Podcasts about Swift Current

A massive blackout brought Spain and Portugal to a standstill this week, reminding us just how deeply modern life depends on electricity. The outage disrupted everything from subways and air traffic to ATMs and elevators, leading to scenes of chaos in Madrid and emergency water deliveries by tractor. We break down the moment-by-moment collapse of daily life—and what it tells us about resilience and infrastructure. See our Patreon page for our social media posts and ways to support our work! In the UK, the Labour government is pushing forward with new overhead power lines, despite public opposition to their visual impact. A study endorsed by Labour shows burying cables is 4.5 times more expensive than pylons—read more from The Guardian. Also in Britain, protesters frustrated with the lack of textile recycling options are mailing their worn-out clothes back to the CEOs of the companies that sold them. One PhD student's protest kicked off a wave of “postal activism”—full story here. We also respond to a heartfelt listener email from California about EV range anxiety. Is it time EVs matched gas vehicles for range? We talk bladder size, cold weather, spousal tolerance, and battery waste. Plus, another listener from Swift Current updates us on his repaired Hyundai Ioniq 5—and reveals a surprise connection with last week's mailbag guest from Japan. In the Lightning Round: Scientists develop a tool that could let courts hold oil companies accountable for climate damages—via Bloomberg. New York lawmakers push to shut down Tesla stores. A startup is turning methane into butter. China approves 10 new nuclear reactors—again.

A loaded show featuring interviews with John & Braxton. We discuss the final games, awards, the Al Millar interview, new streaming service and the expansion news. Then we look at the playoffs(3:54) Swift Current game(8:17) Friday Brandon game(10:22) Saturday Brandon game(14:02) Recap our awards and the Pats awards(27:00) Recap the Al Millar interview(31:10) John Babcock interview(39:54) Braxton Whitehead interview(52:11) Braxton's speech from the final game(56:17) WHL's new streaming service Victory+(1:00:13) Expansion news(1:08:07) A look at the playoffs(1:15:48) We tee up future shows, thanks for listening this long lolLike, share & subscribe to the show!Follow us on X @whlpatscast, @theblueliner & @theclarksyMusic from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/oakvale-of-albion/extremeLicense code: DSRPUDJVNHBOWIN1https://uppbeat.io/t/abbynoise/night-thunderLicense code: 1UXX5QD4JMQQVMPQ

A tough week on the ice, injuries piling up, so some fresh bodies are in and have looked pretty good so far. Hear from Failler after his debut. Then we get to know Reese Hamilton, quite the hockey experiences the young man has had.(4:30) Saskatoon game(8:05) Swift Current game(13:25) Saskatoon game (22:28) Sam Failler after his WHL debut(26:00) News, notes, look at the standings & Penticton?(32:48) Reese Hamilton interview(59:30) Wrapping it up, our Awards are out very soon!Like, share & subscribe to the show!Follow us on X @whlpatscast, @theblueliner & @theclarksyMusic from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/oakvale-of-albion/extremeLicense code: DSRPUDJVNHBOWIN1https://uppbeat.io/t/abbynoise/night-thunderLicense code: 1UXX5QD4JMQQVMPQ

The team battled through some issues and grabbed a dub on the road, couldn't pick up any points at home though, a couple more tough tests this coming week, then a great interview with Jace Egland(4:18) Calgary game(6:43) Swift Current game(8:47) Zach Lansard situation(10:39) Prince Albert game(11:56) Mathis Paull, Cohen Klassen news(13:00) Howe's return(13:49) Hockey card review(14:16) Look at the standings(16:53) Quarter Century Team reactions(21:02) The week ahead(22:44) Jace Egland interviewLike, share & subscribe to the show!Follow us on X @whlpatscast, @theblueliner & @theclarksyMusic from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/oakvale-of-albion/extremeLicense code: DSRPUDJVNHBOWIN1https://uppbeat.io/t/abbynoise/night-thunderLicense code: 1UXX5QD4JMQQVMPQ

Bariq leads Sir Parrik, Artvirous, MikMek, and STEVEN Mk III on a search for the lair of the goblin necromancer Chetiin, who some months ago killed a whole party of the Thorn River Company and then fled into the Southwood. Along the way, they stop at a statue of the unicorn goddess Lurue, and battle several shambling mounds who engulf Arty, Parrik, and Bariq, causing them to have to fight their way out from inside the plant monsters. Exploring further, they find (and avoid) a hydra, and come across a freshly-killed unicorn. They meet the alaghi hermit druid Saluk Noreaksey, with whom Bariq plays chess and who breaks Bariq's tender heart in the morning, after telling the party what he knows of Chetiin. The party find Chetiin's lair, a crumbling fortress, and fight their way in past the Bonepicker Goblin guards and the undead remnant of Swift Current, one of the former members of their party. Entering the underground portion, they reach a flooded room and we pause them on "dungeon time."

On Friday's edition of SaskAgToday with Ryan Young: -Lots of people talking about the incoming 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico. We'll hear from cattle groups, the Prime Minister, and Alberta's Premier about it. -The proposed changes to the Capital Gains Tax has been pushed to next year, according to the federal government. -Kevin Hursh of SaskAgToday.com was at the Durum Summit in Swift Current and has a report about it. -Adam Pukalo of Ventum Financial says canola futures have been up the last few months while wheat futures had a strong week.

We got Mr. Swift Current himself, Ryan Switzer and he helped us to get into the nitty gritty information from the WHL trade deadline concluding yesterday.

On Thursday's edition of SaskAgToday with Ryan Young: -Kevin Hursh of SaskAgToday.com is at the Agronomy Update in Saskatoon where a funding announcement was made. -The Grain Growers of Canada has a new executive team. -Saskatchewan pork producers gathered this week for the Saskatchewan Pork Development Board's AGM in Swift Current.

It's hard to believe that we are putting the wraps on yet another season of #ADSPodcast. Thank YOU for checking us out, whether it was one episode or all 50+ this season. Our Ian Wilson stops by for a recap of the recent Western Canadian Baseball League Annual General Meeting, then we hear from Saskatoon Berries president Steve Hildebrand and new Swift Current 57s president Jamie LeBlanc. Then Ian returns as we look back at our favourite stories of 2024 and what's exciting us heading into 2025.  3:38 - Ian Wilson on WCBL AGM 18:04 - Steve Hildebrand 26:02 - Jamie LeBlanc 32:27 - Ian Wilson on 2024 highlights and 2025 look-ahead

  "Give people what they need, not what I want, and then let them trust their instincts.” These powerful words come from none other than Chad Parenteau, a partner at WW Smith Insurance in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. Chad shares his deep insights into leadership, teamwork, and how creating a culture of trust and collaboration empowers teams to soar together—just like geese flying in the V formation.      In this episode, we'll uncover the secrets behind WW Smith's success in bettering the pond, not just for their organization but for their community as well. Chad talks about how understanding individual and collective needs, aligning them with shared goals, and letting people trust their instincts can transform a group of individuals into a unified, high-performing team.     This isn't just a podcast—it's a deep dive into the art of leadership, the power of collaboration, and the importance of nurturing a workplace where everyone has the chance to shine. From lessons in adaptability to creating trust-based environments, Chad's wisdom will inspire you to rethink your approach to teamwork and leadership.      Chad Parenteau LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/chad-parenteau-7918061b8/  WW Smith Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WWSmithInsuranceLtd  E-mail: Chad@wwsmith.ca     #BetterThePond #LeadershipMatters #Podcast #Teamwork #TrustYourInstincts #WWSmithInsurance #Making

Coming Down the Pipe... [0:00] - The intro for Season 20 of The Pipeline Show [1:12] - Guy has a quick intro segment with CHL top 10, NCAA top 20 and U17 update [8:19] - Scott Wheeler from The Athletic has released his first 2025 NHL Draft rankings, we talk about the upcoming CHL vs NTDP games and the CHL/NCAA ruling as well. [42:04] - The 2025 Draft Spotlight gets pointed towards Swift Current to feature 6'5 defenceman Peyton Kettles who was given a 'B' rating by NHL Central Scouting. [59:18] - Sean Hogan is the Executive Director of College Hockey Inc and he updates everyone on the changes to the junior/college hockey landscape.

Most of us imagine school with students walking up and down corridors and classmates to help with your homework, maybe some extracurricular sports. But a school in Swift Current has only one student for the second year in a row. The CBC's Katherine Crummey brought us that story.

Only two points from the three games last week, but a couple entertaining games. This week on the road vs a hot team Tuesday, and another US team in town Friday. Then we sit down and have a great conversation with John Babcock (2:13) Everett game (7:11) Swift Current game (11:42) Herauf on SC (14:19) Spokane game (21:19) The week upcoming (25:56) John Babcock (43:15) Wrapping it up Like, share & subscribe to the show! Follow us on X @whlpatscast, @theblueliner & @theclarksy Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/oakvale-of-albion/extreme License code: DSRPUDJVNHBOWIN1 https://uppbeat.io/t/abbynoise/night-thunder License code: 1UXX5QD4JMQQVMPQ

Send us a textA fantastic season launch episode, loads of ski news and new lifts opening for this seasonVerbier's new Savoleyres combined chair and gondolaA new replacement lift in Engelberg taking people up to TitlisLes 2 Alpes the new Jandri Express, a 32 person tricable carIn Les Gets, a new enclosed beginner's lift on the Mappy's areaBig Sky Resort in Montana continues to invest and is opening the fastest 6 person lift in North America, the Swift Current.We also cover some ski racing news, a new ski school and dry slope has opened near Perth, Scotland, as well as the InTheSnow readers trip to Les getsAlso Val Cenis and it's bid to reduce wastage by using old lift material to build new lifts   We also look at new gear for the season   ADN that is a technology that is specifically designed to improve the eco credentials of skisPanda Optics has launched its new dual vision goggle - pandaoptics.co.uk at £160Chemmy Alcott has just become an ambassador for SalomonSalomon Brigade Index with Custom Dial 360 fit Stance socksWe also looked at where is best to ski right nowAnd finally our destination showcase focussed around some incredible resorts that we both visited last season including:Whistler, Sun Peaks, Revelstoke, Pila, Crans Montana, La Clusaz, Les Gets and the PDS and many more besides.In the meantime Enjoy the mountains :) And Please do leave a review as it's the only way other like minded travellers get to find us! And don't forget to check us out on the following channels inthesnow.cominstagram.com/inthesnowTikTok@inthesnowmag youtube.com/inthesnowmagfacebook.com/inthesnowand contact us with your suggestions for further episodes at dom@InTheSnow.com / robert@ski-press.com

Thank you to out Co-Host David Woodruff of Alberta, Canada.  On today's report, David is talking with Bryce Burnett from 12 mile southwest of Swift Current, Alberta, which is west of Moose Jaw.  Listen in!

If you happened to see a tall fella with grey dreadlocks behind the wheel of an old convertible this week, he is, in fact, THAT guy from TV. Mike Hall is one of the stars of the wildly popular show Rust Valley Restorers, and they're in the midst of a whirlwind Newfoundland visit. CBC's Gavin Simms reached Mike as they were pulling into Swift Current. 

This week, we recap the Inaugural PLYR Cup Elmwood in Swift Current. Plus, MattyB wins the Warrior Tourney, Davis Thompson wins the John Deere and we cant figure out golf odds. The post Episode 328 – Swift Joins The PLYR Cup Circuit appeared first on Drive The Green Golf.

The LA Kings 2024 Development Camp was held over three days at Toyota Sports Performance Center. The Kings prospects participated in drills and scrimmages and got to know the Kings development staff. Ryan Conmy, Jared Wright and Matthew Mania took time out of their schedules to talk to host Jesse Cohen one on one and Jakub Dvorak spoke from his locker on day one about his transition from Czechia to Swift Current.

On Tuesday's edition of SaskAgToday with Ryan Young: -Kevin Hursh with SaskAgToday.com recaps Day 2 of the Stock Growers AGM & Convention in Swift Current. -Prior to the AGM, Garner Deobald, the President of the Stock Growers, was asked about how conditions are in his area. -Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay recently appeared before the commons ag committee. -Saskatchewan craft beer connoisseurs are likely drinking a beverage that gets its start in the Rosthern area.

On Wednesday's edition of SaskAgToday with Ryan Young: -Part 1 of a preview of the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association AGM & Convention in Swift Current. -Lisa Guenther with the Canadian Cattlemen's Magazine talked about toxic plants. -After a better-than-expected May, June started off poorly for the canola market. -Terri Lang from Environment Canada says spring this year was average.

Dr. Michelle Hubbard leads a field, greenhouse, growth chamber and lab based research program at Agriculture and AgriFood Canada, a part of the Canadian federal government. Based in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, her work focuses on pulse pathology, including important diseases like ascochyta blight of chickpea, root rot of pea and lentil and anthracnose of lentil. Hubbard discusses a mystery illness that has been popping up in parts of Saskatchewan and other areas in recent years. She shares the symptoms of this disease and the extensive research that has been done to try to understand what exactly is going on so that we can start to manage for it in the future. She provides insights not only into pulse pathology, but also into the approach scientists like herself take to try to find answers for farmers.“It is frustrating, but it's also interesting and I keep going by thinking we're learning other things. Even if we're not finding an answer to this problem, we're learning other useful things like about drought and Verticillium and nematodes.” - Dr. Michelle HubbardThe exact pathogenesis of the mystery illness in chickpeas continues to elude researchers despite major efforts. The disease first emerged in 2019 and made its mark by creating severe crop loss similar to ascochyta blight. However, these chickpeas did not demonstrate obvious girdling and patterns of being transmitted airborne like typical ascochyta blight. Drought stress followed by rainfall was another factor explored for explaining the unique symptoms observed in the field but this too was disproved in trials. Herbicide application without moisture was another factor explored and it too could not be replicated successfully. The investigation continues with Dr. Hubbard offering this advice to producers. “Keep an eye out for it, but (don't) panic about it. If they want to find out more information or pictures, there's a lot of pictures on the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers website, as well as some old reports dating back to the beginning of the issue that explains it really well and shows pictures and examples. Or if somebody wants to contact me, I'm happy to send pictures or to help you find a link where you can find more pictures.” - Dr. Michelle HubbardThis Week on Growing Pulse Crops:Meet Dr. Michelle Hubbard a plant pathologist who leads a field, greenhouse, growth chamber and lab based research program at Agriculture and AgriFood CanadaUnderstand the emergence and research related to identifying this mystery chickpea illnessLearn more about Dr. Hubbard's work at AgriFood Canada by visiting her webpage Check out the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers webpage as well to learn more about this emerging concernGrowing Pulse Crops is produced by Dr. Audrey Kalil and hosted by Tim Hammerich of the Future of Agriculture Podcast.

Gina Tranquada is a 38 year old occupational therapist, runner, wife and mother-of-two from Winnipeg, MB, who has been tearing it up on the track, road, and trails since we last spoke two years ago. Under the guidance of Olympic marathoner Krista Duchene – who currently holds the Canadian 50km record – Gina has begun making national teams. In Sept 2023, she proudly represented Canada at the Beaver Flat 50 in Swift Current, SK, which served as the first ever NACAC (North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association) 50km Mountain & Trail championships. She also qualified for the World 50km Road Championships two months later in India, but you'll have to listen to the end to hear why she wasn't able to attend that event and how she dealt with her disappointment.Gina just completed the Mad City Ultra 50k in Madison, WI, where she finished 4th female and 1st Canadian in 3:38, which was a personal best by 5 minutes! This performance also landed her a Top 5 North American 50km ranking from Ultra Running! Connect with Gina:Instagram: @gt_racer.mbGina's last Inspired Soles interview: Teamwork Makes the Dream WorkConnect with Carolyn & Kim:Email us with guest ideas: inspiredsolescast@gmail.comInspired Soles InstagramKim's InstagramKim's FacebookCarolyn's InstagramCarolyn's FacebookCarolyn's websiteWe love hearing from you! Connect with us on Instagram @inspiredsolescast or email guest ideas to inspiredsolescast@gmail.com. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend, subscribe or leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.

Thanks for tuning in to this Thursday edition on RealAg Radio, brought to you by Pioneer Seeds Canada! On this week's Farmer Rapid Fire, host Shaun Haney checks in with: Bruce Hill of Kinburn, Ont.; Eric Dietrich of Lucan Biddulph, Ont.; DC Jensen of Swift Current, Sask.; and, Rob Somerville of Special Areas, Alta. Plus,... Read More

Thanks for tuning in to this Thursday edition on RealAg Radio, brought to you by Pioneer Seeds Canada! On this week's Farmer Rapid Fire, host Shaun Haney checks in with: Bruce Hill of Kinburn, Ont.; Eric Dietrich of Lucan Biddulph, Ont.; DC Jensen of Swift Current, Sask.; and, Rob Somerville of Special Areas, Alta. Plus,... Read More

393 Marina Dyck on TEAM for Insomnia Today we feature Marina Dyck, a TEAM-Certified Clinical Counselor in private practices in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Canada. She works with individuals and families struggling with trauma, anxiety, depression, and relationship issues. She combines the latest research in neuroscience, powered by TEAM-CBT, and what she calls the "whole person" approach. Marina describes her innovative TEAM-CBT treatment for patients with trouble sleeping. Many of them toss and turn at night, unable to turn off their anxious and agitated brains, so they ruminate over and over about problems that are bugging them. Sound familiar? Here's David's quick, step by step overview of Marina's treatment approach, which is based on the steps of TEAM and the Daily Mood Log. Step 1. Let's imagine you're the patient (or the shrink), so you start with a brief description of the Upsetting Event at the top of the Daily Mood Log. It could be something as simple as ”Lying in bed for several hours, unable to get to sleep because I keep ruminating about a report I have not finished for work,” or some other problem. Step 2. Identify your negative feelings and estimate how intense each one is on a scale from 0 (not at all) to 100 (the worst.) For example, you may be feeling: Sad, down: 80% Anxious, panicky: 95% Guilty, ashamed: 70% Inadequate, incompetent, inferior: 90% Alone: 100% Discouraged: 80% Frustrated: 95% Angry, annoyed: 100% Step 3: Record your negative thoughts and how strongly you believe each one from 0% to 100%. For example, you may be telling yourself: I have to get to sleep! 100% If I don't get to sleep, I'll never be able to function tomorrow. 90% I should have completed my report for my boss today. 100% I should get out of bed and work on it. 90% There must be something wrong with me. 100% etc. etc. Step 4. Identify the distortions in these thoughts, like All-or-Nothing Thinking, Fortune-Telling, Should Statements, Emotional Reasoning, Magnification, and more. Now, if you're a shrink, after you've empathized, do the A = Paradoxical Agenda Setting or Assessment of Resistance. If you're a general citizen, you can do Positive Reframing. In other words, instead of trying to make your negative thoughts and feeling disappear entirely by pushing the Magic Button, you can ask two questions about each negative thought (NT) or feeling: How might this NT or feeling be helping me? What does this NT or feeling show about me and my core values that's positive and awesome? Example. In the current example you are 95% anxious and panicky about your report for work as well as the fact that you can't relax and fall asleep. Could there be some positives in your anxiety and panic? For example, these feelings might show Your intense commitment to your work. They may be a reflection of your high standards. Your anxiety, while uncomfortable, has probably motivated you to work hard and achieve a great deal. Your anxiety may protect you from danger and keep you focused on what you have to do to succeed and survive. Your anxiety could be an expression of your respect for your boss and for the company you're working for. Your desire to do a good job is probably a reflection of one of your core values as a human being. You could make similar lists for other feelings as well, like feeling down, guilty, discouraged, angry, and so forth. At that point, you can set your goals for every negative feeling. For example, you might decide that 15% or 20% might be enough anxiety and panic, and that 15% shame would be enough, and so forth. You can record your goals for each negative feeling in the goal column of your Daily Mood Log. This is much easier than if you try to reduce them all to zero by pressing the Magic Button. And even if you could, then all of the positives you listed would go down the drain, right along with your negative thoughts and feelings. Instead, you can aim to reduce them to some lower level that would allow you to relax while still maintaining your core personal values. Now we're ready for the M = Methods portion of the TEAM session. You will enjoy this portion of the podcast. Marina led Rhonda in three classic TEAM methods: The Paradoxical Double Standard Technique, the Externalization of Voices, and something Marina calls Distraction Training, which is actually a mix of Image Substitution, self-hypnosis, and relaxation training. Essentially, you focus on something positive and relaxing, as opposed to ruminating about all you have to do. This approach will come to life when you listen to the podcast, and I think you will agree that it IS innovative and significantly different and from 99% of what is currently sold as “insomnia treatment!” Marina emphasizes that you, the client, will have to agree to spend 15 to 20 minutes per day doing written work with the Daily Mood Log, or all bets are off. In addition, I would like to add that you and your shrink (or you and your patient) will have to find effective ways to combat each patient's ruminations and negative thoughts, because we're all quite different and our problems will usually be unique. In fact, that's why I (David) have created way more than 100 methods for challenging distorted thoughts. But here's the basic idea: When you learn to CHANGE the way you THINK, you can CHANGE the way you FEEL as well as the way you SLEEP! Thanks so much for listening today, and happy dreams! Marina, Rhonda and David  

Young bugbear paladin Roff leads Rasprax, Simple Jack, Cassius, and Swift Current to hunt down the goblin necromancer Chetiin, who recently caused an undead outbreak in the Upperthorn Domain. Despite some bad weather, they discover the hideout in a series of caves, and while battling some undead, one zombie flees to raise the alarm. Swift Current pursues and is the first to fall to the necromancer's magic. As the others start to flee, Chetiin repositions to the entrance cave, and cuts down Rasprax, Cassius and Simple Jack. Roff tries to flee a different way but is killed by skeletons. An attempt is made to recover the bodies before they are lost forever, but Chetiin grows stronger with the raised zombies of this party of PCs, setting the stage for a new direction in the campaign.

Render leads Jhank, Arty, and Swift Current in an epic battle against cyclops cousins Harpalos and Palados, who have finally decided to rid the world of the deceitful guests under Harpalos' house. Palados throws a couple of giant ticks into the mix, Jhank gets big, Arty and Swift move all over the map, and Render mostly shoots from afar until Harpalos closes to him and starts wailing on him. Eventually the adventurers turn the tide and destroy the cyclops cousins, taking Harpalos' home and several magical items as loot! They decide to explore a nearby hex and encounter a strange abandoned mine with a bizarre inhabitant known as Moon Crab who controls a magical machine called the Cimmerian Device. They help Moon Crab back to his home in Hidden Lake and check on the dwarves there, who seem to have gotten even stranger since anyone spoke to them.

Coming Down the Pipe... [0:00] - The intro for Season 19 of The Pipeline Show [1:12] - Guy has the latest look at playoff races in the QMJHL, OHL, WHL, AJHL, BCHL, USHL and NCAA conference playoffs too as well as the guest list. [17:51] - One of the top ranked defencemen in the Class of 2024, Zeev Buium is having an incredible freshman season at Denver, won a gold at the 2024 WJC with USA and we talk about it all in the Draft Spotlight. [45:24] - Guest 2 - He's one of the top scorers on the WHL's hottest team but somehow I think Clarke Caswell might be flying under the radar in Swift Current. Time to feature him in another 2024 Draft Spotlight segment. [1:01:32] - Guest 3 - Another top ranked defenceman in the 2024 NHL Draft Class is Sam Dickinson of the London Knights. Sam joins me this week as the OHL playoffs get closer, we talk about that, his development over 2 years in London, the NHL and OHL Drafts and more.

Today, I sit down with an incredible guest, Darren Jacklin, a world-class mentor and a dear friend. Darren shares his remarkable journey, from facing personal and professional challenges to becoming a successful entrepreneur and a global influencer. We dive into the importance of mindset, the power of journaling, and how overcoming adversity can lead to extraordinary success. Darren's story is not just inspiring; it's a roadmap for anyone looking to transform their life. His insights on personal development, goal setting, and resilience are invaluable. Join us as we explore Darren's journey and uncover the secrets to turning struggles into success.#RickJordan #Podcast We Meet:Episode References: Connect:Connect with Rick: https://linktr.ee/mrrickjordanConnect with Darren: Universal Rate & Review: https://lovethepodcast.com/allinwithrickjordanSubscribe & Review to ALL IN with Rick Jordan on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RickJordanALLINAbout Darren: Darren Jacklin grew up in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Canada. At the formative age of one, his four-year-old sister died from complications due to open-heart surgery. This greatly impacted his family. From an early age, Darren had difficulty reading and writing and was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. This resulted in him being put on Ritalin. He then failed and repeated grade one. Darren was then enrolled in a special education class for the rest of his educational years.Throughout public school, Darren had difficulty focusing on school and making friends. His parents were told that he would not amount to much in life.At the age of seven, he started a business called “Rent a Kid”. His business included shoveling snow off sidewalks, mowing lawns, and delivering the Regina Leader-Post six days a week. His need for external approval and validation were his driving force.In school, Darren felt awkward and invisible. In grade eleven, after his parents' divorce, a high school teacher and guidance counselor sat him down one afternoon. He was told that based on his academic achievement, he probably would not go very far in life, or amount to much. Not only did this further damage his self-confidence, but it also triggered a relentless drive to prove everyone wrong. For years following that conversation, Darren did whatever he could to be liked, loved, accepted, and understood. Following High School, he tried multiple suicide attempts, including driving his car at 140-km / 85-mph into a telephone pole. Darren was also a passenger in a car that went out of control on an icy hill and rolled over a forty-foot embankment. He was ejected through the windshield of the car. That day, Darren nearly lost his life. It then took him months to learn how to walk again.In his early twenties, he received a settlement from this car accident. Combining this with his income from his “Rent a Kid” business and a few other business ventures throughout his adolescence, Darren unwittingly signed for loans and lines of credit with unscrupulous investors. Lawyers and collection agencies were now harassing him. His car was repossessed, bank accounts frozen, water and electricity were disconnected, and he was evicted from his apartment. Within four months he was broke and homeless.Hitting rock bottom, he was forced to collect welfare, living on the streets and sleeping in an apple orchard.These early challenges set the scene for a remarkable transformation.

Rasprax leads Jorgrim, Swift Current, some pikemen and skirmishers, and two new adventurers - feytouched human sorcerer John Doe/Simple Jack and dwarven forge cleric Bors McCraw - out of the Drow Caves and towards the trading post known as Oleg's where the whole campaign began, carting a wagon full of tin ingots to sell. Along the way the discover a bulette lair, stop at a local vineyard to buy a keg of fine Melshimber wine, and happen across a magical fey-well that causes Jorgrim and Simple Jack to switch bodies. They are attacked by an angry bulette that kills half their soldiers, then meet the ettin BorisChorus who relieves them of their new wine and escorts them to the rock outcrop known as the Horned Titan. Camping there, they are beset by giant ants, who agree to take some of their supplies in exchange for peace. At Oleg's, now renamed Zas Gor, they discover a thriving Zhent operation with a stone fort and palisaded trading area. They sell their tin to shady tobacco merchant Brooks Hyland and investigate the defenses of the fortification.

Host Luke Barrett is joined by Sarah Sue and Mike Lloyd co owners of Swift Current Farms. Swift Current Farms was born out of a passion for helping people, farming, mycelium, and community. Tune in to learn more about mushrooms, medicinal benefits, and also how they add flavor to a meal. If you enjoy please like and subscribe.

Brendan McGuire and Ryan McNally host the SportsCage on Friday, Feb. 16. Hall-of-Fame curler Sherry Anderson joins the show. Baltimore author Ron Snyder talks about his book about the Baltimore Stallions. 3 Down Nation's John Hodge joins the show to chat CFL. Ryan Switzer from Swift Current talks 57's Baseball and Broncos Hockey.

Swift Current's Ryan Switzer joins the show to discuss 57's Baseball and Broncos Hockey.

For the past 48 years, the Kinsmen Foundation and Telemiracle has been raising money to improve the quality of life and independence of Saskatchewan residents. Their generosity is huge and the province rallies every year to support the Telemiracle fundraising event on television, but you might not know about all the work that goes on behind the scenes, all year round, to connect the Kinsmen Foundation with people in need. We learn about this incredible work in this episode of YXE Underground. I can vividly remember being 8 years-old, sitting on the living room floor next to my sister, in our home in Swift Current, eagerly waiting for our names to slowly scroll across the bottom screen during Telemiracle. I'm sure I am not the only one who has a memory like this.I think Telemiracle is one of those Saskatchewan institutions that just seems to bring people together. The fact that this two day annual fundraiser raises millions of dollars to help people in need, whether it's a piece of medical equipment or to help cover the costs of travel for a medical procedure, is worth celebrating.However, it's only been in the past few years that I've learned about all the work that happens year round by a passionate group of volunteers that connects people in need with the Kinsmen Foundation. These volunteers are from across Saskatchewan and often meet at the Kinsmen Foundation headquarters in Saskatoon.I wanted to learn more about these Kinsmen and Telemiracle volunteers and how they work with people and organizations across Saskatchewan, and I was lucky enough to meet Raelynn Nicholson and Tyler Hall.Raelynn is the Kinsmen Foundation Board Chair and lives in Assiniboine, Saskatchewan. Tyler Hall is this year's Telemiracle Chair and he lives in Mortlach, Saskatchewan. They are volunteers who love making a difference in the lives of people, and as you will hear, their roots run deep with it comes to Kinsmen and Telemiracle.I was lucky to catch them both in Saskatoon last month and we met for coffee at the Broadway Roastery on 8th Street. We cover a lot of ground in just over a half-hour...like how the volunteer board decides where to spend its money and what it's like getting to really know families in need. We also discuss why this work means so much to Raelynn and Tyler, and as you'll hear, they have a lot of fun working together.A big thank you to Rob Rongve and his team at RBC Dominion Securities in North Battleford for supporting this episode. If you are looking for someone to manage your money and give you thoughtful advice on investments, you should really speak with Rob Rongve. Thank you so much for listening and supporting a local, independent podcast. Don't forget to leave a 5-star review if you like what you hear and follow YXE Underground on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Cheers...Eric  Host, Producer, Editor: Eric AndersonTheme Music: Andrew DicksonWebsite: https://www.yxeunderground.com

Arty leads Jorgrim, Bariq, MikMek, and Swift Current back into the giants' lair, where they detour into a forge haunted by undead dwarves, who life drain everyone and drop Jorgrim with mummy rot! They retreat back into the open air, then regroup and come back again the following day to take on the remaining giants. A mine cart is used as a diversion and the group descends by rope and stairway to take on a hill giant and verbeeg. All the former captive miners have been slain by the giants, but luckily there's some treasure at the bottom of the mine, including a magical battleaxe that MikMek reluctantly accepts.

Snow on the mountains. Starting to teach Jurassic Park. The tallest novelist of all time. Crichton's most controversial novel. Was Crichton a good novelist? Trapped in the bathroom. Is the science ever settled? Harmful Content. Militant non-musicians. Compliance. Kris vs. The Looping World. Lost malls. Hunting for bookstores in a small town. The worst bookstore in the history of America. Return policies on dirty magazines. Osmos with the cosmos, or you will be socializing with a bureaucracy of ghosts. Sex positive interrogative counter-scientism societal utopianism. Indistinguishable news organizations. Garmonbozia pablum. Does Liberal and Conservative mean anything? Should we have a Women Party and a Men Party? People can't see anything from another point of view, but more importantly, they can't see their own point of view. Kindness as a placating sinister force. People get more feral the more “nice” the conversation gets. Giving people responsibilities. The Gold Bar Test. Cults are about structure. Preview of 2024. JDO's imaginative challenge brings him to Swift Current, where a man wheels a cross through town and a Chinese restauranteur has problems with his fake hand. The Harari Main Market. The chaos of markets, the harmony of trading. Looking closely at Mayan and Aztec societies. Hardy Boys cover designs. Reassessment of danger from the fear of serfs to a kind of danger you'd want to be a part of.

Jorgrim leads MikMek, Bariq, Arty and Swift Current to a mine near Lowerthorn territory rumored to have Ettins keeping humans as slaves. Once there, Swift Current wakes a sleeping ogre by trying to steal his chain and a huge, multi-level, all out battle occurs. Several giants are killed and several PCs go down but the lead giants escape - the party resolves to get reinforcements and conquer the site once and for all!

The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and to support my work, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.WhoBoyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher, Big Sky President Taylor Middleton, Big Sky GM Troy Nedved, and Garaventa Chief Rigger Cédric AelligWhereBig Sky invited media to attend the opening of their new Lone Peak tram, the first all-new tram at a U.S. ski resort since Jackson Hole opened theirs in 2008.Recorded onDecember 19, 2023About Big SkyClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Boyne ResortsBase elevation: 6,800 feet at Madison BaseSummit elevation: 11,166 feetVertical drop: 4,350 feetSkiable Acres: 5,850Average annual snowfall: 400-plus inchesTrail count: 300 (18% expert, 35% advanced, 25% intermediate, 22% beginner)Terrain parks: 6Lift count: 40 (1 75-passenger tram, 1 high-speed eight-pack, 3 high-speed six-packs, 4 high-speed quads, 3 fixed-grip quads, 9 triples, 5 doubles, 3 platters, 2 ropetows, 9 carpet lifts) – View Lift Blog's inventory of Big Sky's lift fleet.About the new Lone Peak TramIt may seem like the most U.S. American thing ever to spend tens of millions of dollars to replace a lift that was only 28 years old (remember when the Detroit Lions dropped half a billion to replace the 26-year-old Pontiac Silverdome?), but the original tram cost just $1 million to build, and it served a very different ski resort and a very different ski world. It was, besides, a bit of a proof of concept, built against the wishes of the company's own CEO, Boyne Resorts founder Everett Kircher. If they could just string a lift to the top, it would, the younger Kirchers knew, transform Big Sky forever.It did. Then all sorts of other things happened. The Ikon Pass. Montana's transformation into a hipster's Vermont West. Social media and the quest for something different. The fun slowly draining from Utah and Colorado as both suffocated under their own convenience. Big Sky needed a new tram.The first thing to understand about the new tram is that it does not simply replace the old tram. It runs on a different line, loading between the top of Swift Current and the bottom of Powder Seeker; the old tram loaded off the top of the latter lift. Here's the old versus the new line:The new line boosts the vertical drop from 1,450 feet to 2,135. Larger cabins can accommodate 75 passengers, a 500 percent increase from 15 in the old tram (Big Sky officials insist that the cars will rarely, if ever, carry that many skiers, with capacity metered to conditions and seats set aside for sightseers).One dramatic difference between the old and the new lines is a tower (the old tram had none), perched dramatically below the summit:It's a trip to ride through:But the most astonishing thing about riding the new Lone Peak tram is the sheer speed. It moves at up to 10 meters per second, which, when I first heard that, meant about as much to me as when my high school chemistry teacher tried to explain the concept of moles with a cigar-box analogy. But then I was riding up and the down-bound cabin passed me like someone just tossed a piano off the roof of a skyscraper:Here's the down-bound view:The top sits at 11,166 feet, which is by no means the highest lift in America, but it is the most prominent point for an amazing distance around, granting you stunning views of three states and two national parks, plus the Yellowstone Club ski area and Big Sky itself:The peak is fickle as hell though – an hour after I took those photos, I walked into a cloud bank on a second trip to the summit.Right now, the only way to access the tram is by riding the Swift Current 6 (itself an extraordinary lift, like borrowing someone's Porsche for a ride around the block), and skiing or walking a few hundred vertical feet down. But a two-stage, 10-passenger gondola is already under construction. This will load where the Explorer double currently does, and will terminate adjacent to the tram, creating an easy pedestrian journey from base to summit. That lift is scheduled to open for the 2025-26 ski season, and will, along with the Ramcharger 8 and Swifty, create an amazing 24 high-speed seats out of the main Big Sky base.The Lone Peak tram is, in my opinion, the most spectacular new ski lift coming online in America this winter. In a year of big lift projects, with Steamboat's 3.1-mile-long gondola and 14 new six-packs coming online, that's saying a lot.Right now, everyone has to download - it's been a low-snow year, and there's no skiing yet off the summit. Big Sky will, however, stay open until late April this season, so we have plenty of tram-ski days ahead.What we talked aboutWith Troy and TaylorSki town culture; the evolution of Big Sky from Montana backwater to leading North American ski area; why the new tram won't overload Lone Peak even though its capacity is five times that of the old tram; how much – and how fast – Big Sky changed after the 1995 installation of Tram 1; why Big Sky evolved in a way that other small Montana ski areas never did; wind mitigation for a lift going somewhere as insane as Lone Peak; the new tram's incredible speed; plans for the old tram's top and bottom stations; and the switch from pay-per-day to pay-per-ride for the tram.  With Stephen KircherThe significance of this lift when Boyne is putting in so many lifts; what the tram means for the future of Big Sky; the Kircher family legacy, past and future, at Big Sky; the near-death of Tram 1 before it was even built; who we can thank for Big Sky's insane lift fleet; what justifies the huge expense of D-Line technology; why Boyne only builds Doppelmayr lifts; European influence; and how America fell behind Europe in lift technology.What I got wrongI said that, when Middleton arrived in 1980, Big Sky had just a “handful of lifts off Andesite, nothing on Lone Peak.” While there wasn't a lift to the top of Lone Peak, Lone Mountain itself had several lifts by 1980:When I said that “Vail tends to split its lift fleet 50/50,” I meant between Doppelmayr and Leitner-Poma, the two major North American lift manufacturers.Podcast NotesOn the shift to pay-per-tram rideThis year, Big Sky switched from charging per day for tram access to charging per ride. The price ranges from $20 to $40 for skiers. That seems hefty, but frankly the place is so huge that you can have a great ski week with just a handful of tram laps. Here's a primer on how to set up your tram access:On cannister film rollsBefore we lived in the future, photos were scarce and expensive. A two-week family trip may involve two to five rolls of film, with 24 or 36 photos per roll, which you could not see until you deposited the spent cannisters at a photo development emporium and returned, some hours or days later, to retrieve them. Each roll cost between $5 and $7 to purchase, and an equal price to develop. Reprints were expensive and complicated. The rolls themselves were impossibly easy to destroy, and could, like vampires, disintegrate with direct exposure to sunlight. Witnessing the destruction of this system and its displacement by digital photos as limitless as videogame ammunition has been one of the great joys of my life.Anyway, that's what Middleton was referring to when he tells the story about the lost film cannister that almost ruined his day.On D-Line liftsKircher talks extensively about “D-Line lifts.” I constantly reference these as well, as though I have the faintest idea what I'm talking about, but all I know is that these are really kick-ass chairlifts, and are better than other sorts of chairlift. While several non-Boyne ski areas (Camelback, Sun Valley, Mammoth), have installed this most advanced lift class, Boyne owns perhaps as many as the rest of North American resorts combined, with two each at Big Sky (Ramcharger 8 and Swift Current 6) and Sunday River (Jordan 8 and Barker 6), and one each at Brighton (Crest 6), Loon (Kanc 8), Boyne Mountain (Disciples 8), and The Highlands (Camelot 6).On Everett Kircher the elderEverett Kircher, Stephen Kircher's father, was a bit of a cowboy entrepreneur, the swaggering sort from America's black-and-white past. He purchased the land for Boyne Mountain for $1, built an audacious contraption called the Gatlinburg Sky Park that ended up fueling the growth of the whole ski empire, and flew himself between Michigan and Montana after buying the resort in the mid-70s. He built the world's first triple, quad, and detachable six-person chairlifts and invented all sorts of snowmaking equipment. Boyne has more on their history page.On John KircherStephen's brother, John Kircher, was an important figure in the U.S. ski industry in general, and at Big Sky in particular. He passed away on Jan. 28 of this year. From Explore Big Sky:The oldest son of late Boyne Resorts co-founder Everett Kircher, John will be remembered for his impact in the modern ski industry. After stepping into Big Sky Resort's GM role in 1980, he became widely known for spearheading the Lone Peak Tram project in the early 1990s. He then spent roughly two decades of his career as president, CEO and, briefly, owner of Crystal Mountain Resort in Washington.Read the rest of the obit here.On Kircher ConceptsStephen Kircher's son is also named Everett. We discuss his contributions to the tram project, and also allude to a digital design agency he founded, Kircher Concepts. This work, which I find incredibly valuable, essentially visualizes lift projects at their announcement. The gondola rendering above comes from Kircher Concepts, but the agency does not work exclusively with Boyne – Telluride, Sun Valley, and Mount St. Louis Moonstone are also clients. Check out the full portfolio here.On Big Sky 2025Kircher refers to Big Sky 2025, which is essentially a masterplan outlining the resort's rapid evolution since 2015. While the plan has changed quite a bit since its announcement, it has completely transformed the resort with all sorts of lift, employee housing, parking, snowmaking, and other infrastructure upgrades. You can read the latest iteration here.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 110/100 in 2023, and number 495 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

It's a slam week! The guys bring us a report from a major event held in Swift Current and we check in and see what happened in Speedy Creek (4:56). Warren also brings us updates from the Everest Canadian Curling Seniors Curling Championships concluded in Vernon, BC.,  an interesting event underway this week in Finland. Then, the World Junior B Championship which has Canada involved in both the women's and men's divisions as well as the fourth Grand Slam of the season is underway in Saskatoon, the World Financial Group Masters, a look at what's happening in Saskatoon and we make some predictions. On 'Hot Rocks Topics' (21:28), we discuss a couple more emails. Finally, in 'What are You Hearing?' (34:38), chatter that last week the Glenn Howard team won a major event with just three players. Should curling be concerned about this becoming the norm or is it just another curling quirk?Inside Curling is hosted by Kevin Martin, Warren Hansen and Jim Jerome. Recorded, Edited and Mixed by Mike Rogerson.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

Elior leads Kain and Neville out into the wilderness near Llorkh, where they get attacked by stirges, find the Red Wizard Tharidun Mirza excavating some mysterious Netherese ruins with a zombie crew that includes the body of their dead friend Zimevos, then they run out of food in the hills. Foraging separately, Elior is attacked and killed by a panther. His friends find the body and are then joined by young goliath barbarian Bron, who explores several nearby hexes with the spellcasters (and narrowly survives a leucrotta attack) before getting back to Llorkh. Over in Upperthorn, Swift Current goes as emissary to the Bignose Goblins, and Mike contemplates his next moves to save New Ammarindar and send an expedition north into the ruins of Orlbar.

The 2 Girls are back.   The podcast superstars are back in town for episode 5 of season 9 after G1's adventures in Swift Current produced a bronze medal for Ontario.   The Girls thoroughly break down the Canadian Mixed championship before tackling the controversial Pan Continetal Championships in Kelowna.   Then it's on to Pictou, N.S. to discuss all things Grand Slam.   There's even some David Beckham in there.   Enjoy the episode and stay safe!

Kevin gives an update from Pictou, Nova Scotia at the KIOTI Nationals (2:20) and Warren shares some of the chatter on the Facebook page today (11:35). Then, Warren gives an update on the finals from the Canadian Mixed Championship in Swift Current, Saskatchewan (21:45) and the guys talk about their past picks and make some predictions for the finals (24:45).This show is hosted by Kevin Martin, Warren Hansen and Jim Jerome. Recorded and mixed by Mike Rogerson.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

The second Grand Slam of Curling event of the season is underway! The KIOTI National started on Tuesday at Pictou, Nova Scotia and Kevin is there on the ground to help us  cover what's happened so far (3:28). The boys then make their predictions for the weekend (16:45) and also discuss the Canadian Mixed Championship taking place in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. This show is hosted by Kevin Martin, Warren Hansen and Jim Jerome. Recorded and mixed by Mike Rogerson.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

This episode of Inside Curling kicks off with 'In the House' featuring an interview with Alina Pätz (2:45). Afterwards, Kevin chats about his clinics that he has been running at different curling clubs in the US (22:17). Warren joins the fray to look the results of the Pan Continental Cup, the Stu Sells Classic in Halifax, the four-person championship in Swift Current and the Kioti National in Pictou, Nova Scotia (25:22). Next up, the boys make their predictions (42:05). In this week's 'Hot Rock Topics', they continue their conversation about some of the issues at the Pan Continental Cup, and Warren reads a letter on the subject from Graham Prouse, one of the VP's of the WCF. To wrap up, the guys discuss an email they received about 'Sturling', a lesser known curling offshoot that is growing in popularity, and it seems to be a match made in heaven for Jim (52:00).   This show is hosted by Kevin Martin, Warren Hansen and Jim Jerome. Recorded and mixed by Mike Rogerson. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on Oct. 26. It dropped for free subscribers on Nov. 2. 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:WhoBen Wilcox, President and General Manager of Cranmore Mountain Resort, New HampshireRecorded onOctober 16, 2023About CranmoreClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: The Fairbank GroupLocated in: North Conway, New HampshireYear founded: 1937Pass affiliations: NoneReciprocal partners: 1 day each at Jiminy Peak and BromleyClosest neighboring ski areas: Attitash (:16), Black Mountain (:18), King Pine (:28), Wildcat (:28), Pleasant Mountain (:33), Bretton Woods (:42)Base elevation: 800 feetSummit elevation: 2,000 feetVertical drop: 1,200 feetSkiable Acres: 170 acresAverage annual snowfall: 80 inchesTrail count: 56 (15 most difficult, 25 intermediate, 16 easier)Lift count: 7 (1 high-speed quad, 1 fixed-grip quad, 2 triples, 1 double, 2 carpets)Why I interviewed himNowhere does a high-speed quad transform the texture and fate of a mountain so much as in New England. Western mountains, geographically dispersed and disposed to sunshine, can still sell you a ride on a 1,700-vertical-foot fixed grip triple, as Montana Snowbowl did with their new Transporter lift last year, and which Mt. Spokane has promised to do should the ski area ever upgrade its Jurassic Riblets. Midwest hills are too short for lift speed to matter as anything other than a novelty.But in the blustery, frenetic East, a single detachable lift can profoundly alter a ski area's reach and rap. Such lifts have proven to be stabilizing mechanisms at Burke, Gunstock, Ragged, Bromley, and Saddleback – mountains without the terrain or marketing heft of their much-larger neighbors. In each case, one high-speed quad (and a sixer at Ragged), cracked the mountain open to the masses, uniting all or most of the terrain with one six-minute lift ride and, often, stabilizing operations that had struggled for decades.Cranmore is one such mountain. Had the Skimobile Express quad not gone up in 1995, Wilcox tells us on the podcast, he's not so sure that the ski area hanging over North Conway would have gotten out of the last century alive. A “dark period” followed the Skimobile's 1990 demolition, Wilcox says, during which Cranmore, tottering along on a double chair strung to the summit, fell behind its high-dollar, high-energy, rapidly consolidating competitors. The Skimobile had been pokey and inefficient, but at least it was freighted with nostalgia. At least it was novel. At least it was cool. An old double chair was just an old double chair, and local skiers had lost interest in those when high-speed lifts started rising up the New England mountainsides in the late 1980s.It's true that a handful of New England ski areas continue to rely on antique doubles: Smugglers' Notch, Magic, Black Mountain in New Hampshire, Mt. Abram. But Smuggs delivers 300 inches of snow per winter and a unique, sprawling terrain network. The rest are improbable survivors. Magic sat idle for half the ‘90s. We nearly lost Black earlier this month. All anybody knows about Mt. Abram is that it's not Sunday River.The Skimobile Express did not, by itself, save Cranmore. If such a lift were such a magic trick, then we'd still be skiing the top of Ascutney today (yes Uphill Bro I know you still are). But the lift helped. A lot.There is a tendency among skiers to conflate history with essence. As though a ski area, absent the trappings of its 1930s or ‘40s or ‘50s origins, loses something. These same skiers, however, do not rip around on 240s clapped to beartrap bindings or ski in top hats and mink shawls. Cranmore could not simply be The Ski Area With The Skimobile forever and ever. Not after every other ski area in New England, including Cranmore, had erected multiple chairlifts. There is a small market for such tricks. Mad River Glen can spin its single chair for 100 more years if the co-op ownership model holds up. But that is a rowdy, rugged hunk of real estate, 2,000 feet of nasty, a place where being uncomfortable is half the point. Cranmore… is not.So Cranmore changed. It is now a nice, modern, mid-sized New England ski area, with a 1,200-foot vertical drop and a hotel at the base. More important, it is an 86-year-old New England ski area, one that began in the era when guys named Harv and Mel and Bob and Jenkins showed up with a hacksaw and a 12-pack and started building a lift-served snowskiing operation, and transitioned into a new identity suited to a new world. Wilcox, with his grasp of the resort's sprawling, mad history, is a capable ambassador to tell us how they did it.What we talked aboutThe new Fairbank base lodge; what Cranmore found when they tore down the old lodge; the future of Zip's Pub; who the lodge is named after; the base lodge redevelopment plan; what happened when the Fairbanks purchased Cranmore; North Conway; traffic; Bretton Woods; Booth Creek; Cranmore pride; “if [the Skimobile Express] hadn't gone in in the mid-90s, I'm not sure if we'd still be here”; the Skimobile Express upgrade and why Cranmore didn't replace it with a new lift; the history of America's Zaniest lift, the original Skimobile; why Cranmore ultimately demolished the structure; potential upgrades for Lookout; the long-rumored but never-built Blackcap expansion; the glory and grind of southern exposure; night skiing; what happened when Vail came to town; competing against discount Epic Passes; why the days of car-counting are over; the history and logic behind the White Mountain Super Pass and the Sun and Snow Pass; Black Mountain; staffing up when your biggest rival raises minimum wage to $20 an hour; and whether Cranmore has considered a Jiminy Peak-esque wind turbine.Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewThe Fairbank Group did something unsung and brilliant over the past two years. While major resorts across the continent razed and replaced first-generation detachables at a per-project cost approaching or exceeding double-digit millions, Cranmore (which Fairbank owns), and Bromley (which they operate), modernized in a more modest way. Rather than tearing down the high-speed quads that act as base-to-summit people-movers for each ski area, they gut-renovated them. For around $1 million per lift, Bromley's Sun Mountain Express and Cranmore's Skimobile Express got new, modern drives, comms lines, safety systems, and more. The result: two essentially brand-new lifts with three-plus decades of good life ahead of them.Skiers may not see it that way, and most won't even know about the upgrades. The aesthetics, mostly, remain unchanged. But for independent ski area operators knocked into eyes-bulging terror as they see price quotes for a Double Clutch Z-Link Awesomeness 42-passenger Express Lift, the Fairbank model offers an approachable alternative. Knock down the walls, but keep the building intact, a renovation rather than a rebuild.Boyne does this all the time, mostly with lifts the company is relocating: the Kanc quad at Loon becomes the Seven Brothers quad; Big Sky's Swift Current quad becomes Sugarloaf's Bucksaw Express; Sunday River's Jordan quad is, someday, maybe, supposedly going to land at Pleasant Mountain. Sugarloafers may grumble on their message boards about getting a used quad while Sunday River erects its second D-Line bubble lift in two years, but, as Loon President/GM Brian Norton told me about the Seven Brothers upgrade on the podcast last year, the effect of such projects are that skiers get “a new lift… you won't recognize it.” Other than the towers and the chairs, the machine parts of these machines really are brand new.Cranmore and its sister resorts have found a different way to sustainably operate, is my point here. The understated chairlift upgrades are just one expression of this. But both operate, remember, in impossible neighborhoods. Bromley is visible from almost any point on Alterra-owned Stratton, Southern Vermont's Ikon Pass freight train. Cranmore sits just down the road from Vail-owned Attitash and Wildcat, both of which are larger, and both of which share a pass – which, by the way, is less expensive than Cranmore's – with each other and with their 20 or 50 or 60 best friends, depending upon how Epic you want your winter to be. The local lift-served skiing market is so treacherous that Black Mountain, less than 11 miles north of Cranmore and in continuous operation since 1935, was saved from permanent closure last week only when Indy Pass called in the cavalry.Yet, Cranmore thrives. Wilcox says that season pass sales continue to increase every year. Going into year five of Northeast-specific Epic Pass offerings and year six of the Ikon Pass, that's an amazing statistic. Cranmore's pass is not cheap. The early-bird adult price for the 2023-24 ski season came in at $775. It's currently $1,139. For a 1,200-vertical-foot mountain in a state full of 2,000-footers, with just one high-speed lift in a neighborhood where Sunday River runs five, statistical equivalencies quickly fail any attempt to explain this momentum.So what does explain it? Perhaps it's the resort's massive, ongoing base area renovation that landed a new hotel and lodge onsite within the past year. Perhaps it's consumer habit and proximity to North Conway, looming, as the mountain does, over town. Perhaps it's the approachable, just-right size of the mountain or, for families, the fact that all trails funnel back to a single base. Perhaps it's the massive seasonal youth and race programs. It is, most likely, a combination of all of these things, as well as atmospheric intangibles and managerial competence.Whatever it is, Cranmore shows us that a pathway exists for a Very Good Mountain to thrive in the megapass era without being a direct party to it. It's worth noting that Black, which nearly failed, is a fifth-year member of Indy Pass, which Cranmore has declined to join. While this conversation with Wilcox does not exactly explain how the mountain has been so successful even as it sidesteps megatrends, it's easy enough to appreciate, as you listen to his passion for and appreciation of the place, why it does.What I got wrongI noted that the Skimobile Express quad had been upgraded “last year, or maybe the year before.” Cranmore completed the lift overhaul in 2022.I referred to Vail's Northeast Value Epic Pass as the “Northeast Local Pass.”Why you should ski CranmoreThe New England Ski Safari is not quite the social media meme that it is in the big-mountain West, where Campervan Karl and Bearded Bob document their season-long adventures over switchbacking passes with their trusty dog, Labrador Larry. Alta/Snowbird to Jackson to Big Sky to Sun Valley to Tahoe with a sickness Brah. Hella wicked rad. Six weeks and 16 storms, snowshovels in the roof box and Larry pouncing through snow in IG Stories.Distance is not such an obstacle in the East. New England crams 100 ski areas into a six-state region half the size of Montana (which is home to just 17, two of which it shares with Idaho). Between pow runs we can just… go home. But the advent of the megapass in the Northeast over the past decade has enabled this sort of resort-hopping adventure. Options abound:* Epic Pass gives you three of Vermont's largest ski areas (Okemo, Mount Snow, Stowe); one of New England's best ski areas (also Stowe); and four stops in New Hampshire, three of which (Mount Sunapee, Wildcat, and Attitash), are sizeable. Crotched gives you night skiing.* Ikon Pass delivers four of New England's biggest, best, and most complete ski areas: Killington, Sugarbush, Sunday River, and Sugarloaf; as well as two of its best lift systems (Stratton and Loon – yes, I know the gondolas are terrible at both); and a sleepy bomber in Pico.* Indy Pass gives you perhaps New England's best ski area (Jay Peak); three other mountains that stack up favorably with anything on Epic or Ikon (Waterville Valley, Cannon, Saddleback); and a stack of unheralded thumpers where light crowds and great terrain collide (Black Mountain of Maine, Black Mountain NH, Magic, Bolton Valley, Berkshire East); and a bunch of family-friendly bumps (Whaleback, Dartmouth Skiway, Pats Peak, Saskadena Six, Mohawk, Catamount, Bigrock).Hit any of those circuits, and you're bound for a good winter. So why tack on an extra? Cranmore is one of the few large New England independents (along with Bretton Woods, Smugglers' Notch, Mad River Glen, Bromley), to so far decline megapass membership. That makes it a tricker sell to the rambling resort-hopper.But this is not Colorado. You can score a Cranmore lift ticket for as little as $65 on select Sundays, even in mid-winter, (including, as of this writing, the always raucous St. Patrick's Day). If you're skiing Attitash and staying in North Conway, you can roll up to Cranmore starting at 2 p.m. on Wednesday or Saturday for a $69 night-ski and some pre-dinner turns.And it's worth the visit. This is a very good ski mountain. The stats undersell the place. It skis and feels big. The fall lines are sustained and excellent. Glades are more abundant than the trailmap suggests. The grooming is outstanding. It faces south – a not unimportant feature in often-frigid New England.Even if you're megapass Bro (and who among us is not?), this one fits right into the circuit, close to Attitash, Black, Wildcat, Cannon, Loon, Waterville. It's easy to ski multiple New England mountains on a single trip, or even in a single day. The last time I skied Cranmore, I cranked through 17 high-speed laps in three hours and then bumped over to Pleasant Mountain, half an hour down the road.Podcast NotesOn Hans SchneiderHenry Dow Gibson, who New England Ski History refers to as an “international financier” founded Cranmore in 1937, but it was Austrian ski instructor Hannes Schneider who institutionalized the place. Per New England Ski History:Hannes Schneider was born on June 24, 1890 in Stuben, a small town west of Arlberg Pass in Austria. At the age of 8, Schneider started skiing on makeshift skis.While becoming a renowned skier in his teenage years, Schneider developed the Arlberg technique. The Arlberg technique quickly caught on, resulting in Schneider becoming in demand for demonstrations, films, and military training.Following Nazi Germany taking Austria in the Anschluss, Schneider was imprisoned March 12, 1938.In January of 1937, international financier Harvey Gibson purchased land on Cranmore Mountain in Conway with the aim to make North Conway a winter destination. Two years later, after lawyer Karl Rosen managed to transfer Schneider from prison to house arrest, Gibson leveraged his firm's German holdings and negotiated with Heinrich Himmler to get Schneider and his family released from Germany and transported to the United States. Following a massive welcoming party in North Conway in February of 1939, Schneider took over Cranmore and worked quickly to make it one of the best known ski areas in the country.One of Schneider's first big decisions at Cranmore was to expand lift service to the summit, which was accomplished during his first full season when the upper section of the Skimobile was installed. With top to bottom Skimobile coverage, Cranmore was second only to Cannon's tram in terms of continuous lift served vertical drop in New England.With the onset of World War II, Hannes was reportedly involved in the training and providing intelligence for United States and British ski troops. His son Herbert served in the 10th Mountain Division during World War II, earning a Bronze Star for his heroic actions in Italy. Following the war, Herbert returned to North Conway to work for his father.In 1949, Hannes Schneider was hired to oversee construction of the new Blue Hills ski area outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Schneider referred to the ski area was "Little Cranmore."In the spring of 1955, Schneider was actively working to open new terrain at Cranmore, serviced by its first chairlift. Following a day of laying out new terrain in what would become the East Bowl, Schneider died of a heart attack. Schneider's son Herbert assumed control of the Cranmore ski school and, circa 1963 started a two decade run as owner of the ski area.Schneider's name lives on at Cranmore, as a trail (Schneider in the East Bowl) and the annual Hannes Schneider Meister Cup Race.On the Fairbank GroupCranmore is owned by the Fairbank Group, whose chairman and namesake, Brian Fairbank, transformed Jiminy Peak from a Berkshires backwater into the glimmering modern heart of Massachusetts skiing. The company also operates Bromley (which is owned by Joseph O'Donnell), and owns a renewable energy operation (EOS Ventures), a ski industry e-learning platform (Bullwheel Productions), and a snowmaking outfit (Snowgun Technologies). For all this and more, including Jiminy Peak's early embrace of clean energy to power its operation, Brian Fairbank earned a spot in the Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame in 2020. I hosted him on the podcast that autumn to discuss his career and achievements:On Booth Creek Ski HoldingsIn an alternate universe, Booth Creek may stand today on Alterra's throne, Vail's foil in the Skico Wars. For a brief period in the late ‘90s, the company, founded by former Vail and Beaver Creek owner George Gillett Jr., owned eight ski areas across the United States: Cranmore, Loon, Waterville Valley, Grand Targhee, Summit at Snoqualmie, Bear Mountain (now part of Big Bear), Northstar, and Sierra-at-Tahoe. In 1998, the company attempted to purchase Seven Springs, Pennsylvania. But, as this summary chart from New England Ski History shows, Booth Creek began selling off resorts in the early 2000s. Today, it owns only Sierra-at-Tahoe:On the SkimobileHad Cranmore's monolithic Skimobile survived to the present day, most visitors would probably mistake it for a mountain coaster. When it went live, in 1938, skiers likely mistook it for the future. “Well, by gum, a contraption that just takes you right up the mountain while you sit on your heinie. This will change skiing forever!”Instead, the Skimobile, a two-track monster that toted skiers uphill in single-passenger carts, passed five decades as a beloved novelty before Cranmore demolished it in 1990. The New England ski diaspora is still sore about this. But imagine building a Great Wall of China vertically up your mountain. It would kind of make it hard for skiers, Patrol, groomers, etc. to move around the bump. And someone came up with a better idea called a “chairlift.” When the only feasible alternative was the ropetow, the Skimobile probably seemed like the greatest invention since electricity. But once the chairlift proliferated, the shortcomings of a tracked lift became obvious.The Skimobile rose Cranmore's full 1,200 vertical feet in two sections: the lower, built in 1938, and the upper, constructed the following year. Skiers had to disembark the first to take the second. Here's how they laid out in a circa 1951 trailmap:On the potential Black Cap expansionWilcox and I discussed Cranmore's long-proposed Black Cap expansion, which would give Cranmore a several-hundred-acre, several-hundred-vertical-foot boost off the backside. New England Ski History includes the following details in its short write-up of Black Cap:In 1951, Cranmore obtained an easement on 500 acres of land on Black Cap, a ledgy peak located to the east of the ski area. If the ski area were expanded to the top of Black Cap, Cranmore would see an increase of 700 vertical feet to 1,800 feet, making it the second highest in the Mount Washington Valley.Wilcox provides slightly different numbers, but doesn't rule out the possibility of this significant expansion at some future point. The current trailmap shows Black Cap looming in the background: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 91/100 in 2023, and number 477 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

Coming Down the Pipe... [0:00] - Intro for Season 19 of The Pipeline Show [1:13] - First Segment - Guy begins the episode off with some brief updates from pre-season action in the WHL, OHL, QMJHL, AJHL, USHL and NAHL before getting to the guest list. [11:52] - Jeff Hollick sits in the colour analyst chair during Calgary Hitmen broadcasts. Here he fills in for Brad Curle to handle the preview of the southern Alberta team. [32:29] - Nick Marek takes a break from being a brand new father in order to deliver a terrific preview of the Portland Winterhawks ahead of the coming season. [1:00:49] - There is a new radio broadcaster in Swift Current and his name is Mat Barrett. He is also our guide during the Broncos season preview. [1:19:52] - The WHL's western conference is a little more crowded and a bunch more competitive too as the Wenatchee Wild are about to enter the fray. Play caller Austin Draude is my guest. [1:40:56] - The General Manager of the Tri-City Americans is Bob Tory and he takes over the team perspective for this season preview of the team from Kennewick, WA [2:00:23] - The final team in the season preview spotlight: the Prince Albert Raiders. New broadcaster Nolan Kowal shares his thoughts on what he has learned so far through training camp and some exhibition games.

Thanks for tuning in to the Farmer Rapid Fire on RealAg Radio, brought to you by Pioneer Seeds Canada! Host Lyndsey Smith is joined by: Drew Spoelstra of Binbrook, Ont.; Mark Huston of Chatham-Kent, Ont.; Jeff Elder of Wawanesa, Man.; and, DC Jensen of Swift Current, Sask. Plus, hear from western field agronomist Doug Moisey... Read More

Thanks for tuning in to the Farmer Rapid Fire on RealAg Radio, brought to you by Pioneer Seeds Canada! Host Lyndsey Smith is joined by: Drew Spoelstra of Binbrook, Ont.; Mark Huston of Chatham-Kent, Ont.; Jeff Elder of Wawanesa, Man.; and, DC Jensen of Swift Current, Sask. Plus, hear from western field agronomist Doug Moisey... Read More

Host Luke Barrett is joined by Sarah Sue and Mike Lloyd co owners of Swift Current Farms. Swift Current Farms was born out of a passion for helping people, farming, mycelium, and community. Tune in to learn more about mushrooms, medicinal benefits, and also how they add flavor to a meal. If you enjoy please like and subscribe.

To support independent ski journalism, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on Nov. 21. It dropped for free subscribers on Nov. 24. To receive future pods as soon as they're live, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription.WhoStephen Kircher, President and CEO of Boyne ResortsRecorded onNovember 9, 2022About Boyne ResortsBoyne Resorts owns 10 ski resorts, a scenic chairlift, and a bunch of hotels and golf courses that you can read about in my other newsletter, The Storm Golfing Journal. Here's an overview of the stuff we're covering here:Why I interviewed himSkiing, as a business, is ruthless. More failures than triumphs. More ghosts than living souls. Like humanity itself, I suppose. Enough corpses exist to create a knucklehead talking point for anyone doubting the long-term viability of, for example, Vail Resorts. They just point to the graveyard and say, “Well what about American Skiing Company? What about SKI? What about Intrawest?”Well, D*****s, what about Boyne? Founded 74 years ago on a Michigan hillside and now a 10-resort, continent-spanning titan, Boyne Resorts is the Ford Motor Company of skiing. Imagine old Everett Kircher, chomping a cigar and riding eight-foot-long skis down Hemlock, a good-old-boy of the Michigan backwoods, getting a load of Boyne Resorts 2022, with its arsenal of megalifts and Ikon Pass access tags all blippity-blinging on the social medias. It would shock him no less than Henry Ford stepping out of his 1903 workshop and stumbling upon a plugged-in F-150 Lightning with satellite radio and $100,000 pricetag.Both of these companies started a long time ago as something very different and evolved into something very Right Now. This is what good companies do, and what almost no companies actually manage over time. See: Kodak, Blockbuster, K-Mart failing to envision digital film, streaming, ecommerce. Boyne Resorts is the longest-running multi-mountain ski company in North America, and possibly in the world. Why? They adapted. Part of their evolution, as Stephen and I discuss in this podcast, was persistence through the near-bankruptcy of key properties in past decades. Part of it was having the vision to build a scenic chairlift in, of all places, Gatlinburg, Tennessee in the 1950s. Part of it was relentless investment in snowmaking. Part of it was a pivot to showmanship and experience. And part of it was dumb luck and timing. There's no single reason why Boyne Resorts has survived and evolved for 74 years, and there's no guarantee that anyone else could exactly replicate their model. But Boyne Mountain, the company's namesake and original resort, is one of the last ski areas in the country to persist under its original ownership. There's a lot we can learn from that fact, and from what Boyne Resorts did in the years since their original mountain's founding to keep the thing from becoming another wintertime phantom.What we talked aboutBoyne's system-wide commitment to the long season; Boyne Resorts' many and varied 2022 lift projects; Sunday River's massive growth potential and how the Jordan 8 will serve that; “people don't understand the idea of rebalancing”; why the company is dropping an eight-pack at Boyne Mountain; what happened when a helicopter had to dump a Cypress lift tower, and whether that impacted the project's timeline; why Boyne didn't buy Sun Valley, Telluride, or Jackson Hole; Boyne Resorts' decades-long expansion; why Boyne had to back out of half-ownership of Solitude; why Boyne purchased Shawnee Peak and what the potential is there for upgrading lifts and expanding terrain; whether Pleasant could ever join the Ikon Pass ; changing the name to Pleasant Mountain; whether Boyne will buy more ski areas; ski areas that the company passed on buying; EuroBoyne?; how Crystal Mountain exited Boyne's portfolio – “It was a bummer that we lost it from the Boyne family”; preventing overcrowding; “there's a collaborative approach within the Ikon”; whether Boyne bid on White Pass; how close Boyne came to closing Boyne Mountain in the 1990s, how the finances had deteriorated to that point, and how the company saved itself; how a Tennessee chairlift saved the whole company; why there aren't more scenic chairlifts in America; dreaming up and building the Michigan Sky Bridge; the five things driving Boyne's incredible investment spree and whether it's sustainable; the importance of owning the resorts that you run and the land that you operate on; “I think it's a Golden Age for North American skiing”; how European skiing leapt ahead of North America in on-hill infrastructure; how and why Boyne brought the first eight-pack chairlift to the United States; how Boyne's 2030 plans are unfolding with a different strategy from 2020; “growth changes the flow of traffic”; why it's taken longer to get 2030 plans for Cypress and Brighton than for Boyne's other resorts; “we had a lot of old Riblets in our system”; the importance of creating a sense of place without the pitfalls of becoming “Intrawest 2.0”; why Boyne finally went wide with RFID; why liftline fast lanes have flopped at Boyne's resorts in the past; and Boyne's obsessive focus on snowmaking.Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewBoyne is just absolutely rolling right now. In September, when The Highlands announced that it would retire three Riblet triples for a D-line six-pack in 2023, I itemized the big projects underway across Boyne' Resorts' portfolio:About five years ago, statement lifts started raining out of the Montana sky. After rolling out four high-speed lifts in five years (the Powder Seeker six in 2016, Ramcharger 8 and the Shedhorn high-speed quad in 2018, and the Swift Current 6 in 2021), Big Sky recently unveiled a gargantuan base-to-summit lift network that will transform the mountain, (probably) eliminating Mountain Village liftlines and delivering skiers to the high alpine without the zigzagging adventure across the now-scattered lift network. Skiers will board a two-stage out-of-base gondola cresting near the base of Powder Seeker before transferring to a higher-capacity tram within the same building.Impressive as the transformation of Big Sky has been, it represents a fraction of the megaprojects going on across Boyne's 10-resort empire. Here's a survey of what's happening around Boyneworld this offseason alone:SugarloafAs the centerpiece of their 450-acre West Mountain expansion, New England's second-largest ski area is currently rebuilding and retrofitting the Swift Current high-speed quad from Big Sky. Installation is scheduled for next summer. I discussed this expansion and the rest of the mountain's 2030 plan with GM Karl Strand two years ago:Sunday RiverBoyne's third eight-pack is rising on Jordan Peak. It's gonna be a bomber, an overbuilt look-ahead lift that will eventually serve an outpost called “Western Reserve,” which may double the 870-acre resort's size. The mountain is also continuing work on the Merrill Hill expansion, a big piece of the mountain's 2030 plan.LoonLast December, Boyne opened eight-pack number two at Loon Mountain, New Hampshire. The event was electric. Meanwhile, the quad that once served that side of the mountain sat in the rebuild barn, so it could replace and retire the Seven Brothers triple, work that has been ongoing all summer.Pleasant Mountain (formerly Shawnee Peak)Boyne bought Maine's oldest ski area less than a year ago, so they've yet to announce any big-time lift projects. For now, the company did the impossible, winning social media for a day with their unanimously lauded decision to change the ski area's name back to Pleasant Mountain, which it had carried from 1938 to 1988. While this doesn't alter the ski experience in any way, it does show that Boyne is here to wow people. Just wait until they start talking lifts and expansion.Boyne MountainEight-pack number four will be here, on Boyne's shortest ski area, a 500-foot Michigan bump. The chair will replace a pair of ancient triples, dropping skiers atop one of the best pods of beginner skiing in the Midwest, a delightful jumble of long, looping greens threading through low-angle forest.Big SkyI mean what isn't happening at Big Sky? This gondola-tram complex will instantly become one of the most iconic lift networks in North American skiing. I recapped the Montana flagship's evolution from backwater to beefcake with mountain COO Taylor Middleton earlier this year:BrightonBoyne's snowiest mountain is also one of the few without a long-term 2030-type plan. This, Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher explained to me, is because the resort sits on Forest Service land, complicating the long-term planning process. No matter. The ski area recently began the permitting process for a D-Line (what else?) sixer to replace Crest Express, the ski area's oldest high-speed quad.Summit at SnoqualmieThe motley agglomeration of what was once four separate ski areas is about to Rip Van Winkle its way into modernity. The ski area's 2030 plan, announced in April, sketches out eight new or upgraded lifts, including a trio of triples at freewheeling Alpental. The first lift is going in as I type this – a fixed-grip carpet-loaded triple to replace the old Hidden Valley Riblet double. GM Guy Lawrence and I went through these updates in a podcast recorded two days prior to the announcement:CypressBoyne's only Canadian ski area is upgrading its Sky summit double with a carpet-loaded quad.One month later, Loon announced a 30-acre South Peak expansion that will finally connect the monster Escape Route parking lots with the ski area via a carpet-loaded quad next year:Here's the full story:It had been more than two years since Kircher's last stop on the podcast, and the big projects just keep dropping. There are plenty more on the way, too, but this seemed like a pretty good time to check in to see what was driving this investment binge.What I got wrong* I referred to Sunday River's upcoming Western Reserve expansion as the “Western Territories.”* In framing Boyne's expansion story, I asked why the company started buying additional resorts “in the ‘90s.” The company began expanding in the ‘60s, of course, with the addition of The Highlands. What I had meant to ask was, why did the company begin expanding in earnest with the 1997 purchase of Crystal Mountain. Over the next decade, Boyne would add five more resorts, doubling its portfolio.* I said that Vail “bought” Andermatt-Sedrun in Switzerland. They only own a 55 percent stake in the ski area – the other 45 percent is under the control of local investors.* I said in passing that Deer Valley was not on the Ikon Pass. It is, of course, as a seven-day partner on the full pass. What I had meant to say was that the Ikon Pass is not Deer Valley's season pass.* I said that Boyne had been a “laggard” in RFID. Kircher points out that the company had introduced the technology at Brighton and Crystal a number of years ago.* I stated that there was no snowmaking at Summit at Snoqualmie – Kircher points out that the resort uses “a small amount” on their tubing hill and terrain park.Podcast NotesThe Gatlinburg Skylift is a pretty incredible complex. I stopped by in September:As Kircher noted, SNL had its fun with the Sky Bridge (5:20):Boyne Resorts on The Storm Skiing PodcastStorm archives are well-stocked with Boyne Resorts interviews. This is Kircher's third appearance on the podcast. Funny note: The Storm featured Kircher for podcast number 6, and 100 episodes later on number 106.My interviews with the leaders of Big Sky and Summit at Snoqualmie both rank in the top 10 for total number of all-time Storm Skiing Podcast downloads (out of 117 podcasts):Leaders of each of Boyne's New England resorts have appeared on the podcast multiple times. The exception is Pleasant Mountain, which I'll feature on an episode once their long-term plans come together.I also interviewed the leaders of each of Boyne's Michigan resorts:That just leaves Brighton and Cypress. I'll get to Brighton soon enough, and I'll wrap Cypress in after I officially enter Canada in May.Meet my new co-host, Rocky the catMy cat wouldn't shut up and is the third party in this podcast. His name is Rocky. He is 17. Or so. He looks like he's about 700. He could be. I adopted him from a shelter in May 2006. Meaning he's been in my life longer than either of my kids, by several years. A fact that astonishes me, really. All he does is meow meow meow all goddamn day. He wants to eat every five minutes. Meow meow meow. That's the problem during this podcast – he is demanding his five-times-hourly feeding. Otherwise, he is a sweet animal. He comes when you call him, like a dog. He hates the outside and sheds like a yeti. He's best buddies with my 5-year-old son and he looks like a miniature cow:He's moved all over New York City with me, though he would be just as happy living in a box truck in a Tampa strip mall. He can no longer run or jump, though he still manages the stairs quite well. He is not a smart animal, and that may have contributed to his longevity – he is not curious enough to get himself into trouble. He still manages to make quite a mess. A cat is the highest-maintenance animal I can manage, and just barely. But I quite like him, even if he chose an unusual hour, on this one day, to vary from his normal 22-hour-per-day sleep schedule and interject himself into our conversation.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 125/100 in 2022, and number 371 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Want to send feedback? Reply to this email and I will answer (unless you sound insane, or, more likely, I just get busy). You can also email skiing@substack.com. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.stormskiing.com/subscribe