Podcasts about Timberline

What feeds your soul? In a world filled with endless distractions, many people find themselves exhausted, anxious, overwhelmed, and spiritually hungry. Kicking off our summer journey through the Psalms, Psalm 1 invites us to discover the source of a flourishing life: delighting in and meditating on the Word of God. These ancient songs have nourished God's people for generations, pointing hearts toward His presence, His truth, and ultimately, to Jesus. Like a tree planted by streams of water, those who root themselves in God's truth find strength, stability, and fruitfulness in every season. As we begin this series through the Psalms, we'll discover how feeding our souls with God's Word leads to a deeper experience of His blessing, His presence, and the life He desires for us.

Spiritual warfare is often misunderstood- either ignored altogether or blamed for every problem we face. Yet Scripture reveals a real battle taking place in the unseen realm, one that seeks to divide, deceive, and distract God’s people. Looking at Ephesians 6, we discover that the armor of God is not simply about personal protection, but about preserving the unity, mission, and witness of the people of God in a world filled with spiritual opposition. Through the truth of the gospel, the power of prayer, and the victory of Jesus over every power of darkness, believers are called to stand firm as ambassadors of His kingdom. Wherever God has placed you- in your home, workplace, school, or community- you have been deployed to bring hope, reconciliation, and the love of Christ into the world. The battle is real, but the victory has already been won.

Has the Unnamed Automotive Podcast really never reviewed a Volkswagen Jetta? That's situation has been resolved, and Benjamin has a full and thorough test of the German compact car, as Sami asks him tons of questions. What makes the Jetta a worthy pick over other small sedans? And how does it compare to hybrid options out there? Benjamin has plenty answers as we review this sedan for the first time ever. Then Sami checks out the 2026 Ford Explorer Tremor, an off road variant of the three-row crossover that replaces the old Timberline trim. Packed with a 3.0L turbocharged engine, the Ford Explorer has plenty of cool features and equipment, but Sami was really caught off guard by the hands-free driving tech. Thanks for listening!

How do you discern the will of God in a world full of noise, uncertainty, and competing voices? Whether facing major life decisions or everyday choices, many people wrestle with wanting clarity while fearing they might miss God’s plan. Rather than treating God’s will like a hidden mystery to decode, we’re invited into a deeper relationship built on trust, wisdom, and spiritual maturity. Discernment grows as we learn to recognize God’s voice through His Word, wise counsel, prayer, the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and even the circumstances of life. God’s desire is not simply to hand out detailed instructions for every decision, but to shape people who walk closely with Him. Through prayer and surrender, our hearts become more aligned with His character and priorities. Even when the path forward feels unclear, God is not distant or indifferent—He is patient, present, and faithful to lead each step. True discernment is less about achieving perfect certainty and more about growing in trust as you faithfully follow Him.

Ben Barnett from Timberline Professional Tree Care stops by, and Dave Murray's forecast!- h3 full 1948 Tue, 19 May 2026 21:08:12 +0000 RE15r7KhozmVeEFEomBhrTkdvwlpTrXP comedy,religion & spirituality,society & culture,news,government The Dave Glover Show comedy,religion & spirituality,society & culture,news,government Ben Barnett from Timberline Professional Tree Care stops by, and Dave Murray's forecast!- h3 The Dave Glover Show has been driving St. Louis home for over 20 years. Unafraid to discuss virtually any topic, you'll hear Dave and crew's unique perspective on current events, news and politics, and anything and everything in between. © 2025 Audacy, Inc. Comedy Religion & Spirituality Society & Culture News Government

This sermon, “Walking with Longing,” is about how God meets people in their deepest disappointments, desires, and struggles rather than simply removing their problems. Using the metaphor of taking “three laps” around the question “Where am I going?”, the speaker explains that many human frustrations and unanswered prayers reveal deeper spiritual longings — especially the longing for eternity and restoration. Drawing from personal stories, Romans 8, and the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24, the sermon teaches that humans were created for more than this broken world, which is why suffering, grief, and disappointment feel so painful. Instead of seeing longing as weakness, the message encourages believers to view it as evidence that they were made for eternal life with God. Ultimately, the sermon emphasizes hope, reminding listeners that God’s grace is present even in grief, that Jesus walks beside people even when they cannot recognize Him, and that eternity and resurrection give meaning and comfort in the middle of life’s pain.

Every human heart carries a longing for something more—something beyond the limits of this life. Across every culture and generation, people have wrestled with the question of eternity because God has placed that desire deep within us. But eternity is more than just life after death; it’s also about the kind of life we experience right now. Jesus offers more than future hope—He offers eternal life in the present, a life marked by peace, purpose, and the presence of God. Rather than living consumed by fear, uncertainty, or temporary things, we’re invited to live from the reality of heaven today. As our minds, priorities, and decisions become shaped by eternity, we begin to experience the fullness of life God intended for us. True hope is found not in speculation about the future, but in knowing the One who holds it—and discovering that the life our souls are searching for is already available through Jesus.

Every human heart carries a longing for something more—something beyond the limits of this life. Across every culture and generation, people have wrestled with the question of eternity because God has placed that desire deep within us. But eternity is more than just life after death; it’s also about the kind of life we experience right now. Jesus offers more than future hope—He offers eternal life in the present, a life marked by peace, purpose, and the presence of God. Rather than living consumed by fear, uncertainty, or temporary things, we’re invited to live from the reality of heaven today. As our minds, priorities, and decisions become shaped by eternity, we begin to experience the fullness of life God intended for us. True hope is found not in speculation about the future, but in knowing the One who holds it—and discovering that the life our souls are searching for is already available through Jesus.

Carl Adams of Timberline Sports in Blackduck says the opener was a little slow...with one notable exception...any guesses? We'll get all the details, plus we give Carl a "Best Lakes" Fast Five...See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Vanishing at Timberline Market Was Orchestrated From WithinBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/dark-mysteries-the-strange-and-unusual-podcast-2026--5684156/support.Darkest Mysteries Online

#tbc #Timberline #1 John #love

Faith often begins small, unseen, and ordinary—but God has a way of growing seeds into something far greater than we imagine. Through the parables of the growing seed and the mustard seed, we’re reminded that the kingdom of God grows steadily, powerfully, and often quietly over time. Even the smallest acts of faith, love, and obedience can produce a lasting impact and a future harvest we may not yet see. This special Mother’s Day weekend celebrates the women who faithfully plant seeds of faith through prayer, encouragement, sacrifice, and love. What may seem small today can become a source of strength, shelter, and blessing for generations to come.

Faith often begins small, unseen, and ordinary—but God has a way of growing seeds into something far greater than we imagine. Through the parables of the growing seed and the mustard seed, we’re reminded that the kingdom of God grows steadily, powerfully, and often quietly over time. Even the smallest acts of faith, love, and obedience can produce a lasting impact and a future harvest we may not yet see. This special Mother’s Day weekend celebrates the women who faithfully plant seeds of faith through prayer, encouragement, sacrifice, and love. What may seem small today can become a source of strength, shelter, and blessing for generations to come.

This Mother’s Day service centers on the theme “Seeds of Faith,” using Jesus’ parables of the growing seed and the mustard seed in Mark 4 to illustrate how faith is planted, nurtured, and grown over time. The message acknowledges that Mother’s Day brings a mix of emotions—joy, grief, longing, regret, and gratitude—while encouraging everyone to honor the women and mother figures who have impacted their lives. Through Scripture and personal stories from three women in the church, the service highlights how small, ordinary acts of faithfulness—prayers, conversations, sacrifices, and daily love—can produce lasting spiritual growth, even when the results aren’t immediately visible. Ultimately, the message reminds the congregation that while people plant seeds of faith, God is the one who faithfully brings growth and harvest in His timing.

0:08 YouTube shorts followup1:56 Next Japan Trip2:18 Lake Michigan Trip Idea2:59 General channel update6:38 Timberline 10-year anniversary7:33 Terran, Protoss, or Zerg?12:57 Would we do interviews on Campfire Chronicles?15:00 What other types of merch do we want to offer?16:31 Adventure Archives live music concert19:25 If you could live in a video game world, what would it be?23:26 Split-up episodes26:01 Dealing with mice28:58 “Hero” and “Villain” gear46:19 Do you consider yourselves preppers? 53:13 Star Fox remake

How should I live? After understanding where you come from, who you are, and why you’re here, the next step is learning how to live it out. Life is shaped by formation: what influences you, what you think about, and the patterns you follow. Left unchecked, culture works to conform your thinking and behavior, often without you realizing it. But following Jesus isn’t about conforming to rules; it’s about being transformed from the inside out. As your mind is renewed and your heart is changed, your life begins to move in a new direction, one shaped by truth, not pressure. At the center of that transformation is Jesus, the perfect picture of what it means to be fully human. Instead of striving to meet a rigid standard, you’re invited into a relationship that reshapes how you think, live, and love. A transformed life ultimately flows into two simple but powerful directions: loving God and loving others. Through practices like worship, discipleship, care, service, and mission, your life is continually formed to reflect God’s heart to the world, living as a daily offering shaped by love from the inside out.

How should I live? After understanding where you come from, who you are, and why you’re here, the next step is learning how to live it out. Life is shaped by formation: what influences you, what you think about, and the patterns you follow. Left unchecked, culture works to conform your thinking and behavior, often without you realizing it. But following Jesus isn’t about conforming to rules; it’s about being transformed from the inside out. As your mind is renewed and your heart is changed, your life begins to move in a new direction, one shaped by truth, not pressure. At the center of that transformation is Jesus, the perfect picture of what it means to be fully human. Instead of striving to meet a rigid standard, you’re invited into a relationship that reshapes how you think, live, and love. A transformed life ultimately flows into two simple but powerful directions: loving God and loving others. Through practices like worship, discipleship, care, service, and mission, your life is continually formed to reflect God’s heart to the world, living as a daily offering shaped by love from the inside out.

This message explores the question “How should I live?” by pointing to a life shaped not by culture or personal preference, but by God’s design. Drawing from Micah 6:8, it emphasizes three core actions: doing justice (living with fairness and integrity toward others), loving kindness (showing genuine, truth-filled compassion), and walking humbly with God (recognizing our dependence on Him rather than ourselves). It explains that outward religious actions mean little without inward transformation, which comes through surrendering our lives to God and allowing Him to renew our minds, as described in Romans 12:1–2. Ultimately, the message teaches that a meaningful, purposeful life is one transformed from the inside out, reflecting God’s character in everyday actions.

The sermon centers on the question “Why am I here?” using as its foundation, arguing that people naturally seek meaning and purpose, especially in a world that often feels empty or directionless. It explains that, according to the Apostle Paul, humans were once spiritually “dead” in sin but are brought to life through God’s grace, emphasizing that purpose is not self-created but given by God. The message highlights three main reasons for human existence: to know God personally, to extend grace and love to others as a reflection of the grace received, and to participate in meaningful work that contributes to God’s greater plan. Overall, the sermon teaches that true purpose comes from a relationship with God, living out love and forgiveness, and actively engaging in a life that reflects divine intention.

Why am I here? In a culture where purpose is often tied to careers, relationships, or personal success, it’s easy to feel stuck, anxious, or unsure about the future. But purpose isn’t something to chase or figure out on your own, it’s something God has already established. From the very beginning in Genesis, humanity was created with intention: to be creative, productive, and to contribute to the world. You were designed on purpose, for a purpose: not to find it, but to faithfully live it out. At its core, purpose is about doing good, bearing fruit, loving others, and using your unique gifts to serve something bigger than yourself. It’s not about self-fulfillment, but about contributing to the common good, though fulfillment often follows when you do. As your passions, gifts, burdens, and opportunities intersect, clarity begins to grow, even in uncertain seasons. You don’t need perfect circumstances to walk in purpose, you simply need to trust that God is already at work, guiding your steps into the life He’s prepared for you.

Why am I here? In a culture where purpose is often tied to careers, relationships, or personal success, it’s easy to feel stuck, anxious, or unsure about the future. But purpose isn’t something to chase or figure out on your own, it’s something God has already established. From the very beginning in Genesis, humanity was created with intention: to be creative, productive, and to contribute to the world. You were designed on purpose, for a purpose: not to find it, but to faithfully live it out. At its core, purpose is about doing good, bearing fruit, loving others, and using your unique gifts to serve something bigger than yourself. It’s not about self-fulfillment, but about contributing to the common good, though fulfillment often follows when you do. As your passions, gifts, burdens, and opportunities intersect, clarity begins to grow, even in uncertain seasons. You don’t need perfect circumstances to walk in purpose, you simply need to trust that God is already at work, guiding your steps into the life He’s prepared for you.

Today we explore one of the most important questions we all ask: Who am I? In a culture obsessed with self-definition, performance, and validation, we often build our identity on unstable foundations—what we do, how we feel, what others say, or who accepts us. But these identity “traps” ultimately leave us fragile, confused, and exhausted. This sermon challenges the idea that identity is something we achieve and instead reveals the freeing truth that identity is something we receive. Looking at Isaiah 43:1–7, we see a powerful picture of God speaking identity over His people in the middle of their confusion and exile, calling them by name and reminding them who they truly are. When we anchor our identity in Christ, everything changes: we live from a place of being known, chosen, and loved rather than striving to become enough. You are not defined by your past, your performance, or others’ opinions. You are a child of God, a new creation, and someone deeply known by Him.

Today we explore one of the most important questions we all ask: Who am I? In a culture obsessed with self-definition, performance, and validation, we often build our identity on unstable foundations—what we do, how we feel, what others say, or who accepts us. But these identity “traps” ultimately leave us fragile, confused, and exhausted. This sermon challenges the idea that identity is something we achieve and instead reveals the freeing truth that identity is something we receive. Looking at Isaiah 43:1–7, we see a powerful picture of God speaking identity over His people in the middle of their confusion and exile, calling them by name and reminding them who they truly are. When we anchor our identity in Christ, everything changes: we live from a place of being known, chosen, and loved rather than striving to become enough. You are not defined by your past, your performance, or others’ opinions. You are a child of God, a new creation, and someone deeply known by Him.

This sermon explores the question of human origin and argues that where we come from shapes how we understand meaning, identity, and purpose. It teaches that humans are not accidents but intentionally created by God, as shown in Genesis, where God forms people personally and gives them life through His breath. Being made in the “image of God” means every person has inherent dignity and represents God in the world, regardless of status or ability. The sermon also emphasizes that our deep desires for meaning and connection point to a Creator, not a meaningless existence. Although sin has distorted this image, it has not destroyed it, which explains the brokenness in the world. Ultimately, Jesus is presented as the perfect example of what it means to be fully human, and through Him, people can be restored and transformed back into the image they were created to reflect.

Kicking off the Fully Human series, this message explores one of the most foundational questions we can ask: where do we come from, and what does it mean to be human? In a world where identity is often self-defined and truth feels unstable, Scripture points us back to a clear and grounding reality: we are not accidents, but intentionally created by God. Our origin shapes everything about our identity, purpose, and worth.   Drawing from Psalm 8 and Genesis, the message reveals that to be fully human is not something to overcome, but something God designed as good. We are personally created, fully known and deeply loved, and crowned with glory and honor as image-bearers of God. Rather than diminishing our humanity, sin distorts it, but in Christ, we are invited to rediscover what it truly means to live as the people God created us to be.

Kicking off the Fully Human series, this message explores one of the most foundational questions we can ask: where do we come from, and what does it mean to be human? In a world where identity is often self-defined and truth feels unstable, Scripture points us back to a clear and grounding reality: we are not accidents, but intentionally created by God. Our origin shapes everything about our identity, purpose, and worth.   Drawing from Psalm 8 and Genesis, the message reveals that to be fully human is not something to overcome, but something God designed as good. We are personally created, fully known and deeply loved, and crowned with glory and honor as image-bearers of God. Rather than diminishing our humanity, sin distorts it, but in Christ, we are invited to rediscover what it truly means to live as the people God created us to be.

Kicking off the Fully Human series, this message explores one of the most foundational questions we can ask: where do we come from, and what does it mean to be human? In a world where identity is often self-defined and truth feels unstable, Scripture points us back to a clear and grounding reality: we are not accidents, but intentionally created by God. Our origin shapes everything about our identity, purpose, and worth.   Drawing from Psalm 8 and Genesis, the message reveals that to be fully human is not something to overcome, but something God designed as good. We are personally created, fully known and deeply loved, and crowned with glory and honor as image-bearers of God. Rather than diminishing our humanity, sin distorts it, but in Christ, we are invited to rediscover what it truly means to live as the people God created us to be.

On Easter, we step into the tension of the tomb, a place that represents darkness, separation, fear, and opposition, and discover that even the most final, hopeless spaces cannot contain Jesus. Though the tomb was sealed, guarded, and secured, it became the very place where God’s power was most fully revealed. What looked like the end of the story was actually the turning point, where death itself was defeated and hope was restored.   The resurrection declares that no darkness is too deep, no barrier too strong, and no fear too great for Jesus to overcome. The same power that raised Him from the grave is able to meet us in our own places of struggle and bring new life. Easter invites us to believe that what feels buried can be made alive again, and that in Christ, our greatest trials can become the starting point of transformation.

On Easter, we step into the tension of the tomb, a place that represents darkness, separation, fear, and opposition, and discover that even the most final, hopeless spaces cannot contain Jesus. Though the tomb was sealed, guarded, and secured, it became the very place where God’s power was most fully revealed. What looked like the end of the story was actually the turning point, where death itself was defeated and hope was restored.   The resurrection declares that no darkness is too deep, no barrier too strong, and no fear too great for Jesus to overcome. The same power that raised Him from the grave is able to meet us in our own places of struggle and bring new life. Easter invites us to believe that what feels buried can be made alive again, and that in Christ, our greatest trials can become the starting point of transformation.

This Easter sermon centers on the message that “Jesus saves” by explaining the meaning and impact of the Resurrection. It begins with a personal, relatable story and then highlights how shocking and “scandalous” the Resurrection was—even Jesus’ own followers struggled to believe it. The sermon explains that the Resurrection is foundational to Christianity, because if it didn’t happen, the entire faith falls apart—but if it did, it proves Jesus’ identity, offers forgiveness, and gives hope beyond death. It also emphasizes that the Resurrection is transformational, showing that no life is beyond change, just as seen in William Booth’s ministry to the broken in London. Ultimately, the message is that because Jesus rose from the dead, there is always hope, God is still pursuing people, and no matter how hopeless life may seem, “there is always one more move.”

On Good Friday, we remember the moment Jesus spoke the words, “I thirst”, a simple phrase that reveals a profound truth about the human condition and God’s response to it. From the beginning, humanity has lived with a deep spiritual thirst, searching for satisfaction in everything except the presence of God. On the cross, Jesus enters fully into that thirst, not just physically, but spiritually, taking on the emptiness, exile, and longing of the human soul.  On this Good Friday, we trace the story of Scripture as a search for living water, showing how Jesus is the true source who satisfies what nothing else can. By becoming thirsty in our place, He makes a way for us to be filled and to come home to God and experience the life we were created for. Good Friday reminds us that Jesus went dry so that we could drink deeply of His grace, both now and forever.

On Good Friday, we remember the moment Jesus spoke the words, “I thirst”, a simple phrase that reveals a profound truth about the human condition and God’s response to it. From the beginning, humanity has lived with a deep spiritual thirst, searching for satisfaction in everything except the presence of God. On the cross, Jesus enters fully into that thirst, not just physically, but spiritually, taking on the emptiness, exile, and longing of the human soul.  On this Good Friday, we trace the story of Scripture as a search for living water, showing how Jesus is the true source who satisfies what nothing else can. By becoming thirsty in our place, He makes a way for us to be filled and to come home to God and experience the life we were created for. Good Friday reminds us that Jesus went dry so that we could drink deeply of His grace, both now and forever.

Dan Thomas, Director of our Torchbearer Center in Fraser, Colorado, sits down with Kelly to share a rhythm that he and his wife have developed for their marriage.His Hill 50th Anniversary Reunion https://hishill.org/50th/www.instagram.com/thehishillpodcast/www.hishill.orgkelly@hishill.org

On Palm Sunday, Jesus enters Jerusalem not as the kind of king people expected, but as the King they truly needed—riding on a donkey, marked by humility even as He carries full authority. While most triumphal entries celebrated victory after a battle, Jesus enters before the cross, revealing His confidence in the victory He is about to accomplish. This moment shows a King whose power is expressed through gentleness, mercy, and sacrificial love. As the city is stirred, people respond to Jesus in different ways—some resist, some question, and some surrender. That same choice remains today. The invitation is not just to believe in Jesus, but to lay down our lives before Him, recognizing that true discipleship is a journey of surrender to the One who already holds all authority.

On Palm Sunday, Jesus enters Jerusalem not as the kind of king people expected, but as the King they truly needed—riding on a donkey, marked by humility even as He carries full authority. While most triumphal entries celebrated victory after a battle, Jesus enters before the cross, revealing His confidence in the victory He is about to accomplish. This moment shows a King whose power is expressed through gentleness, mercy, and sacrificial love. As the city is stirred, people respond to Jesus in different ways—some resist, some question, and some surrender. That same choice remains today. The invitation is not just to believe in Jesus, but to lay down our lives before Him, recognizing that true discipleship is a journey of surrender to the One who already holds all authority.

This message explains the meaning of Palm Sunday through the story in Luke 19:28–44, where Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey. It highlights how this moment is like a royal parade, but instead of coming as a conquering king, Jesus comes humbly and peacefully, fulfilling prophecy. The speaker emphasizes that God is intentional in every detail, even the small ones, and challenges listeners to notice how God is working in their own lives. Different groups in the story—disciples, the crowd, and Pharisees—each respond to Jesus but misunderstand his true purpose, expecting a political savior rather than one who would bring spiritual salvation. The message ultimately points to the contrast between Jesus’ humble first coming and his future return in glory, encouraging people to surrender control, trust God’s greater plan, and fully recognize Jesus as King.

Join us for our annual Orphan Care Weekend. Through a personal story of foster care and adoption, Liz Brodzinski reveals how God weaves together both the ordinary and the painful parts of our lives into something redemptive. What began as a simple step of obedience grew into a journey marked by challenge, growth, and transformation, as God reshaped perspectives, built community, and revealed that the real battle is not ours to carry alone. Drawing from the story of David and Goliath, we’re reminded that God prepares us in unseen seasons and meets us in the middle of the fight. The invitation is to trust that He is already at work in your story, to take the next step of obedience, and to join in what He is doing: becoming part of a community that reflects His love to children and families in need.

Join us for our annual Orphan Care Weekend. Through a personal story of foster care and adoption, Liz Brodzinski reveals how God weaves together both the ordinary and the painful parts of our lives into something redemptive. What began as a simple step of obedience grew into a journey marked by challenge, growth, and transformation, as God reshaped perspectives, built community, and revealed that the real battle is not ours to carry alone. Drawing from the story of David and Goliath, we’re reminded that God prepares us in unseen seasons and meets us in the middle of the fight. The invitation is to trust that He is already at work in your story, to take the next step of obedience, and to join in what He is doing: becoming part of a community that reflects His love to children and families in need.

This message uses the metaphor of “four knives” to explain different stages of a Christian’s spiritual life. The speaker emphasizes that true faith isn’t just claiming to follow God, but actually living according to His will. They explain that people must first accept God’s love, then allow Him to shape them, overcome sin and shame, and finally live boldly by sharing that love with others. The main point is that understanding and experiencing God’s love leads to purposeful action—especially caring for vulnerable people like orphans and families in need. The message encourages personal growth, repentance, and community, while also calling people to take action through service, prayer, or financial support.

WhoTim Smith, President and General Manager of Waterville Valley, New HampshireRecorded onNovember 12, 2025About Waterville ValleyClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: The Sununu FamilyLocated in: Waterville Valley, New HampshireYear founded: 1966Pass affiliations:* Indy Pass, Indy+ Pass: 2 days, no blackouts* White Mountain Super Pass: unlimited, no blackouts* Indy Learn-to-Turn: 3 days, includes rentals, lesson, lift ticket; limited lift access* Ski New Hampshire Kids Passport: 1 day with holiday blackouts* Uphill New England: no lift accessBase elevation: 1,984 feet (highest in New Hampshire, 3rd in New England)Summit elevation: 4,004 feet (2nd-highest in New Hampshire, 5th in New England)Vertical drop: 2,020 feet (4th-highest in New Hampshire, 14th in New England)Skiable acres: 265Average annual snowfall: 148 inchesTrail count: 62 (14% novice, 64% intermediate, 22% advanced)Lift count: 10 (1 six-pack, 1 high-speed quad, 2 triples, 2 doubles, 2 T-bars, 2 carpets)Why I interviewed himWell no one wants to hear this but we got to $300 lift tickets the same way we got to $80,000 pickup trucks. We're Americans Goddamnit and we just can't do stickshifts and we sure as s**t ain't standin' up on our skis to ride back up the mountain. It's pure agony you see. We need us a nine-pack chairlift with a bubble and a breakroom and a minibar and surround sound and Lazy-Boy seats and hell no we ain't ridin' it with eight strangers we'll hold back and take a whole chair to our ownselves. And it needs to move fast, Son. Like embarrass-the-Concord fast because God help us we spend more than 90 seconds with our own thoughts.I'm not aiming to get kicked out of America here, but if I may submit a few requests regarding our self-inflicted false price floors. I would like the option of purchasing a brand-new car with a manual transmission and windows rolled up and down with a hand-crank. I would like to keep pedaling my bicycle. I would like to cut the number of holidays with commercial mandates by 80 percent. I would prefer that we not set the air-conditioners to 60 when it's 65 degrees outside. This doesn't mean I want to get rid of all the air-conditioners but could we maybe take it easy on the frostbite-in-July overkill of it all?My Heretic Wishlist for American Skiing includes but is not limited to: more surface lifts, especially to serve terrain parks, high-altitude exposed terrain, and expert pods; on-resort lodging that does not still require a commute-by-personal-vehicle to reach the lifts; and thoughtful terrain management that retains ungroomed sections for skiers who like things about skiing other than going fast.Waterville Valley is doing all of these things. It is perhaps the only major American ski area in decades to replace a chairlift with a surface lift on a non-beginner terrain pod, and the only one to build two new T-bars this century. A planned gondola would connect Waterville Valley the town with Waterville Valley the ski area, correcting an only-in-America setup that separates these inseparable places by two miles of road. The glade network grows annually in both subtle and obvious ways.This is not a ski area going in reverse. Waterville is modern and keeps modernizing. The four-year-old Tecumseh bubble six-pack, though bookended with T-bars, is one of the nicest chairlifts in America. Skiers still go groomer-kaboom on morning cord. Suburban office-park dads with interstate commutes and a habit of lecturing the Facebook Commons about the virtues of snow tires can still park their 42-wheel-drive Abrams-Caterpillar-F-15,000 Tanktruck in sub-parking lot 42Z and walk uphill to the lifts. But Waterville Valley is one of a handful of American ski areas, along with Killington and Deer Valley and Winter Park, that is embracing all of our luxe cultural excesses while pursuing the very un-American ambition of putting more skiers close to skiing.No ski area is perfect. For all the cash saved on those T-bars, peak-day Waterville lift tickets still hit $145. The mountain's season pass is the second-most expensive single-mountain season passes in New England – more than a top-line Epic Pass (an adult WV pass includes a free pass for a kid age 6 to 12, which is great if you have one of those). That's bold pricing for the 22nd-largest ski area in New England, especially one that still spins three Stadeli chairlifts that predate the extinction of the dinosaurs. And two high-speed chairlifts is not a lot of high-speed chairlifts for a 2,000-vertical-foot ski area (though about half of New England's 2,000-footers run just two or fewer detaches).Yeah I know. Sick burn from someone who was waxing about surface lifts four paragraphs ago. I may have collected too many ski area Lego blocks in my mental bucket, and they don't always click together back here on planet Earth. “More villages,” I say while dismissing Aspen as a subsidized simulacrum of itself. “Big fast lifts rule,” I say while setting off fire alarms as first-generation chairlifts disintegrate and the cost of their most basic replacements escalates. “No-grooming, all-glades makes the best ski area,” I say, while condemning resort operators for $356 lift tickets that dam the masses. “Vail is too expensive,” I say. “Vail is too cheap,” I also say. “Modernize our chairlifts,” I say while celebrating the joy of riding an antique Riblet double. I endorse ski areas splitting off from conglomerates and ski areas joining them. These narratives can feel contradictory at best and schizophrenic at worst.But that tension is part of what draws me to lift-served ski areas, where two things central to my worldview – wild nature and human invention – merge. Or perhaps more accurately, collide. Both forces act at all times not only to extinguish one another, but themselves: above-freezing temps trash two feet of new snow; bad liftline management cancels out the capacity benefits of a $12 million lift upgrade. Making a ski area function, then, requires continual tweaking, of both the nuanced and look-at-us-press-release variety. A ski area is a business, sure, but that's almost a coincidence. The act of building and running a ski area is foremost an art, architecture, and engineering project that requires a somewhat madcap conductor to succeed. As with any artform, there is no one correct and final way to build a ski area. The variety is central to skiing's appeal. But there are operator/artist attributes - flexibility, inventiveness, consistency tempered by openness to change - that contribute to the overall quality and cohesion of the individual ski area experience in the context of competing ski areas. In the current version of Waterville Valley, we find one of our best contemporary examples of a ski area evolving toward the best version of itself under the stewardship of owners and managers possessing exactly these traits.What we talked aboutThe return of World Cup training and events to Waterville; drifting away from and back toward freeskiing culture; the best terrain parks in New England; why terrain parks are drifting away from mega-features; what happened to all the halfpipes?; and ramps?; no really no one wore helmets in the ‘90s; building terrain parks before institutional knowledge and the internet; the lost Hidden Valley, Wisconsin ski area; the rise of the high-speed ropetow; why Waterville replaced one T-bar and one Poma with a new T-bar (rather than a chairlift); why Waterville installed night skiing; the return of the Exhibition terrain park; self-installing the World Cup T-bar; Waterville's ops blog; why the Tecumseh Express sixer needed new bubbles after just a couple of seasons; why bubbles cost so much and how Waterville manufactured a less expensive one; Tecumseh's incredible wind resistance; MND lifts as an alternative to the two large U.S.-based lift manufacturers; a chairlift's “infancy” and how different 2020s lift technology is from early detachable tech; how Waterville's masterplan would reorient the mountain and skier traffic with an expansion and new lifts; Waterville's declining skier visits and whether that's a bad thing; how the resort's 1994 bankruptcy changed Waterville's trajectory; what stoked the Green Peak expansion; “we've been on a track to try to rebuild that energy we saw in the 1990s”; why Waterville turned away from discounting; “the right quantity of skiers on the right amount of surface”; building more terrain diversity; and a gondola connection from town to mountain.Should someone tell them they're running it backwards? Video by Stuart Winchester.What I got wrong* I said that the “High Country double chair was still standing” – what I meant was that parts of it were still in place. The top terminal remains, sans bullwheel, and the base terminal and motor room remain as a patrol shack:* I said that Waterville hadn't been known for terrain parks until recently, but Smith recalled that the ski area was more freestyle-centric from the ‘70s through the ‘90s, before pulling back during the first part of this century.* I said that 1,100 skiers per hour was “a little less than what a double chair would move,” thinking standard capacity for a double was 1,200 per hour. Smith says it is 900. Exact capacity varies from lift-to-lift, however. Lift Blog itemizes hourly capacities of between 800 and 1,200 for four of Smugglers' Notch's double chairs, between 1,000 and 1,200 for four of Mt. Spokane's fleet of Riblet doubles, and 1,000 for Waterville's Lower Meadows double. We all know, however, that the hourly capacity for a double chair is however many people are in line minus the number not paying attention minus singles who refuse to ride with anyone. So I don't know maybe 50.Podcast NotesOn other mentioned podcasts* World Cup competition returning to Sun Valley:* Heavenly backing out of mega-parks features:* Killington and the cost of bubbles:* Waterville part 1, from 2021:On Partek and each lift being differentOn Waterville's ownership historyFounder Tom Corcoran owned Waterville Valley from 1966 until 1994, when he sold to American Skiing Company (ASC) antecedent S-K-I. The feds made ASC dispense with Waterville and Cranmore when they merged with LBO Enterprises in 1996. Booth Creek (more on them below), bought the ski area and held it until 2010, when they sold it to the Sununu family. This makes Waterville one of just a handful of ski areas to ever enter a multi-mountain pass portfolio and then exit to independence - though Killington and Ragged recently did exactly that, and Eldora may follow.On Mt. Holiday, MichiganThis is just a little 200-footer, but it's still around on the outskirts of Traverse City, Michigan:That trailmap doesn't really communicate the ski area's essence. A little better are these pics I took on a summertime swing-through a few years back:I never skied there though, always preferring the far-larger Sugar Loaf, right down the road (which Smith and I also discussed):Until it was abandoned around 2000, this was one of the better ski areas in Michigan's Lower Peninsula. After a succession of owners - one of whom stripped all the chairlifts off the bump - failed to bring skiing back, the Leelanau Conservancy recently took ownership of the property. Skiing will return as an officially sanctioned activity, though unfortunately without a lift or snowmaking. I would have at least liked to have seen a ropetow. Here's their vision:On midwestskier.com Yes, Kids, the internet really did used to look like this:On Hidden Valley, WisconsinHere's a little ski hill that didn't make it. Smith spent time at Hidden Valley, Wisconsin, which opened in 1956 and closed forever in 2013. The chairlift appears to have been moved to nearby, county-run Kewaunee Winter Park, where it awaits installation.On high-speed ropetowsI am a huge fan of high-speed ropetows, which are a cheap and effective means to isolate users of terrain parks or other specialized, intensive-use zones from the broader ski area. Here's one at Spirit Mountain, Minnesota in 2023 (video by Stuart Winchester):On Waterville Valley's masterplanThis is perhaps the best angle of how Waterville's expansion would connect the legacy trail network to the town:Here's the Forest Service masterplan slide:Neither of these images, however, show how the gondola would eventually connect down into town, which is the crucial element of transforming Waterville Valley from a ski-area-that-says-it's-a-ski-resort into an actual ski resort. Here's a look at that connection:Waterville set up an excellent microsite detailing the hoped-for evolution.On Booth CreekAt the mid-90s height of American Skiing Company dominance, a former Vail executive assembled a cross-country ski area portfolio with ambitions of creating a hub-and-spoke network:Booth Creek ultimately sold off most of its properties, but still own Sierra-at-Tahoe. Grand Targhee GM Geordie Gillett was involved in the whole saga and broke it down for us in 2024:On Waterville going from one of the oldest lift fleets in New England to one of the most modernWhile Waterville runs some of the last Stadeli lifts in America (I count 16), the ski area has modernized extensively over the past decade:On U.S. Forest Service ski areas in the EastMost (109) of the 119 active U.S. ski areas on United States Forest Service leases sit in the West; two are in the Midwest, and eight are in the East: Bromley, Mount Snow, and Sugarbush, Vermont; Waterville Valley, Loon, Attitash, and Wildcat, New Hampshire; and Timberline, West Virginia. None, as far as I know, sit entirely within the boundaries of a national forest, but even partial overlap triggers the requirement to submit an updated masterplan each decade.The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

The raising of Lazarus is the climactic sign in John’s Gospel, revealing Jesus’ authority not only over sickness or circumstance but over death itself. When Jesus delays after hearing Lazarus is sick, it seems confusing and even painful to those who love him, yet the moment becomes an opportunity to reveal a deeper truth. Speaking to Martha in the midst of grief, Jesus declares, “I am the resurrection and the life,” reminding us that sorrow and hope can exist together and that true life is found in Him. Standing at the tomb, Jesus weeps with those who mourn and then calls Lazarus back to life, showing His power over the very thing that terrifies humanity most. Yet this miracle also sets the stage for the cross, as raising Lazarus ultimately leads to the plot to kill Jesus. The sign points beyond itself to the greater reality that Jesus came not just to perform miracles, but to confront death itself and bring resurrection life to the world.

The raising of Lazarus is the climactic sign in John’s Gospel, revealing Jesus’ authority not only over sickness or circumstance but over death itself. When Jesus delays after hearing Lazarus is sick, it seems confusing and even painful to those who love him, yet the moment becomes an opportunity to reveal a deeper truth. Speaking to Martha in the midst of grief, Jesus declares, “I am the resurrection and the life,” reminding us that sorrow and hope can exist together and that true life is found in Him. Standing at the tomb, Jesus weeps with those who mourn and then calls Lazarus back to life, showing His power over the very thing that terrifies humanity most. Yet this miracle also sets the stage for the cross, as raising Lazarus ultimately leads to the plot to kill Jesus. The sign points beyond itself to the greater reality that Jesus came not just to perform miracles, but to confront death itself and bring resurrection life to the world.

The story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in John 11:1-46. It explains how Mary and Martha ask Jesus to help their sick brother Lazarus, but Jesus delays his arrival and Lazarus dies. When Jesus finally arrives, the sisters express their grief, yet they still show faith in him. Jesus comforts them, declares that he is "the resurrection and the life," and then performs a miracle by raising Lazarus from the tomb after four days. The message emphasizes that even when God seems delayed, He is still present and working, and the miracle ultimately reveals Jesus' power over death and encourages people to trust Him in times of crisis and grief.

The Road Is Made By Walking, with Rev. Dr. Ken Hood. Series: Life as Pilgrimage, Lent 2026 A Spacious Christianity, First Presbyterian Church of Bend, Oregon. Scripture: Matthew 3.They didn't have a roadmap, an itinerary. There is no such thing.As much as we'd like to think there's a certain way life should be…there just isn't. As painful as it is to lose a child, it's even more painful when we tell ourselves a story like: “This shouldn't happen. A parent should never have to bury their child. It's not fair.” Well… It's not something we choose. It's not something welcome. But it also happens. All the time. There is no “this isn't the way the world should be”…for there's no such thing. This is frightening but liberating as well.Equanimity is the practice of allowing what is…simply because it's what's here. We are almost always subtly resisting what's happening around us. We wish we felt different or that the world was different, and we push against it inwardly or are pulling towards the world being some other way. But what's here is what's here. This isn't a giving up. This is an acceptance such that, facing what is, we can finally decide how to be and how to act.Machado's personal story is really challenging. He and his brother had it all in Spain until the revolution came, and they lost everything. So not fair. But it's what was. They struck out, penniless, and having to find their own way. There is no way, the road is made by walking…About the Series, Life as Pilgrimage, Lent 2026: Our sacred stories are filled with journeys from the familiar into the unknown. This season invites us to become pilgrims, open to being changed along the way. Through shared workshops, contemplative practices, creative expression, and time on the trail, we will make space to listen deeply and be gently transformed by the spacious love of God.Join us each Sunday, 10AM at bendfp.org, or 11AM KTVZ-CW Channel 612/12 in Bend.  Subscribe/Follow, and click the bell for alerts.At First Presbyterian, you will meet people at many different places theologically and spiritually. And we love it that way. We want to be a place where our diversity brings us together and where conversation takes us all deeper in our understanding of God.We call this kind of faith “Spacious Christianity.” We don't ask anyone to sign creeds or statements of belief. The life of faith is about a way of being in the world and a faith that shows itself in love.Thank you for your support of the mission of the First Presbyterian Church of Bend. Visit https://bendfp.org/giving/ for more information.Keywords:Pilgrimage, Lent, Holy Family, Anthony Machado, Spanish Civil War, wilderness hiking, Timberline trail, Sandy River, cairns, dreams, visions, Holy Spirit, navigation, unconventional family, escape., presbyterian, church, online worship, bend, oregonFeaturing:Rev. Dr. Steven Koski, Rev. Sharon Edwards, Becca Ellis, Brave of Heart, GuestsSupport the show

Carrie and Molly welcome you to join them on this replay from their series about hiking the Timberline Trail around Mount Hood! Hop on trail, just an hour from Portland, and immerse yourself in the wild and rugged experience of circumnavigating this iconic PNW volcano. Molly and Carrie cover the second half of their first day on trail. The crew crosses Newton Creek, navigates through a tricky section, and searches for the perfect campsite... but their plans are derailed when Mt Hood turns their tents into kites. Tune in for more helpful tidbits on the trail and, as always, laughs! Find the other episodes from this series by searching “The Timberline Trail.”

WhoSusan Cross, Vice President of Operations at Aspen Skiing Company (and former Mountain Manager of Snowmass)Recorded onNovember 14, 2025 - which was well before I traveled to Snowmass and chased Cross around a bit in the pow. There she is tiny in the distance:About Aspen Skiing CompanyAspen Skiing Company (Skico) is part of something called Aspen One. Don't ask me what that is because even though they rolled it out two years ago I still have no idea what they're talking about. All I know or care about is that they own four ski areas and here is what I know about them:Don't be fooled by the scale of the map above - at 3,342 acres, Snowmass is larger than Aspen Mountain, Buttermilk, and Aspen Highlands combined. The monster 4,400-foot vert means these lifts are massively shrunken to fit the map - Snowmass operates three of the 10 longest chairlifts in America, and seven chairlifts over one mile long:You can't ski or ride a lift between the four mountains, but free shuttles connect them all. Aspen Mountain, Highlands, and Buttermilk are all bunched together near town, and Snowmass is a short drive (15 to 20 minutes if traffic is clear and dependent upon which base area you want to hit):Why I interviewed herAmerican ski areas will often re-use chairlifts or snowcats that other operators have outgrown. Aspen Mountain re-used a whole town.In 1879, Aspen the city didn't exist, and by 1890 more than 5,000 people lived there. They came for silver, not snow. In less than a decade they laid out the Victorian street grid of brick and wood-framed buildings using hand tools and horses, with the Roaring Fork River as their supply road.Aspen's population collapsed in the economic depressions of the 1890s and didn't rebound to 5,000 for 100 years. The 1940 Census counted 777 residents. That was 16 years before the first chairlift rose up Ajax, a perfect ski mountain above an intact but semi-abandoned town made pointless by history.It was an amazing coincidence, really. Americans would never build a ski town on purpose. That's where the parking lots go. But hey it all worked out: Aspen evolved into a ski town that offset its European walk-to-the-chairlifts sensibility with a hard-coded American refusal to expand the historic street grid in favor of protectionism and mansion-building. The contemporary result is one of the world's most expensive real estate markets cosplaying as a quaint ski town, a lively and walkable mixed-use community of the sort that we idealize but refuse to build more of. Aspen's population is now around 7,000, most of whom live there by benefit of longevity, subsidy, inheritance, or extreme wealth. The city's median household income is just over $50,000. The median home price is $9.5 million. Anyone clinging to the illusion that Aspen is an actual ski town should consider that it took 25 years to approve and build the Hero's chairlift. Imagine what the fellows who built this whole city in half a decade without the benefit of electricity or cement trucks or paved roads would make of that.The illusory city, however, is a dynamic separate from the skiing. Aspen, despite its somewhat dated lift fleet, remains one of America's best small ski mountains. But it is small, and, with no green terrain and barely any blues, the ski area lacks the substance and scale to draw tourists west of Summit County and Vail.Sister mountain Snowmass does that. And while Snowmass did not benefit from an already-built town at its base, it did benefit from not having one, in that the mountain could evolve with a purpose and speed that Ajax, boxed in by geography and politics, never could. Snowmass has built 13 new aerial lifts this century, including the two-station, mountain-redefining Elk Camp Gondola; the Village Express six-pack, which is the fourth-longest chairlift in America; and, in just the past two years, a considerably lengthened Coney high-speed quad and a new six-pack to replace the Elk Camp chairlift.I've focused on Aspen's story a bit over the years (including this 2021 podcast with former Skico CEO Mike Kaplan), but probably not enough. The four Aspen mountains are some of the most important in American skiing, even if visitation doesn't quite match their status as skiing word-association champion among non-skiers (more on that below). Aspen, a leader not just in skiing but in housing, the environment, and culture, carries narrative heft, and the company's status as favored property of Alterra part-owner Henry Crown hints at deeper influence than Skico likely takes credit for. Aspen, like Big Sky and Deer Valley and Sun Valley, is rapidly emerging as one of the new titans of American skiing, unleashing a modernization drive that should lead, as Cross says in our conversation, to an average of at least one new lift per year across the portfolio. Snowmass' 2023 U.S. Forest Service masterplan envisions a fully modern mountain with snowmaking to the summit. Necessary and exciting as that all is, forthcoming updates to the dated masterplans at Aspen Highlands (2013) and Buttermilk (2008), could, Skico officials tell me, offer a complete rethinking of what Aspen-Snowmass is and how the ski areas orbit one another as a unit.And they do need to rethink the whole package. Challenging Skico's pre-eminence in the Circle of American Ski Gods are many obstacles, including but not limited to: an address that's just a bit remote for Denver to bother with or tourists to comprehend; a rinky-dink airport that can't land a paper plane; an only-come-if-you-have-nine-houses rap on the affordability matrix; a toxic combination of one of America's most expensive season passes and most expensive walk-up lift tickets; and national pass partners who do a poor job making it clear that Aspen is not one ski area but four.A lot to overcome, but I think they'll figure it out. The skiing is too good not to. What we talked about“I thought I had found Heaven” upon arrival in Aspen; Aspen in the 1990s; $200 a month to live in Carbondale; “as soon as you go up on the lifts, the mountain hasn't changed”; when Skico purchased formerly independent Aspen Highlands; Highlands pre-detachable lifts; four ski areas working (and not), as one ski resort; why there is “minimal sharing” of employees between the four mountains; why “two winter seasons, and then I was going back to Boston” didn't quite work out; why “total guilt sets in” if Cross misses a day of skiing and how she “deliberately” makes “at least a couple of runs” happen every day of the winter and encourages everyone else to do the same; Long Shot in the morning; the four pods of Snowmass; why tourists tend to lock onto one section of the mountain; “a lot of people don't realize their lift ticket is good for the four mountains”; “there's plenty of room to spread out and have a blast” even at busy Snowmass; defining the four mountains without typecasting them; no seriously there are no green runs on Aspen Mountain; the new Elk Camp six-pack; why Elk Camp doesn't terminate at the top of Burnt Mountain; why Elk Camp doesn't have the fancy carriers that came with 2024's new Coney Express lift; why Snowmass opted not to add bubbles to its six-packs; how Coney Express changed how skiers use Snowmass; why Coney is a quad rather than a six; why skiers can't unload at the Coney Express mid-station (and couldn't load last season); how Coney ended up with a mid-station and two bends along the liftline; the hazards of bending chairlifts and lessons learned from Alta's Supreme debacle; why Snowmass replaced the Cirque Poma with a T-bar (and not a chairlift); which mountain purchased the old Poma; Aspen's history of selling lifts and how the old Elk Camp wound up at Powderhorn ski area; where Skico had considered moving the Elk Camp quad; “we want everybody to stay in business”; why Snowmass didn't sell or relocate the Coney Glade lift; prioritizing future chairlift upgrades; the debate over whether to replace Elk Camp or Alpine Springs first, and why Elk Camp won; “what we're trying to do is at least one lift a year across the four mountains”; a photobomb from my cat; why the relatively new Village Express lift is a replacement candidate and where that lift could move; why we're unlikely to see the proposed Burnt Mountain chairlift anytime soon; and the new megalift that could rise on Aspen Mountain this summer.What I got wrong* I said that Breck had “T-bars serving their high peaks,” which is incorrect. In fact, Breck runs chairlifts close to the summits of Peak 8 (Imperial Superchair, the highest chairlift in North America), and Peak 6 (Kensho Superchair). I was thinking, however, of the Horseshoe T-Bar, an incredible high-alpine machine that I rode recently (it lands below Imperial Superchair on Peak 8).* I said that Maverick Mountain, Montana, was running a “1960-something” Riblet double. The lift dates to 1969, and is slated for replacement by Aspen Mountain's old Gent's Ridge fixed-grip quad, which Skico removed in 2024.* I referred to the Sheer Bliss chairlift as “Super Bliss,” which I think was fallout from over-exposure to Breck, where 12 of the chairlifts are named [SOMETHING] Superchair or some similar name.Why you should ski Aspen-SnowmassWhy do we ski Colorado? In some ways, it's a dumb question. We ski Colorado because everyone skis Colorado: the state's resorts account for 20 to 25 percent of annual U.S. skier visits, inbounds skiable acreage, and detachable chairlifts. Colorado is so synonymous with skiing that the state basically is skiing from the point of view of the outside world, especially to non-skiers who, challenged to name a ski resort, would probably come up with Vail or Aspen.But among well-traveled skiers, Colorado is Taylor Swift. Talented, yes, but a bit too obvious and sell-your-kidneys expensive. There's a lot more music out there: Utah gets more snow, Idaho and Montana have fewer people, B.C.'s Powder Highway has both of those things. Europe is cheaper (well, everywhere is cheaper). Colorado is only home to 26 public, lift-served ski areas, and only two of the 10 largest in America. Only seven Colorado ski areas rank among the nation's 50 snowiest by average annual snowfall. Getting there is a hassle. That awful airport. That stupid road. So many Texans. So many New Yorkers. Alternate, Man!But we all go anyway. And here's why: Colorado ski areas claim 14 of the 20 highest base areas in North America, and 16 of the 20 highest summits. What that means is that, unlike in Tahoe or Park City or Idaho, it never rains. Temperatures rarely top freezing. That means the snow that falls stays, and stays nice. Even in a mediocre Rocky Mountain winter – like this one – Colorado is able to deliver a consistent and predictable trail footprint in a way that no other U.S. ski state can match. Add in an abundance of approachable, intermediate-oriented ski terrain, and it's clear why America's two largest ski area operators center their multi-mountain pass empires in Colorado.Which brings us back to the thing most skiers hate the most about Colorado skiing: other skiers. There are just so many of them. And they all planned the same vacation. For the same time.But there is a back door. Around half of Colorado's 12 to 14 million annual skier visits occur at just five ski areas: Vail Mountain, Breck, Keystone, Copper, and Steamboat – often but not always strictly in that order. Next comes Winter Park, then Beaver Creek. And all the way down at number eight for Colorado annual skier visits is Snowmass.Snowmass' 771,259 skier visits is still a lot of skier visits. But consider some additional stats: Snowmass is the third-largest ski area in Colorado and the 11th-largest in America. From a skier visits-to-skiable-acreage ratio, it comes in way below the state's other 2,000-plus-acre ski areas (save Telluride, which is even more remote than Aspen):Why is that? The map explains it: Snowmass, and Aspen in general, lost the I-70 sweepstakes. They're too far west, too far off the interstate (so is Steamboat, but at least they have a real airport).Snowmass is worth the extra drive time. I-70 through Glenwood Canyon is slow-going but gorgeous, and the 40 miles of Colorado 82 after the interstate turnoff barely qualify as mountain driving – four lanes most of the way, no tight turns, some congestion but only if you're arriving in the morning. A roundabout or two and there you are at Snowmass.And here's what that extra two hours of driving gets you: all the benefits of Colorado skiing absent most of its drawbacks. Goldilocks Mountain. Here you'll find the fourth-highest lift-served summit in American skiing, the second-tallest vertical drop, and a dizzying, dazzling modern lift fleet spinning 20 lifts, including 9 detachables and a gondola. You'll find glorious ever-cruisers, tree-dotted and infinite; long bumpers twisting off High Alpine; comically approachable green zones at the village and mid-mountain. If Campground double is open, you can sample Colorado skiing circa 1975, alone in the big empty lapping the long, slow lift. And since the Brobots hate Snowmass, the high-altitude Hanging Valley and Cirque Headwall expert zones are always empty.That's one of four mountains. Towering, no-greens-for-real Aspen Mountain and Aspen Highlands are as rugged and wicked as anything a Colorado chairlift can drop you onto. And Buttermilk is just delightful – 2,000 vertical feet of no-stress-with-the-9-year-old, with fast lifts back to the top all day long.Podcast NotesOn Sugarbush and Mad River GlenI always like to make this point for western partisans: there is eastern skiing that stacks up well against the average western ski experience. Most of it is in northern Vermont, and two of the best, terrain-wise, are Alterra-owned Sugarbush - home of the longest chairlift in the world - and co-op-owned Mad River Glen, which still spins the only single chair in the lower 48. Here's Sugarbush:Mad River Glen is right next door. Just keep going looker's right off Mt. Ellen:On pre-Skico HighlandsWhoa that's a lot of lifts. And they're almost all doubles and Pomas.On Joe HessionHession is founder and CEO of Snow Partners, which owns Mountain Creek ski area, the Big Snow indoor ski ramp in New Jersey, Snow Cloud resort-management software, the Snow Triple Play Pass, and the Terrain Based Learning concept that you see in beginner areas all over America. He's been on the pod a few times, and he's a huge fan of Susan's.On Timberline's wonky vertMeasuring vertical drop is a somewhat hazardous game. Potential asterisks include the clandestine inclusion of hike-up terrain (Aspen Highlands), ski-down terrain with no return lift access (Sunlight), or both (Arapahoe Basin). Generally, I refer to lift-served vert, meaning what you can ski down and ride back up without walking. But even that gets tricky, as in the case of Timberline Lodge, Oregon, home to the tallest vertical drop in American lift-served skiing. We have to get mighty creative with the definition of “lift” however, since Timberline includes a 557-vertical-foot lift-served gap between the top of the Summit chairlift (4,290 feet) and the bottom of the Jeff Flood high-speed quad (4,847 feet). This is the result of two historically separate ski areas combining in 2018:Timberline's masterplan calls for a gondola from the base of Summit up to the top of Jeff Flood:For now, skiers can ski all the way down, but have to ride back up to Timberline from the Summit base via shuttle. To further complicate the calculus here, the hyper-exposed Palmer high-speed summit quad rarely runs in winter, acting mostly as a summer workhorse for camp kids. When Palmer's not running, a snowcat will sometimes shuttle skiers close to the unload point.Anyway, that's the fine print annotating our biggest lift-served vertical drop list:On Big Sky's new lifts and pod-stickingSnowmass' recent lift upgrade splurges are impressive, but Big Sky has built an incredible 12 aerial lifts in the past decade, 11 of them brand-new. These are some of the most sophisticated lifts in the world and include two six-packs, two eight-packs, a tram, and two gondolas. This reverse chronology of Big Sky's active lifts doubles as a neat history of the mountain's evolution from striver importing other resorts' leftovers to one of the top ski areas on the continent:Big Sky still has some older chairs spinning along its margins, but plenty of tourists spend their entire vacation just lapping the out-of-base super lifts (according to on-the-ground staff). The only peer Big Sky has in the recent American lift upgrade game is Deer Valley, which has erected nearly a dozen aerial lifts in just the past two years to feed its mega-expansion.On the Ikon Pass site being confusing as to mountain accessI just find the classification of four separate and distinct ski areas as one “destination” confusing, especially for skiers who aren't familiar with the place:On the new Elk Camp chairliftThe upside of taking nine years to distribute this podcast is that I was able to go ride Snowmass' gorgeous new Elk Camp sixer:On my Superstar lift discussion with KillingtonOn Aspen's history of selling liftsI somewhat overstated Aspen's history of selling lifts to smaller mountains. It seemed like a lot, though these are the only ones I can find records of:However, given Skico's enormous number of retired Riblets (28, all but two of which were doubles), and the durability and ubiquity of these machines, I suspect that pieces – and perhaps wholes – of Aspen's retired chairlifts are scattered in boneyards across the West.On the small number of relocated detachable lifts Given that the world's first modern detachable chairlift debuted at Breckenridge 45 years ago, it's astonishing how few have been relocated. Only 19 U.S. detaches that started life within the U.S. are now operating elsewhere in the country, and only nine moved to a different ski area:On Powderhorn's West End chairThe number of relocated detachables is set to increase to 10 next year, when Powderhorn, Colorado repurposes Snowmass' old Elk Camp quad to replace this amazing, 7,000-foot-long double chair, a 1972 Heron-Poma machine:Elk Camp is already sitting in a pile beside the load station (Powderhorn officials tell me the carriers are also onsite, but elsewhere):Powderhorn's existing high-speed quad, the Flat Top Flyer, also came used, from Marble Mountain in Canada.On Snowmass' masterplan and the proposed Burnt Mountain liftSnowmass' most recent U.S. Forest Service masterplan, released in 2022, shows the approximate location of a future hypothetical Burnt Mountain chairlift (the left-most red dotted line below):Unfortunately, Cross and the rest of Skico's leadership seem fairly unenthusiastic about actually building this lift. Right now, skiers can hike from the top of Elk Camp chair to access this terrain.On Aspen's Nell-Bell ProposalOh man how freaking cool would it be to ride one chairlift from Aspen's base to the top of Bell? Cross and I discuss Aspen Mountain's Forest Service application to do exactly that, with a machine along roughly this line parallel to the gondola:The new detachable would replace two rarely-used chairs: the Nell fixed-grip quad and the Bell Mountain double chair, which, incredibly, dates to 1957 (with heavy modifications in the 1980s), making it the fourth-oldest standing chairlift in the nation (after Mt. Spokane's 1956 Vista Cruiser Riblet, Mad River Glen's 1946 American Steel & Wire single chair, and Boyne Mountain's Hemlock Riblet double, moved to Michigan in 1948 after starting life circa 1936 as America's first chairlift – a single standing at Sun Valley).I lucked out with a gondola wind hold when I was in Aspen a few weeks back, meaning Nell was spinning:Sadly, Bell was idle, but I skied the liftline and loaded up on photos:On the original Lift 1 at AspenBehold Lift 1 on Aspen Mountain, a 1946 American Steel & Wire single chair that rose 2,574 vertical feet along an 8,480-foot line in something like 35 or 40 minutes. Details on this lift's origin story and history vary, but commenters on Lift Blog suggest that towers from this lift ended up as part of Sunlight's Segundo double following its removal from Ajax in 1971. That Franken-lift, which also contained parts from Aspen's Lift 3 – which dated to 1954 and may have been a Poma or American Steel & Wire machine, but lived its 52-year Sunlight tenure as a Riblet – came down last summer to make way for a new-used triple – A-Basin's old Lenawee chair.On the Hero's expansionAt just 826 acres, Aspen Mountain is the most famous small ski area in the West. The reason, in part, for this notoriety: a quirky, lively treasure chest of a ski area that rockets straight up, hiding odd little terrain pockets in its fingers and folds. The 153-acre Hero's terrain, a byzantine scramble of high-altitude tree skiing opened just two years ago, fits into this Rocky Mountain minefield like a thousand-dollar bill in a millionaire's wallet. An obscene boost to an already near-perfect ski mountain, so good it's hard to believe the ski area existed so long without it.Here's a mellow section of Hero's:And a less-mellow one (adding to the challenge, this terrain is at 11,000 feet):The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

In this sign from John 9, Jesus heals a man who has been blind since birth, but the story quickly becomes about far more than restored eyesight. As Jesus declares Himself the Light of the World, His healing acts like a flare in the darkness—exposing the hearts of everyone involved. The disciples search for someone to blame, the neighbors keep their distance, the parents respond with fear, and the religious leaders cling to their certainty. While the man’s physical sight is restored, the deeper revelation is that many who believe they can see clearly are actually blind to the work of God happening right in front of them. Through mud, obedience, interrogation, and ultimately a personal encounter with Jesus, the once-blind man’s understanding grows step by step—from simply knowing the name of Jesus, to recognizing Him as a prophet, and finally worshiping Him as Lord. His journey shows that faith often begins with small acts of trust before full understanding arrives. The sign ultimately confronts every reader with the same question: are we willing to admit our blindness and receive the light of Christ, or will we cling to the certainty that keeps us from seeing Him? In the end, true sight is not something we earn or figure out—it is a gift given by the One who was sent to bring light into the world.

In this sign from John 9, Jesus heals a man who has been blind since birth, but the story quickly becomes about far more than restored eyesight. As Jesus declares Himself the Light of the World, His healing acts like a flare in the darkness—exposing the hearts of everyone involved. The disciples search for someone to blame, the neighbors keep their distance, the parents respond with fear, and the religious leaders cling to their certainty. While the man’s physical sight is restored, the deeper revelation is that many who believe they can see clearly are actually blind to the work of God happening right in front of them. Through mud, obedience, interrogation, and ultimately a personal encounter with Jesus, the once-blind man’s understanding grows step by step—from simply knowing the name of Jesus, to recognizing Him as a prophet, and finally worshiping Him as Lord. His journey shows that faith often begins with small acts of trust before full understanding arrives. The sign ultimately confronts every reader with the same question: are we willing to admit our blindness and receive the light of Christ, or will we cling to the certainty that keeps us from seeing Him? In the end, true sight is not something we earn or figure out—it is a gift given by the One who was sent to bring light into the world.

In this third sign from John’s Gospel, Jesus enters a place of long-term suffering, the Pool of Bethesda, where crowds of disabled and desperate people wait for healing that may never come. Rather than going to the center of celebration during a festival, Jesus moves toward the forgotten and initiates with a man who has been suffering for thirty-eight years. With a surprising question: “Do you want to get well?” Jesus invites the man into something deeper than physical restoration. The miracle that follows reveals a Savior who extends grace freely, without prerequisite or proof of faith, and who draws near to human pain with compassion and authority. Yet the story doesn’t stop at physical healing. When controversy erupts over Sabbath rules and religious systems, we see how disruptive grace can be. Jesus later finds the man again, reminding us that true healing is more than restored mobility, it is wholeness of soul. This sign shapes our view of Jesus as one who seeks out the suffering, asks about our deepest desires, gives grace without earning, and calls us into a life that is whole, body and spirit.

In this third sign from John’s Gospel, Jesus enters a place of long-term suffering, the Pool of Bethesda, where crowds of disabled and desperate people wait for healing that may never come. Rather than going to the center of celebration during a festival, Jesus moves toward the forgotten and initiates with a man who has been suffering for thirty-eight years. With a surprising question: “Do you want to get well?” Jesus invites the man into something deeper than physical restoration. The miracle that follows reveals a Savior who extends grace freely, without prerequisite or proof of faith, and who draws near to human pain with compassion and authority. Yet the story doesn’t stop at physical healing. When controversy erupts over Sabbath rules and religious systems, we see how disruptive grace can be. Jesus later finds the man again, reminding us that true healing is more than restored mobility, it is wholeness of soul. This sign shapes our view of Jesus as one who seeks out the suffering, asks about our deepest desires, gives grace without earning, and calls us into a life that is whole, body and spirit.