08.000Stuart Winchester: transforming Black Mountain and 10x-ing revenue at a ski area, which is simply unheard of in the ski business, and making it to Benny, which is a platform that people use.00:50:08.000 --> 00:50:19.000Stuart Winchester: As with any person doing a lot of things, Eric sometimes runs into controversies, but that's what this podcast.00:50:19.000 --> 00:50:34.000Stuart Winchester: Is here for is to give folks an opportunity to air their sides of the stories. Uh, I have a lot of respect for Joe and for Eric, and I think they're both doing really cool things in the ski industry. So, so we'll, we'll see. We'll see what Eric's.00:50:34.000 --> 00:50:51.000Stuart Winchester: answer is to that. From Scott Abraham, another long-time reader, I presume your hair is still standing out from being present at the Hail Mary. Quack, he's a Ducks fan. Alright, Scott, I'm gonna move right past that one. Eric Morris, great new format. You've written great stuff on walkable ski areas. How did you develop those thoughts?00:50:51.000 --> 00:51:00.000Stuart Winchester: Are you aware of strong towns? Are you aware of the Congress of New Urbanism? Eric, thank you. Yes, that is a running theme.00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:03.000Stuart Winchester: We threw out the storm.00:51:03.000 --> 00:51:19.000Stuart Winchester: I'll say this. There's a reason I live in New York City, and it's not because I think it's the greatest place in the world. It's because I value living in a walkable community. I value a pedestrian environment. I like that I don't need to get in my car.00:51:19.000 --> 00:51:26.000Stuart Winchester: Every time I need to go to the grocery store to get a box of pancakes. And New York City offers a really.00:51:26.000 --> 00:51:30.000Stuart Winchester: Great environment for that sort of lifestyle.00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:32.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, and when you travel around Europe.00:51:32.000 --> 00:51:45.000Stuart Winchester: those sorts of communities are everywhere, including in the ski towns. And our ski areas, being developed post-World War II, were mostly developed as most of America was at the time, which is around the automobile.00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:47.000Stuart Winchester: And…00:51:47.000 --> 00:51:49.000Stuart Winchester: I don't think that…00:51:49.000 --> 00:52:04.000Stuart Winchester: Car-centric mountain towns are necessarily the best way to evolve our towns into the future. So I think there's a rethinking in order. And yes, I am familiar with the schools of new urbanism and read frequently.00:52:04.000 --> 00:52:09.000Stuart Winchester: I'm not claiming these are ideas I'm coming up with mysel

Your weekly dose of information that keeps you up to date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist people with disabilities and special needs. Special Guest: Brian Norton ATP, CEAS – Director of AT – Easterseals Crossroads Things discussed in our show today: Microsoft Adaptive Controller: https://bit.ly/3u8qUh3 Sony PlayStation Access […]

Get the latest news of agriculture with American Ag Today! On this episode, we discuss red crown rot in soybeans with Brian Norton from Syngenta.

We have an October WASDE report on Friday, various world drought issues of note in the markets and many other factors to take a look at. Mike Zuzolo with Global Commodity Analytics joins us to discuss on today's show. Learn more online at https://www.globalcommresearch.com. Plus, we have a catch-up conversation on autonomy in agriculture with Sabanto founder Craig Rupp in Segment One and discuss issues with red crown rot in soybeans in Segment Four with Brian Norton from Syngenta.

Your weekly dose of information that keeps you up to date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist people with disabilities and special needs. Special Guest: Brian Norton – VP of Adult Services – Easterseals Crossroads iOS 18 Accessibility Info: https://apple.co/3VmqRYP —————————— If you have an AT question, leave us […] The post ATU681 – Gadget Camp with Brian Norton first appeared on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on April 8. It dropped for free subscribers on April 15. To receive future pods as soon as they're live, and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also subscribe to the free tier below:WhoDan Egan, General Manager of Tenney Mountain, New HampshireRecorded onMarch 14, 2024About Tenney MountainOwned by: North Country Development GroupLocated in: Plymouth, New HampshireYear founded: 1960 (closed several times; re-opened most recently in 2023)Pass affiliations:* No Boundaries Pass: 1-3 days, no blackoutsClosest neighboring ski areas: Campton (:24), Kanc Recreation Area (:33), Loon (:34), Ragged (:34), Waterville Valley (:35), Veteran's Memorial (:39), Red Hill Ski Club (:42), Cannon (:44), Proctor (:44), Mt. Eustis (:50), Gunstock (:52), Dartmouth Skiway (:54), Whaleback (:55), Storrs (:57), Bretton Woods (:59)Base elevation: 749 feetSummit elevation: 2,149 feetVertical drop: 1,400 feetSkiable Acres: 110 acresAverage annual snowfall: 140 inchesTrail count: 47 (14 advanced, 27 intermediate, 6 beginner) + 1 terrain parkLift count: 3 (1 triple, 1 double, 1 platter - view Lift Blog's inventory of Tenney's lift fleet)View historic Tenney Mountain trailmaps on skimap.org.Why I interviewed himDan Egan is an interesting guy. He seems to have 10 jobs all at once. He's at Big Sky and he's at Val-d'Isère and he's writing books and he's giving speeches and he's running Tenney Mountain. He's a legendary freeskier who didn't die young and who's stayed glued to the sport. He loves skiing and it is his whole life and that's clear in talking to him for 30 seconds.So he would have been a great and compelling interview even outside of the context of Tenney. But I'm always drawn to people who do particular, peculiar things when they could do anything. There's no reason that Dan Egan has to bother with Tenney, a mid-sized mountain in a mid-sized ski state far from the ski poles of the Alps and the Rockies. It would be a little like Barack Obama running for drain commissioner of Gladwin County, Michigan. He'd probably do a good job, but why would he bother, when he could do just about anything else in the world?I don't know. It's funny. But Egan is drawn to this place. It's his second time running Tenney. The guy is Boston-core, his New England roots clear and proud. It makes sense that he would rep the region. But there are New England ski areas that stand up to the West in scope and scale of terrain, and even, in Northern Vermont, snow volume and quality (if not consistency). But Tenney isn't one of them. It's like the 50th best ski area in the Northeast, not because it couldn't be better, but because it's never been able to figure out how to become the best version of itself.Egan – who, it's important to note, will move into an advisory or consultant role for Tenney next winter – seems to know exactly who he is, and that helps. He understands skiing and he understands skiers and he understands where this quirky little mountain could fit into the wide world of skiing. This is exactly what the ski area needs as it chugs into the most recent version of itself, one that, we hope, can defy its own legacy and land, like Egan always seems to, on its skis.What we talked aboutA vision for Tenney; what happened when Egan went skiing in jeans all over New Hampshire; the second comeback season was stronger than the first; where Tenney can fit in a jam-packed New Hampshire ski scene; why this time is different at Tenney; the crazy gene; running a ski area with an extreme skier's mindset; expansion potential; what's lost with better snowmaking and grooming and wider trails; why New England breeds kick-ass skiers; Tenney's quiet renovation; can Tenney thrive long-term with a double chair as its summit lift?; what's the worst thing about a six-person chair?; where Tenney could build more beginner terrain; expansion opportunities; the future of the triple chair; an endorsement for surface lifts; the potential for night skiing; the difference between running Tenney in 2002 and 2024; the slow death of learn-to-ski; why is skiing discounting to its most avid fans?; the down side of online ticket discounts; warm-weather snowmaking; Tenney's snowmaking evolution; the best snowmaking system in New Hampshire; “any ski area that's charging more than $100 for skiing and then asking you to put your boots in a cubby outside in the freezing cold … to me, that's an insult”; the importance of base lodges; “brown-baggers, please, you're welcome at Tenney”; potential real estate development and the importance of community; New England ski culture – “It means something to be from the East”; “why aren't more ski area operators skiing?”; skiing as confidence-builder; the No Boundaries Pass; the Indy Pass; Tenney season pass pricing; and Ragged's Mission: Affordable pass.Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewIn late 2022, as Tenney's social media feeds filled with hyperactive projects to re-open the ski area, I asked a veteran operator – I won't say which one – what they thought of the ski area's comeback potential.“No chance,” they'd said, pointing to lack of water, strained and dated infrastructure, and a mature and modern competitive marketplace. “They're insane.”And yet, here we are. Tenney lives.The longer I do this, the less the project of operating a ski area makes sense to me. Ski areas, in my head, have always been Mount Bohemia: string a lift up the mountain and let the skiers ride. But that model can only work in like four places on the continent, and sometimes, like this year, it barely works there. The capital and labor requirements of running even a modest operation in schizophrenic New England weather are, by themselves, shocking. Add in a summit lift built six decades ago by a defunct company in an analogue world, an already overcrowded New Hampshire ski market, and a decades-long legacy of failure, and you have an impossible-seeming project.But they're doing it. For two consecutive winters, lift-served snowskiing has happened at Tenney. The model here echoes the strategy that has worked at Titus and Holiday Mountain and Montage: find an owner who runs other successful, non-ski businesses and let those businesses subsidize the ski area until it can function independently. That could take a while. But Steven Kelly, whose Timberline Construction Company is big-timing it all over New England, seems committed.Some parts of the country, like Washington, need more ski areas. Others, like New Hampshire, probably have too many. That can be great for skiers: access road death matches are not really a thing out here, and there's always some uncrowded bump to escape to on peak days. Operators competing for skiers, however, have a tricky story to tell. In Tenney's case, the puzzle is this: how does a fixed-grip 1,400-footer compete in a crowded ski corridor in a crowded ski state with five-dollar Epic Passes raining from the skies and Octopus lifts rising right outside of town and skiers following habits and rituals formed in childhood? Tenney's operators have ideas. And some pretty good ones, as it turns out.Questions I wish I'd askedI know some of you will be disappointed that I didn't get into Egan's career as a pro skier. But this interview could have been nine hours long and we wouldn't have dented the life of what is a very interesting dude. Anyway here's Egan skiing and talking about skiing if you were missing that:What I got wrongWe recorded this before 2024-25 Tenney season passes dropped. Egan teased that they would cost less than 2023-24 passes, and they ended up debuting for $399 adult, down from $449 for this past winter.When describing the benefits of nearby Ragged Mountain's $429 season pass, I mention the ski area's high-speed lifts and extensive glades, but I neglected to mention one very important benefit: the pass comes loaded with five lift tickets to Jay freaking Peak.Why you should ski TenneyBefore high-speed lifts and Colorado-based owners and Extreme Ultimo Megapasses, there was a lot more weird in New England skiing. There was the Cranmore Skimobile:And these oil-dripping bubble doubles and rocket-ship tram at Mount Snow:And whatever the hell is going on here at now-defunct King Ridge, New Hampshire:I don't really know if all this was roadside carnival schtick or regional quirk or just a reflection of the contemporary world, but it's all mostly gone now, a casualty of an industry that's figured itself out.Which is why it's so jarring, but also so novel and so right, to pull into Tenney and to see this:I don't really know the story here, and I didn't ask Egan about it. They call it the Witch's Hat. It's Tenney's ticket office. Perhaps its peculiar shape is a coincidence, the product of some long-gone foreman's idiosyncratic imagination. I don't even know why a ski area with a base lodge the size of Rhode Island bothers to maintain a separate building just for selling lift tickets. But they do. And it's wonderful.The whole experience of skiing Tenney evokes this kind of time-machine dislocation. There's the lattice-towered Hornet double, a plodding 60-year-old machine that moves uphill at the pace of a pack mule:There's the narrow, twisty trails of Ye Old New England:And the handmade trail signs:Of course, modernity intrudes. Tenney now has RFID, trim grooming, a spacious pub with good food. And, as you'll learn in the podcast, plans to step into the 2020s. The blueprint here is not Mad River Glen redux, or even fixed-grip 4EVA Magic Mountain. It's transformation into something that can compete in ski area-dense and rapidly evolving New Hampshire. The vision, as Egan lays it out, is compelling. But there will be a cost to it, including, most likely, the old Hornet. That Tenney will be a Tenney worth skiing, but so is this one, and better to see it before it's gone.Podcast NotesOn 30 Years in a White HazeI mentioned Egan's book, 30 Years In A White Haze, in the intro. I dedicated an entire podcast with his co-author, Eric Wilbur, to this book back in 2021:On Jackson Hole's jeans-skiing daySo this happened in December:On the December washoutEgan references the “December washout” – this is the same storm I went deep on with Sunday River GM Brian Heon recently. Listen here.On “what I did 20 years ago” and warm-weather snowmakingThis was Egan's second run as Tenney general manager. His first tenure, near the turn of the century, overlapped with the ski area's experiments in warm-weather snowmaking. New England Ski History summarizes:In October of 2002, Tenney was purchased by SnowMagic, a company seeking to showcase its snowmaking technology. The company's origins dated back to the late 1980s, when Japanese skier Yoshio Hirokane developed an idea to make snow in warmer temperatures, called Infinite Crystal Snowmaking. Hirokane later joined forces with Albert Bronander to found the New Jersey-based SnowMagic company. A significant investment was planned at Tenney, rumored to be a choice of either replacing the 1964 Stadeli double chairlift with a high speed detachable quad or installing the high-tech snowmaking system.In advance of the 2002-2003 ski season, the investment in a SnowMagic system was announced. The system, rumored to cost $1,000,000, would allow the ski area to stay open year round. There was some speculation that the runaway success of this new system would allow for the purchase of a high speed quad shortly thereafter. Famous skier Dan Egan served as General Manager when the area reopened in December 2002.After dealing with equipment shipping delays reportedly caused by a longshoreman's strike, Tenney was able to open during the summer and fall of 2003 thanks to the system. Numbers were disappointing and costs were high, especially considering it was only covering a small slope. Summer snowmaking operations were cancelled in 2004 and the snowmaking system was sent to Alabama. While summertime snowmaking was expected to return to Tenney in 2005, it was all but forgotten, as the company determined the systems yielded better revenue in warmer climates.The most recent headline-making experiment in warm-weather snowmaking landed last October, when Ski Ward, Massachusetts beat everyone to open for the 2023-24 ski season with an assist from an expensive but powerful piece of technology:It cost $600,000. It's the size of a shipping container. In an August test run, it cranked out a six-foot-tall pile of snow in 83-degree weather.It's the L60 snowmaking machine from Quebec-based Latitude 90. And it just helped Ski Ward, Massachusetts beat every other ski area in North America to open for the 2023-24 ski season.The skiing wasn't much. A few feet of base a few hundred feet long, served by a carpet lift. Ski Ward stapled the novelty to its fall festival, a kitschy New England kiddie-fest with “a petting zoo, pony rides, kids crafts, pumpkin painting, summer tubing, bounce houses … and more.” Lift tickets cost $5.On potential Tenney expansionsWe discuss several expansion opportunities for Tenney, including a proposed-but-abandoned upper-mountain beginner area. This 1988 trailmap shows where the potential new lift and trails could sit:On the evolution of LoonLoon, in recent years, has leapt ahead of its New Hampshire competitors with a series of snowmaking and lift upgrades that are the most sophisticated in the state (Waterville Valley might argue with me on that). I've profiled this evolution extensively, including in a conversation with the ski area's current GM, Brian Norton, in 2022 - listen here.On Waterville Valley's summit T-barOne of the most underrated lifts in New England is Waterville Valley's summit T-bar. The story behind it is instructive, though I'm not sure if anyone's paying attention to the lesson. Here's the background – in 1988, the ski area installed the state's first high-speed quad, a base-to-summit machine then known as High Country Express (the ski area later changed the name to “White Peaks Express”:But detachable lifts were new in the ‘80s, and no one really understood that stringing one to the top of White Peak would prove problematic. Wind holds were a constant problem. So, in 1996, Waterville took the extraordinary step of shortening the lift by approximately 400 vertical feet. Skiers could still travel to the summit on the High Country double chair, a Stadeli machine left over from the 1960s:But that lift was still prone to wind holds. So, in 2018, Waterville GM Tim Smith tried something both simple and brilliant: replacing the double chair with a brand-new T-bar, which cost all of $750,000 and is practically immune from wind holds:The result is a better ski experience enabled by a lost-cost, low-tech lift. The ski area continued to invest heavily in the rest of the mountain, throwing down $12 million on the Tecumseh Express bubble six-pack – which replaced the old White Peaks Express – in 2022.Video by Stuart Winchester.On JP AuclairEgan mentions JP Auclair, a Canadian freeskier who died in an avalanche in 2014. Here's a nice tribute to JP from Chris O'Connell, who cofounded Armada Skis with Auclair:There are a million things that can be said about JP as a skier—how he pioneered and transcended genres, and the indelible mark he has made on the sport. But there is so much more: he was a genuinely good human; he was my favorite person to be around because he was hilarious and because he was kind.In the summer of 1997 I watched a VHS tape of JP Auclair and JF Cusson skiing the park at Mt. Hood. It was a time when snowboarding was peaking and, in many places, skiers weren't even allowed in the park. Skiers certainly weren't doing tricks that rivaled snowboarders—in difficulty or in style. To see JP and JF doing cork 720s blew my mind, and, as a snow sports photographer, I wanted to meet them. At the time, I was a senior photographer at Snowboarder Magazine and I had begun contributing with a start-up ski magazine called Freeze. The following spring the photo editor of Freeze blew out his knee and in his place, I was sent to the Nordic jib land, Riksgransen, Sweden to meet these guys.JP and I hit it off and that's how it began – 16 years of traveling and shooting with him. Often, those travels were the kind which involved appearances, autograph sessions and less than ideal ski situations. He would put on a smile and give it 100 percent at an awkward press conference in China when we knew Interior BC was getting hammered. He would shred the icy slopes of Quebec when duty called, or log long hours in the Armada office to slam out a product video. JP was a champion no matter how adverse or inane. That was part of what made him so good.Ironically, JP and I had a shared sense that what we were doing, while fulfilling in context, at times seemed frivolous. We spent our lives traveling to the far ends of the earth, and we weren't doing it to build bridges or irrigations systems or to help people have clean drinking water. Instead, we were doing it for skiing. Read the rest…On Crotched and Peak ResortsEgan is right, Crotched is often overlooked and under-appreciated in New England skiing. While much of the region fell behind the West, from a technology point of view, in the 2000s, Peak Resorts rebuilt Crotched almost from scratch in 2003, relocating three lifts from Virginia and installing a new snowmaking system. Per New England Ski History:At the turn of the millennium, Midwestern ski operator Peak Resorts started looking into either acquiring an operational mid-sized area or reopening a defunct area in New England. Though Temple Mountain was heavily considered, Peak Resorts opted to invest in defunct Crotched Mountain. According to Peak Resorts' Margrit Wurmli-Kagi, "It's the kind of small area that we specialize in, but it skis like a larger mountain. It has some nice glades and some nice steeps, but also some outlying areas that are perfect for the beginners."In September 2002, Peak Resorts formed S N H Development, Inc. as a New Hampshire corporation to begin rebuilding the former western side of the ski area. In terms of vertical feet, the prospective ski area was three times larger than any of Peak Resorts' current portfolio. After a 50 year lease of the property was procured in May 2003, a massive reconstruction project subsequently took place, including reclearing the trails, constructing a new snowmaking system, building a new base lodge, and installing rebuilt lifts from Ski Cherokee, Virginia. A reported ten million dollars later, Crotched Mountain reopened as essentially a new ski area on December 20, 2003. Though most of the terrain followed the former western footprint, the trails were given a new science fiction naming scheme.While the reopened ski area initially did not climb to the top of the former quad chairlift, additional trails were reclaimed in subsequent years. In February of 2012, it was announced that Crotched would be acquiring Ascutney's detachable quad, reopening the upper mountain area. The lift, dubbed the Crotched Rocket, opened on December 1, 2012.On “Rusty” in the hall of fameEgan refers to “Rusty's” U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame induction speech. He was referring to Rusty Gregory, former CEO of Alterra Mountain Company and three-time Storm Skiing Podcast guest. Here's the speech (with an intro by Egan):The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 26/100 in 2024, and number 526 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

Your weekly dose of information that keeps you up to date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist people with disabilities and special needs. Special Guest: Brian Norton ATP, CEAS – Director of AT – Easterseals Crossroads Things discussed in our show today: Microsoft Adaptive Controller: https://bit.ly/3u8qUh3 Sony PlayStation Access […] The post ATU652 – Black Friday Holiday Special with Brian Norton first appeared on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Your weekly dose of information that keeps you up to date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist people with disabilities and special needs. Special Guest: Brian Norton ATP, CEAS – Director of AT – Easterseals Crossroads More about this project and other great services: Web: www.eastersealstech.com Phone: 888-466-1314 Bridging […] The post ATU651 – Public Library Accessible Workstations with Brian Norton first appeared on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

This week the guys are joined by Brian Norton — Cole's friend, and mentor. The conversation zeros in on the weight and affects of Pornography, and what we might do to stay in the fight. Check out the freedom fight here Buy the book by Ted Shimer here Big thank you to our sponsor,⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Quickwater Coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Watch this episode on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Connect with us⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   © Cole Hammontree & Nate Morris

This evening Brian “Scramblin” Norton returns to LOTS to Talk About. We will be talking about overcoming lifelong fears, building skills and community and a bunch of other things we catch up on. It is always an interesting chat when Scramblin is in the house. Find all Scramblin's info at https://foodforestfarms.comGrab 5% off on his whole site with discount code: Lots5 Find out more at https://thelotsproject.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-lots-project/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

#LakeForestPreservationFoundation #lakeforestpodcast #lakeforestillinois #georgepandaleon #briannorton Heads up y'all we got it wrong The Lake Forest Preservation Foundation is not using donor Funds to sue the city of Lake Forest. The President of The Lake Forest Preservation Foundation Brian Norton is a lawyer and will be using his resources to sue the city of lake forest Illinois We welcome Brian Norton to come on the show to help us clear this up further. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lakeforestpodcast/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lakeforestpodcast/support

Podcast hosts Adam and Cameron interview Syngenta's Brian Norton and Brandon Nystrom about their GrowMore sites. They also discuss the latest on crop conditions in the trade territory, fungicide use, new herbicides, and product testing. Subscribe to this podcast on Spotify, Apple, Google Podcast, Soundcloud, Podcast Addict, and now on also Facebook and YouTube.

In his latest song ‘Closer', which was funded by the NZ on Air new music development fund, Brian Norton reflects on that often conflicted and confusing experience of being young and male in a world obsessed with image and having the cool factor. In his opening lines, ‘he walks around with his head held high, he wears a smile for the people passing by, covered in tattoos with the cool shoes on' he's describing someone who looks all fine, from the outside. It's a tendency he notices among young guys he observes around him at work and as a trainee builder mentor, and even in himself. “You know, dressing up cool, making things look real mean, wearing good brands - but sometimes there are other things going on.”

StyroCrete is an excellent material for building because it is lightweight, durable, pest and mold resistant, and can withstand extreme weather conditions because it is such an awesome insulator. Since it uses the industrial waste stream of dense Styrofoam, which would otherwise end up in landfills, it's an elegant permaculture solution.   Learn how to build with StyroCrete! 

Brian Norton drops by to share about what he has coming up and what he has been up too lately. https://www.youtube.com/@briannorton206

To support independent ski journalism, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on Nov. 14. It dropped for free subscribers on Nov. 17. To receive future pods as soon as they're live, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription.WhoBrian Norton, President and General Manager of Loon Mountain, New HampshireRecorded onNovember 1, 2022About LoonClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Boyne ResortsPass affiliations: Ikon Pass, New England PassReciprocal pass partners:* Unlimited access to Sunday River and Sugarloaf* 3 days each at Pleasant Mountain, Boyne Mountain, The Highlands, Brighton, Big Sky, Summit at Snoqualmie, CypressLocated in: Lincoln, New HampshireClosest neighboring ski areas: Kanc (3 minutes), Cannon (21 minutes), Campton (26 minutes), Mt. Eustis (28 minutes), Mt. Prospect (35 minutes), Waterville Valley (37 minutes), Bretton Woods (38 minutes), Cranmore (55 minutes), Veterans Memorial (55 minutes), Ragged (58 minutes), King Pine (58 minutes), Attitash (1 hour), Gunstock (1 hour, 6 minutes), Black Mountain NH (1 hour, 7 minutes), Pleasant Mountain (1 hour, 7 minutes), Wildcat (1 hour, 13 minutes), Abenaki (1 hour, 15 minutes)Base elevation: 950 feetSummit elevation: 3,050 feetVertical drop: 2,100 feetSkiable Acres: 370 (will increase to 400 with next year's South Peak expansion)Average annual snowfall: 160 inchesTrail count: 61 (20% black, 60% intermediate, 20% beginner)Lift count: 11, plus one train (1 four-passenger gondola, 1 eight-pack, 3 high-speed quads, 1 fixed-grip quad, 3 doubles, 2 carpets - view Lift Blog's of inventory of Loon's lift fleet). Loon will add a second fixed-grip quad - this one with a carpet-loader - rising approximately 500 feet off the Escape Route parking lots, in 2023.Why I interviewed himThere are 26 ski areas in New Hampshire. And lots of good ones: Cannon, Waterville, Bretton Woods, Attitash, Wildcat. Black and Cranmore and Ragged and Gunstock and Sunapee. Pats Peak and Crotched and King Pine. Don't “you forgot…” me, You-Forgot-[Blank] Bro. I'm making a point here: there are more good ski areas in this state than even You-Forgot-[Blank] Bro can keep track of.That means I have plenty of podcast material: I've hosted the leaders of Cannon, Gunstock, Waterville Valley, Whaleback, Ragged, and Pats Peak on the podcast. And Loon, a conversation with then-President and General Manager Jay Scambio shortly after the resort launched its so-call Flight Path 2030 plan in early 2020.So why, before I've checked off Bretton Woods or Black or Cranmore or any of the four Vail properties, am I revisiting Loon? Fair question. Plenty of answers. First, the Loon I discussed with Scambio in February 2020 is not the Loon that skiers ski today. And the Loon that skiers will make turns on before the end of this month is not the same Loon they'll ski next year, or the year after that. Kanc 8 – New England's first Octopus Lift – changed the whole flow of the resort, even though it followed the same line as the legacy lift. This year's Seven Brothers upgrade should do the same. And next year's small but significant South Peak expansion will continue the evolution.Second, Scambio, young and smart and ambitious, jumped up the Boyne Resort food chain, and is now chief operating officer for the company's day areas (Brighton, Summit at Snoqualmie, Cypress, and Loon), clearing the way for the young and smart and ambitious Norton to take the resort's top job.Third, my first Loon Mountain podcast did not age well from a technical point of view. Pre-Covid, I relied mostly on a telephone recording service to capture podcast audio. Sometimes this landed fine, but Jay and I sound as though we're talking in a 1940s war movie recorded in a field tent. I also sound considerably less enthusiastic than I actually was. I wish I could re-master it or something, but for now, Storm Skiing Podcast number 12 is an artifact of a platform in motion, seeking its shape and identity. The Storm is a far better product now, and this is as close to a re-do as I'm going to get.Fourth, the guest I originally had scheduled for the week of Oct. 31 had to cancel. Loon had just announced the South expansion, and the timing seemed perfect to revisit a New England favorite. Norton was good enough to step in, even in the midst of intensive preseason prep.So here you go: Loon podcast number two. It won't be the last.What we talked aboutHow Loon determines opening day; potential changes to the terrain-opening cadence; “I hate the thought that you do something one way because you've always done it that way”; from college student/East Basin liftie to president and general manager; Wachusett nights; that New Hampshire vibe; Planet Terrain Park; living through the Booth Creek-Boyne Resorts transition; Loon, the most popular kid on the block; managing skier volume; why Loon doesn't have night skiing, and whether the ski area has ever considered it; the amazing Kanc 8; “so much of our guest's day is not skiing”; how the new lift changed Loon skier patterns and other reflections on season one; Kanc's chaotic, wonderful lift queue; evolving the Governor's Lodge side of the resort; the Seven Brothers upgrade: “it's a new lift … you won't recognize it”; the slight modifications to the location of the top and bottom terminals; the fate of the Seven Brothers triple; comparing the new and old lifts; the importance of terrain parks to Loon; thinking through long-term upgrades to the South Peak and North Peak Express quads and the gondola; what having “the most technologically advanced lift fleet in New England” means; thoughts on the future of the East Basin double; breaking down the 2023 South Peak expansion; what it means to finally run a lift up from the massive Escape Route parking lots; the importance of connecting Loon to Lincoln; evolving Loon's learning experience; breaking down the bottom and top terminals of the coming quad lift and why it will sit slightly away from the parking lot; where the expansion will fit into the terrain-opening sequence; Loon's evolving glade philosophy; where Loon will be eliminating a glade and why; where new glades will be coming online; three huge projects at Loon in three years: “this is a commitment across the board to grow”; what the Westward Trail expansion is and when we could see it; breaking down potential additional development on North Peak; why Lincoln Peak Express doesn't go to the summit of South Peak; Loon's absolute commitment to snowmaking; why Loon will require Ikon Pass reservations this coming season, and how the mountain will set the number of reservations for each day.Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewIt's all just changing so fast. Ever since dropping Flight Path 2030 plan in early 2020, Loon has built the massive and gorgeous Kancamagus eight-pack (New England's first), rebuilt the old Kanc quad and moved it across the mountains to replace the Seven Brothers triple chair, and announced a 30-acre 2023 expansion that will finally knot the ski area's massive Escape Route parking lots to the rest of the resort with a lift. And the mountain has built all that around Covid-19, with all its operational disorientation and a one-year delay on construction of Kanc 8 (originally scheduled to go live in 2020).They're just getting going. Flight Path's overarching goal, from a skier-experience point of view, is to stand up “the most technologically advanced lift network in the East to increase uphill speed and achieve ultimate comfort.” That means upgrades to the Lincoln and North Peak high-speed quads and that weird little four-person gondola. The snowmaking system, hundreds of guns that can already bury most of Loon's 370 acres by Christmas, is going full auto. New trails are likely incoming for North and South peaks. More glades, too. The Westward Trail expansion could potentially add hundreds more acres and shoot Loon past Bretton Woods for the largest-in-New Hampshire title.Even if Loon stopped with next year's expansion, the place would be in good shape. Lincoln Peak Express is only 15 years old. North Peak is 18. Kanc 8 is a glorious, beautiful machine, standing monolithic at Governor Adams, so smooth in its ascent that it appears to float up the rise. And Seven Brothers is more than a lift-and-shift – “It's a new lift,” Norton tells me on the podcast, after Doppelmayr spent a year on an overhaul so thorough that “you won't recognize it.”The 500-vertical-foot, beginner-oriented expansion, to be served by a carpet-loaded fixed-grip quad, seems small in the scale of 2,100-vertical-foot, super-octopus-lift-served Loon. But the new pod is a crucial connection both to the checkerboard of outer-edge parking lots currently served by shuttlebuses, and to the town of Lincoln, the edges of which sit walking distance to the new lift. The expansion will also add new beginner terrain, a product that extra-intermediate Loon currently lacks in meaningful quantities. Here's a peek:And here's how the little pod will fit in with the rest of the resort:With so much so recently accomplished, and so much more incoming, this seemed like a perfect moment to check in with one of New England – and, really, America's – most rapidly evolving ski areas.What I got wrongRumors were all over the place last year that Kanc 8 experienced intermittent power issues last season. I asked Norton about this in the podcast, and it turns out that the rumors weren't true. But I asked the question in a way that presumed they were. Instead of asking “what was happening with the intermittent power issues,” I should have framed it this way: “There was a lot of chatter that intermittent power issues interfered with Kanc 8 operating last year – was that true?” I'll do better.Why you should ski Loon MountainIf you're questing for rad, keep driving. Cannon is 20 minutes up the road. Loon is many things, but challenging is not one of them (watch this be the site of my next catastrophic injury). Here's what it is: one of the best exactly-in-the-middle mountains in New England skiing. Its peers are Okemo and Mount Snow and Bretton Woods; lots of fast lifts, ExtraGroomed and extra busy, with lots of skiers welcomed by the welcoming terrain.Loon is, in other words, what every ski area east of the Rockies was trying to be before terrain parks and glades and bumps made skiing more interesting: a perfect groomed ski area. Approachable and modest, big and sprawling enough to feel like an adventure, well-appointed with Boyne's particular brand of largess.Loon has an amazing terrain park, of course. Some steeper stuff off North and South. Some trees if you're timing is right. But that's not the point of the place (well, the park sort of is), and it doesn't need to be. Loon is for blue skiers like Jay is for glade skiers and like springtime Killington is for bump skiers. Groomers are the point here. Let them run.But stop, please, mid-mountain beneath the Kanc 8. Watch this beautiful machine glide. Up and over and away, the smoothest lift in skiing. Rising from frantic load terminal to propelled silence as it advances toward the summit, floating and flying and encased in a bubble. Then catch the J.E. Henry railroad over to the gondola, ride to the summit, board Tote Road – the party lift – across the mountain decorous with pines, sprawling like a mini-Sugarbush, and roll the endless, glorious blue-square Cruiser or Boom Run to the base. This is Loon – a big ramble, quirky and stimulating and easy – easy to ski, easy to like, easy to settle into and ride.Podcast notes* Norton noted that previous plans for the South Peak expansion had included two proposed lifts. This version, which, according to New England Ski History, dates to 2013, shows one possible alignment, with two crisscrossing fixed-grip quads oriented against the existing Cruiser and Escape Route trails. This plan also included the magic carpets:* We also briefly discussed the so-called “Westward Trail expansion,” which Flight Path 2030 names as a potential late-stage project. Norton noted that several hundred additional acres exist within Loon's permit area, that plans for such an expansion have existed for decades, and that this is what the Westward Trail expansion referred to. Unfortunately, I've been unable to locate these maps. If you are in possession of any, please send them over.* I attended Kanc 8's grand opening last December. Here's video of the first-ever chair:* And of course, the J.E. Henry, an honest-to-goodness steam engine that skiers ride between the Governor Adams and Octagon base areas:The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 122/100 in 2022, and number 368 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Want to send feedback? Reply to this email and I will answer (unless you sound insane, or, more likely, I just get busy). You can also email skiing@substack.com. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

Join us as we talk to a revolving set of folks who will be coming to Self Reliance Festival in a week and a half! Ask us anything. Billy Bond, Ken Eash, Stephen Boone, Brian Norton. Show Resources Special Operations Equipment Living Free in Tennessee Perma Pastures Farm Main content of the show Replay of the Tuesday Live on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXi3b79U5eo Make it a great week! GUYS! Don't forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.  Community Mewe Group: https://mewe.com/join/lftn Telegram Group: https://t.me/LFTNGroup Odysee: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@livingfree:b Advisory Board The Booze Whisperer The Tactical Redneck Chef Brett Samantha the Savings Ninja Resources Membership Sign Up Holler Roast Coffee Harvest Right Affiliate Link

This week the Reality Czars are joined by the great Brian Norton! Brian is the co founder of Squatchfest Freedom Festival in Tacoma WA. Squatchfest is where Tony and I first met in the middle of lockdown in 2020. This was a really fun one, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! Y'all should come hangout with all of us in September at Squatchfest! https://foodforestfarms.com/store/p125/TheSquatchFEST_-_Fall_Harvest_Party_-_Sept_23-25_2022.html --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/realityczars/support

Panel – Brian Norton, Josh Anderson, Belva Smith, Tracy Castillo ATFAQ 166 – Q1. Phonetic spelling tools, Q2. Accessible card games, Q3. Accessible pill boxes, Q4. Accessible Gardening tools, Q5. Mouse solution for quadriplegia, Q6. Wildcard: Your search engine preference   ——– Transcript Starts Here ——–

Panel – Brian Norton, Josh Anderson, Belva Smith, Tracy Castillo ATFAQ 165 – Q1. Switches for 5yr old with CP, Q2. Communication/Translation solutions, Q3. Is Jaws scripting necessary, Q4. Avolition solutions, Q5, Extended visor for a vehicle, Q6: Wildcard: How to get started with podcasting —— Transcript Starts Here —– Intro: I have a question. […]

Tonight we share our favourite memes four guys chat about everything and nothing Brian Norton https://foodforestfarms.com/index.html Brian Aleksivich https://thelotsproject.com/ Kerry Brown https://strongrootsresources.com/ Patricia 15handstough https://thesquatchbalm.com/ CONNECT WITH ME http://toolmantim.co/WEBSITE http://toolmantim.shop/AMAZON AFFILIATE USA http://toolmantim.ca/AMAZON AFFILIATE CANADA http://www.youtube.com/c/toolmantimsworkshop/YT https://rumble.com/c/ToolmanTimsWorkshopRUMBLE https://odysee.com/@Allseasonsmain:5ODYSEE https://mewe.com/i/toolmantimsworkshop- MeWe https://flote.app/user/ToolmanTim/- FLOTE http://www.facebook.com/toolmantimsworkshop/- FB http://www.instagram.com/toolmantimsworkshop- IG http://t.me/toolmantimsworkshopTELEGRAM https://anchor.fm/toolmantimPODCAST http://www.firesidefreedom.net/ FIRESIDE FREEDOM PODCAST http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.comEXPERT COUNCIL https://prepperbroadcasting.com/PREPPER BROADCAST NETWORK Mailing Address If you have anything interesting tool related you'd like to send my way, for review or just because, use the address below. ‘Toolman Tim' P.O. Box 874 Provost, Alberta T0B3S0 Canada

This is a two hour no holds barred f bombs included discussion on nothing and everything, entrepreneurship, football, movies, comedy and everything else. If you like it and want to hear more let me know and it may become a regular thing or its own thing who knows.

While most of my content does not contain any explicit language, this one does have a few F-bombs. Listen at your own discretion. Went from selling chemical death by the metric ton for the oligarchs, to off grid medical cannabis promoter/preacher. I started an Air Roasted Specialty Coffee company to fund my adventures and experiments. When the covid hit, I started TheSquatchFest to give liberty/freedom minded humans a place to gather and commune. Recently finished a broadcast studio space and have been filing in on UnLoose the Goose. And most recently launched @Scramblin University a live show to share knowledge and build community. Find Brian on social: https://www.facebook.com/brian.norton206 https://www.facebook.com/foodforestfarms https://www.linkedin.com/mwlite/in/briandnorton https://youtube.com/user/briannorton206 And his website: foodforestfarms.com Super secret link mentioned in the show: https://www.foodforestfarms.com/club-member-private-entrance.html

My guest today is my friend Brian Norton, the Chief Operations Officer of MEW (MyEtherWallet). MyEtherWallet (MEW) is an open-source, client-side interface that allows users to interact directly with the Ethereum blockchain, without having to join a centralized exchange. One of the first such interfaces of its kind, MEW allows users to create and unlock wallets, interact with popular hardware wallets such as Trezor and Ledger, send transactions, interact with contracts, swap tokens, and interact with dApps. Things you can do with MEW: create your own unique Ethereum wallet, send and receive ETH and tokens, explore theirDApp store where users can earn on their deposits with Aave, open a vault with MakerDAO, or register and manage your ENS domains and deploy and interact with smart contracts. Brian has a background in operations, digital content development, and brand strategy. He specializes in keeping organizations on deadline and in touch with their target audiences. He has built years of start-up operational management experience in industries across the tech space, including edu-tech, industrial automation, and now blockchain. Brian's work at MEW is driven by the idea that blockchain technologies, designed for everyday life, will change the way we live for the better in ways we can not yet imagine. The major topics in our conversation include: the growth and evolution of Ethereum and the ETH community, Proof of Stake and Layer 2 scaling solutions, Ethereum as the Cultural Asset Layer, the future is multichain, and much more. We begin our conversation by discussing the evolution and growth of Ethereum and ETH community. Brian does an excellent explaining how Ethereum's finding product market fit and how Ethereum fits within the broader crypto landscape. He also discusses how the ETH community is growing at an exponential rate. Our conversation transitions to scaling the Ethereum network and the role of Layer 2s. Brian breaks down how Layer 2 and Proof of Stake will help scale the Ethereum network to enable global adoption. Brian discusses how projects like Polygon are providing users with a fast and cheap way of transacting but sacrificing some security and decentralization to lower the transaction costs. The next topic we discussed is the history and growth of MyEtherWallet and their tireless support for Ethereum since the inception of the project. We also discuss how Ethereum is becoming the base layer for Cultural Assets. Brain shares how he predicted the rise of NFTs and the proliferation of Culture and Art on Ethereum. We discuss how ETH is beginning to become ubiquitous within the sectors of society that are concerned with Culture and the Arts and what that means for the future of the Creator Economy. A major talking point of our conversation were the 5 spokes of life and how Web3 enables humans to scale these spokes much easier. We discuss the importance of Family, Finance, Friends, Faith, Fitness. One of our final conversation topics was the reality we are headed to a multichain world and what is Ethereum's role within the broader blockchain ecosystem. Brain firmly believes ETH will be the settlement-layer for smart contract blockchains that enables the proliferation of Finance to Culture on the Blockchain. Please enjoy my conversation with Brian Norton, the Chief Operations Officer of MEW. --- ParaSwap: If you want to make a swap at the best price across the DeFi market, check out https://untoldstories.link/paraswap. ParaSwap's state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices, and lowest slippage. -- This podcast is powered by Blockworks. For exclusive content and events that provide insights into the crypto and blockchain space, visit them at https://blockworks.co

What happened at Squatch Fest with Miguel DuqueMy chat with Brian Norton last month got me pumped about The Sasquatch Freedom Festival: Spring Awakening and regretting my inability to attend. So I had to hear from someone who attended. Enter my friend, confidante, and personal productivity coach Miguel Duque. You’ll remember Miguel from way back on episode 9 of my old Urban Agorist podcast. Listen to this episode to hear about the glory of freedom-oriented festivals, along with us just catching up on life, liberty, and our pursuit of happiness.Miguel LinksHire Miguel as your coach. Seriously, do it.Follow Miguel on Minds.And Flote.Watch Miguel do the Blazin’ Challenge.Check out Squatch Fest. They’ll be doing events every Autumn and Spring.SponsorI told you to hire him as your coach already, and here’s an ad to convince you further: Productivity coach Miguel Duque founded amagi.life to pursue his personal mission to lay the foundations for a voluntary, peaceful world through leadership, philosophy, and love. He’s been my coach since I started this show, helping me to set and reach goals and keep myself accountable. If you’re ready to level up your professional productivity, get in touch with Miguel today!Learn With MeRenegade UniversityJoin me at Thad Russell’s Renegade University. His postmodernism course is available on replay now. Check out the other offerings to enroll in current and future courses. I think you’ll be particularly interested in what’s coming up in March, a course with CTRL+Pew.Liberty ClassroomI’ve renewed my Basic Membership to Tom Woods’s Liberty Classroom so many times that I finally just sprung for the lifetime Master Membership. I recommend you do the same. You’ll get unlimited access to courses on history, economics, political theory, logic, and even literature taught by liberty-loving professors from colleges and universities around the world. It’s the antidote to the cathedral.Follow MeYou can now find all my links and updates at https://blackbirdpodcast.com/follow. That’s also a good way to send me crypto if you’re so inclined.Be sure you’re following me on Twitter and Minds. Follow the Blackbird Telegram channel to join the conversation.If you’re reading this on Substack, you can subscribe to the show on any podcast app simply by searching Blackbird with James Jenneman.If you watch the show on YouTube, switch to Odyssee. This decentralized platform will give you a clear conscience and make me a tiny amount of money (at no cost to you).Become a paying subscriber for bonus episodes, written content, and your very own private podcast feed.(Note: I use af

Brian Norton is the founder of CBD Specialty Coffee.  A small custom roasting company that offers both CBD Infused Coffee and non infused coffee as well.  He is also involved with a variety of secondary income hustles form trade shows, … Continue reading →

Brian Norton is the founder of CBD Specialty Coffee.  A small custom roasting company that offers both CBD Infused Coffee and non infused coffee as well.  He is also involved with a variety of secondary income hustles form trade shows, … Continue reading →

Spring Awakening with Brian NortonOne of my favorite Blackbird guests is back, baby! Brian Norton, who gave us the whole story of his dynamic professional life last time he was here (pre-rebrand), returns to talk about his next great festival, Spring Awakening. We also chat about The Crypto 6, geodesic domes, festival music, and, of course coffee. Brian LinksIf you’re in the Pacific Northwest, get thee to Squatchfest: Spring Awakening this weekend!Brian’s coffee is delicious, and his coffee subscription service is more than just a box of coffee every month. Subscribe today, and you’ll be a member of his elite coffee community. (And you’ll get a box of coffee every month as an added bonus!)Camp at Brian's, Camp SuNeeKee. Or if indoors is more your thing, rent his Airbnb. If you've never signed up for Hipcamp before, use my link or enter offer code JAMESJDD896F at checkout to get a $10 credit!Other Stuff MentionedDJ Lightspeed’s performance at FloteFestGeodesic dome calculatorSupport the Crypto 6 Read the indictment hereWatch the goon squad raid them hereGet the Free the Crypto 6 tshirtPorcFest too statist for you? Check out ForkFest!SponsorCheck out Paloma Verde CBD and be sure to use coupon code blackbird at checkout to get 25% off your order! I recommend trying the mint tincture!Learn With MeRenegade UniversityJoin me at Thad Russell’s Renegade University. There are some incredibly cool courses coming up in the next month:Introduction to Cryptocurrency, taught by Blackbird guest Vin ArmaniPlato’s Republic, taught by Thad himself. This is part 1 of a series on The Great Books canon. Get in while the gettin’s good.The Case Against Morality, taught by super controversial philosophy professor Stephen KershnarFinally, Thad is partnering with Scott Horton to bring you Scott’s two Renegade University courses and his new book, Enough Already: Time to End The War on Terror, as a super inexpensive package deal. Buy it now!Liberty ClassroomI’ve renewed my Basic Membership to Tom Woods’s Liberty Classroom 

Brian Norton of Food Forest Farms joins me today to give us an update on how his life has evolved as he dives more deeply into entrepreneurial living and following his passion. But first Unloose the Goose BANNED EPISODE Interview this week with Cam and Jessica over on Youtube on The Mad Ones Joining Niti Bali next week - check out her channel here. Rogue Food Conference tickets and sponsors/vendors Show Resources Coffee Club - 500 Project https://foodforestfarms.com/store/p54/Monthly_Coffee_Club.html Cannabinoid Natural Foods https://foodforestfarms.com/cannabinoid-natural-foods.html Our Air BnB Reservations https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/33254319 Our HipCamp https://www.hipcamp.com/washington/food-forest-farms-hideaway/camp-suneekee   Main content of the show Bio of Brian Norton: Corp big food to urban aquaponic. Now underground specialty coffee roaster, hip camp owner, Air Bnb Experience guy. Heading out on a 1 year trip to every freedom fest I can book. Going to serve beautiful coffee and find 500 souls that see what I do as art. Interview Membership and Coffee Pitch LFTN21 Email Forthcoming Make it a great week GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.    Community Mewe Group: https://mewe.com/join/lftn Telegram Group: https://t.me/LFTNGroup Odysee: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@livingfree:b Advisory Board The Booze Whisperer The Tactical Redneck Chef Brett Samantha the Savings Ninja

Ethereum, while outperforming Bitcoin in 2020, has been living in the larger cryptocurrency's shadow, but it's only a matter of time before prices double again from here, said Brian Norton, COO of MyEtherWallet.

Agorist entrepreneur, businessman, farmer, event host, etc etc etc, Brian Norton joins me today to chat about (among other things) business, coffee, cannabis, and the business of cannabis-infused coffee! It's a free-wheeling conversation, so strap in.LinksFind Brian on Facebook.Camp at Brian's, Camp SuNeeKee. Or if indoors is more your thing, rent his Airbnb. And if you've never signed up for Hipcamp before, use my link or enter offer code JAMESJDD896F at checkout to get a $10 credit!Buy Brian's coffee and find his other businesses at Food Forest Farms.Book recommendations: "Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World", by Mark Pendergrast.Thad Russell's Renegade University (Sign up for the new course on Postmodernism!)Get your Master Membership to Tom Wood's Liberty Classroom. If you're looking for the best history, economics, logic, philosophy, and even literature education from a libertarian perspective, look no further.James's Recommendation for Beginner Urban GardenersGrow a garden on your kitchen counter with Aerogarden.Use your own seeds rather than Aerogarden's pods with Urban Leaf sponges.Feed your plants on a budget with Urban Leaf liquid plant food.(Note: We use affiliate links. By clicking the sponsored link(s) above, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you when you make a purchase. Using our affiliate links is a great way to support the show, and we really appreciate it!) Follow me on Twitter Subscribe to Urban AgoristApple PodcastsSpotifyOdyseeYouTube This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at www.blackbirdpodcast.com/subscribe

Panel: Brian Norton, Josh Anderson, Belva Smith, Tracy Castillo. Q1. Android or iOS for intellectual disability, Q2. Do we need a computer anymore, Q3. Online Checks for visually impaired, Q4. GPS Preferences, Q5. Keyboard shortcuts for Chrome OS, Q6. Wildcard: What do you use to keep track of Todos? —————–Transcript starts here ———————————- Brian Norton: […] The post ATFAQ132 – Q1. Android or iOS for intellectual disability, Q2. Do we need a computer anymore, Q3. Online Checks for visually impaired, Q4. GPS Preferences, Q5. Keyboard shortcuts for Chrome OS, Q6. Wildcard: What do you use to keep track of Todos? appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Republican Norton faces Democrat State Rep. Tina Polsky in the race for the Senate, District 29 seat.

Democrat Polsky faces Republican candidate Brian Norton in the race for Senate, District 29.

(business pearls)  In this episode Mr. Brian Norton of CBD Specialty Coffee stopped by to share an AWESOME business story: * Little Caesars hot-and-ready marketing idea * Management By Walking Around (MBWA)  

Brian Norton is a candidate for Florida State Senate, District 29 — last week he joined Pickles and Pope at the SweatShop for a Podcast to discuss his platform...and white privilege, of course.   #Norton2020 Brian Norton for Florida State Senate NORTON2020.COM

Kosala Hemachandra & Brian Norton from MEW joins Base Layer for a great chat. MEW offers a nexus point for transacting in the Ethereum ecosystem, providing unprecedented access, a secure wallet, and comprehensive education that allows anyone to quickly take advantage of all the benefits of crypto has to offer since 2015. Kosala built the first version of MEW just weeks after Ethereum’s launch in 2015 to help non-coders gain access to Ethereum at a time when only command line code instructions were available, making it difficult even for seasoned developers to transact in ETH. Since then, MEW has continued a steady stream of updates to its web and mobile versions, allowing users to buy, sell, and swap ETH and ERC20s, as well as participate in DeFi and use Dapps built on the Ethereum ecosystem. In March 2020, released MEW wallet, a full-featured mobile wallet app for Samsung, Android, and iPhone with all the features of MEW online accessible by phone.

Panel – Brian Norton, Tracy Castillo, Belva Smith, Josh Anderson – Q1 – diffusing lights, Q2 – text-to-speech on iPhone, Q3 – Chrome extensions for Executive Functioning, Q4 – VoiceOver compatible games, Q5 – Descriptive Audio on Roku, Q6 – What tech is collecting dust in your drawers? ———–Transcript Starts Here——————————— Tracy Castillo: I have […] The post ATFAQ117 – Q1 – diffusing lights, Q2 – text-to-speech on iPhone, Q3 – Chrome extensions for Executive Functioning, Q4 – VoiceOver compatible games, Q5 – Descriptive Audio on Roku, Q6 – What tech is collecting dust in your drawers appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Tracy Castillo, Belva Smith – Q1- favorite tech or info from ATIA, Q2 – AT or not AT that is the question, Q3 – accessible payment methods, Q4 – tools for checking webpage accessibility , Q5 smartphone app for reading colors, Q6 large display calculators for visually impaired, Q7 Wildcard: What […] The post ATFAQ116 – Q1- favorite tech or info from ATIA, Q2 – AT or not AT that is the question, Q3 – accessible payment methods, Q4 – tools for checking webpage accessibility , Q5 smartphone app for reading colors, Q6 large display calculators for visually impaired, Q7 Wildcard: What type of tech are you most looking forward to in 2020? appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Brian Norton is the founder of CBD Specialty Coffee.  A small custom roasting company that offers both CBD Infused Coffee and non infused coffee as well.  He is also involved with a variety of secondary income hustles form trade shows, … Continue reading →

Brian Norton is the founder of CBD Specialty Coffee.  A small custom roasting company that offers both CBD Infused Coffee and non infused coffee as well.  He is also involved with a variety of secondary income hustles form trade shows, … Continue reading →

Panel – Brian Norton, Belva Smith, and Josh Anderson and Tracy Castillo – Q1 – time management solutions, Q2 – Mic options for classroom, Q3 – Google Home Speech Recognition, Q4 – App for making change, Q5 – free screen capture apps, Q6 – Inspiration brainstorming software alternatives, Q7- Wildcard: I can’t do without technology […] The post ATFAQ115 – Q1 – time management solutions, Q2 – Mic options for classroom, Q3 – Google Home Speech Recognition, Q4 – App for making change, Q5 – free screen capture apps, Q6 – Inspiration brainstorming software alternatives, Q7- WIldcard: I can’t do without technology appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Today, I have Brian Norton in from Food Forest Farms to talk about his various endeavors: CBD, Coffee and a new business he is calling Trade Show Sherpa.   Direct Download Reminder, registration for the Spring Workshop goes on sale tomorrow morning at 9CT to LFTN members – make sure you can log in and that everything is working tonight! Brian set up a coupon code for LFTN to try out is CBD trial pack: Use code LFTN10 Make it a great week!

Panel – Brian Norton, Belva Smith, and Josh Anderson – Q1- free equipment for the blind or visually impaired, Q2 – handheld text-to-speech devices for classroom, Q3 – AT Conferences or learning opportunities, Q4 – favorite app and why , Q5 transcripts for Deaf or HOH , Q6 – Wildcard: Is it possible to live […] The post ATFAQ114 – Q1 – free equipment for the blind or visually impaired, Q2 – handheld text-to-speech devices for classroom, Q3 – AT Conferences or learning opportunities, Q4 – favorite app and why , Q5 transcripts for Deaf or HOH , Q6 – Wildcard: Is it possible to live completely off the grid? appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Belva Smith, and Josh Anderson – Q1- Thoughts on the C-Pen, Q2 – fall detection alerts, Q3 – noise canceling earbuds, Q4 – Smart pill boxes or dispensers , Q5 – Word prediction software for Windows and iPad , Q6- Wildcard: Donating a computer and deleting data ———— Transcription Starts Here—————————- […] The post ATFAQ113 – – Q1- Thoughts on the CPen, Q2 – fall detection alerts, Q3 – noise cancelling earbuds, Q4 – Smart pill boxes or dispensers , Q5 – Word prediction software for Windows and iPad , Q6- Wildcard: Donating a computer and deleting data appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Your weekly dose of information that keeps you up to date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist people with disabilities and special needs. Show Notes: Wade Wingler, Brian Norton and Nikol Prieto Items Mentioned on this week’s show – this IS NOT an endorsement for these products, just some […] The post ATU445 – Holiday Gift Show 2019 Part 3 appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Belva Smith, and Josh Anderson – Q1- accessible geometry apps and software, Q2 – nail clipping, Q3 – light sensitivity accommodations, Q4 – transcription apps for meetings , Q5 – calculators for limited hand function, Q6- Snap and Read apps for documents , Q6 – Wildcard: Future of Accessible software with […] The post ATFAQ 112 – Q1- accessible geometry apps and software, Q2 – nail clipping, Q3 – light sensitivity accommodations, Q4 – transciption apps for meetings , Q5 – calculators for limited hand function, Q6- Snap and Read apps for documents , Q6 – Wildcard: Future of Accessible software with Big Tech becoming more interested in built-in accessibility appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Your weekly dose of information that keeps you up to date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist people with disabilities and special needs. Show Notes: Wade Wingler, Brian Norton and Nikol Prieto Items Mentioned on this week’s show – this IS NOT an endorsement for these products, just some […] The post ATU445 – Holiday Gift Show 2019 Part 2 appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Your weekly dose of information that keeps you up to date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist people with disabilities and special needs. Show Notes: Wade Wingler, Nikol Prieto, Brian Norton   Items Mentioned on this week’s show – this IS NOT an endorsement for these products, just some […] The post ATU444 – Holiday Gift Show 2019 Part 1 appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Belva Smith, Tracy Castillo and Josh Anderson – Q1- wireless voice amplifiers, Q2 – voice-input options, Q3 – accessible point-of-sale systems, Q4 – text prediction for Chrome Browser , Q5 – video magnifier options , Q6 – Wildcard: Portable Storage Devices ————-Transcript Starts Here——————————- Tracy Castillo:I have a question. Josh Anderson:Huh? […] The post ATFAQ111 – Q1- wireless voice amplifiers, Q2 – voice-input options, Q3 – accessible point-of-sale systems, Q4 – text prediction for Chrome Browser , Q5 – video magnifier options , Q6 – Wildcard: Portable Storage Devices appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Your weekly dose of information that keeps you up to date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist people with disabilities and special needs. Show Notes: BITES Info and Group: www.eastersealstech.com/bites——————————If you have an AT question, leave us a voice mail at: 317-721-7124 or email tech@eastersealscrossroads.orgCheck out our web site: http://www.eastersealstech.comFollow […] The post ATU443 – BITES with Brian Norton appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Belva Smith, and Josh Anderson – Q1- text-to-speech programs for young people, Q2 – utensils for hand tremors, Q3 – language translation Apps, Q4 – spanish word prediction apps, Q5 – OCR apps for iOS and Android, Q7 – Wildcard: Most anticipated mainstream tech? ————————–Transcript Starts Here ——————————- SPEAKER:  I have […] The post ATFAQ 110 – Q1 – text-to-speech programs for young people, Q2 – utensils for hand tremors, Q3 – language translation Apps, Q4 – spanish word prediction apps, Q5 – OCR apps for iOS and Android, Q7 – Wildcard: Most anticipated mainstream tech? appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Brian Norton is an apprenticeship mentor at ETCO, a musician, a surfer, and all around nice guy. For more info on Brian, you can find him on instagram @finrahzel and spotify: spoti.fi/2X0HWcf Talking With Humans is hosted by Hendrikus De Vaan - hendrikusdevaan.com #talkingwithhumans

Panel – Brian Norton, Belva Smith, and Josh Anderson – Q1- favorite iOS 13 accessibility feature, Q2 – Looking for tabletop suction cup mount, Q3 – real-time Language translation, Q4 – depth perception and color identification on the job, Q5 – Talking financial and scientific calculator, Q6 – Using Zoomtext or NVDA w/ Dragon, Q7 […] The post ATFAQ 109 – Q1- favorite iOS 13 accessibility feature, Q2 – Looking for tabletop suction cup mount, Q3 – real-time Language translation, Q4 – depth perception and color identification on the job, Q5 – Talking financial and scientific calculator, Q6 – Using Zoomtext or NVDA w/ Dragon, Q7 – Wildcard: How do you handle robocalls? appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Belva Smith, and Josh Anderson – Q1- reading docs and websites on phone , Q2 – popular note taking solutions, Q3 – best braille display for macbook, Q4 – diet and medication apps for kids , Q5 – favorite affordable chomebook microphone , Q6 – applying makeup with low vision, Q7 […] The post ATFAQ 108 – Q1- reading docs and websites on phone , Q2 – popular note taking solutions, Q3 – best braille display for macbook, Q4 – diet and medication apps for kids , Q5 – favorite affordable chomebook microphone , Q6 – applying makeup with low vision, Q7 – Wildcard question: Thoughts on new apple products this fall? appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

September 18, 2019 New England Dirt Show Page ABOUT THE EPISODE MTB Ben pulls together a full Dirtbag Weekend. He opens this episode with two guests from Loon Mountain Resort, including Brian Norton, who is the Vice President of Operations, and Kevin Bell, the Vice President of Marketing. Ben’s discussions with Brian and Kevin give you some good details about the new Loon Mountain trails. This episode wraps up with a discussion with all the dirtbags. You get to be a fly on the wall with the guys. Thanks to Papa Wheelies and Industry Nine for supporting this episode! ----------- Music by Addison Chase Check out his band Dressed For The Occasion: www.dftomusic.com On Instagram @dftomusic RELATED SHOW LINKS Loon Mountain Resort – https://www.loonmtn.com/ Loon Mountain Resort Mountain Biking – https://www.loonmtn.com/mtb Follow Loon Mountain on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/loonmtnresort/ Borderlands – https://www.bikeborderlands.com/ Highland Bike Park - https://www.highlandmountain.com/ NEMBA in North Conway – https://www.nemba.org/chapters/wmnemba Moat Mountain Brewery – https://www.moatmountain.com/

Panel – Brian Norton, Belva Smith, and Josh Anderson – Q1- Chrome app or extension for writing math or scientific equations, Q2 – Flip phone with speech output , Q3 – FM to Bluetooth, Q4 – hearing a soft voice over background noise, Q5 – App/Device Showdown – head worn video magnifiers, Q6 – contrast […] The post ATFAQ107 – Q1- Chrome app or extension for writing math or scientific equations, Q2 – Flip phone with speech output , Q3 – FM to Bluetooth, Q4 – hearing a soft voice over background noise, Q5 – App/Device Showdown – head worn video magnifiers, Q6 – contrast difficulties with Mac OS Mojave , Q7 – Wildcard question: all about podcasting – what are you listening too? appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Belva Smith, and Josh Anderson – Q1 – Does INDATA loan equipment outside of Indiana, Q2 – Connect bluetooth headset to Amazon Echo, Q3 – one handed productivitiy on keyboard, Q4 – hearing accommodation, Q5 – GBoard Morse Code input for communication app ——————— Transcript starts here —————————— SPEAKER:  I have […] The post ATFAQ106 – Q1 – Does INDATA loan equipment outside of Indiana, Q2 – Connect bluetooth headset to Amazon Echo, Q3 – one handed productivitiy on keyboard, Q4 – hearing accommodation, Q5 – GBoard Morse Code input for communication app appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Belva Smith, and Josh Anderson – Q1 – Greek text-to-speech, Q2 – Dragon password issues, Q3 – Apps for persons with Brain Injury, Q4 – CART Services and other accommodations for persons who are Hard of Hearing, Q5 – Transcription options services in a pinch ————————– Transcript starts here ——————————– (Intro.) […] The post ATFAQ105 – Q1 – Greek text-to-speech, Q2 – Dragon password issues, Q3 – Apps for persons with Brain Injury, Q4 – CART Services and other accommodations for persons who are Hard of Hearing, Q5 – Transcription options services in a pinch appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Belva Smith, and Josh Anderson – Q1- inside navigation for visually impaired , Q2 – amplified phones, Q3 – zero-force keyboards, Q4 – converting math worksheets for screenreader access, Q5 – assistance getting into house, Q6 – Switching from Jaws to NVDA, Q7 – Wildcard question: balancing medical and developmental concerns […] The post ATFAQ103 – Q1- inside navigation for visually impaired , Q2 – amplified phones, Q3 – zero-force keyboards, Q4 – converting math worksheets for screenreader access, Q5 – assistance getting into house, Q6 – Switching from Jaws to NVDA, Q7 – Wildcard question: balancing medical and developmental concerns when using assistive tech appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Belva Smith, and Josh Anderson – Q1- tactile maps for visually impaired, Q2 – live streaming for blind and visually impaired , Q3 – Livescribe pen feedback, Q4 – Co:Writer alternatives, Q5 – Showdown: Braille Notetaker vs. Laptop w/ screenreader, Q7 Wildcard question: thoughts on bigger tech companies developing their own […] The post ATFAQ102 – Q1- tactile maps for visually impaired, Q2 – livestreaming for blind and visually impaired , Q3 – Livescribe pen feedback, Q4 – Co:Writer alternatives, Q5 – Showdown: Braille Notetaker vs. Laptop w/ screenreader, Q7 Wildcard question: thoughts on bigger tech companies developing their own built-in accessibility. appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Belva Smith, and Josh Anderson – Q1- Taking classroom attendance with a visual impairment , Q2 – Live captions, Q3 – Visual voicemails, Q4 – Remote signaling devices Q5 – Wildcard question: digital versus analog note taking and planning. —————— Transcript Starts Here —————— BRIAN NORTON:  Welcome to ATFAQ, Assistive Technology […] The post ATFAQ101 – Q1- Taking classroom attendance with a visual impairment , Q2 – Live captions, Q3 – Visual voicemails, Q4 – Remote signaling devices Q5 – Wildcard question: digital versus analog notetaking and planning appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Belva Smith, Josh Anderson, and Wade Wingler – Q1 Alerts for visitor gate, Q2 Earphones for individuals with vision and hearing limitations, Q3 Accessible music technology, Q4 Buzz clip or Sunu band, Q5 Resource for cross referencing AT terminology, Q6 Free assistive software ————————————— Transcript Starts Here —————————————— BRIAN NORTON:  Welcome […] The post ATFAQ100 – Q1 Alerts for visitor gate, Q2 Earphones for individuals with vision and hearing limitations, Q3 Accessible music technology, Q4 Buzz clip or Sunu band, Q5 Resource for cross referencing AT terminology Q6 Wildcard: free assistive software appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Belva Smith, and Josh Anderson – Q1- Kiosk Accessibility, Q2 – Navigating Public Restrooms, Q3 – Voice-activated alerting, Q4 – Orcam and computer text, Q5 – Showdown: Google Hub or Amazon Echo, Q7 – Wildcard: What type of old equipment do you have laying around? The post ATFAQ099 – Q1- Kiosk Accessibility, Q2 – Navigating Public Restrooms, Q3 – Voice-activated alerting, Q4 – Orcam and computer text, Q5 – Showdown: Google Hub or Amazon Echo, Q7 – Wildcard: What type of old equipment do you have laying around? appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, **Belva Smith, and Josh Anderson – Q1- texting from a computer , Q2 – transition questions from high school to higher ed , Q3 – App Showdown: iPad versus Chromebook, Q4 – discreet microphone for use in classroom setting, Q5 – Accessibility features in O365, Q7 Wildcard question: What type of […] The post ATFAQ098 – Q1- texting from a computer , Q2 – transition questions from high school to higher ed , Q3 – App Showdown: iPad versus Chromebook, Q4 – discreet microphone for use in classroom setting, Q5 – Accessibility features in O365, Q7 Wildcard question: What type of tech would you purchase if you had a $1000 dollars to spend. appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Belva Smith, and Josh Anderson – Q1- Public workstations,   Q2 – best password managers  , Q3 – voice input options , Q4 – portable handheld magnifiers , Q5 – App Showdown: Accessible support for Android, Windows, Apple , Q6 – Abbreviation Expansion software, Q7 *Wildcard question: What do you use for personal […] The post ATFAQ097 – Q1- Public workstations, Q2 – best password managers , Q3 – voice input options , Q4 – portable handheld magnifiers , Q5 – App Showdown: Accessible support for Android, Windows, Apple , Q6 – Abbreviation Expansion software, Q7 *Wildcard question: What do you use for personal reminder systems? appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Belva Smith, and Josh Anderson – Q1- Fall Detection and Alerts for bathroom , Q2 – Discrete notification system for classroom , Q3 – Interactive Math and Graphing software, Q4 – Aegir Smartpen, Q5 – Text-to-speech for state assessment tests , Q6 – App Showdown – TalkBack and VoiceOver , Q7 […] The post ATFAQ095 – Q1- Fall Detection and Alerts for bathroom , Q2 – Discrete notification system for classroom , Q3 – Interactive Math and Graphing software, Q4 – Aegir Smartpen, Q5 – Text-to-speech for state assessment tests , Q6 – App Showdown – TalkBack and VoiceOver , Q7 *Wildcard question: Are passwords a thing of the past? appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Belva Smith, and Wade Wingler – Q1- Using computer microphone for dictation and voice amplification, Q2 – Generic Bluetooth adapters for computer, Q3 – App for labeling emotions, Q4 – GPS device for person who is blind, Q5 – Where to buy keygaurds, Q6 – Who provides Environmental Control evaluations, Q7 […] The post ATFAQ094 – Q1- Using computer microphone for dictation and voice amplification, Q2 – Generic Bluetooth adapters for computer, Q3 – App for labeling emotions, Q4 – GPS device for person who is blind, Q5 – Where to buy keygaurds, Q6 – Who provides Enviromental Control evaluations, Q7 Wildcard question – Who or where do you go for information when making a significant technology purchase appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Belva Smith, and Josh Anderson – Q1- Interesting Technologies from ATIA including AMAneo iPad Mouse, SmartVision2 Phone for the visually impaired, SesameEnable hands-free access for android devices, CodeJumper programming tool for blind/visually impaired, BraiBook a wireless braille book reader, Boogaloo Smart Bed, Reveal 16 video magnifier from Humanware, BrainPort electro tactile […] The post ATFAQ093 – Q1- Interesting Technologies from ATIA including AMAneo iPad Mouse, SmartVision2 Phone for the visually impaired, SesameEnable hands-free access for android devices, CodeJumper programming tool for blind/visually impaired, BraiBook a wireless braille book reader, Boogaloo Smart Bed, Reveal 16 video magnifier from Humanware, BrainPort electro tactile aid for persons who are profoundly blind, Google Suite and O365 new accessibility features, and much more, Q2- Wildcard question – Do our kids need to learn expert QWERTY keyboarding skills appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Brian Norton is the founder of CBD Specialty Coffee.  A small custom roasting company that offers both CBD Infused Coffee and non infused coffee as well. His initial entry into the cannabis space was as a medical caregiver and doing … Continue reading →

Panel – Brian Norton, Belva Smith, and Wade Wingler – Q1- Tips and Tricks for Dragon, Q2 – noise cancelling headphones, Q3 – Google Dark Mode, Q4 – App Showdown – Zoomtext vs. Windows Magnifier (Win 10),  Q5 – Computer access with vision and mobility disability, Q6 – identifying one’s emotions, Q7 – Wildcard question: thoughts […] The post ATFAQ092 – Q1- Tips and Tricks for Dragon, Q2 – noise cancelling headphones, Q3 – Google Dark Mode, Q4 – App Showdown – Zoomtext vs. Windows Magnifier (Win 10), Q5 – Computer access with vision and mobility disability, Q6 – idenfying one’s emotions, Q7 – Wildcard question: thoughts on the trend to replace people with tech in places of business appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Belva Smith, and Wade Wingler – Q1- Using Google Home to answer phone, Q2 – Talking scales, Q3 – smart switch for muting TV and activating Dragon, Q4 – Accessible Event planning what should I consider, Q5 – Moving from Office 2016 to O365 where did all my controls go, Q6 […] The post ATFAQ090 – Q1- Using Google Home to answer phone, Q2 – Talking scales, Q3 – smart switch for muting TV and activating Dragon, Q4 – Accessible Event planning what should I consider, Q5 – Moving from Office 2016 to O365 where did all my controls go, Q6 – App Showdown – Kurzweil 300 and ClaroPDF app, Q7 – Wildcard question: What would type of tech would you buy if you were given $10k this holiday season. appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Belva Smith, and Wade Wingler – Q1- Smart Locks Q2- Noise Canceling Headphones Q3- Indestructible iPad Cases Q4- BeMyEyes vs. Aira Q5- Accessing PDF’s using Jaws Q6- Desktop Video Magnifier features Q7- Wildcard Question: Do you buy refurbished or used technology?   ———————– Transcript Starts Here ——————————– WADE WINGLER:  Welcome to […] The post ATFAQ089 – Q1- Smart Locks Q2- Noise Canceling Headphones Q3- Indestructible iPad Cases Q4- BeMyEyes vs. Aira Q5- Accessing PDF’s using Jaws Q6- Desktop Video Magnifier features Q7- Wildcard Question: Do you buy refurbished or used technology? appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Belva Smith, and Wade Wingler – Q1- Unwanted phone calls Q2- Visual voicemail for Android Q3- HIPPA-compliant Text Messages Q4- Wireless Button for Triggering Amazon Echo Q5- App Showdown: Dragon vs. Windows Speech Recognition Q7- Wildcard question: Where do you put all the stuff you capture (docs, emails, notes, todo’s, etc. […] The post ATFAQ088- Q1- Unwanted phone calls Q2- Visual voicemail for Android Q3- HIPPA-compliant Text Messages Q4- Wireless Button for Triggering Amazon Echo Q5- App Showdown: Dragon vs. Windows Speech Recognition Q7- Wildcard question: Where do you put all the stuff you capture (docs, emails, notes, todo’s, etc.) appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Josh Anderson, Belva Smith, Wade Wingler, Laaree Drawantz, Chis and Eric. – Q1- Food delivery options Q2- Reading music w/ Low Vision Q3- Connecting Focus40 Braille Display Q4- Live Transcription Q5- iOS mouse access Q6- Headpointer for Mac OS Q7- Wildcard question: What tech is on your holiday wish list?   […] The post ATFAQ087 – Q1- Food delivery options Q2- Reading music w/ Low Vision Q3- Connecting Focus40 Braille Display Q4- Live Transcription Q5- iOS mouse access Q6- Headpointer for Mac OS Q7- Wildcard question: What tech is on your holiday wish list? appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Josh Anderson, Belva Smith, and Wade Wingler – Q1- Closed captioning in the classroom Q2- Fixing a Perkins Brailler Q3- Jaws vs. NVDA showdown Q4- Battery Interrupters – where do I find the copper discs  Q5- Adaptive Eating Utensils  Q6- Text-to-speech app for person who is visually impaired Q7- Wildcard question: What […] The post ATFAQ086 – Q1- Closed captioning in the classroom Q2- Fixing a Perkins Brailler Q3- Jaws vs. NVDA showdown Q4- Battery Interrupters – where do I find the copper discs Q5- Adaptive Eating Utensils Q6- Text-to-speech app for person who is visually impaired Q7- Wildcard question: What type of tech do you bring on vacation with you and why? appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Josh Anderson, Belva Smith, and Wade Wingler – Q1- Wheelchair backpack zipper pulls? Q2- Transcription pedals? Q3- App showdown Notability vs. AudioNote Q4- Spotify Accessibility? Q5- Sending Livescribe Notes to Google Drive or Evernote? Q6- Using phone for emergency alert button? Q7- Wildcard question: Do you still have a desktop computer […] The post ATFAQ085 – Q1- Wheelchair backpack zipper pulls? Q2- Transcription pedals? Q3- App showdown Notability vs. AudioNote Q4- Spotify Accessibility? Q5- Sending Livescribe Notes to Google Drive or Evernote? Q6- Using phone for emergency alert button? Q7- Wildcard question: Do you still have a desktop computer at home? appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Josh Anderson, Belva Smith, and Wade Wingler – Q1- Accessibility in Canvas Q2- Deaf/HOH communication Q3- Notetaking options for Blind and Visually Impaired – Q4- Classroom tools for persons with limited mobility Q5- Wildcard question: What are you doing with all your old pictures? —- Transcript starts here —- WADE WINGLER:  […] The post ATFAQ084 – Q1- Accessibility in Canvas Q2- Deaf/HOH communication Q3- Notetaking options for Blind and Visually Impaired – Q4- Classroom tools for persons with limited mobility Q5- Wildcard question: What are you doing with all your old pictures? appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Josh Anderson, Belva Smith, and Wade Wingler – Q1- Scanning pens Q2- Real-time GPS trackers Q3- Head worn Video Magnification Devices – Q4- Intellikeys alternatives Q5- Wildcard question: What would you have done differently when you were 15yrs old based on where you are now professionally   Transcript starts here… WADE […] The post ATFAQ083 – Q1- Scanning pens Q2- Real-time GPS trackers Q3- Head worn Video Magnification Devices – Q4- Intellikeys alternatives Q5- Wildcard question: appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Josh Anderson, Belva Smith, and Wade Wingler – Q1Hiding default apps in iOS 11 Q2 Windows tablet mode Q3 Braille not working with Windows Narrator Q4 simple apps to help with laying out math equations Q5 low vision, limited dexterity talking watch Q6 chair that allow person to rock without tipping […] The post ATFAQ082 – Q1 Hiding default apps in iOS 11 Q2 Windows tablet mode Q3 Braille not working with Windows Narrator Q4 simple apps to help with laying out math equations Q5 low vision, limited dexterity talking watch Q6 chair that allow person to rock without tipping Q7 Side-by-side Seeing AI and Envision AI apps Q8. Wildcard question: food and technology appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Josh Anderson, Belva Smith, and Wade Wingler – Q1 iPad with garbled speech Q2 Parental controls on iPad Q3 Hearing solutions for school Q4 Computer restore solutions Q5 Chrome extensions for Math Q6 App for words into American Sign Language (ASL) Q7 Is coding really necessary for kids The post ATFAQ081 – Q1 iPad with garbled speech Q2 Parental controls on iPad Q3 Hearing solutions for school Q4 Computer restore solutions Q5 Chrome extensions for Math Q6 App for words into American Sign Language (ASL) Q7 Is coding really necessary for kids appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Josh Anderson, Belva Smith, and Wade Wingler – Q1- 18 cell refreshable braille display Q2- College Notetaking devices Q3- College Disability Offices – Q4- Live Listen on AirPods iOS12 Q5- Jaws touchscreen support Q6- Music Therapy apps Q7- Wildcard question: Google bundled apps on Android. https://www.freedomscientific.com/Content/Documents/Other/JAWSTouchSupportOverview.htm Music Therapists Sharing Favourite Apps […] The post ATFAQ080 – Q1- 18 cell refreshable braille display Q2- College Notetaking devices Q3- College Disability Offices – Q4- Live Listen on AirPods iOS12 Q5- Jaws touchscreen support Q6- Music Therapy apps Q7- Wildcard question: Google bundled apps on Android appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

ATFAQ079-06-26-18 releases 07-09-18 BEST OF EPISODE – Panel – Brian Norton, Josh Anderson, Belva Smith, and Wade Wingler – Q1 Braille displays for iOS Q2 Amplification for meetings Q3 What to do with old AT Q4 Converting text to audio Q5 GPS tracking of students Q6 Differences between Amazon Echo, Google Home, and Apple Home […] The post ATFAQ079 – BEST OF – Q1 Braille displays for iOS Q2 Amplification for meetings Q3 What to do with old AT Q4 Converting text to audio Q5 GPS tracking of students Q6 Differences between Amazon Echo, Google Home, and Apple Home Pod Q7 Modifications for food prep Q8 AT for math appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

ATFAQ078 – Panel – Brian Norton, Josh Anderson, Belva Smith, and Wade Wingler – Q1 Zero force keyboards for neuropathy Q2 App to demonstrate making change Q3 Pulling up pants with one hand Q4 Buzz clip or Sunu band Q5 Microsoft’s Xbox Adaptive controller Q6 If everything is now wireless, why are there so many […] The post ATFAQ078 – Q1 Zero force keyboards for neuropathy Q2 App to demonstrate making change Q3 Pulling up pants with one hand Q4 Buzz clip or Sunu band Q5 Microsoft’s Xbox Adaptive controller Q6 If everything is now wireless, why are there so many wires and connectors in my backpack appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Josh Anderson, Belva Smith (she’s back!), and Wade Wingler  | Q1 Apps for K-8 students with learning difficulties Q2 Apps for emotional regulation Q3 Sturdy reachers and grabbers Q4 zero-force keyboards Q5 accessible game controllers Q6 Is an iPhone worth $900? ——-transcript follows —— WADE WINGLER:  Welcome to ATFAQ, Assistive Technology […] The post ATFAQ077 – Q1 Apps for K-8 students with learning difficulties Q2 Apps for emotional regulation Q3 Sturdy reachers and grabbers Q4 zero-force keyboards Q5 accessible game controllers Q6 Is an iPhone worth $900? appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Josh Anderson, and Wade Wingler (We miss you, Belva!) | Q1 Max Zoom with Magnification Q2 AT Act Services Q3 Low vision scanning Q4 Website and Document Accessibility Q5 Text-to-speech options on windows computer Q6 Ring doorbells ——-transcript follows —— WADE WINGLER:  Welcome to ATFAQ, Assistive Technology Frequently Asked Questions with […] The post ATFAQ076 – Q1 Max Zoom with Magnification Q2 AT Act Services Q3 Low vision scanning Q4 Website and Document Accessibility Q5 Text-to-speech options on windows computer Q6 Ring doorbells appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Brian Norton joins the show to talk about what drives him, how he has had the entrepreneur 'bug' since college, going again with start-up number 2....and his love of Lego!

Panel – Brian Norton, Josh Anderson, and Wade Wingler (We miss you, Belva!) | Q1Encrypted digital recorders and Dragon Q2 Portable, counter-height stools Q3 Custom commands in Dragon Q4 Accessible online MBA programs Q5 Aira glasses Q6 Can’t buy a road map anymore ——-transcript follows —— WADE WINGLER:  Welcome to ATFAQ, Assistive Technology Frequently Asked […] The post ATFAQ075 – Q1Encrypted digital recorders and Dragon Q2 Portable, counter-height stools Q3 Custom commands in Dragon Q4 Accessible online MBA programs Q5 Aira glasses Q6 Can’t buy a road map anymore appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Josh Anderson, and Wade Wingler (We miss you, Belva!) | Q1 Mac accessibility keystrokes Q2 USBc adapters Q3 Picture-based timers Q4 Listen to Pocket articles on Amazon Echo Q5 Talking multi-meter Q6 High tech vs mid tech vs low tech Q7 Do we even need a mouse anymore The post ATFAQ074 – Q1 Mac accessibility keystrokes Q2 USBc adapters Q3 Picture-based timers Q4 Listen to Pocket articles on Amazon Echo Q5 Talking multi-meter Q6 High tech vs mid tech vs low tech Q7 Do we even need a mouse anymore appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Craig Burns, Josh Anderson, and Wade Wingler | Q1 Accessible project management systems Q2 DISH network & audio description Q3 VoiceOver training for Mac Keynote and Numbers Q4 App for reading playing cards Q5 Foot switch to read text Q6 AT certifications Q7 Adapters, cables, and cords, oh my WADE WINGLER:  […] The post ATFAQ073 – Q1 Accessible project management systems Q2 DISH network & audio description Q3 VoiceOver training for Mac Keynote and Numbers Q4 App for reading playing cards Q5 Foot switch to read text Q6 AT certifications Q7 Adapters, cables, and cords, oh my appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Panel – Brian Norton, Belva Smith, Josh Anderson, and Wade Wingler Q1 Exporting from Audionote Q2 JAWS commands list Q3 JAWS not speaking results in calculator Q4 JAWS screen shade Q5 GPS tracking for students Q6 Amazon Echo vs Google Home vs Apple Home Pod Q7 Chrome OS and Braille Q8 Digital Detoxing ——-transcript follows […] The post ATFAQ072 – Q1 Exporting from Audionote Q2 JAWS commands list Q3 JAWS not speaking results in calculator Q4 JAWS screen shade Q5 GPS tracking for students Q6 Amazon Echo vs Google Home vs Apple Home Pod Q7 Chrome OS and Braille Q8 Digital Detoxing appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Today I am joined by Brian Norton of Food Forest Farms as he talks about his trials and tribulations along the road toward starting a micro roasting business, breaking out of corporate America, and more! References: Food Forest Farms Brian's Kickstarter

Brian Norton

Brian Norton

Brian Norton

May 4, 2015 - Brian Norton

Episode 17 Coffee with Brian featuring Brian NortonIn today's episode I chat with Brian Norton from Food Forrest Farms and Cannabinoid Natural Foods. Brian is all things Living Outside The System and this is sure to be a great conversation. You can find Brian at: FOOD FOREST FARMS https://www.foodforestfarms.com/index.html COFFEE INFORMATION https://www.foodforestfarms.com/coffee-info.html COFFEE CLUB https://www.foodforestfarms.com/store/p54/Monthly_Coffee_Club_-_2%23_Whole_Bean_Coffee_-_Ships_on_the_15th.html CANNABINOID NATURAL FOODS https://www.foodforestfarms.com/cannabinoid-natural-foods.html CANNABINOID CLUB https://www.foodforestfarms.com/store/p107/Infused_Monthly_Club_Subscription_-_%2445_Min_for_Club_Pricing_-_Ships_on_the_15th.html TheSquatchFEST.com https://www.foodforestfarms.com/thesquatchfest.html CAMP SUNEEKEE RENTALS https://www.foodforestfarms.com/camp-suneekee.html AIR BNB RENTAL - City Farm https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/33254319?source_impression_id=p3_1642463798_Z27JZ4Ul1bSUql1a AIR BNB EXPERIENCE - Brian Spills the Beans https://www.airbnb.com/experiences/812491 Be sure to like and subscribe Help Support US and the things that we do, Cryptocurrency donations accepted here: https://cryptocurrencycheckout.com/donate/9jL8gA3 Find Us on Social Media: The LOTS Project Links: https://www.thelotsproject.com https://t.me/thelotsproject (channel) https://t.me/lotschat (chat) https://flote.app/user/TheLOTSProject https://mewe.com/p/thelotsproject https://www.instagram.com/lots_project/ https://www.facebook.com/LOTSProject/ https://odysee.com/@TheLOTSProjectSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-lots-project/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands