Podcast appearances and mentions of chris diamond

We revisit some beloved children's television series from the seventies and eighties this week as Chris Diamond returns to talk about those occasions when Spike Milligan would pop up as a special guest in shows such as Super Gran, The Sooty Show, Pob's Programme, Jackanory, The Muppet Show, Number 73, Tiswas and The Ratties (which Spike narrated). Wiping a nostalgia-fuelled tear from his eye, Chris regrets the lack of original children's programming which has cut-through these days and warmly reminisces about other shows from the period such as The Wombles, The Smurfs and The Trap Door (with Willie Rushton). There's also time for a game of 'Which Major Celebrity Of The Eighties Didn't Guest Star In Super Gran?' and an attempt by Chris to remember the lyrics to that show's infectiously catchy theme tune. With huge thanks to the exceptional Roger Langridge for this episode's artwork!

Send us a textA fading sun over Robert Clay Vineyards set the stage for Texas Wine and True Crime's season finale—an intimate gathering where hosts Brandy and Chris Diamond peeled back layers of Mason's hidden history through unsolved murders spanning more than a century.Standing at a crossroads in their podcast journey, the Diamonds announced their leap into video content after four years of audio-only episodes. "Our faces have been somewhat obscured for the past four and a half years," Chris explained, signaling an evolution for their 162-episode-strong show that pairs Texas wines with true crime narratives.The evening's exploration began with Jimmy Schuessler's 2001 murder—a case approaching its 24th anniversary without resolution. Investigators found Schuessler had bled to death on his couch after suffering a blow to the head outside his remote home. Blood trails revealed his tragic final moments: the struggle at his truck, his attempt to clean himself in the bathroom, and his eventual collapse in the living room. The location of his house—difficult to find unless you knew where it was—suggests his killer wasn't a random drifter but someone from his business dealings or personal life.Traveling further back, the hosts unraveled the heartbreaking case of 17-year-old Adele Kaufman, murdered in 1892 while walking home from school. Found by her father on a path he had specially cleared for her safety, Adele's brutal killing left few clues beyond a bloodied stone and evidence of a horse tied nearby for hours. The killer had washed bloody hands in a stream before vanishing into history. "Every unsolved case gives us theories, but little closure," Brandy reflected as audience members contributed local knowledge that textbooks and archives could never capture.What makes these stories resonate isn't just the mystery, but their connection to place—how they echo through generations in communities where everyone knows your name but some secrets remain buried. Follow Texas Wine and True Crime as they expand their storytelling through video while continuing to give voice to victims whose stories deserve to be remembered, glass of Texas wine in hand.www.texaswineandtruecrime.com

This week a slight departure as Chris Diamond returns to take a leisurely meander through the world of British comedy, randomly choosing from a selection of topics (such as Who Was The Fifth Goon?) and pondering upon the genius (or otherwise) of such performers as Kenneth Williams, Michael Bentine, Bob Monkhouse, Arthur English, Hinge & Bracket, Bernard Manning and Spike Milligan, plus shows such as 15 Stories High, The Good Life, One Foot In The Grave, Blackadder, Nearest & Dearest, French & Saunders and Rising Damp.

In early March 1958 the elderly actor A.E. Matthews staged a protest outside his cottage in Bushey Heath – he sat on a chair over a hole the council had dug with the intention of erecting a lamp post there. A minor squabble which quickly caught the ear of the media, Matthews' stand against his local council became a cause célèbre and he was interviewed on television. Spike Milligan liked the cut of his jib and within a week the Goons were recording The Evils of Bushey Spon, all about the erection of a lamp-post. Matthews himself makes a guest appearance in the closing minutes and everything perfectly falls apart.   It was such a slight story on the face of it, only attracting interest due to an octogenarian celebrity being involved, and would have been very quickly completely forgotten had it not been for the Goons - as such, it remains a tiny ‘and finally'-type news story immortalised for the ages.   Joining Tyler to talk about it is returning guest Chris Diamond, who also takes the opportunity to pay tribute to the late great Donald Sutherland.

Join us on Home Design Chat with Nancy as we delve into an intriguing aspect of modern living: the world of recreational vehicles (RVs). Did you know that approximately 1 million Americans have embraced RV life as their full-time residence? Moreover, an astonishing 40 million Americans regularly embark on RV adventures, with over 25 million hitting the road each year. Surprisingly, 38% of RV owners are Millennials, showcasing a growing trend in this demographic. With RV ownership becoming increasingly prevalent, I wanted to explore this dynamic lifestyle. I am happy to welcome back Chris Diamond as our special guest. Chris has been by guest several times, chatting about how to avoid scams and explaining home automation, but Chris also possesses a wealth of knowledge and experience in RV vacations. Whether you're considering purchasing a new or used RV, or simply seeking valuable insights and tips from a seasoned RV enthusiast like Chris, Home Design Chat with Nancy is your go-to destination. Tune in as we uncover the intricacies of RV living and gain valuable insights to enhance your RV experience. This podcast sponsored by ⁠⁠Monogram Appliances⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Studio 41⁠⁠ email comments & questions to Nancy@NancyHugo.com --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/home-design-chat-w-nancy/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/home-design-chat-w-nancy/support

Several years ago I had the horrific misfortune of being scammed.  I wrote about this experience and published it to all of my social media platforms in addition to sending it out to everyone I knew. I didn't want anyone to go through what I did.  Many people has experienced this same scam all over the country and have been interviewed on news programs and for news articles. I have been asked to talk about it in an interview but chose not to relive it. As I said on the podcast, if you want to know more about how I was scammed, email me at Nancy@nancyhugo.com and I will send you a copy of my story. So why am I doing a podcast about the scams of 2024 on Home Design Chat with Nancy? Of course, it has nothing to do with design, but I feel it is so important to be aware of the scams that unsuspecting people get caught up in. It could happen to anyone. My guest, Chris Diamond, is my web specialist and has helped be with some "mini" scams that I fell into when I was not careful. We will talk about 11 different scams that have caused victims to lose money. Please listen to this podcast and share it with everyone you know! This podcast sponsored by ⁠⁠Monogram Appliances⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Studio 41⁠⁠ email comments & questions to Nancy@NancyHugo.com --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/home-design-chat-w-nancy/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/home-design-chat-w-nancy/support

As it's Christmas this week we wanted to shake things up and try something a little different... so we decided to talk about a British comedy film which doesn't feature a Goon! A change is as good as a rest and anyway, the film is a cracker. In 1986 John Cleese starred in a Michael Frayn-scripted comic farce called Clockwise, in which he plays headmaster Brian Stimpson who needs to get to far-flung Norwich in order to deliver a speech. Having missed the train, Stimpson enlists the help of one of his pupils to drive him and what follows is a series of hilarious mishaps and misunderstandings with countless laws being broken along the way. It was the film that inspired Cleese to embark upon A Fish Called Wanda and is one of the greatest - if sometimes overlooked - British comedy films of the eighties. Chris Diamond of TV Cream returns for a fourth time and finally gets the key to the executive washroom. Having not seen the film since it was released he had a lot to say and props are given to the supporting cast including Stephen Moore, Joan Hickson, Tony Haygarth and Penelope Wilton. As for Stimpson: is he, as Tyler suggests, a 'less Tory' Basil Fawlty? This and many more questions are asked, and some of them are even answered!

This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on Dec. 11. It dropped for free subscribers on Dec. 18. 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:WhoShaun Sutner, snowsports columnist for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and Telegram.comRecorded onNovember 20, 2023About Shaun SutnerShaun is a skier, a writer, and a journalist based in Worcester, Massachusetts. For the past 19 years, he's written a snowsports column from Thanksgiving to April. For the past three years, he's joined me on The Storm Skiing Podcast to discuss that column, but also to talk all things New England skiing (and beyond). You should follow Shaun on social media to stay locked into his work:Why I interviewed himLast month, I clicked open a SNOWBOARDER email newsletter and found this headline slotted under “trending news”:Yikes, I thought. Not again. I clicked through to the story. In full:Tensions simmered as disgruntled Stevens Pass skiers, clutching their "Epic Passes," rallied against Vail Resorts' alleged mismanagement. The discontent echoed through an impassioned petition, articulating a litany of grievances: excessive lift lines, scant open terrain, inadequate staffing, and woeful parking, painting a dismal portrait of a beloved winter haven.Fueled by a sense of betrayal, the signatories lamented a dearth of ski-ready slopes despite ample snowfall, bemoaning Vail Resorts' purported disregard for both patrons and employees. Their frustration soared at the stark contrast to neighboring ski areas, thriving under similar conditions.The petition's fervor escalated, challenging the ethics of selling passes without delivering promised services, highlighting derisory wages juxtaposed against corporate profiteering. The collective call-to-action demanded reparation, invoking consumer protection laws and even prodding the involvement of the Attorney General and the U.S. Forest Service.Yet, amidst their resolve, a poignant melancholy pervaded—the desire to relish the slopes overshadowed by a battle for justice. The signatories yearned for equitable winter joys, dreaming of swift resolutions and an end to the clash with corporate giants, vowing to safeguard the legacy of snow sports for generations to come.As the petition gathered momentum, a snowstorm of change loomed on the horizon, promising either reconciliation or a paradigm shift in the realm of winter recreation.The “impassioned petition” in question is dated Dec. 28, 2021. In the nearly two intervening years, Vail Resorts has fired Stevens Pass' GM, brought in a highly respected local (Tom Fortune) who had spent decades at the ski area to stabilize things (Fortune and I discussed this at length on the podcast), and installed a new, young GM (Ellen Galbraith), with deep roots in the area (I also hosted Galbraith on the podcast). Last ski season (2022-23), was a smooth one at Stevens Pass. And while Skier Mob is never truly happy with anything, the petition in question flared, faded, and went into hibernation approximately 18 months before Snowboarder got around to this story. Yes, there were issues at Stevens Pass. Vail fixed them. The end.The above-cited story is also overwritten, under-contextualized, and borderline slanderous. “Derisory wages?” Vail has since raised its minimum wage to $20 an hour. To stand there and aim a scanny-beepy thing at skiers as they approach the lift queue. Sounds like hell on earth.Perhaps I missed the joke here, and this is some sort of snowy Onion. I do hate to call out other writers. But this is a particularly lazy exhibit of the core problem with modern snowsports writing: most of it is not very good. The non-ski media will humor us with the occasional piece, but these tend to be dumbed down for a general audience. The legacy ski media as a functioning editorial entity no longer exists. There are just a few holdouts, at newspapers across the country, telling the local story of skiing as best they can.And in New England, one of the best doing his best to produce respectable snowsports writing is Shaun Sutner.What we talked aboutNew England resort-hopping; how to set and meet a season ski-days goal; Brobots hate safety bars; the demise and resurgence of Black Mountain, New Hampshire; why Magic Mountain works; what it means that Ski Ward was the first ski area in America to open for the 2023-24 ski season; the Uphill New England pass; why Vail and Alterra still offer free uphill access at all their New England ski areas; how to not be an uphill A-hole; the No Boundaries Pass; which passes New England's remaining big independent ski areas could join; the proposed Stowe-Smuggs gondola connection; when development benefits the environment; could Vail buy Smuggs?; the Little Cottonwood Canyon gondola; finally replacing the Attitash triple; Vail's New England lift-building surge; Boyne goes bonkers in New England; the new Barker lift at Sunday River; the West Mountain expansion at Sugarloaf; the South Peak expansion at Loon; New England's chairlift renaissance; Black Quad at Magic; a Cannon tram upgrade; Berkshire East's first high-speed lift; Wachusett lift upgrades; and Quebec's secret snow pocket.Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewSutner and I have this conversation every Thanksgiving week, which is when his column launches. I think I need to start scheduling it earlier, because I haven't been able to turn this around so fast the past two seasons. Here are excerpts and links to his first few columns of the 2023-24 ski season:Nov. 23Snow sports: Ski resort lift upgrades should boost industry in New EnglandThe most despised lift in New England ski country is no more.The ponderously slow, sometimes treacherous summit triple chair at Attitash that has long been a staple of hardcore Massachusetts skiers and snowboarders, is gone."No one ever thought this was ever going to really happen," Brandon Swartz, general manager of the Mount Washington Valley classic ski area in Bartlett, New Hampshire, told me. "I just couldn't be more excited to help build the lift that no one ever thought was going to get built."Whether the old summit lift's swift new replacement, the high-speed detachable Mountaineer quad, will be ready for Christmas week as Colorado-based owner Vail Resorts expects, is yet to be seen as Attitash is still furiously working on it in the eighth month of the project. But it's the most welcome ski-lift replacement in our region in decades, I think, finally providing convenient access to the passel of glorious snaking steep and challenging intermediate runs from the top in half the 16-18-minute ride time of the old 1986 triple. Read more…Nov. 29'It was shocking and beautiful': Trip to Argentina, Antarctica memorable for Lunenburg's RiddleThis wasn't Riddle's first time tackling demanding backcountry terrain in forbidding terrain, nor is this the first time I've written about him, having chronicled his previous trips to Chamonix in the French Alps and Norway. Riddle is the guy who got me into alpine touring – the Alpine-Nordic hybrid that involves hiking up mountains on skis with climbing skins affixed to the bases and then removing the skins and locking down the boot heels for the descent – seven or eight years ago. He's also won the Wachusett Mountain pond skim contest three times, leading to word on the street that he's been banned from taking that coveted title ever again.But this adventure was of a bigger order of magnitude than his previous ventures into big mountains. Read more…Dec. 6New BOA ski boot hopes its unique fit will provide a leg up on competitionNo, it's not named after a boa constrictor, though it does wrap around your foot kind of like a snake.BOA stands for "boot opening adjustment" and it's the trademarked brand name of the company that has made the lace and wire and dial adjust-based closure systems since 2001 and adapted them to snowboard and race bike boots, Nordic gear, ice and in-line skates and other applications,Now BOA has brought the system to Alpine ski boots. Oversized protruding knobs and an intricate wire system go over the forefoot instead of buckles and wrap the instep and can make micro-adjustments in either direction – tighter or looser. Proponents say they just fit better, while skeptics point out they're a bit heavier and their durability still hasn't been proven on a wide scale yet for the Alpine version. Read more…His column lands every Wednesday through spring.What I got wrongAbout Magic Mountain, VermontI said that Magic was out of business for “five years.” The best info I can find (on New England Ski History), suggests that the ski area closed following the 1990-91 season, and didn't re-open until December 1997, which would put the closure at closer to six-and-a-half years.About the Indy PassI referred to Erik Mogensen as the “Indy Pass founder.” He is the pass' current owner, but Doug Fish, who has joined me on the podcast many times, founded the product.About SaddlebackI didn't hear Sutner correctly when he asked if Saddleback was “a B corporation,” which is a business that “is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on factors from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials.” I thought he'd asked if they were owned by a larger corporation, and my answer reflects that understanding (but does not answer his question), as I go into the history of Arctaris Impact Fund's purchase of Saddleback. The only ski area that has achieved B Corporation certification, as far as I know, is Taos.About words being hardI described Vail and Alterra as “big, corporate conglomerations.” Which, I'm sorry.About there being too many things in this world to keep track ofI forgot the name of Spruce Peak at Stowe when describing the ski area's connection point with Smugglers' Notch. Which is funny because I've written about it extensively over the past several months, skied there many times, and in general try to remember the important components of prominent ski areas.About my personal calendarI said that I skied at Big Sky “last year.” I meant “last season,” as I actually was there in April 2023.On time being fungibleI said that Magic's Black Quad has been sitting in the ski area's parking lot for “about four years.” This is inaccurate for a couple different reasons. First, the lift – Stratton's old Snow Bowl lift – came out in 2018 (so more than five years ago). I don't know when Magic took delivery of the lift. At any rate, installation began several years ago, so it's not accurate to say that the lift has been “sitting in the parking lot.” What I meant was that it's taken Magic a hell of a long time to get this machine live, which no one can dispute.Podcast NotesOn motorcycle helmet lawsWe briefly discuss the almost universal shift to wearing helmets while skiing in the context of motorcycle helmet laws, which are not as ubiquitous as you'd suppose. Only 18 states require all riders to wear helmets at all times. The remainder set an age limit – typically 18 or 21. Three states – Iowa, Illinois, and New Hampshire – have no helmet law at all.On non-profit ski areasErik Mogensen, owner of Entabeni Systems and Indy Pass, is leading the coalition to find a new owner for Black Mountain, New Hampshire. He's said many times that around a quarter of America's ski areas need “another ownership solution.” He expanded on this in SAM a few weeks back:I think about 25 percent of the non-corporate ski areas in North America need another ownership solution. That doesn't necessarily mean that it needs to be nonprofit. There are a lot of liabilities in having a group of volunteers or board of directors try to run a ski area from a nonprofit status. I'm definitely a capitalist, and there can be issues with nonprofits that I don't think we've solved yet in skiing.If we look at the nonprofits that have run very well, Bridger Bowl and Bogus Basin particularly, they focused around running the ski area as a for-profit business with a nonprofit backend, if you will.I've also seen a lot of ski areas struggle with trying to run the nonprofit model. So I don't necessarily believe that a nonprofit model is something that we should copy and paste. But I do believe it's a front runner that needs to be adjusted and adopted. And we do need a solution for the 25 percent. It's very hard to make some of areas commercially viable on their own.On the “unfriendly” lift attendants at Ski WardI recently gave Ski Ward some positive run, highlighting the fact that they were the first ski area to open in America in 2023. It was a cool story and they deserved the attention.However, I have a conflicted history with this place, as Sutner and I joked on the podcast. I had one of my worst ski experiences ever there, mostly because the lift attendants – at least on the day of my visit – were complete a******s. As I wrote after a visit on Feb. 1, 2022:Ski Ward, 25 miles southwest, makes Nashoba Valley look like Aspen. A single triple-chair rising 220 vertical feet. A T-bar beside that. Some beginner surface lifts lower down. Off the top three narrow trails that are steep for approximately six feet before leveling off for the run-out back to the base. It was no mystery why I was the only person over the age of 14 skiing that evening.Normally my posture at such community- and kid-oriented bumps is to trip all over myself to say every possible nice thing about its atmosphere and mission and miraculous existence in the maw of the EpKonasonics. But this place was awful. Like truly unpleasant. My first indication that I had entered a place of ingrained dysfunction was when I lifted the safety bar on the triple chair somewhere between the final tower and the exit ramp and the liftie came bursting out of his shack like he'd just caught me trying to steal his chickens. “The sign is there,” he screamed, pointing frantically at the “raise bar here” sign jutting up below the top station just shy of unload. At first I didn't realize he was talking to me and so I ignored him and this offended him to the point where he – and this actually happened – stopped the chairlift and told me to come back up the ramp so he could show me the sign. I declined the opportunity and skied off and away and for the rest of the evening I waited until I was exactly above his precious sign before raising the safety bar.All night, though, I saw this b******t. Large, aggressive, angry men screaming – screaming – at children for this or that safety-bar violation. The top liftie laid off me once he realized I was a grown man, but it was too late. Ski Ward has a profoundly broken customer-service culture, built on bullying little kids on the pretext of lift safety. Someone needs to fix this. Now.Look, I am not anti-lift bar. I put it down every time, unless I am out West and riding with some version of Studly Bro who is simply too f*****g cool for such nonsense. But that was literally my 403rd chairlift ride of the season and my 2,418th since I began tracking ski stats on my Slopes app in 2018. Never have I been lectured over the timing of my safety-bar raise. So I was surprised. But if Ski Ward really wants to run their chairlifts with the rulebook specificity of a Major League Baseball game, all they have to do is say, “Excuse me, Sir, can you please wait to get to the sign before raising your bar next time?” That would have worked just as well, and would have saved them this flame job. For a place that caters to children, they need to do much, much better.On Uphill New EnglandWe go pretty deep on the purpose and utility of the Uphill New England pass, which allows you to skin up and ski down these 13 ski areas:On the Granite Backcountry AllianceSutner also mentions the Granite Backcountry Alliance, which is a group that promotes backcountry skiing in New Hampshire and Western Maine. Here's the group's self-described mission:New Hampshire and Western Maine are blessed with a rich ski history that includes a deep heritage of backcountry skiing from Mt. Washington's Tuckerman Ravine to the many ski trails developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) of the 1930's (some of which still remain today). The celebration of the sport of skiing is embedded in the culture of the area.While backcountry skiing's resurgence has captivated a new user base, it is also now a measurable, undeniable force in the industry and is the fastest growing segment of the sport. The demand is strong but the terrain in New Hampshire and Western Maine is limited by the tree density, glade supply, and legal access to the forests and mountains.GBA resolves to improve the playing field for backcountry skiers. Creating and developing ski glades, however, is not the only objective of the group. Improving the foundation of the sport is critical to future success, such as creating partnerships and collaboration with public and private landowners, education regarding safety and ecological awareness, and creating a unified culture – one that respects the land and its owners and does not permit unauthorized cutting.We are part of a movement of human-powered activities that is the basis for an emerging outdoor economy. We believe this movement has broad implications on areas like NH's North Country and it can develop with committed folks like yourself .  It's the last frontier!  So join us by stepping up to support the cause; the ability to organize is a powerful tool to steward our own future.On the proposed Stowe-Smuggs gondola connectionI wrote a bit about the proposed gondola connection between Stowe and Smugglers' Notch earlier this year:Seated just a half mile from the top of Smuggs' mainly intermediate Sterling Mountain is the top of Stowe's Spruce Peak. Skiers had been skating between the two resorts for decades. Why not connect the two mountains – both widely considered among the best ski areas in New England – with a fast, modern lift? A sort of Alta-Snowbird – or at least a Solitude-Brighton – of the East? Two owners, one interconnected ski experience.“We have the possibility of creating what we think will be a very unique ski and riding experience by connecting these two resorts,” said Stritzler. “I don't believe in marketing this way, but all you have to do is do trail counts and acreage and elevations, and pretty soon you get to the conclusion that if you can offer Smugglers' guests the opportunity to also take advantage of what Stowe has to offer, and you can offer the two in some kind of combination through a connecting lift, well, now suddenly you're not quite so nervous about all the consolidation taking place, because you've got something to respond with.”Here's the proposed line:Smuggs later withdrew their plans amid a cool reception from state officials. Resort officials are recalibrating their strategy in backrooms, they've told me, re-analyzing the project from an economic-impact point of view. More to come on that.On the Little Cottonwood Canyon gondolaWithout question, the most contentious ski-related development in North America right now is the proposed Little Cottonwood Canyon gondola, which would essentially remove most cars from a cluttered, avalanche-prone road and move the resort base area down below the major snowline. Various protest groups, however, are acting as though this is a proposal to bulldoze the mountains and replace them private mud baths for billionaires. Personally, I think the gondola makes a hell of a lot of sense:But every time I write about it on Twitter, a not-immaterial number of perfectly sane individuals advises me to f**k off and die, so I'd say there's some emotion invested in this one.On the Attitash triple replacementSutner and I go pretty deep on Attitash swapping out its Summit Triple chair for a brand-new high-speed quad. I also discussed this extensively with Attitash GM Brandon Swartz on a recent podcast episode (starting at 6:12):On Ski Inc.We touch briefly on Ski Inc., a fantastic history of the modern ski industry by the late Chris Diamond. If you like this newsletter, Ski Inc. and its sequel, Ski Inc. 2020, are must-reads.On Wachusett's liftsWe discuss Wachusett's proposed upgrade of the Polar Express from a high-speed quad to, perhaps, a six-pack. Here's the trailmap for context:On Wachusett's blocked expansionDespite its immense popularity, Wachusett is probably stuck in its current footprint indefinitely, as Sutner and I discuss. A bit more context from New England Ski History:As the 1993-94 season progressed, Wachusett pushed forward with its expansion plans, requesting to cut two new trails, widen Balance Rock, install a second chairlift to the summit, expand the base lodge, and add 375 parking spots. The plans were met with environmental, archaeological, and water quality concerns. …In August 1995, environmentalists located a stand of 295-year-old oak trees where Wachusett had planned to cut a new expert trail. Though the Crowleys quickly offered to adjust plans to minimize impact, opposition mounted. Plans for the new trail were abandoned a few months later. …In the spring of 1998, Wachusett proposed a scaled back expansion that avoided the old growth forest and instead called for the construction of a snowboard park consisting of two trails and a lift. Around this time, environmentalists announced the discovery of bootleg ski trails on the mountain. The Sierra Club quickly called for the state to terminate Wachusett Mountain Associates' ski area lease, despite not knowing who did the cutting.So, yeah, 99 problems, Man.On two Le Massifs (de Charlevoix and de Sud)So apparently there are two Le Massifs in Quebec, which would have been handy context to have when I wrote about the larger of the two joining the Mountain Collective last year. That Le Massif – Le Massif de Charlevoix – is quite the banger, with 250 inches of average annual snowfall and a 2,526-foot vertical drop on 406 acres:Massif de Sud is still a nice little hill, with 236 inches of average annual snowfall and a 1,312-foot vertical drop, but on just 127 skiable acres:On The Powell MovementSutner mentions an upcoming column he'll write about The Powell Movement podcast. It really is a terrific show, and covers the parts of the ski industry that I ignore (so, like, most of it). Check it out.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 108/100 in 2023, and number 493 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

This week we look at the life and career of the late great Dick Emery (1915-1983), as Tyler and Chris Diamond talk to his son Nick. Dick worked with the Goons both collectively and individually: appearing in a number of Goon Shows, as a substitute for Secombe in The Case of the Mukkinese Battlehorn and briefly in the Sellers film The Wrong Arm of the Law, as well as working extensively with Michael Bentine on television. Nick talks warmly and openly about his father's career and personal life in a conversation which covers a lot of ground - from Dick's early life and wartime escapades to later fame as one of the biggest stars on British television. Topics include: Holidaying with the Milligans... Dick's relationship with Tony Hancock... the many marriages... working with Peter Cook and an intriguing 'Derek and Dick' tape.... the film Ooh You Are Awful... the origins of Lampwick... Dick's striking parallels with Peter Sellers... going AWOL during WWII... Ralph Reader's Gang Show... 'worrying Pat Coombs'... The Dick Emery Show and how he was ill-served by some of the later material... Clarence and portrayals of homosexuality in the seventies... It's A Square World... working with Wonder Woman... his appearance in the film Yellow Submarine... 'The Man Who Fixed Churchill's Son's Boiler'... the 1973 Royal Variety Show... Eric Morecambe, Clive Dunn, Harry Enfield and much much more!

This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on June 7. It dropped for free subscribers on June 10. 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 for free below:WhoMike Hussey, General Manager of Middlebury College Snowbowl, VermontRecorded onMay 15, 2023About Middlebury SnowbowlClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Middlebury CollegeLocated in: Hancock, VermontYear founded: 1936Pass affiliations: Indy Pass Allied ResortReciprocal partners: NoneClosest neighboring ski areas: Sugarbush (38 minutes), Mad River Glen (43 minutes), Pico (45 minutes), Killington (49 minutes)Base elevation: 1,720 feetSummit elevation: 2,720 feetVertical drop: 1,000 feetSkiable Acres: 100 on-trail; 600+ woods and gladesAverage annual snowfall: 200 inchesTrail count: 17 (8 advanced/expert, 4 intermediate, 5 beginner) + 11 gladesLift count: 4 (1 fixed-grip quad [to replace Sheehan double for 2023-24 ski season], 2 triples, 1 carpet – view Lift Blog's inventory of Middlebury Snowbowl's lift fleet)Why I interviewed himI've held Michigan Wolverines football season tickets for the past 15 years. The team's 12-game schedule acts as a sort of life framework for three months each fall. Where the team goes, I often go: Oklahoma in 2025, Texas in 2027, Washington in 2028. Plus Ann Arbor, all the time, for home games. I like big games, ranked opponents, rivalries. This year's home schedule is a stinker: East Carolina, UNLV, Bowling Green, Rutgers, Indiana, Purdue, Ohio State. To be a Michigan fan is to assume the boys will win those first six easily before a fistfight with the Buckeyes. In college football, big brand names get nearly all the glory nearly all the time.Skiing is a little bit like that. Ask your friend who skis three to 10 days per year where they go, and you'll likely get a list of familiars: Mammoth, Park City, Breck, Vail. In New England or New York, the list will be some mix of Stratton, Mount Snow, Okemo, Killington, Sugarbush, Hunter, Windham. All fine mountains, and all worthy of three-day Dan's discretionary skiing dollars. They will get his social media posts and elevator chats too. In skiing, as in college football, legacy and brand mean a hell of a lot.Which takes us to Middlebury Snowbowl (though you're probably wondering how). Being a thousand-vertical foot ski area in Vermont is a little like being the Rutgers football team in the Big 10. You know you're going to lose most of your games most of the time: Rutgers is 12-58 in Big 10 play since joining the conference in 2014. And no wonder: officials slotted the team in the East division, alongside blue chips Ohio State (69-6 in Big 10 play since 2014), Michigan (53-22), and Penn State (49-30). Rutgers is 1-26 against those three teams over that span (the one win was versus Michigan in 2014; yes, I was at that game; yes, it was clear that the Rutgers fans had not been there before).Vermont state highway 100 is the Big 10 East of New England skiing: Mount Snow, Okemo, Killington, Sugarbush, Mad River Glen, Stowe, and Smugglers' Notch all sit along or near this north-south route. So does Middlebury Snowbowl. Here's how they all stack up:It's all a little incongruous, this land of giants and speedbumps and not much in between. Skiers have shown little mercy for mid-sized ski areas in Vermont. Snow Valley, Plymouth Notch, and Maple Valley have all gone extinct. Ascutney, now a surface-lift bump, was once an 1,800-footer with a high-speed quad. Magic was shuttered for years before pinpointing a scrappy-rebel narrative upon which it could thrive. Saskadena Six and Quechee are both attached to larger entities who maintain the ski hills as guest and resident amenities. Even Bolton Valley missed a season in the late ‘90s during a problematic ownership transition period.Middlebury Snowbowl, of course, has survived since 1936 as a protectorate of Middlebury College, which owns the facility. But money-losing ski areas subsidized by larger entities are out of fashion. The world knows such arrangements are unnecessary; ski areas can and should be self-sustaining. See: Gunstock, Bogus Basin, Bridger Bowl, Mt. Ashland. Mike Hussey knows this, and he has a vision to make the Snowbowl a strong independent business. Oddly, the small ski area's proximity to giants may finally be a positive – as Killington and Sugarbush have driven peak-day lift ticket prices over $200, the Snowbowl has remained an affordable alternative that delivers a scaled-down but still substantial ski experience. Is this Middlebury's moment? I had to find out.What we talked aboutMiddlebury's huge increases in skier visits over the past few seasons; XC snowmaking at Rickert; miracle March; competing in a rapidly changing Vermont and why megapasses and consolidation have been good for most independent ski areas; Middlebury's parking problem; why Middlebury College owns a ski area; the coolest college graduation ceremony in skiing; Middlebury College 101; the relationship between the college and the ski area; whether the ski area does or can make money; a brief history of HKD Snowmakers; transforming Rikert from a locals' slidepath to a modern Nordic ski area; how the college's board of trustees reacted to suggestions that the school close down Rickert and Snowbowl; how Snowbowl lured students back by changing its season pass structure; the Sheehan chairlift upgrade; reflecting on the Worth Mountain lift upgrade to a triple and why Middlebury went with a quad this time; the importance of Skytrac; why Middlebury is introducing night-skiing and where that footprint will sit; why Middlebury keeps only a minimalist terrain park; navigating Act 250 approval; what's fueling Snowbowl's massive investment; potential future snowmaking and parking upgrades; Lake Pleiad; doing the math on Middlebury's massive acreage counts; glade culture; that wacky trailmap; expansion opportunities; so many season pass options; the season pass punch-card benefit; and the Indy Pass.Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewSuddenly, Middlebury is booming. Skier visits popped 20 percent this past winter, after soaring 60 percent during the 2021-22 ski season. And while the college still subsidizes ski area operations, management is reinvesting with the hopes of reaching self-sufficiency long term. This summer, Middlebury will install night-skiing and replace the Sheehan double with a brand-new Skytrac quad.What's going on? Why is a thousand-footer jammed between Killington and Sugarbush exploding? Wasn't the Epkon Godzilla supposed to leave nothing but craters and a dozen super resorts as it bulldozed its way across New England?Skiers seem to be telling us that there is room in the marketplace for a ski area that acts like ski areas did for 80 years. Before $200 lift tickets. Before Colorado HQ. Before checklist tourism. Before the social media flex. Before chairlifts could load the population of Delaware into a single carrier.At Middlebury Snowbowl, a minivan filled with the six members of the Parker family of Hancock Vermont can roll into the parking lot on a weekend morning, pay rack rate for lift tickets, and ski all day without waiting in line. They can wander and explore and not get bored. Middlebury's trail network is limited by big-mountain Vermont standards, but there's plenty there. Especially if there's snow on the ground and the Parker clan can handle some light trees. The place sprawls over hundreds of acres, deceptively large.There's a desire and a demand for places like Middlebury Snowbowl right now. For something easier and cleaner and cheaper. More atmosphere and less circus. A day on skis that's just about the skiing.What I got wrongI described Vermont's Act 250 as a state law that governs how ski areas can develop. That's partially correct but somewhat misstates the purpose and intent of the law, which applies to land use and development as a whole across the state. From Vermont's official Natural Resources Board website:Act 250 (10 V.S.A. Chapter 151) is Vermont's land use and development law, enacted in 1970 at a time when Vermont was undergoing significant development pressure. The law provides a public, quasi-judicial process for reviewing and managing the environmental, social and fiscal consequences of major subdivisions and developments in Vermont. It assures that larger developments compliment Vermont's unique landscape, economy and community needs. …The effects of Act 250 are most clear when one compares Vermont's pristine landscape with most other states.  Protecting Vermont's environmental integrity and the strength of our communities benefits everyone, forming a strong basis for both our economy and our quality of life.The Act 250 process balances environmental and community concerns; a tall order which at times can be complex. Developers, engineers and consultants best navigate the Act 250 process by planning their project, from the earliest stages, with the 10 criteria in mind.As a result of Act 250 and the planning process, project designs, landscaping plans and color schemes fit the landscape.  Act 250 has helped Vermont retain its unsurpassed scenic qualities while undergoing the substantial growth of the last 5 decades.  Act 250 is also critical because it requires development to conform to municipal and regional plans and Vermont's land use planning goals.The Act 250 criteria have protected many important natural and cultural resources — water and air quality, wildlife habitat and agricultural soils (just to name a few) — that have long been valued by Vermonters and that are an important part of the state's economy. No single law can protect all of Vermont's unique attributes — but Act 250 plays a critical role in maintaining the quality of life that Vermonters enjoy.The law, for all its benefits, is often viewed as a regulatory burden that considerably stunted the potential of Vermont's ski areas over the long term. The late Chris Diamond examined the impacts of Act 250 at length in his book, Ski Inc. 2020:In short order, the ski area operators became the bad guys, the most visible incarnation of the capitalist beast, to these newcomers [in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s]. Over time, the enmity – or, at a minimum, distrust – was formalized in a regulatory structure that made day-to-day business life incredibly difficult. Capitalism brings a certain messiness and unpredictability, something the new political majority would not tolerate. Vermont basically tried to have it both ways: a healthy economy and some of the nation's most restrictive land-use laws. Given a ski area's impact on the natural and social environment, they were disproportionately impacted. Water-quality regulations made it impossible or extraordinarily expensive to expand snowmaking operations. Other criteria under the state's landmark environmental law, Act 250, were aimed at growth issues. The permitting process gave significant influence to those representing the status quo. So it shouldn't be surprising to note that, generally, the status quo was protected. For most rural areas, that meant zero or slow growth. An unintended but inevitable result: As decades passed and people moved on, the population base began to shrink. …My view is that the current situation would be less dire if the state's ski communities were as economically vigorous as their Western counterparts. …During the ‘90s, growth in most of Vermont's ski towns ground to a halt. A notable exception was Okemo, where the Mueller family managed a significant terrain expansion, a second base area, and a related real-estate development. Although their operating competence and focus on service were largely the catalysts, they also benefited from their location in the former manufacturing-based economy of Ludlow. Here the status quo was arguably more focused on economic survival. The Muellers also proved themselves exceptionally skilled at navigating the permit process.The bigger challenge for most Vermont resorts remained water for snowmaking. Most have finally managed to navigate their way to a solution and now offer a competitive product, albeit at great cost and with significant delays. (For Mount Snow that process took over 30 years). With that, and all the other changes that are occurring within the ski realm, I do believe they face a brighter future. Vermont ski towns will continue to evolve into important economic centers. But in my view, they will not be what they might have been.Diamond was a smart guy, and ran Mount Snow and Steamboat over the course of several decades. Ski Inc. 2020 and its companion book, Ski Inc. are must-reads for anyone who enjoys this newsletter. But while I agree with much of Diamond's analysis above, I floated this notion of Act 250-as-development killer to a prominent Vermont resort operator last year. That individual waved their hand toward the base area we were sitting in and the stacks of condos rolling up the hillside. “Well, we built all this,” they said. And Vermont does offer considerably more ski-in, ski-out accommodations than, say, New York. Killington is finally moving ahead with their base village, and the state is home to the best and most-advanced lift systems in the Northeast.So something's working there. The truth, as always, is probably somewhere in between the extremes of the build-it-all and build-nothing-at-all fundamentalists.Why you should ski Middlebury SnowbowlEvery year, more megapasses move into the marketplace. But neither Vail nor Alterra has added a new ski area in the Northeast since Windham joined the Ikon Pass in 2020 (Seven Springs, which joined the Epic Pass in 2022, really serves the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest). It's fair to assume that more skiers are trying to cram into an unchanging number of ski areas each season. And while the mountains can somewhat mitigate peak-day crowds with advanced reservations, lift-ticket limitations, and higher-capacity chairlifts, skiers also have a crowd-control mechanism at their disposal: go somewhere else.Savvy Northeast skiers know how to people-dodge. Sure, go to Killington, Sugarbush, Stowe, Loon, and Cannon. They are all spectacular. But on weekends, unlatch the secret weapons on the ski-area utility belt: Plattekill, Berkshire East, Elk, Black Mountain in New Hampshire and Black Mountain of Maine. Excellent ski areas, all, lacking their competitors' size and crowds but none of their thrill and muscle.Middlebury Snowbowl belongs on this list. True, 1,000 feet of vert makes Middlebury the 16th-tallest ski area in the state of Vermont. And unlike people, the ski area can't just buy a bigger pickup truck to compensate. But 1,000 vertical feet is a good ski run. Especially when it's fed by 200 inches of average annual snowfall that doesn't get shredded by Epkonitron hordes trampling off high-speed chairlifts.At some point, each skier has to decide: will they ski the same dozen ski areas they've always skied and that everyone else they know has always skied, or will they roam a bit, taste test, see if they need that high-speed lift as much as they think you do. Or do they give that up – even if just for a day – to view the snow from a different angle?Podcast NotesOn Vermont being a sparsely populated stateDespite its outsized presence in the U.S. ski industry – the state typically ranks fourth in skier visits behind Colorado, California, and Utah – Vermont is tiny by just about any measure. It's the seventh-smallest U.S. state by size and the second-smallest by population, with around 650,000 residents (Wyoming is last with just 580,000). This surprised me, mostly because the state is so close to so many population centers (New England is home to nearly 15 million people; New York to another 20.5 million).On the U.S. ski industry's massive investmentHussey and I briefly discuss the U.S. ski industry's massive capital investment for this past season. The exact number was $812.4 million, according to the National Ski Areas Association.On that punchcardMiddlebury Snowbowl offers one of the best season pass perks of any ski area in New England: each pass includes a punch card good for four lift tickets. This solves a season passholder's greatest irritation: dragging along cheap-ass procrastinating friends who can't be bothered to buy anything in advance but also don't want to donate a lung to pay for a Saturday lift ticket. Or the friend who has an Ikon Pass and is horrified by the idea of paying for another day of skiing beyond that massive investment. The card is transferrable and has no blackouts. On the Indy Pass Allied and XC programsThe Indy Pass has done a marvelous job adapting to a complex industry. This can be a bit confusing, as Hussey outlines in the podcast – some Indy Pass holders show up to Middlebury expecting “free”* lift tickets. But the ski area is part of the Allied Resorts program, which gets skiers half off on non-holiday weekdays, and 25 percent off at other times. I analyzed the Allied program at length here.Lift tickets to Rickert Nordic Center, which Hussey also manages, are included on the Indy Pass and the drastically discounted Indy XC Pass. I discussed that pass here.*Megapass lift tickets are also characterized as being “free,” but that is incorrect: the passholder paid for the pass in advance, and is simply redeeming a product they've pre-purchased.The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing all year round. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 49/100 in 2023, and number 435 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. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

Chris Diamond returns with the second part of our chat about 1957's The Smallest Show On Earth. We talk much more about the actual film and highlight several delightful moments, such as the scene in which the three elderly staff watch an old silent movie while the kinema is closed, and projectionist Percy Quill's evident elation following a (nearly) faultless film showing. We also ask the question: should sympathetic characters get away with committing arson? Off on a tangent, Arthur Lowe's wife comes in for a drubbing (which I'm sure nobody expected) and even podcast favourite Hylda Baker crops up in conversation. It's all good fun and there's even a knotty connection question posed for listeners to answer. The Smallest Show on Earth stars Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna, Peter Sellers, Margaret Rutherford, Bernard Miles, Leslie Phillips, Francis De Wolff and Sid James.

Chris Diamond returns once again to examine one of Peter Sellers' most beloved earlier films, the 1957 Basil Dearden-directed The Smallest Show On Earth. As well as Sellers the film features winning turns from Margaret Rutherford, Bernard Miles and Francis De Wolff, with stolid support from the film's nominal stars, husband and wife Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna. Matthew & Jean Spenser inherit a crumbling old cinema - The Bijou Kinema (aka 'the fleapit') - and as well as the fixtures and fittings soon discover that they've also inherited a trio of elderly, shambling staff: Mrs Fazackalee (Rutherford), the cinema's cashier, bookkeeper and pit pianist; Mr Percy Quill (Sellers), a projectionist with a powerful thirst; and Old Tom (Miles), whose exact role is undefined but encompasses general caretaker and commissionaire duties. Meanwhile Mr Hardcastle (De Wolff), the owner of The Grand (the town's other cinema which far outclasses the Bijou in terms of size and sophistication), offers the couple a derisory sum to sell the Bijou to him so he can knock it down for a carpark. The Spensers decide to attempt to run the fleapit as a going concern, hoping this will persuade Hardcastle to up his offer. It's a wonderfully warm film with particularly delightful turns from Sellers and Rutherford and a rather surprising ending. Chris and Tyler talked so much that it's been split into two halves (part two next week) - in this first part we establish the characters, talk about the gradual decline in cinema attendance at the time, our memories of going to the pictures as kids and even spend a fair chunk talking about a different Sellers film: Heaven's Above!

This week Chris Diamond returns to discuss Ghost In The Noonday Sun, a film in which Peter Sellers in a bad wig and bad accent fannies about for ninety minutes. Goon Pod has clocked up 91 episodes - good grief - and so far we've talked about a dozen or so films either starring or featuring Peter Sellers and mostly they've been pretty good– true, The Blockhouse, Down Among The Z Men and The Great McGonagall are not universally loved (and it still surprises me the number of people who get wound up by The Magic Christian) but none of them are total stinkers. Is GITNS really THAT bad? It's certainly up there as one of the worst films Sellers was ever attached to but it's no Where Does It Hurt. The film features some great actors and performers such as Spike Milligan, James Villiers, Murray Melvin, Clive Revill and blink-and-you'll-miss-him Peter Boyle as well as Anthony Franciosa (described by Chris as being like one of those uncles you had as a kid who wasn't really your uncle) and Dave Lodge with very little to do. The script is pretty wretched, even though it was Milliganised, and had the film actually been released in cinemas at the time no doubt it would have sunk quicker than a pirate ship foundered on rocks. But of course it did result in a memorable telly advert for gaspers. More on that in the show.

"I want to kill people but... they're all dead!" Director Peter Medak had a less than shipshape experience making the 1973 'pirate romp' Ghost In The Noonday Sun, starring Peter Sellers & Spike Milligan. The film from day one was beset by difficulties, dramas and indignities and as an exercise in therapy in 2016 Medak made the feature-length documentary The Ghost Of Peter Sellers. It charts the many obstacles to making GITNS that Medak had to grapple with, and the largest obstacle was its star. Tyler and returning guest Chris Diamond watched the documentary and the 1973 film and had a lot to say so their conversation has been broken down into two halves - this week their focus is largely on The Ghost Of Peter Sellers and next week's episode covers the actual film Ghost In The Noonday Sun.

Tiny houses aren't only capturing people's attention—they're turning into a full-on movement. People from all walks of life are choosing to downsize their lives by living with less and in less space. That's our subject today. Nancy welcomes back Chris Diamond who has been interested in tiny homes as an alternative to traditional living someday. We home we answered questioned you might have about living in this doll houses: Pros of Living in a Tiny House: less water waste, less electricity consumption and people are forced to find creative ways to dispose of waste. More effort is made to reduce, reuse and recycle. Living a life like this generally makes you increasingly environmentally conscious and you find yourself trying your best to leave a smaller carbon footprint. Cons of Living in a Tiny House: Shortage of space. No extra stuff, be efficient, make do with less Insufficient for multiple members: 1 or 2 people, possibly a pet Opposite to luxury life: Tiny, affordable but not luxurious, declutter & simplify Most don't have washer/dryer Tiny House on a foundation vs wheels I mentioned a website that showed very attractive tiny homes that might change your mind if you are on the fence. Check this out: https://www.thespruce.com/tiny-house-living-rooms-5211037 If you do live in a tiny house or plan to in the future, I would love to hear from you. Send your email to Nancy@nancyhugo.com This podcast sponsored by Monogram Appliances Studio 41 email comments & questions to Nancy@NancyHugo.com --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/homedesignchat-with-nancy/support

In our first episode, hear from Jason Burks, Josh Tackett, and Chris Diamond on how they replicated pivotal scenes from well-known movies to make a safety and training video series entertaining.

Chris Diamond of TV Cream joins Tyler to talk all things Goon-related as well as a whole heap'o'other stuff. Having been aware of the Goons for as long as he can remember, Chris shares stories of discovering things like Q, The Last Goon Show Of All and The Great McGonagall (the latter of which he expounds upon at length) and there is a brief digression on the genius of Ken Campbell. Plus: Spike on chat shows and Sellers as Clouseau. Those with weak bladders are advised that as Chris and Tyler spoke for so long this is a longer than usual edition of the podcast. Chris can be found on Twitter @wheeltappers https://www.tvcream.co.uk/ @goonshowpod

The Storm Skiing Podcast is sponsored by Spot and Mountain Gazette - Listen to the podcast for discount codes on subscriptions and merch.WhoRick Schmitz, Co-Owner of Nordic Mountain, Little Switzerland, and The Rock Snowpark, WisconsinRecorded onFebruary 7, 2022Why I interviewed himBecause no one cares about small ski areas. At least that’s the conclusion you can come to if, like me, you lurk amid the If-It’s-Not-A-Redwood-It’s-Deadwood Size-Matters Bros that animate Facebook ski groups. Take, for example, the incisive observation of one Mr. Forrest Michael Culp to my announcement in the Colorado Ski and Snowboard group that Sunlight had joined the Indy Pass:“Looks boring”Does it?“I’ll have to try it just don’t like small mountains / short runs”Sunlight has a 2,000-foot vertical drop and sits on 730 acres. Its summit lift is 7,260 feet long – nearly a mile and a half. The ski area is larger than Aspen Mountain or Sugarbush. If this dude thinks Sunlight is small, then my guess is he’s driving one hell of a pickup truck.If Mr. Culp looks down on Sunlight, I wonder what his opinion would be of Rick Schmitz’s trio of Wisconsin bumps: 265-vertical-foot Nordic Mountain, 230-foot The Rock Snowpark, and 200-foot Little Switzerland?It really doesn’t matter. What interested me was why someone had built a mini-conglomerate of such ski areas, and how he had transformed them into what were by all accounts highly successful businesses.Turns out that small ski areas are cash registers on an incline. At least if you do it right. My first tip-off to this was my podcast interview last year with current Granite Peak and former Mad River, Ohio General Manager Greg Fisher. He described a frantic 12-week season of 12-hour-plus days, a Columbus-area bump mobbed by school kids, teenage parksters, and Ohio State party people, an absolute tidal wave for the brief winter. And 300-foot Mad River is hardly a special case – mountainvertical.com counts at least 42 ski areas with 300 vertical feet or fewer across the United States, and I know of several dozen more not inventoried on the site. My guess is that around 20 percent of America’s 462 active ski areas fit into this micro-hill category.Not all of them are great businesses – many of them, especially in New England, barely scratch out a dozen operating days in a good year and are run mostly by volunteers. But Schmitz’s hills are great businesses. This was not pre-ordained. When Schmitz bought Nordic Mountain in 2005 at age 22, the ski area had lost money in each of the previous five seasons. Little Switzerland had been closed for five years when he and his brothers hooked up the respirator and saved it from an alternate future as a real-estate development. And The Rock Snowpark sat mostly ignored among an entertainment megaplex outside Milwaukee for years before Schmitz stepped in as operator.Schmitz turned them all around. Adding a twist to the story, Schmitz for several years ran Blackjack, a 638-vertical-foot romper in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula that averages more than 200 inches of snow per year. He learned, he told me, that “the better ski hill is not always the better business.” He sold his stake in the UP bomber several years ago and has been focused on his Wisconsin resorts ever since.Yes, small ski areas are vital to the health of the industry, as incubators of future I-70 vacationers and Whistler cliff-jumpers who hone their aerials with endless ropetow park laps. Yes, they are vital community gathering places that transform brutal winter from endurance test to celebration. Yes, they provide a humbling reprieve for the EpKon hoppers who’ve become enamored with high-speed terrarium lifts that each come with their own raccoon or marsupial for your personal entertainment.But that’s not all they are. They’re also, with the right leader, damn good businesses. I wanted to find out how.What we talked aboutKeeping the momentum from last year’s Covid outdoor boom; how often the owner of three ski areas skis; the intensity of working the short Midwest dawn-to-dusk ski season; growing up in a middle-class ski family and how that sets the culture for Schmitz’s ski areas today; balancing affordability with rising costs; how Schmitz came to own Nordic Mountain at age 22 as a flat-broke business student; how to ignore the haters when you’re taking a risk; how someone who’s never worked at a ski area learns how to run a ski area that he’s just purchased; why snowmaking has to come before everything and why that means much more than just guns; the evolution of Nordic Mountain from a run-down, barely-break-even operation in 2005 to a successful business today; how Schmitz became part-owner and manager of burly Blackjack, Michigan; why the better ski hill is not always the better business; why Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is the bomber sweet spot of Midwest skiing; how Schmitz bought and re-opened Little Switzerland, his childhood ski hill; “you don’t hire someone to do something you can do yourself”; why Schmitz ultimately sold Blackjack and focused his efforts on his smaller Wisconsin ski areas; why small ski areas fail; how Little Switzerland nearly became a real estate development and what saved it from the bulldozer; what remained after Little Switzerland sold itself off for parts and how Schmitz and his family got it running again after a five-year closure; assembling a ski-area staff from scratch; the incredible value in a name; a deep look at Little Switzerland’s antique up-and-over Riblet doubles, which each serve both sides of the ski area:How Schmitz came to run The Rock Snowpark; “the model is people, population, and location, location, location”; the enormous challenges required to reinvigorate the ski area; why Schmitz replaced a chairlift with a high-speed ropetow; the vastly different personalities of Schmitz’s two Milwaukee-adjacent, 200-ish-vertical-foot bumps; “our ultimate goal is to change peoples lives with the sport of skiing or snowboarding”; Milwaukee as a ski market; the importance of night-skiing in the Midwest; a wishlist of upgrades at all three ski areas; new buildings incoming; whether Schmitz would ever buy another ski area; why he no longer believes every ski area can be saved; why Schmitz’s three ski areas require an upgrade for a multi-mountain pass; and why all three ski areas joined the Indy Pass (and why The Rock held off on joining).Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewWhen Indy Pass debuted in 2019 with a selection of Wisconsin ski areas, I thought Little Switzerland and Nordic Mountain were odd choices. After all, the state has a number of well-appointed 500-ish footers with robust trailmaps: Devil’s Head, Cascade, La Crosse, and Whitecap. Granite Peak – which Indy later added – towers over them all at 700 feet. In general, Indy was aiming for tier-two resorts like Brundage or Berkshire East or Black Mountain – good-sized ski areas that were just a little less well-capitalized and a bit smaller than the corporate big boys in their neighborhoods. What was with the Wisconsin molehills?The molehills, as it turns out, are run by one of a new generation of ski area operators that is aggressively reshaping what a ski area is and how it should operate. Schmitz is the Midwest version of Jon Schaefer, the second-generation owner of Berkshire East who is one of the most original minds in American skiing. I first read about him in Chris Diamond’s Ski Inc. 2020, as a case study of how regional mini-conglomerates were quickly becoming an alternate model for a sustainable skiing future. When I asked Indy Pass founder Doug Fish which of his partners would make a good podcast interview, Schmitz was among his top suggestions.Good call. This was one of my favorite podcast conversations yet. There’s a reason it’s nearly two hours long. Schmitz has a lot of ideas, a ton of positive energy, and an incredibly captivating backstory. Even if you have no interest in Midwest skiing, I’d encourage you to check this one out. Hell, even if you have no interest in skiing whatsoever, you ought to listen. Schmitz’s story is one we can all learn from, an inspiring lesson in how to chase and create a fulfilling life, how to cede your dreams with grace when they don’t work out, and how to ignore the negative people around you and make the improbable into the inevitable. It sounds clichéd, but everything he talks about really happens, and it’s powerful stuff.Why you should ski Little Switzerland, Nordic Mountain, and The Rock SnowparkIn my relentless romp around the ski world, I’ve come to appreciate the salutary effects of small ski areas. The energy at a place like Killington or Sunday River or Steamboat or Snowbird is infectious, the terrain amazing, the sheer scale impossible, mesmerizing. However, a good ski season, for me, is like a good movie. It can’t all be tension and drama. It needs some levity, some lulls, some unexpected and novel moments. At Snowbird I feel the need to throw myself through vertical forests over and over again. I’ve been there 10 times and have never skied Chip’s run or any other blue unless I was traversing or funneling down to a lift. The place is a proving ground, rowdy and relentless. To cruise Snowbird groomers is a waste, like going to Paris and eating at McDonald’s.But sometimes I do just want to cruise. Or do fast laps on a modest pitch with big fast turns. Or lap a subdued terrain park and take a little air. Just ski without stress or expectation or the gnawing sense that I need to challenge myself.Enter small ski areas. Skiing this year at Nashoba Valley or Mount Pleasant or Cockaigne or Sawmill or Otis Ridge was delightful. Relaxed skiing. No pressure to burrow into the hard stuff because there is no hard stuff. Cruise along, enjoy the forest, find interesting lines and side hits. Then I would go to Smugglers’ Notch and ski stuff like this:Balance.Another rad thing about small ski areas: they tend to be close to lots and lots of people, including, likely, you. And since the season passes tend to be inexpensive, you can tack one onto your EpKon Pass and crush night turns after work for an hour or two. Who cares if it’s only 200 feet of vert? Do you drink 12 beers every time you crack one open? Sometimes one or two is enough, and sometimes a few laps on a bump is enough to get your fix between weekend runs to Mount Radness. If I lived in Milwaukee, I can guarantee you I’d own a Granite Peak season pass and one at one of the eight local bumps orbiting the city.As far as skiing these ski areas, specifically, Schmitz lays it out: Little Switzerland draws families, The Rock is the spot for park laps. Nordic is a bit farther out, but if you live anywhere nearby, the pass is a no-brainer: seven days a week of night skiing. Hit it for a couple hours two or three nights per week, and suddenly skiing isn’t something you do when you can get away – it’s your gym, your zone-out time. It’s part of your routine. Something you do, and not something you wait for.More Little Switzerland, Nordic Mountain, and The Rock SnowparkLift Blog’s inventory of Little Switzerland’s lift fleetHistoric Little Switzerland trailmaps on skimap.orgLift Blog’s inventory of Nordic Mountain’s lift fleetHistoric Nordic Mountain trailmaps on skimap.orgNordic Mountain’s current trailmap:Lift Blog’s inventory of The Rock Snowpark’s lift fleetHistoric Rock Snowpark trailmaps on skimap.orgThe Rock Snowpark’s current trailmap: Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

Chris Diamond , Executive Producer of White Party Global, talks to us about the long awaited return of White Party Palm Springs, founder Jeffrey Sanker's legacy, and what you can expect from this year's event. Plus, are we circuit queens?

The Storm Skiing Podcast is sponsored by Mountain Gazette - Listen to the podcast for discount codes on subscriptions.WhoRob Perlman, President and Chief Operating Officer of Steamboat Resort, and Regional Chief Operating Officer for Alterra Mountain Company’s Central RegionRecorded onDec. 6, 2021Why I interviewed himBecause there aren’t many like this: big, snowy, sprawling, accessible, parked above an actual downtown-centered town still animated by its cowboy past. Like Telluride or Crested Butte, Steamboat is a major resort tucked away from the interstate, giving it a different vibe from its I-70 cousins. That’s not to say it can’t get crowded, tracked out, or backed up – it’s an Ikon Pass headliner after all, a true destination. But it’s an extra step past everything, Denver and Summit County and Vail and Beaver Creek and Winter Park. You have to understand why it’s worth it. And that brings a different crowd, somehow. Not better or worse – just slightly more self-aware and humble. And the skiing itself is everything that most of us could want skiing to be. Big and approachable and varied and interesting and just confusing enough to feel like an immersive videogame, an RPG in which you ride three boats and take a horse over the pass and suddenly you’re in a very exotic land from which you must somehow extract yourself. And in the midst of this vastness you can shuck the crowds and be, somehow, alone in a forest in the mountains. It’s amazing and it happens every time I’m there. Bursting lines, the rat-a-tat energy of the base, the hypersonic chairlifts, and then quiet. Absolutely no one. Bird chirps and snowmelt dripping off the pines. And I just stop and sit with that, on a mountain in Colorado, pretty happy at that moment with all that there is.What we talked aboutPerlman’s new role overseeing Alterra’s Utah and Colorado resorts; thoughts on who may be the next leader at Deer Valley; why the Ikon Pass is not Alterra-owned Deer Valley’s season pass; working under industry legend and now-author Chris Diamond; the power of positivity; lots of Alterra stoke; Steamboat’s massive and transformative master plan; the titanic effort of moving the Steamboat gondola last summer; the wild line over lifts and glade terrain that the multi-station, 3.1-mile-long Wild Blue gondola will take up the mountain; the new mid-mountain “Greenhorn Ranch” beginner area; the logic of terminating the second gondola on Sunshine Peak; 650 acres of new expert and advanced gladed terrain on Pioneer Ridge and what kind of lift may serve it; why it was time to remove the Priest Creek double chair; the fate of the chairs and Steamboat’s philanthropic spirit; thoughts on eventual replacements for the Storm Peak, Sunshine, and Thunderhead lifts; could we see an eight-pack at Steamboat?; a potential gondola connection between the resort and the town; the eventual Sunshine II pod skier’s left of the current Sunshine trails; how we got to $269 walk-up day tickets; drawing a better line between walk-up prices and Ikon Passes; how the Ikon and Epic Passes have re-energized the skier market; what the extra skier traffic means for Steamboat; why Steamboat has always been limited to five days on the Ikon Base Pass; Steamboat’s partnership with Wyoming’s Snowy Range ski area; Howelsen Hill; the resort’s relationship with the town it sits above; and how the housing shortage is playing out in Steamboat and what the resort is doing to address it.Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewSteamboat spent the summer, as Perlman said, “liberating” their central plaza by demolishing the massive gondola terminal and moving the lift’s base onto the slopes. That’s step one. What comes next is the aggressive and dizzyingly expensive Full Steam Ahead project, a $200 million subset of the resort’s long-term master plan that will transform Steamboat into the second-largest ski area in Colorado. That new terrain – a 650-acre gladed wilderness of advanced and expert runs – will drop 2,000 vertical feet of feisty white-knucklers onto a resort that largely lacks them. But the centerpiece of the project is a megalift serving the existing terrain: the 3.16-mile, 10-passenger, two-stage Wild Blue gondola, which shifts the beginner center to mid-mountain à la Jackson Hole and skips the long terrestrial commute over to Sunshine Peak in favor of a direct flight. It’s one of the most aggressive reorientations of skier traffic any U.S. resort has attempted in a long time, and it underscores Alterra’s commitment to modernizing and turbocharging its resort portfolio. Full steam ahead.What I got wrongI referred to the Wildhorse Gondola as a line between the parking lot and the resort base, when it in fact transports skiers up from down-mountain housing units.Why you should ski SteamboatBecause no matter who you are, you can. Seriously. It’s one of the most approachable big mountains in North America. The snow is plentiful and light. The greens are long and winding. The blues are unintimidating. The blacks are manageable, and once you need more than manageable, Steamboat leaves bumps everywhere. Beyond that are the glades, often touted as the best in the country. I won’t claim that for certain, but I will say that if you’re trying to amp up your glade game, this is the spot to do it. Nicely pitched, well-spaced trees, not much competition (good as the glades are, 95 percent of the skiers never leave the piste here, just like anywhere else). Meander over to Sundown Express, lap the Closets and Shadows all day long. You’ll come out a different skier. And that’s just the start. Almost the whole joint is skiable, the trees tighter as they shed official trail names. Get lost. Have fun. Then go down to town and live the night. There are plenty of good ski towns in America, and a few great ones. This is one of the great ones. Go.More SteamboatLift Blog’s inventory of Steamboat’s lift fleetHistoric Steamboat trailmaps on skimap.orgMore on Full Steam Ahead:Support The Storm by shopping at our partners: Patagonia | Helly Hansen | Rossignol | Salomon | Utah Skis | Berg’s Ski and Snowboard Shop | Peter Glenn | Kemper Snowboards | Gravity Coalition | Darn Tough | Skier's Peak | Hagan Ski Mountaineering | Moosejaw | Skis.com |The House | Telos Snowboards | Christy Sports | Evo | Hotels Combined | Black Diamond | Eastern Mountain Sports Subscribe at www.stormskiing.com

The Storm Skiing Podcast is sponsored by Mountain Gazette - Listen to the podcast for discount codes on subscriptions and merch.An old-timey coziness defines Caberfae, but this is one of the most steadily evolving ski areas in America.WhoTim Meyer, Co-Owner and General Manager of Mountain Operations at Caberfae Peaks, MichiganRecorded onJuly 21, 2021Why I interviewed him In the part of my brain warehousing ski memories there are days and places that live forever. Many of those days are at Caberfae. When I first pulled up to the base area as a novice skier trained poorly at the single-lift bumps downstate I stood in dumbstruck awe of the place, its teeming peaks and lift network sprawling off into the woods. A dozen tumbling freefalls did not discourage me from its charms. Caberfae stood just 90 minutes from my house and I became a regular, returning on swirling weekends and quiet spring weeknights when I lapped empty chairs in long March sunsets after school. I moved away from Michigan long ago, but if I’m there in the winter Caberfae is the first place I go.It is a special place, quintessentially Midwestern and unusually aggressive in its deliberate decades-long evolution. Opened in the 1930s, the complex grew by the 1970s into what Chris Diamond described in his book Ski Inc. 2020 as “a sprawling series of hills served by 20-plus rope tows, five T-Bars and a chairlift, spanning some two miles from end-to-end.” A 1966 copy of America’s Ski Book describes Caberfae as being equipped with “six T-bars and sixteen rope tows on 270 vertical feet.” Here is the 1980 trailmap, which looks like it was spun out of the ditto machines that stamped out my early grade-school classwork sheets:Today, nearly everything on that trailmap has been permanently abandoned. In what Diamond calls “the most successful ‘ski-resort contraction’ in history,” Caberfae moved tons of earth from the bottom of two peaks to the top, boosting its vertical drop from 270 to 485 feet. “Their vertical expansion of two central peaks was accompanied by a horizontal contraction from the far-flung borders and the closing of a dozen-plus lifts, which they could never adequately cover with snowmaking,” Diamond writes. By the early 2000s, when Tim Meyer and his cousin Pete inherited the operation from their fathers, who’d had the vision to transform it, Caberfae looked like this:For context, the Shelter run far skier’s right on the 2004 map sits between the two chairlifts on the 1980 map. But they weren’t done yet. Today, Caberfae looks like this:The backcountry terrain, which is ungroomed and open only when natural snow allows, brought some of the old Caberfae back into the active resort footprint. They’re far from done: in the podcast, we talk about a massive project that will add a new lift and a third peak for the 2022-23 season, future development of the Backcountry, and more. “We try to do a little bit each year,” Meyer tells me in the podcast.I’ve been waiting 25 years to have this conversation. Caberfae may be the most constantly evolving ski resort in America. It’s like a mansion that the owners can’t stop renovating. How we went from a ropetow kingdom bereft of snowmaking to a modern resort forged out of vision, willpower, patience, grit, and determination that, four decades after the family acquired it, is still a work-in-progress, was a story I’d been waiting my entire skiing life to hear.What we talked aboutThe glory of the wild ropetow-laced and low-rise Caberfae of the early 1980s; lift relics still in the woods; why that terrain was abandoned and why it’s likely gone forever; growing up on the slopes of Caberfae and why Meyer lit out for Winter Park, Colorado - and what finally drew him back; running a ski area as a multi-generational family business; the kind of place where you’ll find the owner roaming the grounds in snowboots and clutching a walkie-talkie; who had the vision to transform Caberfae from an antique into a modern ski area; the incredible engineering feat of building two artificial peaks from Michigan clay and sand; improvisational construction; how the mountain stabilized the peaks; how building South Peak in the 1980s stabilized the business; the nearly 40-year-old South Peak triple is here to stay; why the ski area has changed the grade of select runs over the years; developing North Peak; why the ski area added a new triple to North Peak in 2016 and why it left the adjacent quad in service; the virtues of triple chairs; whether the ski area ever considered a six-pack for North Peak; the quirky I-75 run; why the ski area put a fence up between Smiling Irishman and Canyon; why the mountain re-opened part of the old Caberfae as an ungroomed natural-snow area; the old T-bar line hidden like a secret videogame level in the woods; the potential for chairlifts or terrain expansion in the Backcountry; why the ski area leaves its woods intact; the two retired Hall chairlifts sitting at the base of the ski area and whether they could ever come back into service, possibly as a single lift; the timeline for the third peak, what it will be called, and what kind of lift it will have; which lift is coming down to accommodate the expansion; the return of Bo Buck; the sentimental anguish of tearing the last ropetow out of the former king of the ropetows; why it could return one day; renovations on the Skyview Day Lodge; crockpots in the day lodge: “if you live in Michigan, you should have the opportunity to ski”; why Caberfae has never focused on terrain parks; going from almost zero snowmaking in the early 1980s to a modern fleet; why the mountain doesn’t push for the late spring close; how Caberfae went from selling seven golf season passes to nearly 400 and how they applied the philosophy to the $99 discounted ski season weekend or weekday pass; how that turbocharged the business; why the mountain raised the pass price to $149 last year after more than a decade at $99; the Indy Pass; why season passholders have to pick up a new metal wicket ticket each time they arrive at the ski area; the ski area’s unique lift ticket designs; why metal wickets are probably part of Caberfae indefinitely; the ski area’s colorful trailmap and when they’ll introduce a new one; why the ski area continued its relationship with Liftopia/Catalate after its troubles last year; how the 2020-21 Covid season went at Caberfae; and Covid adaptations that may stick around for future seasons. From the air, it’s easier to see how Caberfae has been scultped over the decades. Strategically placed trees make the place ski bigger than it looks. Photo courtesy of Indy Pass and Caberfae Peaks.Why I thought that now was a good time for this interview I actually thought February 2020 was a great time for this interview, and that’s when we initially recorded it. But the audio was compromised, filled with a conversation-from-space crackle that I couldn’t scrub out. The Storm Skiing Podcast was just four months old at the time, and I hadn’t perfected the harder-than-you’d-think art of recording a two-way conversation. I kept thinking I could resolve the issue and delayed posting. Then Covid hit. By the time I’d admitted defeat, skiing seemed small and ski area operators were preoccupied with survival. By the time the 2020-21 season came around, I was embarrassed to go back to Meyer to ask him to re-do a thing he had already done. Finally, a couple weeks ago, I fired off a bashful email asking if I could have another hour of his time. Tim graciously and immediately agreed. This has been an eternal to-do list item and it is liberating to cross it off.Caberfae is the southern edge of big-time Midwest skiing. Going up the 2016 Doppelmayr triple chair on North Peak, which runs alongside a 1992 CTEC quad.Why you should ski CaberfaeCaberfae was an inaugural Indy Pass partner in the Midwest, a family-owned, family-centric Up North ski area where crockpots line the baselodge ledges and the lifties are not temp workers trucked in from the hinterlands but locals who return to their posts year after year. The place is absolute joy, no pretense, no arrogance, as down-home as Up North gets. As Meyer says in the podcast, their market is the recreational skier. That’s another way of saying it’s mostly absent of hotshots and speedsters and flippidy-doo parksters. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. This is a crowd that just loves skiing for the motion and the thrill of it, for the sensation of downhill freefall. I’ve never been to a happier ski area.The terrain is unique for the Midwest. The artificial hills create a sensation of above-treeline skiing that is otherwise absent between Sugarloaf and Loveland. At the same time, Caberfae has eschewed the Midwest urge to clear-cut its small hills to accommodate the downhill masses – trails thread through the forest on the lower mountain, especially on North Peak and off the Shelter Chair, and the wall of trees segregating the baselodge from the slopes create a sensation of rambling bigness unusual for the Lower Peninsula. Plus, wicket tickets:Photo courtesy of Indy Pass and Caberfae Peaks.There’s one more thing. Crossing into Michigan by land invariably takes you past signs welcoming you to “Pure Michigan.” The 13-year-old slogan extolls the state’s vast forests, lakes, rivers, and wildlife, but it has been commandeered by prideful Michiganders to evoke the tireless community DIY spirit of the people themselves. When I arrived in Manhattan nearly 20 years ago, the most difficult cultural adjustment was how reliant average New Yorkers were on paid labor for even mundane tasks. No one in Michigan – at least the community I grew up in in Michigan – pays anyone to do anything they can do themselves. Ever. The concept of hiring movers, for example, still confounds me, and I moved myself – at great hassle but little expense - at least 10 times within Manhattan before settling in Brooklyn five years ago. My point here is that Meyer and his family are Pure Michigan in that sense. When I say they engineered the most dramatic transformation of a lift-served ski area in the history of U.S. skiing over the course of four decades, I mean they engineered it. They drove the heavy equipment and they transformed glacial bumps into above-treeline peaks one shovel-load at a time and they cut the trees and reshaped the land and made the improbable inevitable. When I met Meyer on the slopes of Caberfae, he was walking across the base area in a snowsuit, carrying a crackling walkie-talkie. And you can tell in this interview, by the way he describes his sense of duty to the ski area and to his family, and maintains a crockpot-friendly Caberfae with ticket prices almost anyone can afford, that this guy and the people around him are Pure Michigan in the most elemental way. The Shelter Double is a 1967 Hall. Caberfae plans to replace the short lift with a brand-new Doppelmayr triple serving a new peak for the 2022-23 ski season, dramatically improving the experience of getting out of the base area. The old Hall will go into storage along with two others of the same vintage, possibly to be re-purposed at a later date.Additional resourcesThis 1949 trailmap distills the zany rambling chaos that once defined Caberfae and continues to animate its spirit:Even those intimately familiar with the modern Caberfae will have a hard time deciphering what they’re looking at in this 72-year-old depiction of the ski area.A few more items of interest:Lift Blog’s inventory of Caberfae liftsMore classic Caberfae trailmapsChris Diamond’s Ski Inc 2020 has a wonderful write-up of Caberfae (pgs. 128-132). The book is worth a full and repeated read for anyone interested in the modern lift-served skiing landscape.I wrote this story about a 5-year-old who hitched a ride on the Shelter Double with me a couple years ago.Another essay, this one documenting my inaugural ski season rambling over the Michigan flatlands as a teenager:I have no photographs documenting that season. Not one. But I remember the sequence of days perfectly, the huge snowy canvas of Up North rolling out before me as I traversed the supergrid of state highways and interstates, one by one ticking off the lift-served areas that we all presumptuously called mountains but were barely hills, the largest of them 550 vertical feet from top to bottom.To me they may as well have been Vail. After a return to single-chairlift Snow Snake, I stood in dumbfounded amazement at the base of Caberfae, four or five chairlifts sprawling across its two humped peaks poking like a giant snowy camel from the flatlands outside of Cadillac. I descended them like an inept paratrooper dropped at velocity over a decline, my gear twirling apart from me in acrobatic freefall with each concussive wipeout. Get on the email list at www.stormskiing.com

We have done several podcasts about scamming and guarding against being hacked. Chris Diamond and Nancy are going to do it again! It seems that these annoying phone calls and scams are are very creative, in addition to catching people off guard. By listening to this podcast you will learn: How to avoid being scammed What to look for or listen for Red flags Who won't ever call you What to do if you think you fell for the scam This podcast sponsored by Thermador Appliances & Monogram Appliances email comments to Nancy@NancyHugo.com Listen to Nancy's other podcast: Hugo Floss A conversation with a creative Mom and her Nerdy Son Topics include everything BUT design. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/homedesignchat-with-nancy/support

The best smart home devices are an essential part of a 21st century home, as they ensure you can turn your thermostat up, dim the lights, lock your doors, and play your music with a simple voice command – creating a seamless, smart environment that makes your life easier. Nancy chatted with Chris Diamond about all the smart devices he has installed in his home and what the pros and cons are. Show notes: smart speaker smart lighting smart plugs and switches smart thermostat video doorbells home security cameras smart locks robot vacuums coffee machines vacuum cleaners This podcast sponsored by Thermador Appliances & Monogram Appliances email comments to Nancy@NancyHugo.com Listen to Nancy's other podcast: Hugo Floss A conversation with a creative Mom and her Nerdy Son Topics include everything BUT design. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/homedesignchat-with-nancy/support

What does your website have to do with Home Design? Many listeners are professional designers and builders who have websites for potential clients. In addition, the suggestions and hints Chris Diamond and Nancy chat about will help anyone who has a website connected to their business or hobby. By the way, Chris Diamond, owner of Hogfish Studios, designs and maintains all my websites and produces my podcasts. Can you answer these questions in regard to your own website? Is your website mobile-friendly? Is your website easy to use? Is your website attractive and up-to-date? Do you have great pictures & videos on your site? Do you know how to market your website? Are you using keywords on your site? When was the last time you added content to your site? Do you back up your website to your server? Is your site protected from being hacked? If you have questions pertaining to your own website, don’t hesitate to ask for help, or at least another opinion. This podcast sponsored by Thermador Appliances email comments to Nancy@NancyHugo.com

The Storm Skiing Podcast is sponsored in part by Mountain Gazette. Listen to the podcast for discount codes on subscriptions and merch.The podcast is also sponsored in part by Helly Hansen. Listen to the podcast to learn how to get an 18.77 percent discount at the Boston and Burlington, Vermont stores.Recorded onFeb. 8, 2021What this isThis is the 12th in a series of conversations exploring the fallout to the ski industry from Covid-19. Click through to listen to the first 11: author Chris Diamond, Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher, Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway, NSAA CEO Kelly Pawlak, Berkshire East/Catamount Owner & Goggles for Docs founder Jon Schaefer, Shaggy’s Copper Country Skis Cofounder Jeff Thompson, Doppelmayr USA President Katharina Schmitz, Mt. Baldy GM Robby Ellingson, Alterra CEO Rusty Gregory, NSAA Director of Risk & Regulatory Affairs Dave Byrd, and Schweitzer Mountain President and CEO Tom Chasse.Who Molly Mahar, President of Ski VermontWhy I interviewed herBecause Vermont skiing is in trouble. The Burlington Free Press reported in January that skiers visits were down 30 to 70 percent from the same period last year. Culprits included lousy weather, state-mandated capacity restrictions, strict quarantine requirements for out-of-state visitors, and the Canadian border closure. The snow, thankfully, has finally arrived, but the other problems are unlikely to disappear before season’s end. I wanted to understand the full impacts of the business slowdown on Vermont ski areas and to see how they were coping with life in our Covid-modified Matrix.Jay Peak is off limits to the 50 percent of its visitors that normally come from Canada. That leaves lots of powder for those who can make it. Photo courtesy of Indy Pass.What we talked aboutAn update on those dire skier visit numbers from January; the size of Vermont’s ski industry in a normal year and the extent and impact of the downturn; the percent of Vermont skier visits that originate out of state (it’s huge), and where those visits come from; Vermont’s quarantine requirements and the Canadian border closure and whether these travel restrictions could be relaxed before the end of ski season; working with the state of Vermont to develop Covid operating rules; how widespread compliance to those restrictions has been among skiers; the importance of Canada to central and northern Vermont; Jay Peak filling in the blanks; how Ski Vermont collaborates with member ski areas, the state government, and the NSAA; Covid-induced acceleration of technology adaptation; the cost of Covid ops; Magic Mountain way out ahead; working with the NSAA to promote their Ski Well Be Well guidelines and how the organization just basically killed it prepping the industry as a whole for the ski season; helping Vermont ski areas take advantage of federal and state aide; the long-term upside of Covid-era operating pivots; how mega-mountains, large independents, and smaller community hills are managing under Covid restrictions; job market impacts; the out-of-state takeover of large Vermont ski areas and what that means for the state’s industry long-term; whether Jay Peak or Burke would be better off under a conglomerate or remaining independent; thoughts on megapasses, including the Indy Pass; shout-out to Smuggs; the decision to suspend the 5th grade ski passport this season; and Ski Vermont’s diversity initiative.Questions I wish I’d askedI wanted to talk a bit about the cost of doing business in Vermont and development under the state’s Act 250 rules, but we didn’t have time. Next time.Storm Skiing Podcasts: Killington & Pico GM Mike Solimano | Plattekill owners Danielle and Laszlo Vajtay | New England Lost Ski Areas Project Founder Jeremy Davis | Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway | Lift Blog Founder Peter Landsman | Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher | Burke Mountain GM Kevin Mack | Liftopia CEO Evan Reece | Berkshire East & Catamount Owner & GM Jon Schaefer | Vermont Ski + Ride and Vermont Sports Co-Publisher & Editor Lisa Lynn | Sugarbush President & COO Win Smith | Loon President & GM Jay Scambio | Sunday River President & GM Dana Bullen | Big Snow & Mountain Creek VP of Sales & Marketing Hugh Reynolds | Mad River Glen GM Matt Lillard | Indy Pass Founder Doug Fish | National Brotherhood of Skiers President Henri Rivers | Winter 4 Kids & National Winter Activity Center President & CEO Schone Malliet | Vail Veterans Program President & Founder Cheryl Jensen | Mountain Gazette Owner & Editor Mike Rogge | Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows President & CMO Ron Cohen | Aspiring Olympian Benjamin Alexander | Sugarloaf GM Karl Strand – Parts One & Two | Cannon GM John DeVivo | Fairbank Group Chairman Brian Fairbank | Jay Peak GM Steve Wright | Sugarbush President & GM John Hammond | Mount Snow GM Tracy Bartels | Saddleback CEO & GM Andy Shepard | Bousquet owners and management | Hermitage Club GM Bill Benneyan | Powder Magazine Editor-in-Chief Sierra Shafer | Gunstock GM Tom Day | Bolton Valley President Lindsay DesLauriers | Windham President Chip Seamans | Sunday River GM Brian Heon | Get on the email list at www.stormskiing.com

The Storm Skiing Podcast is sponsored in part by:Mountain Gazette - Listen to the podcast for discount codes on subscriptions and merch.Helly Hansen - Listen to the podcast to learn how to get an 18.77 percent discount at the Boston and Burlington, Vermont stores.Recorded on Jan. 19, 2021What this is This is the 11th in a series of short conversations exploring Covid-19’s effects on the ski industry. Click through to listen to the first 10: author Chris Diamond, Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher, Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway, NSAA CEO Kelly Pawlak, Berkshire East/Catamount Owner & Goggles for Docs founder Jon Schaefer, Shaggy’s Copper Country Skis Cofounder Jeff Thompson, Doppelmayr USA President Katharina Schmitz, Mt. Baldy GM Robby Ellingson, Alterra CEO Rusty Gregory, and NSAA Director of Risk & Regulatory Affairs Dave Byrd.Who Tom Chasse, President and CEO of Schweitzer Mountain Resort, IdahoPhoto courtesy of Schweitzer Mountain Resort.Why I interviewed himOne of the biggest risks to the reconstituted-for-Covid ski season was always going to be that large numbers of knuckleheads would treat mask requirements as the first shots fired in Civil War II. Schweitzer, an enormous ski Narnia poking off the tip of the Idaho panhandle, became the most visible instance of this phenomenon when General Manager Tom Chasse chopped three days of twilight skiing after cantankerous Freedom Bros continually threw down with exhausted staff over requests to mask up. While violations of mask mandates haven’t ignited widespread resort shutdowns and the vast majority of skiers seem resigned to them, Schweitzer’s stand nonetheless distills the precarious nature of lift-served skiing amidst a still-raging pandemic. Skiers, if they grow careless and defiant, can shut down mountains. And so can the ski areas themselves, if they feel they can’t safely manage the crowds descending upon them in this winter of there’s-nothing-else-to-do. While it’s unfortunate that a toxic jumble of misinformation, conspiracy theories, political chest-thumping, and ignorance has so thoroughly infected our population that even something as innocuous as riding a chairlift has become a culture war flashpoint, it has. And it’s worth investigating the full story at Schweitzer to gauge how big the problem is and how to manage it in a way that allows us to all keep skiing.Photo courtesy of Schweitzer Mountain Resort.What we talked aboutWhy Schweitzer shut down night skiing over the MLK holiday weekend; how night skiing has changed this season; the verbal abuse hurled at Schweitzer’s staff when asking skiers to mask up; the cultural and political atmosphere in Idaho and how that complicates the resorts efforts; who’s enforcing the mountain’s mask mandate; handling defiant customers; the difference between mask compliance during the day and the evening and what’s behind that dynamic; the madness of crowds; the psychological fallout among front-line resort workers tasked with constant mask enforcement; how the community reacted to the shutdown news; Schweitzer’s philanthropic approach to night-skiing; the modified plan for night skiing in the immediate future; the challenge of operating in a state without a mask mandate and a county in which the sheriff refuses to enforce the local mask ordinance; how Freedom Bros have overwhelmed the best efforts of big-box corporate America in Idaho; why Schweitzer has stood by its mask policy regardless of steady push-back; how Idaho ski areas prepared for the season without clear guidelines from the state; how ski season is going outside of Covid protocol enforcement; Schweitzer’s long-term development plan; the makeup of the local ski market in Northern Idaho; the mountain’s land holdings and potential footprint; where the next expansion could go; the simplicity of expanding owned terrain in Idaho and how that compares to the regulatory snarl of New England construction; the difference between running a ski area in New Hampshire and Idaho; the possibility of Schweitzer joining the Ikon, Epic or Indy Passes; and what the Canadian border closure has meant for the mountain. The Storm Skiing Podcasts: Killington & Pico GM Mike Solimano | Plattekill owners Danielle and Laszlo Vajtay | New England Lost Ski Areas Project Founder Jeremy Davis | Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway | Lift Blog Founder Peter Landsman | Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher | Burke Mountain GM Kevin Mack | Liftopia CEO Evan Reece | Berkshire East & Catamount Owner & GM Jon Schaefer | Vermont Ski + Ride and Vermont Sports Co-Publisher & Editor Lisa Lynn | Sugarbush President & COO Win Smith | Loon President & GM Jay Scambio | Sunday River President & GM Dana Bullen | Big Snow & Mountain Creek VP of Sales & Marketing Hugh Reynolds | Mad River Glen GM Matt Lillard | Indy Pass Founder Doug Fish | National Brotherhood of Skiers President Henri Rivers | Winter 4 Kids & National Winter Activity Center President & CEO Schone Malliet | Vail Veterans Program President & Founder Cheryl Jensen | Mountain Gazette Owner & Editor Mike Rogge | Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows President & CMO Ron Cohen | Aspiring Olympian Benjamin Alexander | Sugarloaf GM Karl Strand – Parts One & Two | Cannon GM John DeVivo | Fairbank Group Chairman Brian Fairbank | Jay Peak GM Steve Wright | Sugarbush President & GM John Hammond | Mount Snow GM Tracy Bartels | Saddleback CEO & GM Andy Shepard | Bousquet owners and management | Hermitage Club GM Bill Benneyan | Powder Magazine Editor-in-Chief Sierra Shafer | Gunstock GM Tom Day | Get on the email list at www.stormskiing.com

Chris Diamond in conversation with Professor Murray Pittock of the University of Glasgow on the 300th anniversary of the birth of Charles Edward Stuart.

The Storm Skiing Podcast is sponsored by Mountain Gazette. Get 10 percent off subscriptions with the code “GOHIGHER10” at check-out. Get 10 percent off everything else with the code “EASTCOAST.”Who: Bill Benneyan, General Manager of Hermitage Club, Vermont, and former President, COO, and General Manager of Mountain Creek, New Jersey.Recorded on: December 1, 2020Why I interviewed him: So you’re profiling a mountain with a 50K buy-in and another 15 grand a year to keep playing in the sandbox? This from the same podcast/newsletter outfit that constantly bumps the virtues of the $229 Indy Pass and its motley coalition of back-of-the-woods, shack-at-the-bottom-of-a-40-year-old-double-chair family-run ski areas? The same Storm Skiing Journal that’s constantly complaining about the price of single-mountain season passes ticking percentage points above the cost of big-money-backed Epic and Ikon Passes? What gives, Bro? The thing about lift-served skiing is that it’s a big, complicated, wonderful kingdom, with room for almost infinite interpretations of how a ski area can exist, function, operate, and thrive. The private ski area is one of many possible versions of Haystack as a ski area, and, as it turns out due to a clause in a previous sales contract, the only possible skiing-based version, as Bill explains in the podcast. It’s this or watch the place disappear back into the mountain over the next 30 years. Besides, there is nothing to be bitter about here: the one percenters didn’t rope off Killington or Sugarbush. This is a 1,400-vertical-foot mountain that’s steps away from one of the largest ski areas in Vermont (Mount Snow), and within an hour of three other larger ones (Stratton, Bromley, Magic). There are budget ways to ski each or all of these, and the presence of a tony version of these southern Vermont mainstays does more to bolster the region’s overall ski cache and culture than anything. Besides, the mountain, with all its intermittent struggles and triumphs, survives against considerable odds, and that’s a story I wanted to hear.I also wanted to talk about Mountain Creek. And you Mountain Creek haters are just going to have to find a way to deal with that.The ski area. Photo courtesy of Hermitage ClubWhat we talked about:Hermitage Club: How a group of former members superheroed out of the clear blue sky to buy the ski area out of auction in spite of protests from irascible failed owner Jim Barnes; the status of Barnes’ legal challenges to the new ownership group; the importance of operating the new operation with integrity to win back the trust of a traumatized community; the endless tension between resorts and resort towns; the club’s roots and how Hermitage Club 1.0 went wrong; same name, new business – this is a total reset; dealing with Vermont’s Act 250; the immense package of assets that came with the ski area; what the new owners sold to refocus on skiing; why the club contracted the Schaefer family, owners of Berkshire East and Catamount, to help run the place; rebuilding the workforce after the ski area sat dormant for two years; ISO: Snowcat driver/sous chef; the ski area’s anticipated operating season; why Hermitage Club aka Haystack could never operate as a public ski area; private rentals are available; membership caps, both for this season and long term; opportunities for summer business; Benneyan’s reaction to Chris Diamond’s assertion in Ski Inc. 2020 (a must-read) that the Hermitage Club was unlikely to ever be viable as a private ski area; the zany, uneven history of Haystack ski area; ditching the lobster thermidor for a more reality-based experience; what it takes to become a member; whether former members of the bankrupt club were grandfathered into the new iteration; how to ski the club if you’re not a member; what would have happened had someone bought and removed the Barnstormer six-pack; the justification behind removing the Hayfever Triple (which is now Bousquet’s summit chair); the state of the remaining lift fleet; possible future lift additions; the impact of losing 41 snowguns to Mount Snow and the condition of the snowmaking system in general; future snowmaking improvements; the state of the trail network and how the crew prepped the whole thing to come back online for the 2020-21 ski season; long-term trail expansion opportunities; what the ski area wants to upgrade next; how the private club intends to honor the history of the public Haystack mountain; and the club’s relationship with neighboring Mount Snow.Mountain Creek: Why I’m an unapologetic Mountain Creek fan in spite of its obvious flaws; how the place “gets in your blood”; how to manage the hordes of terrible skiers that overwhelm the place on any given weekend; how true Creek skiers manage the crowds; why NYC is lucky to have a mountain of that size that close; the immense challenges of managing a large ski area with two base areas, marginal temperatures, enormous crowds, and little natural snow; why Mountain Creek may be the best ski area in the country to learn the business; the incredible and surreal transformation of the ski area from Vernon Valley-Great Gorge to Mountain Creek in the Intrawest post-acquisition maelstrom summer of 1998; the regulatory obstacles that were waiting like a brick wall to stop Intrawest’s 100-mile-an-hour machine; the grand and unrealized vision of Mountain Creek-as-quaint-ski-village and why that didn’t happen; how the great transformation changed the mountain’s character; how Intrawest decided what to replace and what to install instead; the true story behind the installation of the Cabriolet and its “flying buckets,” the most ridiculed ski lift in the Northeast; why Creek didn’t ultimately work out as an Intrawest property. Photo courtesy of Hermitage Club.Why I thought that now was a good time for this interview: Because 10 months ago, Hermitage Club looked like it was about to be dismantled and sold off like a decommissioned warship. Vail had plucked more than three dozen snowguns off the ski area’s slopes and moved them over to Mount Snow. Boyne, among others, had bid on the Barnstormer high-speed six-pack and was ready to send in the helicopters to move it God knows where in its giant network. The place had sat fallow for two seasons, and if Hermitage Club lost that lift, it likely would have followed nearby Maple Valley into the abyss of lost ski areas. Then, miraculously, in the wild and silent early days of the pandemic, when all news was THAT news, a group of 181 mostly former owners announced that they had bought the ski area and all related assets at auction for a touch over $8 million. This despite a barrage of legal hijinks meant to overturn or delay the ruling by former owner and world-class knucklehead Jim Barnes. The new owners, a collection of mostly business professionals more capable with a Power Point deck than a Snowcat, made a couple of key early decisions that reset the club’s scope and made sure the snowguns would be pointed in the right direction: they shed extraneous assets to refocus on skiing, and they brought in a posse of ski industry badasses who could probably set up a snowskiing operation in the Florida Keys if you let them try it. That included, as consultants, the Schaefer family, who are the long-time operators of Berkshire East and Catamount ski areas in Massachusetts (Jon Schaefer has appeared twice on The Storm Skiing Podcast), and Benneyan, who for more than two decades learned how to pull a bear out of a rabbit-sized hat as one of the top guys at Mountain Creek, a snowskiing operation where it seems to never snow anymore. Compared to North Jersey, Southern Vermont is Little Cottonwood Canyon, and the team that’s in charge of the skiing is going to make sure the skiing is as good as the skiing can possibly be. I think they’re doing it right this time, and I wanted to hear about it from the guy in charge of making it all happen. Why you should go there: Well you probably can’t, but let’s suspend our imaginations for a moment and pretend an initiation fee about equal to the average annual American income is not an obstacle: you should go there because skiing in Southern Vermont on a weekend can feel like trying to catch the last shuttle off Planet Earth before its molten core atomizes its population into spacedust. Skiing at Hermitage Club is probably not like that. It’s probably like skiing at Hunter on a windy day when it’s 37 degrees and raining. Only without the wind or the rain - just the almost complete absence of people. Or it’s probably like skiing at a place everybody forgot about, or a place from the past, but like a weird steampunk past where they’d invented shaped skis and six-passenger bubble chairs. Or it’s all of those things. It’s probably just amazing. And if you have kids and a bank balance that has a hard time finding a teeter-totter partner, then this is something you may want to think about, especially in this year when flying is bad and crowds are bad and crossing state lines is bad. But if you’re just a regular dude whose money has to be spent on, you know, food and that kind of b******t, then make friends with a member, because members are allowed to bring guests (eventually). Or, you know, save up and make it happen. Good luck.Bonus video:Here’s a cool video of The Witches pod that the previous iteration of the club commissioned:In case you’re digging the Mountain Creek history bit:For context on the Mountain Creek conversation, the Vernon Valley-Great Gorge trailmap in 1997, the year before Intrawest bought the place:The transformation for the 1998 season was remarkable - perhaps the largest single-season overhaul of a ski area in the history of lift-served skiing. Only two of the chairlifts from the map above remain (the Vernon Triple, which stands today, and the Soujourn Double, which was replaced a few years back with another double; the tow ropes have all since been removed and replaced with a cluster of magic carpets adjacent to the Cabriolet): Get on the email list at www.stormskiing.com

What do scams have to do with Home design? Nothing, but our lives have changed and using this podcast to educate about various things is what we’re all about. Scammers are inventive and keep coming up with new ways to con people out of their money. Nancy and Chris Diamond chat about different types of scams and how you can protect yourself. Scammers do their homework and find information about you before they make contact. They use a variety of techniques, including flattery and emotional manipulation, to draw you in. Older people may be more vulnerable because scammers often target people who: live alone and may feel lonely and want to talk are at home during the day have money or valuables. How to spot a scam Some scams are very clever and they can be hard to spot. Things to look out for include: offers that come out of the blue requests to share your bank account details or verify a password or PIN prizes that ask you to send money up front to claim your winnings time-limited offers that ask you to act quickly companies with vague contact details, such as a PO Box or mobile number, or a premium rate number usually beginning 090 companies that call you repeatedly and stay on the phone a long time confidential offers that you're told not to tell family or friends about. As a general rule, if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. How to protect yourself Scammers are clever and ruthless, and they'll do anything to get hold of your personal details. Be very careful about who you give your personal details to. Never send money to someone you don’t know or trust. And remember - your bank or the police will never ask for your PIN or password or ask you to transfer funds for fraud reasons. This podcast sponsored by Premier Lighting November 18, 2020 email questions to Nancy@NancyHugo.com

The Storm Skiing Podcast is sponsored by Mountain Gazette. The first issue drops later this month, and you can get 10 percent off subscriptions with the code “GOHIGHER10” at check-out. Get 10 percent off everything else with the code “EASTCOAST.”Who: Tracy Bartels, Vice President and General Manager of Mount Snow, VermontRecorded on: November 2, 2020Why I interviewed her: Because Mount Snow is where big-time Northeast skiing begins. As the southern-most major Vermont ski area, it is a skier’s gateway to mountains that are big enough to get lost on. From its strategic position in the orbit of the East Coast megalopolis, successive owners have gradually built something uniquely suited to the frenetic swarms of wildly varied skiers who bullseye the place each winter: Mount Snow has one of the most outstanding terrain parks in America and one of the best snowmaking systems in the world. The families who swarm here find absolutely unintimidating terrain, blue as the sky and groomed smoother than I-91. It’s a perfect family mountain and a perfect bus skier’s mountain and a perfect first step from Mount Local to something that shows you how big skiing can be. It was the crown jewel of the Peak Resort’s empire, and it’s one of the most important pieces to Vail’s ever-expanding Epic jigsaw puzzle. I wouldn’t call it a special mountain – the terrain is mild and not terribly interesting, and the volume and quality of natural snowfall is best described as adequate. But it is a vital mountain, as the southern-most anchor of Vermont’s teeming ski scene, as an accessible ski experience for weekending cityfolk, as an aspirational destination for people stepping more fully into skiing culture, and as a testament to the power of the imagination to transform a big vertical drop and cold skies into a vital and vibrant node of the regional ski scene.Killing it in the trees. Photo courtesy of Vail Resorts.What we talked about: If you think it’s hard starting your marketing job from your dining room table, try running a ski area from another state; the extent of the mountain’s summer operations and how long it took to get those running; thinking through the masterplan for a mountain that has already had tens of millions invested into it over the past decade; potential future snowmaking improvements; why we’re unlikely to see a massive overhaul of the chairlift infrastructure in the near future; potential base lodge improvements; Bartels’ career path through Vail Resorts, starting as a kids ski instructor at Breckenridge 20 years ago; how Vail develops and moves employees through its resort network and why that’s good for business; how managing international destination mountains in the West is the same as managing them in the Northeast, and the big terrible way that it’s different (you all know what it is); what the Western resorts could learn from Northeast operations; how managing Mount Snow is a more complex undertaking than managing Mount Sunapee; the cultural differences between the two regions and how the Northeast stands out; Covid-era operations changes; most skiers should be able to ski most days at Mount Snow even with the reservation system; how that system will influence the number of day lift tickets available; balancing the blowout deal of the Epic Pass with the desire to keep ski areas from being overrun; the ops plan for the Bluebird Express; reminiscing on the Covid shutdown at Mount Sunapee; how Vail has learned from operating its Australian ski resorts over the summer; the parts of the mountains that are still in suspended animation from the March shutdown; how the losses of longtime grooming team members Leon and Cleon Boyd to Covid impacted the resort community; wow we won’t have to take our Epic Passes out of our pocket every time we ski up to a lift this year; why Vail favors handheld scanner guns over RFID gates; going deep on Carinthia and how much it takes to maintain a park of that size and complexity; the challenges of maintaining a super pipe and why Mount Snow has stayed with it even as many ski areas have abandoned it; why we’re unlikely to see any notable terrain expansions; yes I am on a quest to destroy Northeast over-grooming culture bwahahahahahaha; no but seriously talking about Bartels’ grooming philosophy and the advantages of creating a more balanced mountain.Things that are outdated because we recorded this last week: We refer to the planned Nov. 14 opening date, which with current weather forecasts now seems as likely a moon landing in a hot-air balloon. We also talk about the imminent release of Vermont’s ski area operating protocols, which the state has since announced. Finally, we refer to the Nov. 6 launch of Vail’s Epic Pass reservation system, which is now fully operational. I would have liked to have released this earlier, but frankly we recorded this the day before the presidential election and I wanted to give the news cycle a little time to clear out before pushing this one out there.Why I thought that now was a good time for this interview: Because Bartels, a 20-year Vail Resorts veteran, brings a deep understanding of the company’s ways to a Mount Snow still adjusting to post-Peak Resorts life. After a year settling into the Northeast ski scene as Mount Sunapee GM, she moves to one of Vail’s most important Northeast mountains. I wanted to see how she was approaching the particular challenge of steering a new-to-her mountain through the novel challenge of Covid, how she managed the shutdown at Sunapee, and her thoughts on the Northeast ski world and culture after a career spent mostly in the snowy West. I also wanted to see if perhaps she would bring a more freewheeling Western sensibility to Mount Snow’s forever overgroomed slopes, injecting some variety into a mountain often cursed by a dulling sameness (Fortunately, she seems open to that).Why you should go there: Because for most of us, it’s the closest big Vermont ski area to where we live. It’s big and rambling and fast and fun. The sculpted terrain of Carinthia aside, this is probably the tamest large mountain on the continent (Okemo competes with it for this title) - the trails are largely blue square boulevards groomed nightly into a coma. But that’s OK: the toothless trail network makes Mount Snow one of the best large mountains imaginable for kids or people who ski five days a year or those who like to just put the gearshift into drive and go. If you want to see where the Northeast’s running-of-the-bulls ice-skating reputation comes from, drop by on a holiday Saturday after it hasn’t snowed in two weeks. If you want to see why people love skiing the Northeast anyway, show up mid-week during a snowstorm and walk onto the Blue Bird Express for 30,000 feet of gloriously stress-free vert. This isn’t the biggest mountain in Vermont, and it isn’t the best, either, but it’s an essential place and one that anyone who wants to truly experience and understand Northeast skiing must visit. Also, you’ll find plenty of this here:Carinthia will bring out your inner superhero. Photo courtesy of Vail Resorts.And plenty of this:Rip it. Photo courtesy of Vail Resorts.Additional reading/videos: Mount Snow has a zany history, with early years defined by a hottub the size of Lake Champlain, an artificial ski hill called Fountain Mountain that materialized out of a pond each winter and lasted well into summer, and an oddball collection of chairlifts straight out of The Jetsons. For an amazing history of that time, check out Chris Diamond’s Ski Inc. His follow-up, Ski Inc. 2020 is also a must-read for anyone who wants to understand how the modern ski industry became what it is today.The Brattleboro Reformer put together this video documenting the community reaction to the death of longtime Mount Snow employees Cleon and Leon Boyd from Covid:A bit more on Cleon Boyd:Follow The Storm Skiing Journal on Facebook and Twitter.COVID-19 & Skiing Podcasts: Author and Industry Veteran Chris Diamond | Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher | Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway | NSAA CEO Kelly Pawlak | Berkshire East/Catamount Owner & Goggles for Docs founder Jon Schaefer | Shaggy’s Copper Country Skis Cofounder Jeff Thompson | Doppelmayr USA President Katharina Schmitz | Mt. Baldy GM Robby Ellingson | Alterra CEO Rusty Gregory | NSAA Director of Risk & Regulatory Affairs Dave ByrdThe Storm Skiing Podcasts: Killington & Pico GM Mike Solimano | Plattekill owners Danielle and Laszlo Vajtay | New England Lost Ski Areas Project Founder Jeremy Davis | Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway | Lift Blog Founder Peter Landsman | Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher | Burke Mountain GM Kevin Mack | Liftopia CEO Evan Reece | Berkshire East & Catamount Owner & GM Jon Schaefer | Vermont Ski + Ride and Vermont Sports Co-Publisher & Editor Lisa Lynn | Sugarbush President & COO Win Smith | Loon President & GM Jay Scambio | Sunday River President & GM Dana Bullen | Big Snow & Mountain Creek VP of Sales & Marketing Hugh Reynolds | Mad River Glen GM Matt Lillard | Indy Pass Founder Doug Fish | National Brotherhood of Skiers President Henri Rivers | Winter 4 Kids & National Winter Activity Center President & CEO Schone Malliet | Vail Veterans Program President & Founder Cheryl Jensen | Mountain Gazette Owner & Editor Mike Rogge | Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows President & CMO Ron Cohen | Aspiring Olympian Benjamin Alexander | Sugarloaf GM Karl Strand – Parts One & Two | Cannon GM John DeVivo | Fairbank Group Chairman Brian Fairbank | Jay Peak GM Steve Wright | Sugarbush President & GM John Hammond Get on the email list at www.stormskiing.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Major Lazer’s *Jillionaire* sits down with Reggae Lover’s AGARD and Kahlil Wonda. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Christopher Leacock aka *Jillionaire* is a Trinidad-born DJ/Producer, entrepreneur, IT guru, and restauranteur. He shares insights and drops gems while taking us through his amazing career. In this Jillionaire interview, he came off like a scholar and an elder. He dropped a lot of knowledge. Dropped a lot of history, and a lot of perspectives. This conversation was nice and mellow – very different energy than last week’s show with Walshy Fire ( https://reggaelover.com/walshy-fire-energy-no-negative-vibes/ ). Nevertheless, Jillionaire had profound things to say and you will enjoy the discussion. Buzzworthy ---------- Big ups to *Buju Banton* who’s been continuing his promotion of Upside Down 2020. Last week that promo brought him to a couple of very big platforms. One of them being the Breakfast Club ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv3YWJTljnE ).t And the other one being Trevor Noah’s Daily Social Distancing Show ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mlp7vv3xTNM ). Buju is doing it all. He was also recently interviewed on Sway’s Universe ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS6JeOaRTAE ) Sirius XM, Shade 45. He is covering all grounds right now. And he also was able to do a performance on Trevor Noah’s Show to close out that on that episode. He performed “Buried Alive” from the Upside Down 2020 album ( https://reggaelover.com/buju-banton-new-album/ ). The Tastemaker -------------- Buju’s got a song called “ *I Am a Jamaican* ,” which won the Jamaica Festival competition ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux9HHJtNNEE ) for 2020. The song and video speak for Jamaicans living abroad and at home. The composition embodies the Jamaican patriotic spirit. Make sure you don’t miss that. There is a new single from *Kabaka Pyramid* , a response to the current social injustice. The song, “ *Babylon Fallin* ,” came out on July 17th, 2020 with accompanying visuals. The music video features clips of scenes with the police facing off against citizens. Kabaka uses his well-known lyrical prowess ( https://highlanda.net/2018/03/29/top-lyricists-reggae-lover-podcast-episode-91/ ) in this very conscious song. It’s social commentary. One of the themes that we’ve been talking about on this platform is the need for music like this. This song definitely goes on that list of revolutionary music. And it’s right on time. The riddim is a different kind. It is not a “one-drop” beat. The message and production are coherent with the times. Regardless of what genre you subscribe to, once you hear the song, you hear what he’s talking about. If you’re anything short of an anarchist or a racist yourself, then you will feel the passion. The release has seen coverage by The Source ( https://thesource.com/2020/07/17/kabaka-pyramid-releases-new-single-babylon-fallin/ ) , a nod to Kabaka’s rep as a dope emcee. Soundclash Update ----------------- Every Friday Team Torment ( https://www.facebook.com/teamtormentfb/ ) presents the *Locked and Loaded* dubplate showcase. Hear four different sounds weekly live on YouTube. Shout out and the entire Team Torment crew, King AP ( https://highlanda.net/2019/07/15/king-ap-sound-reggae-lover-podcast-153/ ) , Blackheart, and the rest of sounds. Also in sound clash news, Soundclash.com ( http://soundclash.com/ ) has a new series coming out sponsored by Serato called No Jing Bang. The tournament will be hosted by D.J. English Fire, Chris Diamond, Walshy Fire, and Warrior Sound. What do I love about this? First of all, it’s great to see the unity between Chris Diamond, Walshy ( https://reggaelover.com/walshy-fire-energy-no-negative-vibes/ ) , and Warrior. Two of the top online clash promoters have now joined forces. Secondly, the major corporate sponsorship for this sport is a huge win. Look out for more developments from the *No Jing Bang* series. We’re glad to see some growth in the SoundClash community as we all adapt to this new normal. Coming Up --------- This season, we will bring you more interviews due to what’s going on in the world right now. Some great potential guests have definitely freed up. We look forward to sharing more exciting, insightful conversations with you. So stay tuned. Get In Touch ------------ Reggae Lover Podcast is produced by Andres AGARD and Aubrey Kahlil Agard. *Visit* *ReggaeLover.com* ( https://reggaelover.com/ ) *for full show notes, archives, and more information.* If you’re interested in a sponsorship or donation, please email info@ReggaeLover.com. Follow us on Instagram @ReggaeLoverPodcast ( https://www.instagram.com/reggaeloverpodcast/ ). Like our Facebook page at Facebook.com/ReggaeLoverPodcast ( http://facebook.com/ReggaeLoverPodcast ). Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/reggae-lover/donations Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Many of us are staying home creating things to do to keep busy. Many of us already have a business and we certainly don't want to keep it a secret. We all know that social media drives business but where do we start? Having a website is one of the most important things for every business to have, no matter the size of the business. Nancy chatted with Chris Diamond, owner of Hogfish Web Studios, to explain 5 things to think about regarding your website: What do you want your website to do for you? How much would you like to spend? How will you market your site? How much do you want to be involved in the management of your site? Where will you host your site? Chris also suggested what to look for in a web designer, and what questions you should ask before you contract with them. Learn more about why you should have a website and where you start by listening to this podcast.

Download this episode on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, and Pocket Casts | Read the full overview at skiing.substack.com.What this is: This is the 10th in a series of conversations exploring the ski industry fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Click through to listen to the first nine: author Chris Diamond, Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher, Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway, NSAA CEO Kelly Pawlak, Berkshire East/Catamount Owner & Goggles for Docs founder Jon Schaefer, Shaggy’s Copper Country Skis Cofounder Jeff Thompson, Doppelmayr USA President Katharina Schmitz, Mt. Baldy GM Robby Ellingson, Alterra CEO Rusty GregoryWho: Dave Byrd, Director of Risk and Regulatory Affairs for the National Ski Areas Association Why I interviewed him: Because as a ski season already overstuffed with uncertainty creeps closer, President Trump added an additional complication late last month when he suspended nearly all work visas through Dec. 31 of this year. That includes the J-1 non-immigrant visas and H-2B temporary worker visas that an enormous number of ski resorts use to fully staff up each winter. Ski areas, which are complex, intricate, and often far from population centers, require enormous manpower to run. The long-running J-1 visa program, filled, for the purposes of ski resorts, mostly by Southern Hemisphere college students on their summer break, has historically provided a pool of eager seasonal workers that local communities have been unable to supply. Already preoccupied with adapting to probable social distancing guidelines and calculating how to make a difficult business work under limited capacity scenarios, ski areas were left a little shellshocked to learn that they would also have to navigate a holiday season without these visiting workers, who have come by the thousands each winter for decades. The NSAA is angling for an exception to President Trump’s proclamation, arguing that the J-1 workers ought to be able to arrive by Dec. 1 to help the mountains ramp up for the holidays. Dave Byrd is leading that effort, and talks us through the importance of J-1s, H-2Bs, and other visas to an already-reeling industry.What we talked about: The different types of visas the ski industry uses and the sorts of jobs those workers do and don’t do; why most ski areas need these extra workers; the spirit of cultural exchange behind the J-1 program and the requirements ski areas face to immerse the students in American culture; the early 1960s origins of the J-1 program as a Cold War tool to promote capitalism and boost America’s global image; how the ski areas find these workers and what they are responsible for providing them once they arrive in the U.S.; what’s driven large ski areas to invest more in employee housing over the past several years; the economic ripple effect of J-1 workers; the argument that the NSAA is using to request a ski industry exemption to Trump’s proclamation and allow them to bring in visa workers by Dec. 1; the percentage of ski industry revenue that comes from the December-to-January holiday periods; why ski areas are probably going to need a lot more staff for the 2020-21 ski season than they’re accustomed to; why the ski industry isn’t suing to stop the proclamation; why Americans tend not to take seasonal jobs but ski areas go to enormous lengths to try to hire them anyway; why high unemployment in the fall may not automatically lead to a higher available American labor force; the competing forces within the Republican party and how their differing opinions on immigration influenced this proclamation and the president’s actions in general; why this visa suspension is not strictly a Republican-versus-Democrat issue and why many Republicans oppose keeping these workers out of the country; the economic importance of ski areas to rural communities; some federal government 101; how ski areas are reacting to the president’s proclamation; the shocking number of positions that went unfilled at U.S. ski areas last season; speculation on how these visa suspensions could evolve depending on the outcome of the presidential elections; why Dave thinks the business community is likely to overcome hardcore immigration opponents and overturn or modify the proclamation; how deep the impacts will be if ski areas are unable to bring these additional workers in this season; how the industry is approaching safety protocols for next season; why Dave is optimistic about the upcoming ski season.Recorded on: July 8, 2020The Storm Skiing Podcast is on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, and Pocket Casts. The Storm Skiing Journal publishes podcasts and other editorial content throughout the ski season. To receive new posts as soon as they are published, sign up for The Storm Skiing Journal Newsletter at skiing.substack.com. Follow The Storm Skiing Journal on Facebook and Twitter.COVID-19 & Skiing Podcasts: Author and Industry Veteran Chris Diamond | Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher | Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway | NSAA CEO Kelly Pawlak| Berkshire East/Catamount Owner & Goggles for Docs founder Jon Schaefer | Shaggy’s Copper Country Skis Cofounder Jeff Thompson | Doppelmayr USA President Katharina Schmitz | Mt. Baldy GM Robby Ellingson | Alterra CEO Rusty GregoryThe Storm Skiing Podcasts: Killington & Pico GM Mike Solimano | Plattekill owners Danielle and Laszlo Vajtay | New England Lost Ski Areas Project Founder Jeremy Davis | Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway | Lift Blog Founder Peter Landsman | Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher | Burke Mountain GM Kevin Mack | Liftopia CEO Evan Reece | Berkshire East & Catamount Owner & GM Jon Schaefer | Vermont Ski + Ride and Vermont Sports Co-Publisher & Editor Lisa Lynn | Sugarbush President & COO Win Smith | Loon President & GM Jay Scambio | Sunday River President & GM Dana Bullen | Big Snow & Mountain Creek VP of Sales & Marketing Hugh Reynolds | Mad River Glen GM Matt Lillard | Indy Pass Founder Doug Fish | National Brotherhood of Skiers President Henri Rivers | Winter 4 Kids & National Winter Activity Center President & CEO Schone Malliet Get on the email list at www.stormskiing.com

Veronica Leal is a Colombian cutie who was born in Cúcuta, on December 17, 1993. Veronica started her official porn career in 2017, when she was 24. She is a girl who loves all kinds of sex and it is never enough for her. Basically, Veronica is bisexual but she says she loves guys a bit more. So far, she appeared in over 40 scenes. Those are lesbian and hardcore actions. Her lesbian scenes are full of passion and lust. She made those scenes with names like: Lindsey Cruz, Candice Demellza, Frida Sante, Angel Piaff, Boni Brown, Dominica Phoenix, Naomi Bennet and Adriana Betancur. Maybe the most important thing about Veronica is that she worked for porn companies on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, which, you must admit, isn't a small thing. We'll mention just some of those: 21 Sextury network, DDF Network, Met-Art, Fake Hub, Perfect Gonzo, BangBros Network, Reality Kings, Mofos etc. She has two filmed scenes with famous Nacho Vidal. In her hardcore scenes you can also see actors, such are: Charlie Dean, Charlie Mac, Chris Diamond, Erik Everhard, James Brossman, Kristof Cale, Luca Ferrero, Lutro, Tristan Seagal etc. This lovely girl has great potential to become one of the most wanted porn models.

Download this episode on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, and Pocket Casts | Read the full overview at skiing.substack.com.What this is: This is the ninth in a series of conversations exploring the ski industry fallout from the COVID-19-forced closure of nearly every ski area on the continent in March 2020. Click through to listen to the first eight: author Chris Diamond, Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher, Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway, NSAA CEO Kelly Pawlak, Berkshire East/Catamount Owner & Goggles for Docs founder Jon Schaefer, Shaggy’s Copper Country Skis Cofounder Jeff Thompson, Doppelmayr USA President Katharina Schmitz, Mt. Baldy GM Robby EllingsonWho: Rusty Gregory, Alterra Mountain Company CEOWhy I interviewed him: Because as skiing has evolved into a megapass-anchored duopoly that has trained consumers to feel entitled to cheap access to as many mountains as possible, the consequences of those large players’ decisions has been amplified considerably. When Vail and Alterra shut down their entire North American networks of nearly 50 ski areas on March 14, the impact reverberated in immediate and wide-ranging ways that would have been difficult to imagine even five years ago. Now, as both step out of the wreckage and try to make good with passholders still fuming about shortened seasons while acknowledging that next season isn’t close to being assured, we are collectively witnessing the kind of real-time business adaptation that normally takes years to occur. How Alterra resets the Ikon Pass now will influence not only how smaller mountains adjust their offerings, but what skiers’ pass expectations will be long after Covid-19 has burned out. Looming over all of this is the possibility that the 2020-21 ski season could be a very dystopian, socially distant affair, with capacity limits and restricted access to just about everything. How Alterra is evolving in the shutdown’s aftermath and preparing for the possibility of a very odd 2020-21 season is one of the most important stories in skiing right now. Alterra’s Steamboat ski area in February 2020.What we talked about: How the shutdown progressed and the catalysts behind the ultimate decision to close; how using Crystal Mountain as a laboratory told them social distancing at massive ski areas was unsustainable; the chaos and uncertainty of March 14, which turned out to be shutdown day; the creeping atmosphere of fear in ski towns as the virus spread; the impossible decision of shuttering 15 North American ski resorts in the midst of peak season when hundreds of thousands of skiers are planning on booting up the next day; second-guessing the shutdown decision and how long those doubts lasted; dealing with Angry Ski Bro in the moment; Dude Brah are you really going to shut Squaw when we’re about to get dumped on?; managing thousands of layoffs and furloughs and helping move those who wanted to leave out of town; how Alterra is planning for different re-opening scenarios; losses are significant, but the owners are well-capitalized and this is not a death knell; the status of the capital investments Alterra announced just before the shutdown, including the Steamboat and Tremblant expansions, new lifts at Mammoth, and lodges throughout the system; how Alterra rejiggered the Ikon Pass to acknowledge that “people didn’t get what they paid for”; more Ikon Pass adjustments are coming, including a plan for what will happen in the event of another shutdown; Rusty’s reaction to Vail’s plan to offer up to 80 percent renewal discount for last year’s Epic Pass holders; the thinking behind the Ikon Pass nurse discount; Ikon’s substantial child pass discount; the May 26 Ikon Pass deadline likely won’t change; the logic behind adding Windham to the Ikon Pass; Alterra isn’t done buying, perhaps even in the short term; whether the Windham partnership signals a trend toward adding more close-to-cities feeder-type areas that can supplement longer trips at larger mountains; we could see more Ikon partners in the East; whether Vail buying Peak catalyzed Alterra’s Windham partnership; why Mt. Bachelor, a Powdr Corp resort whose large sister mountains Snowbird, Copper, and Killington are already on the Ikon Pass has just now been added as a partner; the importance of the Pacific Northwest; Rusty’s thoughts on Mt. Baldy’s re-opening experiment and whether any of that could be applied to Alterra’s properties; could we see Squaw Valley or Mammoth re-open this season?; if you love conference calls, become a CEO at a huge ski company during a pandemic, because you will have lots of them; will the southern hemisphere 2020 ski season happen?; optimism for the futureWhat I got wrong: I corrected this in the interview, but it’s worth restating that Alterra’s Adventure Assurance program provides the option to defer the value of an Ikon Pass to the 2021-22 season by Dec. 10. It does not provide a refund. Words are hard and I chose the wrong one.Questions I wish I’d asked: While this has nothing to do with the coronavirus, I had hoped to ask about Alterra’s decision to kick Aspen and Jackson Hole off the Ikon Base Pass and up to a “plus” tier. Recorded on: May 4, 2020The Storm Skiing Podcast is on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, and Pocket Casts. The Storm Skiing Journal publishes podcasts and other editorial content throughout the ski season. To receive new posts as soon as they are published, sign up for The Storm Skiing Journal Newsletter at skiing.substack.com. Follow The Storm Skiing Journal on Facebook and Twitter.COVID-19 & Skiing Podcasts: Author and Industry Veteran Chris Diamond | Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher | Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway | NSAA CEO Kelly Pawlak | Berkshire East/Catamount Owner & Goggles for Docs founder Jon Schaefer | Shaggy’s Copper Country Skis Cofounder Jeff Thompson | Doppelmayr USA President Katharina Schmitz | Mt. Baldy GM Robby Ellingson |The Storm Skiing Podcasts: Killington & Pico GM Mike Solimano | Plattekill owners Danielle and Laszlo Vajtay | New England Lost Ski Areas Project Founder Jeremy Davis | Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway | Lift Blog Founder Peter Landsman | Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher | Burke Mountain GM Kevin Mack | Liftopia CEO Evan Reece | Berkshire East & Catamount Owner & GM Jon Schaefer | Vermont Ski + Ride and Vermont Sports Co-Publisher & Editor Lisa Lynn | Sugarbush President & COO Win Smith | Loon President & GM Jay Scambio | Sunday River President & GM Dana Bullen | Big Snow & Mountain Creek VP of Sales & Marketing Hugh Reynolds | Get on the email list at www.stormskiing.com

Download this episode on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, and Pocket Casts | Read the full overview at skiing.substack.com.What this is: This is the eighth in a series of short conversations exploring the ski industry fallout from the COVID-19-forced closure of nearly every ski area on the continent in March 2020. Click through to listen to the first seven: author Chris Diamond, Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher, Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway, NSAA CEO Kelly Pawlak, Berkshire East/Catamount Owner & Goggles for Docs founder Jon Schaefer, Shaggy’s Copper Country Skis Cofounder Jeff Thompson, Doppelmayr USA President Katharina SchmitzWho: Robby Ellingson, General Manager of Mt. Baldy, CaliforniaWhy I interviewed him: Because Ellingson figured it out. After Lookout Pass, Idaho, became the last ski area on the continent to freeze its lifts on March 25 to help stop the spread of COVID-19, I figured the season was done. Even if Mammoth or Arapahoe Basin or Snowbird or Killington did have enough base and enough staff left hanging around to open up again when the curve flattened on the coronavirus outbreak, it seemed unlikely that they would have the will to do so. They’d lost weeks of fat March and early-April spring break revenue, and many of them don’t make much or any money on late spring skiing. Why bother? Mt. Baldy bothered. In a limited, careful manner, with pre-registrations and parking lot check-ins and metered access throughout the day, the mountain is conducting a micro-experiment on behalf of the entire North American ski industry to see if there’s a way to make skiing work in a socially distant world. When the lifts stopped at most of the nation’s largest ski resorts on a frantic Saturday-into-Sunday jumble of panic and confusion in mid-March, no one really understood yet what was going on, how bad it was going to get, and how severe and widespread a shutdown needed to be in order to arrest the disease’s spread. We don’t necessarily have a good long-term understanding of those things just yet, but the ski industry’s doers and managers have had a good long stretch to think through some approaches that may allow lift-served skiing to survive until the scientists can put a stake through coronavirus’ heart. I wanted to see how that experiment was going, if it was sustainable or practical, and what it could mean for the 2020-21 ski season.   What we talked about: The story of Mt. Baldy’s March shutdown amid a storm cycle; how the mountain’s pre-shutdown social distancing plan informed its April re-opening; how they knew it was time to fire the lifts up again; the issues caused by cityfolk flooding the mountains throughout the closure; aiming for a low-key re-opening in a high-key world; what California has and has not closed and what that means for ski areas; when the government isn’t clear on their guidelines, are there even guidelines Bro?; applying the golf course model to skiing; if Costco and Best Buy can stay open, why not an 800-acre ski area operating at 10 percent capacity?; Baldy’s social distancing protocol, from buying the lift ticket to entering the parking lot to going up and away on the lifts; skiing in the age of mandatory facemasks; how employees feel about returning to work after weeks of shelter-in-place; yeah it makes no sense because it’s pushing 90 degrees in Los Angeles but Mt. Baldy’s been getting hammered with snow and they’re aiming for Memorial Day or later; there’s avy control in Southern California; the plan for Ski Patrol; the community reaction; how opening helped take pressure off the end-of-the-road crowds that had been congregating outside the mountain’s gates; whether this is a sustainable model for a COVID-bombed 2020-21 ski season Further reading:Mt. Baldy’s we’re open/social distancing protocol page.Additional coverage of Mt. Baldy’s reopening: Powder, MSN, LA Times, Gear Junkie, KTLA, KCALThis Mt. Baldy trip report from the March 1994 issue of Powder will give you a good sense of the place. It doesn’t seem to have changed much since. An overview of Mt. Baldy’s lifts and a trailmap.Recorded on: April 22, 2020The Storm Skiing Podcast is on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, and Pocket Casts. The Storm Skiing Journal publishes podcasts and other editorial content throughout the ski season. To receive new posts as soon as they are published, sign up for The Storm Skiing Journal Newsletter at skiing.substack.com. Follow The Storm Skiing Journal on Facebook and Twitter.COVID-19 & Skiing Podcasts: Author and Industry Veteran Chris Diamond | Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher | Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway | NSAA CEO Kelly Pawlak| Berkshire East/Catamount Owner & Goggles for Docs founder Jon Schaefer | Shaggy’s Copper Country Skis Cofounder Jeff Thompson | Doppelmayr USA President Katharina SchmitzThe Storm Skiing Podcasts: Killington & Pico GM Mike Solimano | Plattekill owners Danielle and Laszlo Vajtay | New England Lost Ski Areas Project Founder Jeremy Davis | Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway | Lift Blog Founder Peter Landsman | Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher | Burke Mountain GM Kevin Mack | Liftopia CEO Evan Reece | Berkshire East & Catamount Owner & GM Jon Schaefer| Vermont Ski + Ride and Vermont Sports Co-Publisher & Editor Lisa Lynn| Sugarbush President & COO Win Smith| Loon President & GM Jay Scambio| Sunday River President & GM Dana Bullen| Big Snow & Mountain Creek VP of Sales & Marketing Hugh Reynolds Get on the email list at www.stormskiing.com

Download this episode on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher,TuneIn, and Pocket Casts | Read the full overview at skiing.substack.com.What this is: This is the seventh in a series of short conversations exploring the fallout to the ski industry from the COVID-19-forced closure of every ski area on the continent in March 2020. Click through to listen to the first six: author Chris Diamond, Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher, Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway, NSAA CEO Kelly Pawlak, Berkshire East/Catamount Owner & Goggles for Docs founder Jon Schaefer, and Shaggy’s Copper Country Skis Cofounder Jeff Thompson.Who: Katharina Schmitz, President of Doppelmayr USAWhy I interviewed her: Because if my spending is your income, then my budget cuts are your revenue cuts, and one of the most significant down-the-chain victims of the Great Ski Shutdown of 2020 is chairlift manufacturers. When a company like Vail says very bluntly that the immediate financial impact of the coronavirus-caused shutdown could be as much as $200 million, they have to make up some of that deficit somewhere. Often, the big-ticket items go first, and nothing in skiing is more big ticket than chairlifts. They are millions of dollars apiece, and they often aren’t absolutely necessary. Thanks to decades of consistent investment, the chairlift infrastructure at most large U.S. resorts is in quite good condition. The Kancamagus Quad at Loon, for example, is only 25 years old, and GM Jay Scambio told me on The Storm Skiing Podcast that it was still in good enough shape that there was a high probability that it would replace the Seven Brothers triple chair when the resort tore the quad out to make room for a new eight-pack this offseason. So when Boyne suddenly lost up to $22 million in end-of-season revenue, the obvious choice was to delay installation of the very expensive (perhaps eight figures expensive, but Boyne won’t say), new Kancamagus 8 and keep the perfectly good Kanc 4 running until it’s feasible to move ahead with the project without interruption. More significant perhaps than short-term cost savings, a delay avoids the risk of tearing out a key old lift and not being able to replace it prior to winter in the event of another work stoppage. Loon would descend into gridlock without some version of the Kanc lift. So I wanted to see how lift manufacturers were managing this sudden slowdown. Aside from the business component here, chairlifts are a central part of the resort skier’s experience, with lifts bound inextricably to the mountains we love and our conception of those places. While most of us couldn’t name the manufacturer of our favorite lifts, we realize that these companies are essential, and how they weather this economic fallout matters. Doppelmayr installed Jackson Hole’s Sweetwater Gondola in 2016.What we talked about: What it’s like to start a new job in the midst of a pandemic/business crisis; the slow realization of the scope of the shutdown and how it would trickle down to cuts in capital spending; how Doppelmayr USA coordinated with their colleagues in Europe to prepare as the crisis amped up over there; how the company worked with the big ski conglomerates to postpone projects in a deliberate and orderly fashion; how much it helps that there aren’t that many lift companies and there aren’t that many big ski companies and those relationships have been very tight for a very long time; since the number of lifts the company builds varies by year, a sudden slowdown isn’t as much of a system shock as it could be for more steady-production business; how much manufacturing is proceeding during the shutdown; where they store the lifts that are already made but won’t be on the mountain until 2021 at the earliest; what Doppelmayr makes in Utah and what their global supply chain looks like; supply chains are so far mostly intact; where the labor comes from for on-mountain installations; why the crews in Alaska are still at work on the Icy Point Straight gondola project; how the company is working with various states to proceed with on-the-ground work under their varying shelter-in-place orders; how the company is preparing to work under social distancing and enhanced sanitation rules; what happens contract-wise when a ski area postpones a lift; the status of postponed projects at Loon, Big Sky, and Beaver Creek; where Doppelmayr is storing the Loon 8-pack until they can install it; why the state-of-the-art D-Line lifts are still made in Austria; the status of non-cancelled projects at Sun Peaks, Sun Valley, and Timberline, Oregon; the status of installations at dormant Saddleback and Timberline Mountain, West Virginia; Yup Saddleback sure did pull down the old Rangeley Double with a snowcat; the long-term future of the lift industry; why she’s optimistic that this crisis could stoke demand for lifts as urban transitReferences: In the intro, I refer to stats on the cost of chairlifts from New England Ski History. You can browse those here.Here is Lift Blog’s 2019 North American lift construction recap, as well as its databases of new lifts that are planned for 2020 and 2021.Recorded on: April 17, 2020The Storm Skiing Podcast is on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, and Pocket Casts. The Storm Skiing Journal publishes podcasts and other editorial content throughout the ski season. To receive new posts as soon as they are published, sign up for The Storm Skiing Journal Newsletter at skiing.substack.com. Follow The Storm Skiing Journal on Facebook and Twitter.COVID-19 & Skiing Podcasts: Author and Industry Veteran Chris Diamond | Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher | Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway | NSAA CEO Kelly Pawlak| Berkshire East/Catamount Owner & Goggles for Docs founder Jon Schaefer | Shaggy’s Copper Country Skis Cofounder Jeff Thompson |The Storm Skiing Podcasts: Killington & Pico GM Mike Solimano | Plattekill owners Danielle and Laszlo Vajtay | New England Lost Ski Areas Project Founder Jeremy Davis | Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway | Lift Blog Founder Peter Landsman | Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher | Burke Mountain GM Kevin Mack | Liftopia CEO Evan Reece | Berkshire East & Catamount Owner & GM Jon Schaefer | Vermont Ski + Ride and Vermont Sports Co-Publisher & Editor Lisa Lynn | Sugarbush President & COO Win Smith | Loon President & GM Jay Scambio | Sunday River President & GM Dana Bullen | Big Snow & Mountain Creek VP of Sales & Marketing Hugh Reynolds | Get on the email list at www.stormskiing.com

The ski industry has undergone rapid changes in the past several years, and we are currently in another unprecedented moment with the COVID-19 pandemic. So to help us better understand the past, present, and future of the ski industry, we talked to industry veteran and author of SKI INC, and SKI INC. 2020, Chris Diamond, about the rise of the EPIC and IKON passes; this recent era of rampant ski resort acquisitions; the state (and fate) of independent ski areas; whether COVID-19 will likely have lasting impacts on the ski industry; and more.TOPICS & TIMESBackground: from bartender to CEO (3:26)What led you to write SKI INC? (14:24)Why did you write SKI INC. 2020? (26:30)Chess Match: Vail / EPIC Pass vs. Alterra / IKON (35:38)How will COVID-19 affect the ski industry? (44:02)The future of independent ski resorts? (49:54)Predictions: future acquisitions & industry trends (55:22) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Download this episode on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, and Pocket Casts | Read the full overview at skiing.substack.com.What this is: This is the sixth in a series of short conversations exploring the fallout to the ski industry from the COVID-19-forced closure of nearly every ski area on the continent in March 2020. Click through to listen to the first five: author Chris Diamond, Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher, Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway, NSAA CEO Kelly Pawlak, Berkshire East/Catamount Owner & Goggles for Docs founder Jon Schaefer. Who: Jeff Thompson, partner and cofounder of Shaggy’s Copper Country Skis in Boyne City, MichiganWhy I interviewed him: Because as America has fractured along political fault lines over the past few decades, the bring-it-together ethos of the nation’s finest moments seemed ever more distant and improbable. It was with a sense of amazement bordering on disbelief that I would read about the titanic wartime effort of the 1940s, when American manufacturing channeled its full might and ingenuity into assembling one of the greatest war machines in history. In December 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. By February 1942, automakers were retooling their factories for airplane, tank, and truck manufacturing. Factories of all kinds made similar pivots. This enormous and immediate output helped win World War II, and much of that effort took place in Michigan. When COVID-19 pounced out of the viral shadows this winter and began its inexorable creep across our globalized and interconnected world, the medical establishment everywhere was as short of medical supplies as the United States was of battle-ready Jeeps and bombers in 1941. Now, as then, small and large manufacturers of all sizes are applying their expertise in making things to the enormous and urgent project before them. American manufacturing in 2020 is not what it was in 1941, when the nation was one of the world’s great factory hubs. But the work ethic, the energy, the problem-solving intelligence, and the compulsion to meet a problem and punch it in the face remain. When the scope of the COVID-19 crisis began to settle over our nation, Shaggy’s Copper Country Skis, like small manufacturers across the country, shut their regular production lines and retooled for crisis. A custom ski shop, Shaggy’s is now cranking out 5,000 face masks per day for front-line medical workers, playing a small but vital role in this unfolding pandemic. That is a story I wanted to hear.What we talked about: Even as the world falls apart good things still happen, and one of those good things was Jeff having his first child just as the shutdown was taking hold across the country; what inspired Shaggy’s to shut down ski production and how they honed in on face shields as an area of need they could help fulfill; the trial-and-error process of going from prototype to production; making things is a deeply ingrained family habit (that stretches back more than a century), and the Thompsons have more than one small factory locked into this effort; the practical challenges of pivoting from boutique custom ski production to high-volume repetitive stamping out of a single identical item; how Shaggy’s modified their shop to switch from skis to face shields; how you move a 5,000-foot-long, 650-pound coil of plastic around a shop floor without a forklift; the challenges of sourcing materials on the fly that normally take weeks to acquire and that most suppliers don’t have in the necessary volume; the materials that go into the shields and the tools used to cut and assemble them; how they’re collaborating with other ski and snowboard companies to help ramp up the overall production effort; how many face shields they can turn out each day and how much extra labor it takes to do that; the simplicity of the whole operation compared to Shaggy’s typical process of banging out custom skis, and the psychological reset necessary for a group accustomed to that more creative process; how the team was inherently prepared to make this kind of switch; the setbacks the shop hit in ramping up production; how they continue to update the production line to streamline the production process; how 60-year-old riveters are proving to be essential tools to the assembly process; how Shaggy’s stands alone as a true independent ski company; how they allocate these invaluable resources in a time of overwhelming demand; where the shields end up and what they do with the excess shields each day; how a company spreads the word that it’s a suddenly medical manufacturer with masks on offer when it’s well-established as a niche ski outfit; how they honed in on the Costco-sized 150-pack as the optimal number of shields per shipped box; how operating as a direct-to-consumer brand positioned Shaggy’s to easily send these shields directly to hospitals; how long this change-over might last; how this effort honors the family legacy of making thingsMore about Shaggy’s: The company has one of the cooler stories behind its name that I’m aware of – from their website:In 1908, our great-grand-uncle Sulo "Shaggy" Lehto starting hand carving wooden skis for our family and neighbors in the village of Kearsarge, located in the heart of Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula, best known as the Copper Country. Shaggy carved skis for his niece, our grandmother (John's mother), and she told stories of using them to travel around town in the deep snow and ski down the tailing piles from the copper mines. That pair of skis was handed down through the generations. In 2005, when the Thompson family started making skis, they knew they had to keep the family heritage alive and dedicated their ski building endeavor with the family name of Shaggy's Copper Country Skis.It is with great honor and a sense of pride that we use his name and hope that Shaggy is as proud of us as we are of him.A deeper look:Shaggy’s profiles from Unofficial Networks and Teton Gravity Research. More on the face shield effort from the local news station in Northern Michigan.Recorded on: April 7, 2020The Storm Skiing Podcast is on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, and Pocket Casts. The Storm Skiing Journal publishes podcasts and other editorial content throughout the ski season. To receive new posts as soon as they are published, sign up for The Storm Skiing Journal Newsletter at skiing.substack.com. Follow The Storm Skiing Journal on Facebook and Twitter.COVID-19 & Skiing Podcasts: Author and Industry Veteran Chris Diamond | Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher | Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway | NSAA CEO Kelly Pawlak| Berkshire East/Catamount Owner & Goggles for Docs founder Jon SchaeferThe Storm Skiing Podcasts: Killington & Pico GM Mike Solimano | Plattekill owners Danielle and Laszlo Vajtay | New England Lost Ski Areas Project Founder Jeremy Davis | Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway | Lift Blog Founder Peter Landsman | Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher | Burke Mountain GM Kevin Mack | Liftopia CEO Evan Reece | Berkshire East & Catamount Owner & GM Jon Schaefer| Vermont Ski + Ride and Vermont Sports Co-Publisher & Editor Lisa Lynn| Sugarbush President & COO Win Smith| Loon President & GM Jay Scambio| Sunday River President & GM Dana Bullen| Big Snow & Mountain Creek VP of Sales & Marketing Hugh Reynolds | Get on the email list at www.stormskiing.com

Download this episode on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher,TuneIn, and Pocket Casts | Read the full overview at skiing.substack.com.What this is: This is the fifth in a series of short conversations exploring the fallout to the ski industry from the COVID-19-forced closure of every ski area on the continent in March 2020. Click through to listen to the first four: author Chris Diamond, Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher, Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway, NSAA CEO Kelly Pawlak.Who: Jon Schaefer, Owner and General Manager of Berkshire East and Catamount, Founder of Goggles for DocsWhy I interviewed him: Because Jon has done two incredibly consequential things that helped shift the momentum of the COVID-19 response in tangible ways. First, he turned the lights out on his two Massachusetts ski areas on Thursday, March 12, becoming the first ski area on the continent to close specifically to help stop the virus’ spread. In doing so, he lit a fuse that would soon blow up the entire industry. Second, he willed an errant email from a New York City doctor into a nationwide initiative to transfer goggles from the bottom of 10,000 dusty ski bags to the faces of front-line medical workers, giving them the eye protection that somehow our medical system is not equipped to provide. How and why he did these things is a story that I wanted to hear.What we talked about: Jon’s thought process leading up to the shutdown; when you take away skiing you’re taking away freedom and the emotional toll of making that decision is significant; how the sacrifice was “an act of honoring” the more vulnerable members of the tight-knit communities that wrap both of those mountains; how those communities reacted to his decision; “crickets” from the industry when he closed; there are some advantages to not being a 6,000-mountain conglomerate, and one of those is the ability to move very quickly in an instance such as the COVID shutdown; he’s already figuring out how to put his employees back to work; when everything goes haywire, the government responds with resources for businesses but you’ve got to dig in to figure out what they are; the vast internet bazaar of government auctions is an overlooked resource in this crisis; could we see temporary farms on the slopes of Berkshire East and Catamount?; the single email that launched Goggles for Docs; how he organized the avalanche of emails that followed; Inntopia steps in to order the chaos with a website; how rapidly the number of listed hospitals in need grew and how that happened; a de facto corporate order emerges from the let’s-do-this pent-up enthusiasm of hundreds of nearly home-bound volunteers; the exponential growth of donations; virtual apres is ongoing to raise awareness and you’re welcome to drop in; “the intensity with which the ski world is attacking this … is just phenomenal”; your old goggles are gold right now, so get them out of your closet and into a hospital; this thing went global quick; Goggles for Docs is a case study in the power of crowd-sourcing; this gives you something you can do other than sit at home and feel as though there’s nothing you can do; what made him think about shutting the whole thing down and why he didn’t; why he’s not preoccupied with the fact that the healthcare system was shockingly short on equipment to meet this crisis; how you can donate or otherwise help; how enormous the need is; yes your goggles may be beat up but official medical orgs have approved this so go for it.Recorded on: April 5, 2020The Storm Skiing Podcast is on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, and Pocket Casts. The Storm Skiing Journal publishes podcasts and other editorial content throughout the ski season. To receive new posts as soon as they are published, sign up for The Storm Skiing Journal Newsletter at skiing.substack.com. Follow The Storm Skiing Journal on Facebook and Twitter.COVID-19 & Skiing Podcasts: Author and Industry Veteran Chris Diamond | Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher | Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway | NSAA CEO Kelly PawlakThe Storm Skiing Podcasts: Killington & Pico GM Mike Solimano | Plattekill owners Danielle and Laszlo Vajtay | New England Lost Ski Areas Project Founder Jeremy Davis | Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway | Lift Blog Founder Peter Landsman | Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher | Burke Mountain GM Kevin Mack | Liftopia CEO Evan Reece | Berkshire East & Catamount Owner & GM Jon Schaefer| Vermont Ski + Ride and Vermont Sports Co-Publisher & Editor Lisa Lynn| Sugarbush President & COO Win Smith| Loon President & GM Jay Scambio| Sunday River President & GM Dana Bullen| Big Snow & Mountain Creek VP of Sales & Marketing Hugh Reynolds | Get on the email list at www.stormskiing.com

Download this episode on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher,TuneIn, and Pocket Casts | Read the full overview at skiing.substack.com.What this is: This is the fourth in a series of short conversations exploring the fallout to the ski industry from the COVID-19-forced closure of nearly every ski area on the continent in March 2020. Click through to listen to the first three: author Chris Diamond, Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher, Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway.Who: Kelly Pawlak, President and CEO of the National Ski Areas AssociationWhy I interviewed her: The $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act that the president signed into law on March 27 is 880 pages long, meaning that approximately zero people have read the entire thing. While there are plenty of high-level breakdowns itemizing what the act delivers American individuals and businesses, it’s less obvious what this titanic relief bill means for the ski industry and its nearly 1 million employees. As the primary trade group representing U.S. ski areas, the National Ski Areas Association’s mission over the past several weeks has been to raise its hand on behalf of the collective industry and say, “Hey Congress, don’t forget about us.” I wanted to get a sense of exactly what the bill offered ski areas large and small, and to gauge what else the NSAA was prioritizing over what is set to be a very long slog back to skiers riding lifts up mountainsides. Also, the industry seems extremely satisfied with the NSAA at the moment (Steve Wright is the GM of Jay Peak; Christian Knapp, who comments on the thread, is the CMO of Aspen-Snowmass):What we talked about: The factors behind the NSAA’s estimate that U.S. ski areas will lose $2 billion from the COVID-19 shutdown; the ripple effect of cancelling large capital projects; how much U.S. ski areas invest in capital per skier visit; the importance of summer business and what it will mean if that goes away; what’s in the CARES Act for ski areas and their employees and why it may take a while to sort all that out; the risks of being overlooked for relief money as a seasonal business whose season was three-quarters of the way over; how to get attention for the ski industry when the entire economy collapsed, taking just about every industry with it; the different CARES Act aid that small and large ski areas are eligible for; how the NSAA is approaching the next possible round of Congressional stimulus; how to avoid the, “What do you guys need money for, is there even still skiing in March?” trap when jockeying for that cash; the crucial role of ski areas to rural economies; the Congressional Ski and Snowboard Caucus sounds fun – what is it?; Forest Service land lease fees that 122 U.S. ski areas pay each year could be waived or deferred; the problem with business interruption insurance; is Ski Blandford a bellwether for a wave of independent ski area closings in the COVID aftermath?; echoes of Mount Snow-Haystack in the failure of Butternut subsidizing Blandford; when and why the NSAA cancelled their annual trade show and convention for the first time in 58 years and what they’re doing instead; how the industry is embracing this whole thing as a learning opportunityWhat I got wrong: I said that Vail had cancelled all of its capital spending for the rest of the year, but that is incorrect: they are eliminating up to $85 million in major capital projects such as new chairlifts and terrain expansions, but are not cancelling basic maintenance capital spending. I also stated that the new Hermitage Club ownership group was “a part of the old ownership,” which isn’t exactly right – a group of former club members purchased the mountain at auction for a bit more than $8 million last month.Fact check: Kelly and I ponder the number of U.S. states that have ski areas – there are 37, four of which only have one: Tennessee, Rhode Island, Maryland, and Alabama(!).Recorded on: April 2, 2020The Storm Skiing Podcast is on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, and Pocket Casts. The Storm Skiing Journal publishes podcasts and other editorial content throughout the ski season. To receive new posts as soon as they are published, sign up for The Storm Skiing Journal Newsletter at skiing.substack.com. Follow The Storm Skiing Journal on Facebook and Twitter.COVID-19 and Skiing Podcasts: Author and Industry Veteran Chris Diamond | Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher | Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway |The Storm Skiing Podcasts: Killington & Pico GM Mike Solimano | Plattekill owners Danielle and Laszlo Vajtay | New England Lost Ski Areas Project Founder Jeremy Davis | Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway | Lift Blog Founder Peter Landsman | Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher | Burke Mountain GM Kevin Mack | Liftopia CEO Evan Reece | Berkshire East & Catamount Owner & GM Jon Schaefer| Vermont Ski + Ride and Vermont Sports Co-Publisher & Editor Lisa Lynn| Sugarbush President & COO Win Smith| Loon President & GM Jay Scambio| Sunday River President & GM Dana Bullen| Big Snow & Mountain Creek VP of Sales & Marketing Hugh Reynolds | Get on the email list at www.stormskiing.com

Download this episode on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher,TuneIn, and Pocket Casts | Read the full overview at skiing.substack.com.What this is: This is the third in a series of short conversations exploring the fallout to the ski industry from the COVID-19-forced closure of nearly every ski area on the continent in March 2020. You can listen to the first two – with author Chris Diamond and Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher – but it’s not like Star Wars or something where you have to see them in a certain order or they won’t make sense, so jump right in here.Who: Geoff Hatheway, President of Magic Mountain, VermontMagic’s workhorse Heron-Poma Red Chair has been hauling skiers up Glebe Mountain for nearly 50 years.Why I interviewed him: Because Magic, resolutely perched between Mount Snow and Stratton in Southern Vermont, is as unlikely as it is necessary in this multipass futureworld we all live in. That particular geography puts the place in a defensive posture during the best of times, and in some weird way perhaps makes it uniquely adapted to confront an unforeseen crisis such as the COVID-19 shutdown. Geoff’s a thoughtful guy who helped rescue the mountain from insolvency a few years back, and I wanted to see how he had approached the inevitable shutdown, what he’s been doing to stabilize operations, and how he was planning for Magic’s future in a world that just got turned upside-down.Magic on a misty day.What we talked about: Life in Vermont during the COVID-19 shutdown; the eeriness of an empty Magic covered in snow; how the mountain’s employees reacted to and are managing the shutdown; inside Magic’s decision to close and why it was inevitable; what finally made them call it a season; what happened once Vail and Alterra closed their nearby mountains; how Magic’s hardcore community responded to the early shutdown; how the Congressional relief package will help the mountain bridge the shutdown but it’s gonna be a pain in the rear to tap everything they’re entitled to; what Geoff would like to see in future relief bills; why spring season pass sales are so vital to summer operations; the Black Chair will rise again; why Magic is going to drop season pass prices and push its early-bird pass deadlines by two months; I think the Freedom Pass is dead; you’ll be able to add an Indy Pass onto your Magic season pass for a very low price; Magic season passholders have not gone Angry Ski Bro and demanded refunds for the truncated season; the mountain’s current uphill travel policy; why unity is the best way through this mess for the country as a whole; now is the time to make those phone calls; the importance of the Friends of Magic Facebook groupMagic in February. The towers for the unfinished Black Chair rise up the mountain in the distance.The kid babbling in the background: Is mine. He’s now audio-bombed three out of three COVID-19 and skiing podcasts, and I imagine as long as we’re all holed up in the same apartment together 24 hours a day, he will continue to do so.Recorded on: April 2, 2020The Storm Skiing Podcast is on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, and Pocket Casts. The Storm Skiing Journal publishes podcasts and other editorial content throughout the ski season. To receive new posts as soon as they are published, sign up for The Storm Skiing Journal Newsletter at skiing.substack.com. Follow The Storm Skiing Journal on Facebook and Twitter.COVID-19 and Skiing Podcasts: Author and Industry Veteran Chris Diamond | Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher |The Storm Skiing Podcasts: Killington & Pico GM Mike Solimano | Plattekill owners Danielle and Laszlo Vajtay | New England Lost Ski Areas Project Founder Jeremy Davis | Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway | Lift Blog Founder Peter Landsman | Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher | Burke Mountain GM Kevin Mack | Liftopia CEO Evan Reece | Berkshire East & Catamount Owner & GM Jon Schaefer| Vermont Ski + Ride and Vermont Sports Co-Publisher & Editor Lisa Lynn| Sugarbush President & COO Win Smith| Loon President & GM Jay Scambio| Sunday River President & GM Dana Bullen| Big Snow & Mountain Creek VP of Sales & Marketing Hugh Reynolds | Get on the email list at www.stormskiing.com

Download this episode on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher,TuneIn, and Pocket Casts | Read the full overview at skiing.substack.com.What this is: This is the second in a series of short conversations exploring the fallout to the ski industry from the COVID-19-forced closure of nearly every ski area on the continent in March 2020. This is not a typical Storm Skiing Podcast, and the format, tone, and focus is intentionally different from those lengthier shows. My goal is to help the community understand why the shutdown was necessary and what it means to our sport in the short and long term. You can listen to the first one, with author and industry veteran Chris Diamond, here.Who: Stephen Kircher, President and CEO of Boyne ResortsWhy I interviewed him: As the head of the third largest ski company in North America by skier visits, Kircher had to make the wrenching and consequential decision to bring his whole sprawling empire to a sudden, complete stop on March 15 to help halt the spread of COVID-19. You’re talking about monster resorts here, like Sugarloaf and Sunday River and Big Sky, suddenly freezing the lifts in place at the end of a midwinter weekend and sending everyone home, from employees to guests. The fallout is enormous, not just to those groups and to that mountain, but to the surrounding communities that rely on those resorts to power their whole economy. The consequences of not closing down, however, would have been much greater. I wanted to hear how and when he arrived at the incredible decision to cease operations, how Boyne is managing the fallout, and how the company hopes to recover for the future.  What we talked about: Boyne only has one confirmed COVID-19 case among its 10,000 employees; how the exodus from cities to mountain town vacation homes accelerated the shutdown; they had to shut down because “if customers can ski, they’ll ski”; how the virus hit locally in Northern Michigan; Boyne doesn’t have a Broomfield-style HQ and so its employees are accustomed to working together across the breadth of the continent; they backed the trucks up after the shutdown to fill them with medical supplies for the hospitals and food for employees and local food kitchens; other ways they’re helping the effort to fight COVID; how federal leadership failed and how companies and local governments had to step in to make patchwork decisions; when the company began taking extra safety measures; Boyne was already working on a phased shutdown plan before any mountains had closed anywhere; how everything snowballed and blew up those plans; when “it became increasingly clear that if we’re going to maintain a safe outcome here, then we’re going to have to have an orderly shutdown”; when they had planned to close each mountain; how everything went completely sideways for the whole industry on Saturday, March 14; how the big industry players communicated with one another as all this was unfolding; how being in Europe when all this was going down made him feel like a discombobulated time traveler; why the industry was lucky this happened toward the end of the season; how their employees are holding up and how the Congressional relief bill is helping to ease their sudden layoffs; everyone just figured out that business interruption insurance doesn’t cover pandemics and why that’s an enormous problem; what that insurance does cover and how Boyne has used it in the past; how many millions in revenue Boyne estimates it lost in the shutdown; the factors the company is considering as it decides whether to move forward with major capital projects like the Kanc 8 at Loon; whether any of Boyne’s mountains could re-open this season and why they probably won’t; which mountains could open if they do Helpful additional context: Stephen mentions the COVID hotspot of Ischgl, referring to an Austrian ski town from which the virus erupted across the continent. You can read more about that here. He also said, “this hasn’t happened since 1918,” referring to the last global pandemic. If you are still somehow not aware of this even now, here you go.Background vocal credits: Logan Winchester, age 3Recorded on: April 1, 2020The Storm Skiing Podcast is on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, and Pocket Casts. The Storm Skiing Journal publishes podcasts and other editorial content throughout the ski season. To receive new posts as soon as they are published, sign up for The Storm Skiing Journal Newsletter at skiing.substack.com. Follow The Storm Skiing Journal on Facebook and Twitter.COVID-19 and Skiing Podcasts: Author and Industry Veteran Chris Diamond The Storm Skiing Podcasts: Killington & Pico GM Mike Solimano | Plattekill owners Danielle and Laszlo Vajtay | New England Lost Ski Areas Project Founder Jeremy Davis | Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway | Lift Blog Founder Peter Landsman | Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher | Burke Mountain GM Kevin Mack | Liftopia CEO Evan Reece | Berkshire East & Catamount Owner & GM Jon Schaefer| Vermont Ski + Ride and Vermont Sports Co-Publisher & Editor Lisa Lynn| Sugarbush President & COO Win Smith| Loon President & GM Jay Scambio| Sunday River President & GM Dana Bullen| Big Snow & Mountain Creek VP of Sales & Marketing Hugh Reynolds Get on the email list at www.stormskiing.com

Download this episode on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher,TuneIn, and Pocket Casts | Read the full overview at skiing.substack.com.What this is: This is the first in a series of conversations exploring the ski industry fallout from the COVID-19-forced closure of nearly every ski area on the continent in March 2020. This is not a typical Storm Skiing Podcast, and the format, tone, and focus is intentionally different from those lengthier shows. My goal is to help the skiing community understand why the shutdown was necessary and what it means to our sport in the short and long term.Who: Chris Diamond, author of Ski Inc. and Ski Inc. 2020, former president of Mount Snow, former head of Steamboat, past director and chairman of Colorado Ski Country USA and the National Ski Areas Association, member of the Colorado Ski Hall of FameWhy I interviewed him: Diamond’s two books, Ski Inc. and Ski Inc. 2020, positioned him as one of the top experts on the modern North American skiing industry. When examining the fallout from chopping a month of more off the end of the ski season, I think it’s valuable to get a perspective that examines the industry as a whole and does so through a long-term lens. No one was better positioned to do that than Diamond, and he was fortunately available for a conversation. What we talked about: The atmosphere in Steamboat since the COVID-19 shutdown; how locals are adapting; the new uphill skinning restrictions in Colorado; current industry sentiment; how much it hurts a ski area financially to lose half of March; how much April matters; how fortunate we were that the pandemic didn’t hit a month or two earlier; why this is different from having to close early in a crummy snow year; why season pass sales may be OK; how the industry may respond to keep pass sales at least flat in a tough economic environment; how the COVID shutdown compares to other existential threats to skiing like climate change and attracting more diverse skiers; why this is the most severe shock that the modern ski industry has ever faced; what might happen if next season is cancelled; why there’s still reason for optimismWhat I got wrong: I identified Arapahoe Basin Chief Operating Officer Alan Henceroth as Arapahoe Basin “CMO” Alan “Henceforth.” I regret the error. I also stated that economic data revealed “3 million” new unemployment claims in the United States this week, smashing the previous record of “655,000” in 1982. The correct numbers are 3.3 million new claims this week, beating 1982’s record of 695,000.Why it sounds like I recorded this on a playground: Because I, like everyone else fortunate enough to have a job that enables them to work remotely, have ported my office into my home at the same moment all children have been untethered from school. My 11-year-old has remote classes to preoccupy her, but the 3-year-old does not, and so he is likely joining the podcast as a background singer for the foreseeable future.Recorded on: March 26, 2020The Storm Skiing Podcast is on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, and Pocket Casts. The Storm Skiing Journal publishes podcasts and other editorial content throughout the ski season. To receive new posts as soon as they are published, sign up for The Storm Skiing Journal Newsletter at skiing.substack.com. Follow The Storm Skiing Journal on Facebook and Twitter.Check out The Storm Skiing Podcast: Killington & Pico GM Mike Solimano | Plattekill ownersDanielle and Laszlo Vajtay | New England Lost Ski Areas Project Founder Jeremy Davis | Magic Mountain President Geoff Hatheway | Lift Blog Founder Peter Landsman | Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher | Burke Mountain GM Kevin Mack | Liftopia CEO Evan Reece | Berkshire East & Catamount Owner & GM Jon Schaefer| Vermont Ski + Ride and Vermont Sports Co-Publisher & Editor Lisa Lynn| Sugarbush President & COO Win Smith| Loon President & GM Jay Scambio| Sunday River President & GM Dana Bullen| Big Snow & Mountain Creek VP of Sales & Marketing Hugh Reynolds Get on the email list at www.stormskiing.com

HOME DESIGN CHAT WITH NANCY   Find out how to avoid being scammed and hacked by deviants. How to clean the clutter out of your computer.  These are 2 important subjects discussed during this podcast when Nancy interviewed Chris Diamond, owner of Hogfish Web Studios. Chris has extensive experience in website design & development, […]

HOME DESIGN CHAT WITH NANCY   Chris Diamond, owner of Hogfish Studios,  shares idea on how to protect your computers, smartphones & tablets from being hacked and scammed.      If you want to be more aware of how to keep people from taking over your computer with malware, ransomware & more, listen to […]

HOME DESIGN CHAT WITH NANCY   Lots of scams trying to get into your computer, take over your identity and more.  Chris Diamond, web developer with Hogfist Studios, listens while Nancy explains how she got scammed.  The do’s and don’ts about what to do when you fall prey to these creative scams. Don’t let […]

If only every last cast was like this one … Guest Profile Chris Diamond is an excavator operator in the Tampa, Florida area. But when the “Bearded Angler” is not working the heavy equipment, he’s working the heavy fish. Snook, that is, and big ones. Chris has taken to nighttime snook fishing for the big girls in the summertime. So it’s no surprise that’s what his most epic day (I mean, night) of fishing was. But Chris is a very well-rounded Florida angler, and we also talk about some of his other spectacular freshwater and offshore catches. Plus he shares some awesome intel on how he gets it done on the flats and in the passes. Guest Links Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackbeardfishing_fl/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chris.diamond.311 Fishing With: Reel Florida Fishing Crew: https://www.facebook.com/ReelFloridaFishingCrew/ Fishing experience Chris grew up on a pond that he “grew to love”. Catching a 13+ pound bass will do that I guess. But he also loves inshore fishing, both from his flats skiff and from the shore. His 2nd favorite love is offshore fishing, which he gets to do with his brother on occasion (but not as much as he would like). Of course, his first love is snook. And he has become well versed in how to catch the big girls during spawning season. Nighttime snook fishing has certainly become one of Chris’ specialties. The “Bearded Angler”, Chris Diamond, with some beautiful nighttime snook and other prize catches Location This episode takes place in the Tampa, Florida area. Catch of the Day Nighttime snook fishing For more epic Tampa Bay snook and redfish action, check out Episode 048 with Joe Rosier and Episode 041 with Mark Dunnam. Gear Used Berkley PowerBait Swim Shad – https://amzn.to/2MihzYV Sponsor Brought to you by reelsandtackle.com, your small business, family-owned online tackle store with great products, great service, and great prices!!! Check them out for all of your tackle needs, and don’t forget to use code TellTaleFish10 for a 10% discount off any product! About TTF Podcast The Tell Tale Fisherman® podcast is the place for all avid anglers (not just guides and tournament professionals) to share their fishing story of a lifetime and become fishing legends. Fresh...

**7 Schlüssel für Verheissungen - 7 keys to God´s promisses** * **Datum/Date** 2018-05-20 * **Sprecher/Speaker** Chris Diamond [Webseite Hütte Davids](http://huette-davids.de)

**7 Schlüssel für Verheissungen - 7 keys to God´s promisses** * **Datum/Date** 2018-05-20 * **Sprecher/Speaker** Chris Diamond [Webseite Hütte Davids](http://huette-davids.de)

**7 Schlüssel für Verheissungen - 7 keys to God´s promisses** * **Datum/Date** 2018-05-20 * **Sprecher/Speaker** Chris Diamond [Webseite Hütte Davids](http://huette-davids.de)

HOME DESIGN CHAT WITH NANCY Listen to Chris Diamond, web designer and owner of Hogfish Studios, and learn what you should and should not do to make your site work for you.     This podcast sponsored by Premier Lighting Intro music “On my way” by Kevin Macleod April 23, 2018 email questions to Nancy@NancyHugo.com

Since entering the ski business in 1972 at Killington, Chris Diamond led Mount Snow and Steamboat through multiple ownership changes and countless upgrades. Upon retiring in 2015, Diamond set out to document his decades in skiing and has recently released a new book entitled "Ski Inc. My journey through four decades in the ski resort business, from the founding entrepreneurs to mega companies." In episode 41 AK and Chris delve into some anecdotes from the book, his years working with and for Les Otten and what he thinks about the future of skiing. You can purchase the book here: https://skidiamondconsulting.com Season 3 of Wintry Mix is supported by www.Snowbird.com, www.Worldcupsupply.com and www.Liftopia.com. Subscribe to Wintry Mix on iTunes. Follow the show on facebook, twitter and IG.