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2 episodes with muellers
2 episodes with muellers
2 episodes with muellers
2 episodes with muellers
2 episodes with muellers
An updated report on the murder trial of Frederick Mueller, who was charged with the 2008 murder of his wife, Dr. Leslie Mueller. She was killed while the two were out for a walk near their vacation home in Lake City, Colorado. According to what Frederick Mueller told police, while the Muellers were hiking, Mueller stopped to take a photo of his wife near the edge of a cliff. He said his wife lost her footing near the waterfall and plunged into a creek. Her body was swept away downstream. It appeared to be an accident, but investigators were skeptical and believed it was murder. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 9/6/2014. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on July 27. It dropped for free subscribers on Aug. 3. 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:WhoPeter Disch, General Manager of Mount Sunapee, New Hampshire (following this interview, Vail Resorts promoted Disch to Vice President of Mountain Operations at its Heavenly ski area in California; he will start that new position on Aug. 5, 2024; as of July 27, Vail had yet to name the next GM of Sunapee.)Recorded onJune 24, 2024About Mount SunapeeClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: The State of New Hampshire; operated by Vail ResortsLocated in: Newbury, New HampshireYear founded: 1948Pass affiliations:* Epic Pass, Epic Local Pass, Northeast Value Epic Pass: unlimited access* Northeast Midweek Epic Pass: midweek access, including holidaysClosest neighboring (public) ski areas: Pats Peak (:28), Whaleback (:29), Arrowhead (:29), Ragged (:38), Veterans Memorial (:42), Ascutney (:45), Crotched (:48), Quechee (:50), Granite Gorge (:51), McIntyre (:53), Saskadena Six (1:04), Tenney (1:06)Base elevation: 1,233 feetSummit elevation: 2,743 feetVertical drop: 1,510 feetSkiable Acres: 233 acresAverage annual snowfall: 130 inchesTrail count: 67 (29% beginner, 47% intermediate, 24% advanced)Lift count: 8 (2 high-speed quads, 1 fixed-grip quad, 2 triples, 3 conveyors – view Lift Blog's inventory of Mount Sunapee's lift fleet.)History: Read New England Ski History's overview of Mount SunapeeView historic Mount Sunapee trailmaps on skimap.org.Why I interviewed himNew Hampshire state highway 103 gives you nothing. Straight-ish and flattish, lined with trees and the storage-unit detritus of the American outskirts, nothing about the road suggests a ski-area approach. Looping south off the great roundabout-ish junction onto Mt. Sunapee Road still underwhelms. As though you've turned into someone's driveway, or are seeking some obscure historical monument, or simply made a mistake. Because what, really, could be back there to ski?And then you arrive. All at once. A parking lot. The end of the road. The ski area heaves upward on three sides. Lifts all over. The top is up there somewhere. It's not quite Silverton-Telluride smash-into-the-backside-of-a-box-canyon dramatic, but maybe it's as close as you get in New Hampshire, or at least southern New Hampshire, less than two hours north of Boston.But the true awe waits up high. North off the summit, Lake Sunapee dominates the foreground, deep blue-black or white-over-ice in midwinter, like the flat unfinished center of a puzzle made from the hills and forests that rise and roll from all sides. Thirty miles west, across the lowlands where the Connecticut River marks the frontier with Vermont, stands Okemo, interstate-wide highways of white strafing the two-mile face.Then you ski. Sunapee does not measure big but it feels big, an Alpine illusion exploding over the flats. Fifteen hundred vertical feet is plenty of vertical feet, especially when it rolls down the frontside like a waterfall. Glades everywhere, when they're live, which is less often than you'd hope but more often than you'd think. Good runs, cruisers and slashers, a whole separate face for beginners, a 374-vertical-foot ski-area-within-a-ski-area, perfectly spliced from the pitched main mountain.Southern New Hampshire has a lot of ski areas, and a lot of well-run ski areas, but not a lot of truly great pure ski areas. Sunapee, as both an artwork and a plaything, surpasses them all, the ribeye on the grill stacked with hamburgers, a delightful and filling treat.What we talked aboutSunapee enhancements ahead of the 2024-25 winter; a new parking lot incoming; whether Sunapee considered paid parking to resolve its post-Covid, post-Northeast Epic Pass launch backups; the differences in Midwest, West, and Eastern ski cultures; the big threat to Mount Sunapee in the early 1900s; the Mueller family legacy and “The Sunapee Difference”; what it means for Vail Resorts to operate a state-owned ski area; how cash flows from Sunapee to Cannon; Sunapee's masterplan; the long-delayed West Bowl expansion; incredible views from the Sunapee summit; the proposed Sun Bowl-North Peak connection; potential upgrades for the Sunapee Express, North Peak, and Spruce lifts; the South Peak beginner area; why Sunapee built a ski-through lighthouse; why high-speed ropetows rule; the potential for Sunapee night-skiing; whether Sunapee should be unlimited on the Northeast Value Pass (which it currently is); and why Vail's New Hampshire mountains are on the same Epic Day Pass tier as its Midwest ski areas.Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewShould states own ski areas? And if so, should state agencies run those ski areas, or should they be contracted to private operators?These are fraught questions, especially in New York, where three state-owned ski areas (Whiteface, Gore, and Belleayre) guzzle tens of millions of dollars in new lift, snowmaking, and other infrastructure while competing directly against dozens of tax-paying, family-owned operations spinning Hall double chairs that predate the assassination of JFK. The state agency that operates the three ski areas plus Lake Placid's competition facilities, the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA), reported a $47.3 million operating loss for the fiscal year ending March 30, following a loss of $29.3 million the prior year. Yet there are no serious proposals at the state-government level to even explore what it would mean to contract a private operator to run the facilities.If New York state officials were ever so inspired, they could look 100 miles east, where the State of New Hampshire has run a sort of A-B experiment on its two owned ski areas since the late 1990s. New Hampshire's state parks association has operated Cannon Mountain since North America's first aerial tram opened on the site in 1938. For a long time, the agency operated Mount Sunapee as well. But in 1998, the state leased the ski area to the Mueller family, who had spent the past decade and a half transforming Okemo from a T-bar-clotted dump into one of Vermont's largest and most modern resorts.Twenty-six years later, that arrangement stands: the state owns and operates Cannon, and owns Sunapee but leases it to a private operator (Vail Resorts assumed or renewed the lease when they purchased the Muellers' Triple Peaks company, which included Okemo and Crested Butte, Colorado, in 2018). As part of that contract, a portion of Sunapee's revenues each year funnel into a capital fund for Cannon.So, does this arrangement work? For Vail, for the state, for taxpayers, for Sunapee, and for Cannon? As we consider the future of skiing, these are important questions: to what extent should the state sponsor recreation, especially when that form of recreation competes directly against private, tax-paying businesses who are, essentially, subsidizing their competition? It's tempting to offer a reflexive ideological answer here, but nuance interrupts us at ground-level. Alterra, for instance, leases and operates Winter Park from the City of Denver. Seems logical, but a peak-day walk-up Winter Park lift ticket will cost you around $260 for the 2024-25 winter. Is this a fair one-day entry fee for a city-owned entity?The story of Mount Sunapee, a prominent and busy ski area in a prominent and busy ski state, is an important part of that larger should-government-own-ski-areas conversation. The state seems happy to let Vail run their mountain, but equally happy to continue running Cannon. That's curious, especially in a state with a libertarian streak that often pledges allegiance by hoisting two middle fingers skyward. The one-private-one-public arrangement was a logical experiment that, 26 years later, is starting to feel a bit schizophrenic, illustrative of the broader social and economic complexities of changing who runs a business and how they do that. Is Vail Resorts better at running commercial ski centers than the State of New Hampshire? They sure as hell should be. But are they? And should Sunapee serve as a template for New York and the other states, counties, and cities that own ski areas? To decide if it works, we first have to understand how it works, and we spend a big part of this interview doing exactly that.What I got wrong* When listing the Vail Resorts with paid parking lots, I accidentally slipped Sunapee in place of Mount Snow, Vermont. Only the latter has paid parking.* When asking Disch about Sunapee's masterplan, I accidentally tossed Sunapee into Vail's Peak Resorts acquisition in 2019. But Peak never operated Sunapee. The resort entered Vail's portfolio as part of its acquisition of Triple Peaks – which also included Okemo and Crested Butte – in 2018.* I neglected to elaborate on what a “chondola” lift is. It's a lift that alternates (usually six-person) chairs with (usually eight-person) gondola cabins. The only active such lift in New England is at Sunday River, but Arizona Snowbowl, Northstar, Copper Mountain, and Beaver Creek operate six/eight-passenger chondolas in the American West. Telluride runs a short chondola with four-person chairs and four-person gondola cars.* I said that the six New England states combined covered an area “less than half the size of Colorado.” This is incorrect: the six New England states, combined, cover 71,987 square miles; Colorado is 103,610 square miles.Why you should ski Mount SunapeeSki area rankings are hard. Properly done, they include dozens of inputs, considering every facet of the mountain across the breadth of a season from the point of view of multiple skiers. Sunapee on an empty midweek powder day might be the best day of your life. Sunapee on a Saturday when it hasn't snowed in three weeks but everyone in Boston shows up anyway might be the worst. For this reason, I largely avoid assembling lists of the best or worst this or that and abstain, mostly, from criticizing mountain ops – the urge to let anecdote stand in for observable pattern and truth is strong.So when I do stuff ski areas into a hierarchy, it's generally grounded in what's objective and observable: Cottonwoods snow really is fluffier and more bounteous than almost all other snow; Tahoe resort density really does make it one of the world's great ski centers; Northern Vermont really does deliver far deeper snow and better average conditions than the rest of New England. In that same shaky, room-for-caveats manner, I'm comfortable saying this: Mount Sunapee's South Peak delivers one of the best beginner/novice experiences in the Northeast.Arrive childless and experienced, and it's likely you'll ignore this zone altogether. Which is precisely what makes it so great: almost completely cut off from the main mountain, South Peak is free from high-altitude bombers racing back to the lifts. Three progression carpets offer the perfect ramp-up experience. The 374-vertical-foot quad rises high enough to feel grown-up without stoking the summit lakeview vertigo. The trails are gently tilted but numerous and interesting. Other than potential for an errant turn down Sunnyside toward the Sunapee Express, it's almost impossible to get lost. It's as though someone chopped a mid-sized Midwest ski area from the earth, airlifted it east, and stapled it onto the edge of Sunapee:A few other Northeast ski areas offer this sort of ski-area-within-a-ski-area beginner separation – Burke, Belleayre, Whiteface, and Smugglers' Notch all host expansive standalone beginner zones. But Sunapee's is one of the easiest to access for New England's core Boston market, and, because of the Epic Pass, one of the most affordable.For everyone else, Sunapee's main mountain distills everything that is great and terrible about New England skiing: a respectable vertical drop; a tight, complex, and varied trail network; a detached-from-conditions determination to be outdoors in the worst of it. But also impossible weekend crowds, long snow draughts, a tendency to overgroom even when the snow does fall, and an over-emphasis on driving, with nowhere to stay on-mountain. But even when it's not perfect, which it almost never is, Sunapee is always, objectively, a great natural ski mountain, a fall-line classic, a little outpost of the north suspiciously far south. Podcast NotesOn Sunapee's masterplan and West Bowl expansionAs a state park, Mount Sunapee is required to submit an updated masterplan every five years. The most transformative piece of this would be the West Bowl expansion, a 1,082-vertical-foot pod running skiers' left off the current summit (right in purple on the map below):The masterplan also proposes upgrades for several of Sunapee's existing lifts, including the Sunapee Express and the Spruce and North Peak triples:On past Storm Skiing Podcasts:Disch mentions a recent podcast that I recorded with Attitash, New Hampshire GM Brandon Schwarz. You can listen to that here. I've also recorded pods with the leaders of a dozen other New Hampshire mountains:* Wildcat GM JD Crichton (May 30, 2024)* Gunstock President & GM Tom Day (April 15, 2024) – now retired* Tenney Mountain GM Dan Egan (April 8, 2024) – no longer works at Tenney* Cranmore President & GM Ben Wilcox (Oct. 16, 2023)* Dartmouth Skiway GM Mark Adamczyk (June 12, 2023)* Granite Gorge GM Keith Kreischer (May 30, 2023)* Loon Mountain President & GM Brian Norton (Nov. 14, 2022)* Pats Peak GM Kris Blomback (Sept. 26, 2022)* Ragged Mountain GM Erik Barnes (April 26, 2022)* Whaleback Mountain Executive Director Jon Hunt (June 16, 2021)* Waterville Valley President & GM Tim Smith (Feb. 22, 2021)* Cannon Mountain GM John DeVivo (Oct. 6, 2020) – now GM at Antelope Butte, WyomingOn New England ski area densityDisch referenced the density of ski areas in New England. With 100 ski areas crammed into six states, this is without question the densest concentration of lift-served skiing in the United States. Here's an inventory:On the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)From 1933 to 1942 – the height of the Great Depression – a federal government agency knows as the Civilian Conservation Corps recruited single men between the ages of 18 and 25 to “improve America's public lands, forests, and parks.” Some of this work included the cutting of ski trails on then-virgin mountains, including Mount Sunapee. While the CCC trail is no longer in use on Sunapee, that first project sparked the notion of skiing on the mountain and led to the development of the ski area we know today.On potential Northeast expansions and there being “a bunch that are proposed all over the region”This is by no means an exhaustive list, but a few of the larger Northeast expansions that are creeping toward reality include a new trailpod at Berkshire East:This massive, village-connecting expansion that would completely transform Waterville Valley:The de-facto resurrection of New York's lost Highmount ski area with an expansion from adjacent Belleayre:And the monster proposed Western Territories expansion that could double the size of Sunday River. There's no public map of this one presently available.On high-speed ropetowsI'll keep beating the crap out of this horse until you all realize that I'm right:A high-speed ropetow at Spirit Mountain, Minnesota. Video by Stuart Winchester.On Crotched proximity and night skiingWe talk briefly about past plans for night-skiing on Sunapee, and Disch argues that, while that may have made sense when the Muellers owned the ski area, it's no longer likely since Vail also owns Crotched, which hosts one of New England's largest night-skiing operations less than an hour south. It's a fantastic little operation, a once-abandoned mountain completely rebuilt from the studs by Peak Resorts:On the Epic Day PassHere's another thing I don't plan to stop talking about ever:The Storm explores the world of North American lift-served skiing year-round. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 48/100 in 2024, and number 548 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe
About the Guests:Greg and Shirley Mueller are the owners of Olive Oil Divine, a unique specialty store located in Johnson City, Tennessee. With a background in IT and family business, Greg has combined his technical expertise with a passion for high-quality, health-centric products. Shirley, with her experience in construction and business operations, complements Greg by managing customer relations and daily operations. Together, they have grown their business into a local staple, offering a variety of high-quality olive oils, balsamic vinegars, and other gourmet products sourced from around the world.Episode Summary:In this engaging episode of "Johnson City Living," host Colin Johnson speaks with Greg and Shirley Mueller, the dynamic duo behind Olive Oil Divine, a specialty store offering high-quality olive oils and balsamic vinegars in Johnson City, Tennessee. Colin delves deep into their personal backgrounds, their journey into the olive oil business, and the spiritual motivations that drive their enterprise.Greg and Shirley share how their passion for health benefits and spiritual significance of olive oil inspired them to open Olive Oil Divine. Their store offers over 70 different flavors of olive oil and balsamic vinegar sourced globally. They discuss the health benefits, proper storage, and usage tips for olive oil, emphasizing their commitment to product quality and customer education. Unique in its dedication to community and spirituality, Olive Oil Divine even features a prayer room where customers can meditate and pray. The Muellers also highlight their partnerships with local and national businesses and their future expansion plans, providing valuable insights into running a successful specialty store.Key Takeaways:Starting a Unique Business: How Greg and Shirley Mueller transitioned from their previous careers to open Olive Oil Divine by following a spiritual calling.Health Benefits of Olive Oil: Detailed explanation of the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of high-quality olive oil and how to use it in cooking.Importance of Quality and Integrity: The Muellers' commitment to lab-certifying their products and offering only the best to their customers.Community and Spiritual Focus: Their unique inclusion of a prayer room in their store and the positive impact it has on both their business and customers.Future Aspirations: Plans for expanding their product range and presence both online and in physical stores, alongside special collaborations like tours to olive oil-producing regions.Notable Quotes:"The fact that it's in the Bible Belt and the people are just so warm and friendly. We don't have a stranger in Johnson City." - Greg Mueller"Just bring it up to low heat and you'll be just fine. If you overcook it, you'll know it'll start to smell." - Greg Mueller on cooking with olive oil"God moved a lot of mountains to get us in business, and so it was the least we could do for Him, for doing that for us." - Greg Mueller"When you anoint someone, you're basically sharing the spirit of Jesus with them." - Greg Mueller"We don't push it down anybody's throats, but if you come ask about it, we're not going to shy away from it." - Greg MuellerResources:Olive Oil Divine Website: oliveoildivine.comSocial Media:FacebookInstagramTruth SocialPublic Square: Available on Public Square platformFor a deeper dive into the fascinating journey and insightful tips from Greg and Shirley Mueller, listen to the full episode and stay tuned for more inspiring content on the “Johnson City Living” podcast.
This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on April 5. It dropped for free subscribers on April 12. 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:WhoBruce Schmidt, Vice President and General Manager at Okemo Mountain Resort, VermontRecorded onFeb. 27, 2024 (apologies for the delay)About OkemoClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Vail ResortsLocated in: Ludlow, VermontYear founded: 1956Pass affiliations:* Epic Pass: unlimited access* Epic Local Pass: unlimited access* Epic Northeast Value Pass: unlimited access with holiday blackouts* Epic Northeast Midweek Pass: unlimited weekday access with holiday blackouts* Epic Day Pass: access on “all resorts” and “32 resorts” tiersClosest neighboring ski areas: Killington (:22), Magic (:26), Bromley (:31), Pico (:32), Ascutney (:33), Bellows Falls (:37), Stratton (:41), Saskadena Six (:44), Ski Quechee (:48), Storrs Hill (:52), Whaleback (:56), Mount Snow (1:04), Hermitage Club (1:10)Base elevation: 1,144 feetSummit elevation: 3,344 feetVertical drop: 2,200 feetSkiable Acres: 632Average annual snowfall: 120 inches per On The Snow; Vail claims 200.Trail count: 121 (30% advanced, 37% intermediate, 33% beginner) + 6 terrain parksLift count: 20 (2 six-packs, 4 high-speed quads, 5 fixed-grip quads, 2 triples, 1 platter, 6 carpets – view Lift Blog's inventory of Okemo's lift fleet)View historic Okemo trailmaps on skimap.org.Why I interviewed himWhether by plan or by happenstance, Vail ended up with a nearly perfect mix of Vermont ski areas. Stowe is the beater, with the big snows and the nasty trails and the amazing skiers and the Uphill Bros and the glades and the Front Four. Mount Snow is the sixth borough of New York City (but so is Florida and so is Stratton), big and loud and busy and bursting and messy, with a whole mountain carved out for a terrain park and big-drinking, good-timing crowds, as many skiers at the après, it can seem, as on the mountain. And Okemo is something that's kind of in-between and kind of totally different, at once tame and lively, a placid family redoubt that still bursts with that frantic Northeast energy.It's a hard place to define, and statistics won't do it. Line up Vermont's ski areas on a table, and Okemo looks bigger and better than Sugarbush or Stowe or Jay Peak. It isn't, of course, as anyone in the region will tell you. The place doesn't require the guts that its northern neighbors demand. It's big but not bossy. More of a stroll than a run, a good-timer cruising the Friday night streets in a drop-top low-rider, in no hurry at all to do anything other than this. It's like skiing Vermont without having to tangle with Vermont, like boating on a lake with no waves.Because of this unusual profile, New England skiers either adore Okemo or won't go anywhere near it. It is a singular place in a dense ski state that is the heart of a dense ski region. Okemo isn't particularly convenient to get to, isn't particularly snowy by Vermont standards, and isn't particularly interesting from a terrain point of view. And yet, it is, historically, the second-busiest ski area in the Northeast (after Killington). There is something there that works. Or at least, that has worked historically, as the place budded and flourished in the Mueller family's 36-year reign.But it's Vail's mountain now, an Epic Pass anchor that's shuffling and adding lifts for the crowds that that membership brings. While the season pass price has dropped, skier expectations have ramped up at Okemo, as they have everywhere in the social-media epoch. The grace that passholders granted the growing family-owned mountain has evaporated. Everyone's pulling the pins on their hand grenades and flinging them toward Broomfield every time a Saturday liftline materializes. It's not really fair, but it's how the world is right now. The least I can do is get their side of it.What we talked aboutSummer storm damage to Ludlow and Okemo; the resort helping the town; Vermont's select boards; New England resilience; Vail's My Epic Promise fund and how it helped employees post-storm; reminiscing on old-school Okemo and its Poma forest; the Muellers arrive; the impact of Jackson-Gore; how and why Okemo grew from inconsequential local bump to major New England ski hill; how Okemo expanded within the confines of Vermont's Act 250; Vail buys the mountain, along with Sunapee and Crested Butte; the Muellers' legacy; a Sunapee interlude; Vail adjusting to New England operations; mythbusters: snowmaking edition; the Great Chairlift Switcheroo of 2021; why Okemo didn't place bubbles on the Quantum 6; why Okemo's lift fleet is entirely made up of Poma machines; where Okemo could add a lift to the existing trail network; expansion potential; does Okemo groom too much?; glade expansion?; that baller snowmaking system; what happened when Okemo's season pass price dropped by more than $1,000; is Epic Pass access too loose at Okemo?; how to crowd-dodge; the Epic Northeast Midweek Pass; limiting lift ticket sales; and skyrocketing lift ticket prices.Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewBruce Schmidt first collected a paycheck from Okemo in the late 1970s. That was a different mountain, a different ski industry, a different world. Pomas and double chairs and primitive snowmaking and mountain-man gear and no internet. It was grittier and colder, in the sense that snowpants and ski coats and heated gloves and socks were not so ubiquitous and affordable and high-quality as they are today. Skiing, particularly in New England, required a hardiness, a tolerance for cold and subtle pain that modernity has slowly shuffled out of the skier profile.Different as it was, that age of 210s and rear-wheel drive rigs was not that long ago, and Schmidt has experienced it as one continuous story. That sort of institutional and epochal tenure is rare, especially at one ski area, especially at one that has evolved as much as Okemo. Imagine if you showed up at surface-lift Hickory and watched it transform, over four decades, into sprawling Gore. That's essentially what Schmidt lived – and helped drive – at Okemo.That hardly ever happens. Small ski areas tend to stay small. Expansion is hard and expensive and, in Vermont especially, bureaucratically challenging. And yet little Okemo, wriggling in Killington's shadow, lodged between the state's southern and northern snow pockets, up past Mount Snow and Stratton but not so far from might-as-well-keep-driving Sugarbush and Mad River Glen, became, somehow, the fourth-largest ski area in America's fourth-largest ski state by skier visits (after Colorado, California, and Utah, typically).The Mueller family, which owned the ski area from 1982 until they sold it to Vail Resorts in 2018, were, of course, the visionaries and financiers behind that growth, the likes of which we will probably never witness in New England again. But as Vail's roots grow deeper and they make these mountains their own, that legacy will fade, if not necessarily dim. It was important, then, to download that part of Schmidt's brain to the internet, to make sure that story survived the big groom of time.What I got wrongI said in the intro that Bruce started at Okemo in 1987. He actually started in the late ‘70s and worked there on and off for several years, as he explains in the conversation.I said that Okemo's lift fleet was “100 percent Poma.” This is not exactly right, as some of the lifts are officially branded Leitner-Poma. I'm also not certain of the make of Okemo's carpets.I noted in the intro that Okemo was Vail's second-largest eastern mountain. It is actually their largest by skiable acreage (though Stowe feels larger to me, given the expansive unmarked but very skiable glades stuffed between nearly every trail). Here's a snapshot of Vail's entire portfolio for reference:Why you should ski OkemoThe first time I skied Okemo was 2007. I rode a 3:45 a.m. ski bus north from Manhattan. I remember thinking three things: 1) wow, this place is big; 2) wow, there are a lot of kids here; and 3) do they seriously groom every goddamn trail every single night?This was at the height of my off-piste mania. I'm not a great carver, especially after the cord gets chopped up and scratchy sublayers emerge. I prefer to maneuver, at a moderate pace, over terrain, meaning bumps or glades (which are basically bumps in the trees, at least on a typical Vermont day). It's more fun and interesting than blasting down wide-open, beaten-up groomers filled with New Yorkers.But wide-open, beaten-up groomers filled with New Yorkers is what Okemo is. At the time, I had no understanding of freeze-thaw cycles, of subtle snowfall differentials between nearby ski areas, of the demographic profile that drove such tight slope management (read: mediocre big-city skiers with no interest in anything other than getting to the bottom still breathing). All I knew was that for me, at the time, this wasn't what I was looking for.But what you want as a skier evolves over time. I still like terrain, and Okemo still doesn't have as much as I'd like. If that's what you need, take your Epic Pass to Stowe – they have plenty. But what I also like is skiing with my kids, skiing with my wife, morning cord laps off fast lifts, long meandering scenic routes to rest up between bumpers, exploring mountains border to border, getting a little lost among multiple base areas, big views, moderate pitches, and less-aggressive skiers (ride the K1 gondy or Superstar chair at Killington and then take the Sunburst Six at Okemo; the toning down of energy and attitude is palpable).Okemo not only has all that – it is all that. If that makes sense. This is one of the best family ski areas in the country. It feels like – it is – a supersized version of the busy ski areas in Massachusetts or Connecticut, a giant Wachusett or Catamount or Mohawk Mountain: unintimidating, wide-open, freewheeling, and quirky in its own overgroomed, overbusy way.If you hit it right, Okemo will give you bumps and glades and even, on a weekday, wide-open trails all to yourself. But that's not the typical Okemo experience, and it's not the point of the place. This is New England's friendly giant, a meandering mass of humanity, grinning and gripping and slightly frazzled, a disjointed but united-by-snow collective that, together, define Okemo as much as the mountain itself.Okemo on a stormy day in November 2021. Video by Stuart Winchester.Podcast NotesOn last summer's flooding in Okemo and LudlowI mean yowza:I hate to keep harping on New Englander's work ethic, but…I reset the same “dang New England you're badass” narrative that I brought up with Sunday River GM Brian Heon on the podcast a few weeks ago. I'm not from New England and I've never even lived there, and I'm from a region with the same sort of get-after-it problem-solver mentality and work ethic. But I'm still amazed at how every time New England gets smashed over the head with a frying pan, they just look annoyed for five minutes, put on a Band-Aid, and keep moving.On the fate of Plymouth, Bromley, Ascutney, and Plymouth/RoundtopSchmidt and I discuss several Vermont ski areas whose circa-1980s size rivaled that of Okemo's at the time. Here, for context, was Okemo before the Muellers arrived in 1982:It's hard to tell from the trailmap, but only four of the 10 or so lifts shown above were chairlifts. Today, Okemo has grown into Vermont's fourth-largest ski area by skiable acres (though I have reason to doubt the accuracy of the ski resort's self-reported tallies; Stowe, Sugarbush, and Jay all ski at least as big as Okemo, but officially report fewer skiable acres).Anyway, in the early ‘80s, Magic, Bromley, Ascutney, and Plymouth/Roundtop were approximate peers to Okemo. Bromley ran mostly chairlifts, and has evolved the most of this group, but it is far smaller than Okemo today. The mountain has always been well-managed, so it wasn't entirely fair to stick it in with this group, but the context is important here: Bromley today is roughly the same size that it was 40 years ago:Ascutney sold a 1,400-plus-foot vertical drop and a thick trail network in this 1982 trailmap. But the place went bust and sold its high-speed quad in 2012 (it's now the main lift at Vail-owned Crotched). Today, Ascutney consists of a lower-mountain ropetow and T-bar that rises just 450 vertical feet (you can still skin or hike the upper mountain trails).Magic, in the early ‘80s, was basically the same size it is today:A merger with now-private and liftless (but still skiable from Magic), Timber Ridge briefly supersized the place before it went out of business for a large part of the ‘90s:When Magic recovered from its long shutdown, it reverted to its historic footprint (with extensive glade skiing that either didn't exist or went unmarked in the ‘80s):And then there was Round Top, a 1,300-foot sometime private ski area also known as Bear Creek and Plymouth Notch. The area has sat idle since 2018, though the chairlifts are, last I checked, intact, and it can be yours for $6.5 million.Seriously you can buy it:On Okemo's expansion progressionThe Muellers' improbable transformation of Okemo into a New England Major happened in big chunks. First, they opened the Solitude area for the 1987-88 ski season:In 1994, South Face, far looker's left, opened a new pod of steeper runs toward the summit:The small Morningstar pod, located in the lower-right-hand corner of the trailmap, opened in 1995, mostly to serve a real estate development:The most dramatic change came in 2003, when Okemo opened the sprawling Jackson Gore complex:On Vermont Act 250It's nearly impossible to discuss Vermont skiing without referencing the infamous Act 250, which is, according to the official state website:…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 complement Vermont's unique landscape, economy and community needs. One of the strengths of Act 250 is the access it provides to neighbors and other interested parties to participate in the development review process. Applicants often work with neighbors, municipalities, state agencies and other interested groups to address concerns raised by a proposed development, resolving issues and mitigating impacts before a permit application is filed.As onerous as navigating Act 250 can seem, there is significantly more slopeside development in Vermont than in any other Northeastern state, and its large resorts are certainly more developed than anything in build-nothing New York.On the CNL lease structureSchmidt refers to “the CNL lease structure.” Here's what he was talking about: a company called CNL Lifestyle Properties once had a slick sideline in purchasing ski areas and leasing them back to the former owners. New England Ski History explains the historical context:As the banking crisis unfolded, many ski areas across the country transferred their debt into Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). On December 5, 2008, Triple Peaks transferred its privately held Mt. Sunapee assets to CNL Lifestyle Properties, Inc.. Triple Peaks then entered into a long agreement with CNL to maintain operational control.The site put together a timeline of the various resorts CNL once owned, including, from 2008 to '17, Okemo:On the proximity of Okemo to Mount Sunapee Though Okemo and Sunapee sit in different states, they're only an hour apart:I snapped this pic of Okemo from the Sunapee summit a couple years ago (super zoomed in):On Mount Sunapee's ownershipThe State of New Hampshire owns two ski areas: Cannon Mountain and Mount Sunapee. In 1998, after decades of debate on the subject, the state leased the latter to the Muellers. When Vail acquired Triple Peaks (Okemo, Sunapee, and Crested Butte), in 2019, they either inherited or renegotiated the lease. For whatever reason, the state continues to manage Cannon as part of Franconia Notch State Park. A portion of the lease revenue that Vail pays the state each year is earmarked for capital improvements at Cannon.On glades at Stratton and KillingtonOkemo's trail footprint is light on glades compared to many of the large Vermont ski areas. I point to Killington and Stratton, in particular, in the podcast, mostly due to their proximity to Okemo (every Vermont ski area from Sugarbush on north has a vast glade network). Though it's just 20 minutes away, Killington rakes in around double Okemo's snowfall in an average winter, and the ski area maintains glades all over the mountain:Stratton, 40 minutes south, also averages more snow than Okemo and is a sneaky good glade mountain. It's easy to spend all day in the trees there when the snow's deep (and it's deep more often than you might think):On Okemo's historic pass pricesWe can have mountain-to-mountain debates over the impact Vail Resorts has on the resorts it purchases, but one thing that's inarguable: season pass prices typically plummet when the company acquires ski areas. Check out New England Ski History's itemization of Okemo pass prices over the years – that huge drop in 2018-19 represents the ownership shift and that year's cost of an Epic Local Pass (lift ticket and pass prices listed below are the maximum for that season):But, yeah, those day-ticket prices. Yikes.The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing all year long. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 25/100 in 2024, and number 525 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. This is a public episode. 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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
After hanging up the microphone Roger Mueller kept himself in the local racing circles, taking on a variety of roles at other ovals. Everything from flagging or as a race director - Mueller didn't have much trouble finding work at many different Wisconsin ovals. Give 'Meet The Muellers' podcast episode 7 a listen!
Roger "The Mouth" Mueller and his son Eric "Lil Mouth" Mueller have been track announcers going on six decades now throughout Wisconsin. This is the first episode of eight and in this "maiden voyage" Roger talks about how he cracked into the business announcing at 141 Speedway in Francis Creek, Wisconsin at the age of 17. Give it a listen!
The crew is scrambling to deal with the fallout of the Muellers latest moves with the police and the city's bootlegging. Intro/Outro music by Caitlin (the voice of Faye Cameron). Other music: Swing Has Swung by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com CC BY 4.0 Night on the Docks - Sax by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4129-night-on-the-docks---sax License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Follow us on: Twitter:@TheWGNPodcast Instagram: @thewanderinggamernetwork Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYgJnrAWDkXzoi6FqmlAhUg Twitch: wandering_gamers Website: Thanks for listening, and keep wandering!
Eric Mueller is a professional mushroom cultivator who runs Mueller's Mushrooms. Eric is a purveyor of specialty mushrooms and has mastered the science of cultivating the neurocognition enhancing Lions Mane mushroom, as well as immunity boosters like Turkey Tail and Reishi. Mueller Mushrooms started in true bootstrap mycopreneur fashion -- while still in high school, Eric cloned a wild oyster mushroom from a creek near his house in eastern San Diego and began selling fresh, locally endemic mushrooms to restaurants in his community. Mueller Mushrooms has grown to include a range of mushroom beef jerky made from dehydrated oyster mushrooms, as well as two stage extraction process tinctures made from Lions Mane, Reishi, and Turkey Tail. Eric also is hands on in the San Diego community, partnering with local high school science departments to teach mushroom science in public schools. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
On Monday’s Mark Levin Show, Brian Mudd of WJNO fills in for Mark. The election integrity of the U.S. is the worst in the developed world, specifically in six states that have the potential to change the outcome of the Presidential election. The Harvard Electoral Integrity Project found that the US ranked second to last among democratic countries. President Trump is too much of a threat to corrupt government officials at the highest levels to be re-elected, so a multi-headed effort was launched against him. The Comeys and Muellers and people who spent decades in government creating this deep state culture have blocked Trump at every turn. Also, the coronavirus won’t go away January 1st and neither will the restrictions on our freedom. Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order taking away freedoms until May 1st, and who knows if it’ll end there. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On Monday’s Mark Levin Show, Brian Mudd of WJNO fills in for Mark. The election integrity of the U.S. is the worst in the developed world, specifically in six states that have the potential to change the outcome of the Presidential election. The Harvard Electoral Integrity Project found that the US ranked second to last among democratic countries. President Trump is too much of a threat to corrupt government officials at the highest levels to be re-elected, so a multi-headed effort was launched against him. The Comeys and Muellers and people who spent decades in government creating this deep state culture have blocked Trump at every turn. Also, the coronavirus won’t go away January 1st and neither will the restrictions on our freedom. Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order taking away freedoms until May 1st, and who knows if it’ll end there. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
En ny bok granskar Rysslandsutredningen och riksrättsprocessen. USA-kännaren Andreas Utterström reder ut vad som är nytt, ger oss inblickar i Vita huset och diskuterar utredaren Muellers främsta misstag.
The MSM are pushing the news that the US is in a recession and will be very difficult to get out of a recession. This has been the same theme since Trump took office. The Fed was raising rates to crash the economy, that failed. The MSM pushed articles about a recession, that failed. Now because of the event they believe they got their recession, this will fail, watch what happens next. The event is failing, states are now opening up, people are taking to the streets. Now here comes the storm, the FISA will kick it all off. Flynn will be exonerated, Muellers team has no case, they made it up, tick tock. Once this shot is heard, those [knowingly] who tried to remove POTUS will be brought up on charges for treason. It has begun.
De ondervraging van speciaal aanklager Robert Mueller door twee commissies van het Huis van Afgevaardigden, was een grote overwinning voor Donald J. Trump. Vindt Donald J. Trump. En het was zeker niet de vernietigende anti-Trump show die de Democraten zich hadden gewenst. Wat niet wil zeggen dat er niet net zulke harde dingen werden gezegd als er ook al in Muellers rapport stonden. Zeker waar het op Russische inmenging aankwam. Maar hoe moet het daar nu verder mee, als Trump straks de hele top van justitie en de inlichtingendiensten controleert? VPRO-presentator Chris Kijne en NRC-correspondent Bas Blokker vragen het zich af.
Robert Mueller, sérstakur saksóknari, sem rannsakað hefur tengsl Bandaríkjaforseta við Rússa, kemur fyrir dómsmálanefnd fulltrúadeildar Bandaríkjaþings í dag og leyniþjónustudeild fulltrúadeildarinnar. Þetta er í fyrsta sinn sem Mueller ræðir þessa skýrslu, yfirheyrslunnar er því beðið með mikilli eftirvæntingu. Trump hefur sjálfur sagt að rannsókn Muellers hreinsi hann af öllum grun um að hafa óhreint mjöl í pokahorninu, en andstæðingar hans telja að svo sé alls ekki. Freyr Eyjólfsson fór yfir Rússarannsókn Muellers á Morgunvaktinni í dag. Breti að nafni Carl Beech hélt því fram árum saman að hann hefði á barnsaldri verið misnotaður hryllilega af fjölda valdamikilla karlmanna - af stjórnmálamönnum og herforingjum. Hann varð vitni að hrottalegum pyntingum á börnum og morðum. Og hann nefndi nöfn sökudólganna. Nú hefur Beech verið fundinn sekur um að hafa logið öllu saman. Morgunvaktin fjallaði um þessa ótrúlegu sögu. Rúmlega 500 hlauparar luku hinu árlega Laugavegshlaupi sem fór fram í Þórsmörk fyrir 10 dögum. Þetta var í 23. sinn sem hlaupið er haldið og aldrei hafa jafn margir hlaupið. Sigurvegarar hlaupsins voru Þorbergur Ingi Jónsson og Anna Berglind Pálmadóttir. Þau eru bæði Akureyringar og Bjarni Rúnarsson, fréttamaður á Akureyri, ræddi við þau um hlaupið, undirbúninginn og mikinn áhuga Akureyringa á Laugavegshlaupinu. Tónlist: Come and get it - The Beatles Without you - Harry Nilsson Án þín - Bubbi Morthens & Katrín Halldóra Sigurðardóttir We gotta talk - Jennifer Lopez Mexe Mexe - Dona Onete
A summary of the afternoon questioning from the Washington Post
EXPOSED: WALL STREET SECRETS WARREN BUFFET DOES NOT TELL INVESTORS
Paul Erickson knew what Erickson was doing for decades, covering his financial crimes up... Please subscribe to my Podcast https://carriedevorah.podomatic.com Become our 'patreon', please
The Fiery Cross Installment 12 Chapters 21-22 Chapters: 21 – Twenty-Twenty 22 – The Fiery Cross Summary: Claire administers an eye examination. Mrs. Bug takes ownership of the running of the big house. A family with a sordid past comes to visit. Claire worries. Claire struggles with the changes to come. Fight. Fight. Fight. Solace is found outdoors. Jamie ceremonially prepares for the changes ahead. The men Jamie calls to arms must come of their own volition. A family member is asked to join Jamie in the fight. Setting: The settlement of Fraser's Ridge, NC - Fall Active Characters: Claire Roger Brianna Jamie Bug The Muellers Chisolm Events: Claire exams Roger's eyes. Roger doesn't have binocular vision. He isn't able to shoot at moving targets. He has eyes like a hawk! But the real question is, is it genetic? Mrs. Bug is in her element cooking and caring for Jamie, Claire, and those staying at the ridge or in the big house. The Muellers being at The Ridge is challenging since Gerhard is the one who scalped the local Tuscarora who he thought cursed his family with the measles. Claire does careful math of the stores to ensure Mrs. Bug isn't being too elaborate with the feeding. Claire cleverly hides the special foods, so they won't get gobbled up. She also worries about vitamin deficiency over Winter. Claire's botched penicillin experiment and the catfight between Mrs. Bug and Mrs. Chisolm. Claire yearns for the predictability of home, hearth, and her surgery. Everyone present is at their wits end with the overcrowded spaces and rowdy children. Brianna snaps. Claire decidedly finds the male folk easier to be around than a bunch of women. The echoes of Nayawenne visit Claire as she walks with Jemmy. Claire having unsuccessfully visited the malting shed to find some helpful whisky for Jemmy's sore gums, happens upon Jamie bathing by the spring. He is in the act of ritually cleaning himself. After Jamie's prayer reached its conclusion, Claire and Jemmy join him. Of course, Jamie has a flask of the holy water to soothe his sore gums. Jamie explains the calling of the clans for war as he had seen Dougal perform. There is a deep understanding that he is not clan chief or laird of the peoples on The Ridge or in the backcountry. The men must come by free will. Jamie walks a fine line of a loyalist who will have to turn traitor. Jamie shares it was his Uncle Dougal he was seeking for help when he prayed. Images are CC or Wiki Commons unless produced by ADoO or otherwise specified. Featured image. Please share your thoughts and comments to 719-425-9444 or contact@adramofoutlander.com. Comments or messages may be included in the podcast or a written post. The entire Outlander book series is written by Diana Gabaldon. You can find her on Twitter and Facebook. Join the A Dram of Outlander Community Please share posts, join the discussions, and follow this website and social media sites listed below! Facebook Page, Facebook Group, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr To financially support the podcast, go to my Patreon page. Call 719-425-9444 listener/reader line to leave your comment or question.
Longevity politics, ageism and EU elections eclipse Trumps state visit, Robert Muellers first public announcement and Corbyn kicking Campbell from the labour party in this weeks show. Attila Csordas joins us to talk the weeks news and his political platform when he ran in the MEP elections. From the Cambridge hustings to Brexits effect on stress and even AI soldiers. Is age a disease? Should health of candidates be a part of voting decision? Is the Queen better at ageing than Trump? If you want to ask him about longevity politics: @attilacsordas ================================================== Support TUP and gain some cool benefits in the process: Patreon.com/tup Join in the community over on our Facebook group for more discussion: bit.ly/tupgroup Check out our interviews and video content over on YouTube: bit.ly/tupyt And you can also troll us on twitter @TheTUPShow
Muellers talks, Democrats threaten to impeach. But will they do it? And Sohrab Amahri decries "David French-ism" which is what I call Right-Liberalism. What is it & why it's unprincipled & bad politics.
Politisk kris i Israel - hör vår korrespondent Johan-Mathias Sommarström. Inför valet i Danmark - kommer Lars Lökke Rasmusen att fortsätta sin framgångsvåg. USA - efter Muellers framträdande ikväll - så var reaktionerna.
Today on @ChosenGenerationRadio Dan Gainor @newsbusters @mediaresearchcenter Media now claims border crisis is President's fault, won't acknowledge the real numbers, NFL has a political problem Bosa deletes tweets, Barr says Government spying on political opponents a problem, President and others call it a coup media goes bananas even on FOX. Philip Haney Save the Persecuted Christians, Phil discusses the attacks on Christians and Christianity. We also will discuss Phil's direct experience with the Muellers and Comeys in DC. David Shestokas Constitutional Attorney discusses his recent experience listening to President Trump and Vice President Pence. We will also discuss the implications by AG William Barr that there is evidence of spying by the Democrats. Scott Lively joins us to discuss LHBT militants and the idea that you can be a practicig homosexual and Christian.
Kampagnesporet laver i dag en vaskeægte sammensmeltning af historiefortællingen om USAs præsidenter og indianernes historie. Først skal det dog handle om både resultaterne fra Muellers rapport med en perspektivering tilbage til Watergate.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The disparity between bars 4 Page synopsis of Muellers 300 Page report & Benghazi report. Wendy Williams husband mistress has baby, #SurvivingCardi, Krispy Kreme Slave labor, KKK(Kim Khloe Kourtney) back.
Muellerutredningen är färdig och det finns alltså INTE bevis för en konspiration mellan Trump eller hans kampanj och ryssarna. Men frågetecken kvarstår. Vi reder ut allt du behöver veta nu! Den särskilde åklagaren Robert Muellers utredning är alltså färdig efter nästan två år. Och enligt justitieminister Bill Barrs sammanfattning av Muellers rapport så står det klart att det inte var någon konspiration, ingen collusion, mellan Trump eller hans kampanj och Ryssland. Men det blir lite krångligare när man ska förstå hur Robert Mueller resonerade när han lämnade åt justitieminister Barr att bedöma ifall Trump gjort sig skyldig till övergrepp i rättssak eller inte, något Barr bedömde att han inte gjort. Samtidigt kräver demokraterna att hela Muellers rapport blir offentlig medan republikanerna nu både firar och gör sig redo för motattack. Och hur kommer Muellers rapport användas i valrörelsen 2020? Medverkande: Ginna Lindberg, Ekots utrikeschef, Anders Ask, utrikesredaktör på Ekot och Sveriges Radios New York-korrespondent Fernando Arias. Programledare: Sara Stenholm Pihl. Producent: Cecilia Khavar.
En svensk person har dött i en militärövning utanför Överkalix, uppger Försvarsmakten på sin hemsida - Enligt Muellers rapport går det inte att bevisa att någon från Donald Trumps kampanj medvetet ha konspirerat med Ryssland i samband med valet 2016 For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy
In this episode I address the deeply disturbing connections between Bob Mueller and the political hacks who tried to pull this scheme off. I address it because public support for Mueller’s witch-hunt is completely collapsing. I also discuss the liberal myths that middle wages are stagnant and that Australian gun control worked. News Picks: Public confidence in the Mueller probe collapses. Low income and middle class wages are rising, which debunks another silly liberal myth. Did gun control really work in Australia? The Democrat’s obsession with political correctness is going to eat them alive. Watch Nancy Pelosi struggle to define Beto’s accomplishments. Copyright Dan Bongino All Rights Reserved.
Today on @ChosenGenerationRadio Matt Long Fredericksburg Tea Party live update from the Capitol in Texas. Freedom Caucus with an announcement and other important news. Matthew Bellis Liberty Healthshare Director of Communication, Medical Healthcare Sharing provides medical healthcare freedom to those seeking to get away from Obamacare. The latest in the fight to stop single payer and medicare for all Democratic proposals. Senator John Milkovich new book Robert Mueller errand boy for the New World Order. What is Muellers motivation in pursuing President Trump? Is the new AG Barr likely to interrupt the investigation/witch hunt? What if any effect does the Comey, McCabe, Stozk and Page revelations play in this scenario? Michael Daugherty Author of the Devil Inside the Beltway discusses what he is hearing in his travels around the country.
Season 4 Episode 405 Superstitions and Cruelty Directed by: Denise Di Novi Written by: Bronwyn Garrity My basic thoughts follow below, but you'll have to listen to the podcast to get my complete thoughts. Summary: Claire and Adawehi bond. A misunderstood truth is given. The white sow is challenging her worth. Jamie shares a supernatural dream. Claire midwife's a mountain family. Jamie and Young Ian go to recruit settlers. Claire quashes a conflict. Settlers are difficult to come by. Measles claim lives. A dear friend is murdered. Someone special is found. Retribution is demanded. Family finds itself opposing one another. The Good: It is impressive how Claire is integrating and participating in the community and blending cultures through her healing practice, her relationship with Adawehi, and in her clothing (gloves and fur undervest). She even temporarily belays bad blood between the Cherokee and Herr Mueller. The continuing theme of Claire as a loving mother who misses Brianna. Adawehi tells her Brianna is here, but Claire misunderstands the meaning. Who doesn't love MURTAGH? RAWR! They've turned him into a serious silver fox. Move over Jamie, Murtagh is in town and seems to be single. Living well post indentured servitude has him doing well for himself. The reunions between Jamie and Murtagh, Murtagh's reaction to Claire returning, and Claire's reaction to Murtagh coming up the path to the cabin are all squishy warm feeling delights. The Difficult: The sheer superstitious savagery that Herr Mueller displays in believing the Cherokee cursed the water and his family leading to the measle related deaths of the baby, Petronella and Tommy are awful and painful to watch. Claire's reaction when he hands her Adawehi scalp because the curse was broken through her death is revolting and wrenching. Herr Mueller puts the savage in savagery. The retaliation by the Cherokee for the death of Adawehi erases the Muellers from the New World. Mueller and his wife perish at their hands, and their cabin is burned to the ground. Mueller is the antithesis of the good neighbor Jamie and Claire are trying to be. Jamie and Murtagh being on the other side of the law and Governor Tryon is setting up a storyline of challenge and decisions between them. The Confusing: The way Brianna departs the 20th century is baffling and irritating. She appears to have left in a moment of rash decision when she learns on her own of the bad news about a fire at Fraser's Ridge. She didn't call Roger to tell him of the fire and obituary notice. When Roger goes to Inverness to track her departure and find clues, Miss Baird (presumably the daughter of Mrs. Baird the Innkeeper) gives him a letter Brianna asked her to hold for a year. She couldn't take the heartbreak on Roger's face. The letter Brianna left is cold and dare I say cruel. She gives no indication she loves him or what her intentions are. She doesn't even say what bad news she found that led her to leave. She tells him not to follow her into the past. And then, simply says goodbye. Is she trying to push him away purposely? She seems utterly detached and uncaring. "Oh well, think of me happily in the past." Ho hum. Nothing to see here. Where is the deep love and wanting that is supposed to be building the foundation these two characters are bound by and drive us into the next generation willingly? Roger's character will have him following her without a doubt. BUT WHY would he follow her? She has left nothing for him to hold onto or to be encouraged by. I am underwhelmed by the Brianna and Roger storytelling and find myself not caring if he follows her or not. And don't get me started on the Holly Hobbie dress she is wearing. It must have been a truly rash decision to head for the 18th. Links of Interest: The Regulators Governor Tryon and the Regulators Eastern Band of the Cherokee Holly Hobbie What say you? I love to get your comments by email or voicemail. Call 719-425-9444 or email contact@adramofoutlander.com. Comments or messages may be included in the podcast or a written post. The entire Outlander TV Series is adapted from the Outlander book series is written by Diana Gabaldon. You can find her on Twitter and Facebook. Visit Outlander Starz on social media, like or follow: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and the official website. All photos are the property of Starz/SONY PICTURES TELEVISION INC. Join the A Dram of Outlander Community Please share posts, join the discussions, and follow this website and social media sites listed below! Facebook Page, Facebook Group, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, Google+ Like what I do? Support the podcast with a monthly offering, go to my Patreon page and sign-up. THE INTRO AND OUTRO MUSIC SEGMENTS ARE TAKEN FROM A PIECE BY DAMIANO BALDONI AT URL ON FREE MUSIC ARCHIVE. CURATOR: CCCOMMUNITY. COPYRIGHT: CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION-NONCOMMERCIAL-NODERIVATIVES 4.0: HTTP://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY-NC-ND/4.0/
Topics: Muellers Questions + Oldest Spider + Kanye on TMZ + More
In our return episode we discuss the bullshit that is the stormy Daniels stuff, trade war with China, border troops, and of course the latest on Robert Mueller!
Let's talk about the fantasy of Trump / Russia collusion, and why we can now definitively say it's always been a lie.
Justisministeren vitnet i timevis om hvorvidt USAs største fiende hjalp Trump til tronen og hvorvidt Den amerikanske presidenten bevisst har forsøkt å punktere etterforskningen av seg selv og sine. Går vi endelig mot slutten av Muellers etterforskning nå som Trump gleder seg til å vitne?
Fox News shelved story on Trump and porn actress Stormy Daniels before election. Justice will ask Supreme Court to intervene, allow Trump administration to end DACA. Ex-C.I.A. Officer Suspected of Compromising Chinese Informants Is Arrested. Bannon Is Subpoenaed in Mueller’s Russia Investigation. UpBeat Lens is released Monday through Friday by 7:30am EST. Email us at contact@UpbeatLens.com and subscribe today!
On this monday edition of the show we start by announcing the new changes with the show starting tomorrow. Tomorrow at 12 noon and every show going forward we will be broadcasting live on Blog talk radio and will be taking calls throught our shows. So join us live tomorrow at noon and call in, the number (646) 668-8727 The media continues its march of insanity trying to implicate Trump in scandals they create out of thin air, we talk about the state of the Mueller ivestigation and where it will go from here. One of Muellers top aids in the FBI was removed from the investigation after anti-Trump communications were found, officals are looking into this seeking more bias from investigatiors. We cover this and much more! Please help support this broadcast by donating here - https://www.paypal.me/JoeHagmann
www.twitter.com/delightfulcastwww.facebook.com/thatsdelightfulwww.patreon.com/thatsdelightfulShow track listing::00 We spend time making fun of Ians dog02:45 - Muellers probe makes significant headway08:20 - We really mess up our nations math13:50 - We get our math back on track and collectively high five!15:20 - Predictions - Does trump resign, get impeached, or finish his term?17:15 - The list of hollywood celebs accused of sexual assault has grown19:45 - George H.W. Bush is a dirty old man with a self inflicted new nickname23:09 - Breaking down Kevin Spacey27:07 - Can you seperate the offender from thier art, and still like the work?30:02 - Should actors be done in hollywood after these scandals?46:35 - our kids dump all over the things we love55:39 - How do you cope with kids who enter into that 'curious' self love phase?59:45 - Our Stranger Things 2 review
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