Podcasts about vail

This podcast and article are free, but a lot of The Storm lives behind a paywall. I wish I could make everything available to everyone, but an article like this one is the result of 30-plus hours of work. Please consider supporting independent ski journalism with an upgrade to a paid Storm subscription. You can also sign up for the free tier below.WhoRob Katz, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Vail ResortsRecorded onAugust 8, 2025About Vail ResortsVail Resorts owns and operates 42 ski areas in North America, Australia, and Europe. In order of acquisition:The company's Epic Pass delivers skiers unlimited access to all of these ski areas, plus access to a couple dozen partner resorts:Why I interviewed himHow long do you suppose Vail Resorts has been the largest ski area operator by number of resorts? From how the Brobots prattle on about the place, you'd think since around the same time the Mayflower bumped into Plymouth Rock. But the answer is 2018, when Vail surged to 18 ski areas – one more than number two Peak Resorts. Vail wasn't even a top-five operator until 2007, when the company's five resorts landed it in fifth place behind Powdr's eight and 11 each for Peak, Boyne, and Intrawest. Check out the year-by-year resort operator rankings since 2000:Kind of amazing, right? For decades, Vail, like Aspen, was the owner of some great Colorado ski areas and nothing more. There was no reason to assume it would ever be anything else. Any ski company that tried to get too big collapsed or surrendered. Intrawest inflated like a balloon then blew up like a pinata, ejecting trophies like Mammoth, Copper, and Whistler before straggling into the Alterra refugee camp with a half dozen survivors. American Skiing Company (ASC) united eight resorts in 1996 and was 11 by the next year and was dead by 2007. Even mighty Aspen, perhaps the brand most closely associated with skiing in American popular culture, had abandoned a nearly-two-decade experiment in owning ski areas outside of Pitkin County when it sold Blackcomb and Fortress Mountains in 1986 and Breckenridge the following year.But here we are, with Vail Resorts, improbably but indisputably the largest operator in skiing. How did Vail do this when so many other operators had a decades-long head start? And failed to achieve sustainability with so many of the same puzzle pieces? Intrawest had Whistler. ASC owned Heavenly. Booth Creek, a nine-resort upstart launched in 1996 by former Vail owner George Gillett, had Northstar. The obvious answer is the 2008 advent of the Epic Pass, which transformed the big-mountain season pass from an expensive single-mountain product that almost no one actually needed to a cheapo multi-mountain passport that almost anyone could afford. It wasn't a new idea, necessarily, but the bargain-skiing concept had never been attached to a mountain so regal as Vail, with its sprawling terrain and amazing high-speed lift fleet and Colorado mystique. A multimountain pass had never come with so little fine print – it really was unlimited, at all these great mountains, all the time - but so many asterisks: better buy now, because pretty soon skiing Christmas week is going to cost more than your car. And Vail was the first operator to understand, at scale, that almost everyone who skis at Vail or Beaver Creek or Breckenridge skied somewhere else first, and that the best way to recruit these travelers to your mountain rather than Deer Valley or Steamboat or Telluride was to make the competition inconvenient by bundling the speedbump down the street with the Alpine fantasy across the country.Vail Resorts, of course, didn't do anything. Rob Katz did these things. And yes, there was a great and capable team around him. But it's hard to ignore the fact that all of these amazing things started happening shortly after Katz's 2006 CEO appointment and stopped happening around the time of his 2021 exit. Vail's stock price: from $33.04 on Feb. 28, 2006 to $354.76 to Nov. 1, 2021. Epic Pass sales: from zero to 2.1 million. Owned resort portfolio: from five in three states to 37 in 15 states and three countries. Epic Pass portfolio: from zero ski areas to 61. The company's North American skier visits: from 6.3 million for the 2005-06 ski season to 14.9 million in 2020-21. Those same VR metrics after three-and-a-half years under his successor, Kirsten Lynch: a halving of the stock price to $151.50 on May 27, 2025, her last day in charge; a small jump to 2.3 million Epic Passes sold for 2024-25 (but that marked the product's first-ever unit decline, from 2.4 million the previous winter); a small increase to 42 owned resorts in 15 states and four countries; a small increase to 65 ski areas accessible on the Epic Pass; and a rise to 16.9 million North American skier visits (actually a three percent slump from the previous winter and the company's second consecutive year of declines, as overall U.S. skier visits increased 1.6 percent after a poor 2023-24).I don't want to dismiss the good things Lynch did ($20-an-hour minimum wage; massively impactful lift upgrades, especially in New England; a best-in-class day pass product; a better Pet Rectangle app), or ignore the fact that Vail's 2006-to-2019 trajectory would have been impossible to replicate in a world that now includes the Ikon Pass counterweight, or understate the tense community-resort relationships that boiled under Katz's do-things-and-apologize-later-maybe leadership style. But Vail Resorts became an impossible-to-ignore globe-spanning goliath not because it collected great ski areas, but because a visionary leader saw a way to transform a stale, weather-dependent business into a growing, weather-agnostic(-ish) one.You may think that “visionary” is overstating it, that merely “transformational” would do. But I don't think I appreciated, until the rise of social media, how deeply cynical America had become, or the seemingly outsized proportion of people so eager to explain why new ideas were impossible. Layer, on top of this, the general dysfunction inherent to corporate environments, which can, without constant schedule-pruning, devolve into pseudo-summits of endless meetings, in which over-educated and well-meaning A+ students stamped out of elite university assembly lines spend all day trotting between conference rooms taking notes they'll never look at and trying their best to sound brilliant but never really accomplishing anything other than juggling hundreds of daily Slack and email messages. Perhaps I am the cynical one here, but my experience in such environments is that actually getting anything of substance done with a team of corporate eggheads is nearly impossible. To be able to accomplish real, industry-wide, impactful change in modern America, and to do so with a corporate bureaucracy as your vehicle, takes a visionary.Why now was a good time for this interviewAnd the visionary is back. True, he never really left, remaining at the head of Vail's board of directors for the duration of Lynch's tenure. But the board of directors doesn't have to explain a crappy earnings report on the investor conference call, or get yelled at on CNBC, or sit in the bullseye of every Saturday morning liftline post on Facebook.So we'll see, now that VR is once again and indisputably Katz's company, whether Vail's 2006-to-2021 rise from fringe player to industry kingpin was an isolated case of right-place-at-the-right-time first-mover big-ideas luck or the masterwork of a business musician blending notes of passion, aspiration, consumer pocketbook logic, the mystique of irreplaceable assets, and defiance of conventional industry wisdom to compose a song that no one can stop singing. Will Katz be Steve Jobs returning to Apple and re-igniting a global brand? Or MJ in a Wizards jersey, his double threepeat with the Bulls untarnished but his legacy otherwise un-enhanced at best and slightly diminished at worst?I don't know. I lean toward Jobs, remaining aware that the ski industry will never achieve the scale of the Pet Rectangle industry. But Vail Resorts owns 42 ski areas out of like 6,000 on the planet, and only about one percent of them is associated with the Epic Pass. Even if Vail grew all of these metrics tenfold, it would still own just a fraction of the global ski business. Investors call this “addressable market,” meaning the size of your potential customer base if you can make them aware of your existence and convince them to use your services, and Vail's addressable market is far larger than the neighborhood it now occupies.Whether Vail can get there by deploying its current operating model is irrelevant. Remember when Amazon was an online bookstore and Netflix a DVD-by-mail outfit? I barely do either, because visionary leaders (Jeff Bezos, Reed Hastings) shaped these companies into completely different things, tapping a rapidly evolving technological infrastructure capable of delivering consumers things they don't know they need until they realize they can't live without them. Like never going into a store again or watching an entire season of TV in one night. Like the multimountain ski pass.Being visionary is not the same thing as being omniscient. Amazon's Fire smartphone landed like a bag of sand in a gastank. Netflix nearly imploded after prematurely splitting its DVD and digital businesses in 2011. Vail's decision to simultaneously chop 2021-22 Epic Pass prices by 20 percent and kill its 2020-21 digital reservation system landed alongside labor shortages, inflation, and global supply chain woes, resulting in a season of inconsistent operations that may have turned a generation off to the company. Vail bullied Powdr into selling Park City and Arapahoe Basin into leaving the Epic Pass and Colorado's state ski trade association into having to survive without four (then five) of its biggest brands. The company alienated locals everywhere, from Stowe (traffic) to Sunapee (same) to Ohio (truncated seasons) to Indiana (same) to Park City (everything) to Whistler (same) to Stevens Pass (just so many people man). The company owns 99 percent of the credit for the lift-tickets-brought-to-you-by-Tiffany pricing structure that drives the popular perception that skiing is a sport accessible only to people who rent out Yankee Stadium for their dog's birthday party.We could go on, but the point is this: Vail has messed up in the past and will mess up again in the future. You don't build companies like skyscrapers, straight up from ground to sky. You build them, appropriately for Vail, like mountains, with an earthquake here and an eruption there and erosion sometimes and long stable periods when the trees grow and the goats jump around on the rocks and nothing much happens except for once in a while a puma shows up and eats Uncle Toby. Vail built its Everest by clever and novel and often ruthless means, but in doing so made a Balkanized industry coherent, mainstreamed the ski season pass, reshaped the consumer ski experience around adventure and variety, united the sprawling Park City resorts, acknowledged the Midwest as a lynchpin ski region, and forced competitors out of their isolationist stupor and onto the magnificent-but-probably-nonexistent-if-not-for-the-existential-need-to-compete-with Vail Ikon, Indy, and Mountain Collective passes.So let's not confuse the means for the end, or assume that Katz, now 58 and self-assured, will act with the same brash stop-me-if-you-can bravado that defined his first tenure. I mean, he could. But consumers have made it clear that they have alternatives, communities have made it clear that they have ways to stop projects out of spite, Alterra has made it clear that empire building is achieved just as well through ink as through swords, and large independents such as Jackson Hole have made it clear that the passes that were supposed to be their doom instead guaranteed indefinite independence via dependable additional income streams. No one's afraid of Vail anymore.That doesn't mean the company can't grow, can't surprise us, can't reconfigure the global ski jigsaw puzzle in ways no one has thought of. Vail has brand damage to repair, but it's repairable. We're not talking about McDonald's here, where the task is trying to convince people that inedible food is delicious. We're talking about Vail Mountain and Whistler and Heavenly and Stowe – amazing places that no one needs convincing are amazing. What skiers do need to be convinced of is that Vail Resorts is these ski areas' best possible steward, and that each mountain can be part of something much larger without losing its essence.You may be surprised to hear Katz acknowledge as much in our conversation. You will probably be surprised by a lot of things he says, and the way he projects confidence and optimism without having to fully articulate a vision that he's probably still envisioning. It's this instinctual lean toward the unexpected-but-impactful that powered Vail's initial rise and will likely reboot the company. Perhaps sooner than we expect.What we talked aboutThe CEO job feels “both very familiar and very new at the same time”; Vail Resorts 2025 versus Vail Resorts 2006; Ikon competition means “we have to get better”; the Epic Friends program that replaces Buddy Tickets: 50 percent off plus skiers can apply that cost to next year's Epic Pass; simplifying the confusing; “we're going to have to get a little more creative and a little more aggressive” when it comes to lift ticket pricing; why Vail will “probably always have a window ticket”; could we see lower lift ticket prices?; a response to lower-than-expected lift ticket sales in 2024-25; “I think we need to elevate the resort brands themselves”; thoughts on skier-visit drops; why Katz returned as CEO; evolving as a leader; a morale check for a company “that was used to winning” but had suffered setbacks; getting back to growth; competing for partners and “how do we drive thoughtful growth”; is Vail an underdog now?; Vail's big advantage; reflecting on the 20 percent 2021 Epic Pass price cut and whether that was the right decision; is the Epic Pass too expensive or too cheap?; reacting to the first ever decline in Epic Pass unit sales numbers; why so many mountains are unlimited on Epic Local; “who are you going to kick out of skiing” if you tighten access?; protecting the skier experience; how do you make skiers say “wow?”; defending Vail's ongoing resort leadership shuffle; and why the volume of Vail's lift upgrades slowed after 2022's Epic Lift Upgrade.What I got wrong* I said that the Epic Pass now offered access to “64 or 65” ski areas, but I neglected to include the six new ski areas that Vail partnered with in Austria for the 2025-26 ski season. The correct number of current Epic Pass partners is 71 (see chart above). * I said that Vail Resorts' skier visits declined by 1.5 percent from the 2023-24 to 2024-25 winters, and that national skier visits grew by three percent over that same timeframe. The numbers are actually reversed: Vail's skier visits slumped by approximately three percent last season, while national visits increased by 1.7 percent, per the National Ski Areas Association.* I said that the $1,429 Ikon Pass cost “40% more” than the $799 Epic Local – but I was mathing on the fly and I mathed dumb. The actual increase from Epic Local to Ikon is roughly 79 percent.* I claimed that Park City Mountain Resort was charging $328 for a holiday week lift ticket when it was “30 percent-ish open” and “the surrounding resorts were 70-ish percent open.” Unfortunately, I was way off on the dollar amount and the timeframe, as I was thinking of this X post I made on Wednesday, Jan. 8, when day-of tickets were selling for $288:* I said I didn't know what “Alterra” means. Alterra Mountain Company defines it as “a fusion of the words altitude and terrain/terra, paying homage to the mountains and communities that form the backbone of the company.”* I said that Vail's Epic Lift Upgrade was “22 or 23 lifts.” I was wrong, but the number is slippery for a few reasons. First, while I was referring specifically to Vail's 2021 announcement that 19 new lifts were inbound in 2022, the company now uses “Epic Lift Upgrade” as an umbrella term for all years' new lift installs. Second, that 2022 lift total shot up to 21, then down to 19 when Park City locals threw a fit and blocked two of them (both ultimately went to Whistler), then 18 after Keystone bulldozed an illegal access road in the high Alpine (the new lift and expansion opened the following year).Questions I wish I'd askedThere is no way to do this interview in a way that makes everyone happy. Vail is too big, and I can't talk about everything. Angry Mountain Bro wants me to focus on community, Climate Bro on the environment, Finance Bro on acquisitions and numbers, Subaru Bro on liftlines and parking lots. Too many people who already have their minds made up about how things are will come here seeking validation of their viewpoint and leave disappointed. I will say this: just because I didn't ask about something doesn't mean I wouldn't have liked to. Acquisitions and Europe, especially. But some preliminary conversations with Vail folks indicated that Katz had nothing new to say on either of these topics, so I let it go for another day.Podcast NotesOn various metrics Here's a by-the-numbers history of the Epic Pass:Here's Epic's year-by-year partner history:On the percent of U.S. skier visits that Vail accounts forWe don't know the exact percentage of U.S. skier visits belong to Vail Resorts, since the company's North American numbers include Whistler, which historically accounts for approximately 2 million annual skier visits. But let's call Vail's share of America's skier visits 25 percent-ish:On ski season pass participation in AmericaThe rise of Epic and Ikon has correlated directly with a decrease in lift ticket visits and an increase in season pass visits. Per Kotke's End-of-Season Demographic Report for 2023-24:On capital investmentSimilarly, capital investment has mostly risen over the past decade, with a backpedal for Covid. Kotke:The NSAA's preliminary numbers suggest that the 2024-25 season numbers will be $624.4 million, a decline from the previous two seasons, but still well above historic norms.On the mystery of the missing skier visitsI jokingly ask Katz for resort-by-resort skier visits in passing. Here's what I meant by that - up until the 2010-11 ski season, Vail, like all operators on U.S. Forest Service land, reported annual skier visits per ski area:And then they stopped, winning a legal argument that annual skier visits are proprietary and therefore protected from public records disclosure. Or something like that. Anyway most other large ski area operators followed this example, which mostly just serves to make my job more difficult.On that ski trip where Timberline punched out Vail in a one-on-five fightI don't want to be the Anecdote King, but in 2023 I toured 10 Mid-Atlantic ski areas the first week of January, which corresponded with a horrendous warm-up. The trip included stops at five Vail Resorts: Liberty, Whitetail, Seven Springs, Laurel, and Hidden Valley, all of which were underwhelming. Fine, I thought, the weather sucks. But then I stopped at Timberline, West Virginia:After three days of melt-out tiptoe, I was not prepared for what I found at gut-renovated Timberline. And what I found was 1,000 vertical feet of the best version of warm-weather skiing I've ever seen. Other than the trail footprint, this is a brand-new ski area. When the Perfect Family – who run Perfect North, Indiana like some sort of military operation – bought the joint in 2020, they tore out the lifts, put in a brand-new six-pack and carpet-loaded quad, installed all-new snowmaking, and gut-renovated the lodge. It is remarkable. Stunning. Not a hole in the snowpack. Coming down the mountain from Davis, you can see Timberline across the valley beside state-run Canaan Valley ski area – the former striped in white, the latter mostly barren.I skied four fast laps off the summit before the sixer shut at 4:30. Then a dozen runs off the quad. The skier level is comically terrible, beginners sprawled all over the unload, all over the green trails. But the energy is level 100 amped, and everyone I talked to raved about the transformation under the new owners. I hope the Perfect family buys 50 more ski areas – their template works.I wrote up the full trip here.On the megapass timelineI'll work on a better pass timeline at some point, but the basics are this:* 2008: Epic Pass debuts - unlimited access to all Vail Resorts* 2012: Mountain Collective debuts - 2 days each at partner resorts* 2015: M.A.X. Pass debuts - 5 days each at partner resorts, unlimited option for home resort* 2018: Ikon Pass debuts, replaces M.A.X. - 5, 7, or unlimited days at partner resorts* 2019: Indy Pass debuts - 2 days each at partner resortsOn Epic Day vs. Ikon Session I've long harped on the inadequacy of the Ikon Session Pass versus the Epic Day Pass:On Epic versus Ikon pricingEpic Passes mostly sell at a big discount to Ikon:On Vail's most recent investor conference callThis podcast conversation delivers Katz's first public statements since he hosted Vail Resorts' investor conference call on June 5. I covered that call extensively at the time:On Epic versus Ikon access tweaksAlterra tweaks Ikon Pass access for at least one or two mountains nearly every year – more than two dozen since 2020, by my count. Vail rarely makes any changes. I broke down the difference between the two in the article linked directly above this one. I ask Katz about this in the pod, and he gives us a very emphatic answer.On the Park City strikeNo reason to rehash the whole mess in Park City earlier this year. Here's a recap from The New York Times. The Storm's best contribution to the whole story was this interview with United Mountain Workers President Max Magill:On Vail's leadership shuffleI'll write more about this at some point, but if you scroll to the right on Vail's roster, you'll see the yellow highlights whenever Vail has switched a president/general manager-level employee over the past several years. It's kind of a lot. A sample from the resorts the company has owned since 2016:The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing all year long. Join us. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

0:00 - The Broncos are in Santa Clara to practice with the Niners today! What is our Broncos expert Jeff Legwold expecting to see in joint practice & the preseason game on Saturday?12:29 - John-Michael Liles called us on the phone to discuss the Avalanche Alumni game coming up at the end of the month...while biking up a mountain in Vail. 29:25 - Stick shifts are a dying breed. Who uses those things anymore?

Reports have brought to light the fact that Epstein had a previously undisclosed property in Vail, Colorado. This property was not listed in his holdings and his estate has never mentioned it.It was sold in July....the question now is...where is the money?(Commercial at 11:17)To contact me:Bobbycapucci@protonmail.comSource:https://okmagazine.com/exclusives/jeffrey-epstein-colorado-ski-chalet/

Dreaming of hitting the slopes or just love the thrill of winter sports? In this episode, Peter Von Panda dives into National Geographic's "100 Slopes of a Lifetime"—a breathtaking guide to the world's most incredible ski and snowboard destinations. From iconic resorts like Vail and Telluride to surprising slopes in Hawaii and Arizona, this book takes you on a journey without the airfare or altitude sickness. Whether you're an avid skier or an armchair adventurer, discover the beauty, stories, and magic of these winter wonderlands. Grab your hot cocoa and tune in! Get it here... https://geni.us/iYxBG4k ---------- LET'S TALK ABOUT LIVING BETTER: ▶ Podcast: https://geni.us/FtGAT4 ▶ My Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/petervonp... ---------- IF YOU'D LIKE TO SHOW SOME LOVE: ▶ Buy My Book: https://geni.us/qwbZAE ▶ Become A Channel Member: https://geni.us/AA3Jk ▶ Patreon:   / petervonpanda   ▶ Merch: https://petervonpanda.storenvy.com/ ▶ Free Panda Group: https://panda-research-institute.mn.co FOLLOW MY OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS: ▶ Instagram:   / petervonpanda   ▶ Facebook:   / petervonpanda  

The Storm does not cover athletes or gear or hot tubs or whisky bars or helicopters or bros jumping off things. I'm focused on the lift-served skiing world that 99 percent of skiers actually inhabit, and I'm covering it year-round. To support this mission of independent ski journalism, please subscribe to the free or paid versions of the email newsletter.WhoGreg Pack, President and General Manager of Mt. Hood Meadows, OregonRecorded onApril 28, 2025About Mt. Hood MeadowsClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: The Drake Family (and other minority shareholders)Located in: Mt. Hood, OregonYear founded: 1968Pass affiliations:* Indy Pass – 2 days, select blackouts* Indy+ Pass – 2 days, no blackoutsClosest neighboring U.S. ski areas: Summit (:17), Mt. Hood Skibowl (:19), Cooper Spur (:23), Timberline (:26)Base elevation: 4,528 feetSummit elevation: 7,305 feet at top of Cascade Express; 9,000 feet at top of hike-to permit area; 11,249 feet at summit of Mount HoodVertical drop: 2,777 feet lift-served; 4,472 hike-to inbounds; 6,721 feet from Mount Hood summitSkiable acres: 2,150Average annual snowfall: 430 inchesTrail count: 87 (15% beginner, 40% intermediate, 15% advanced, 30% expert)Lift count: 11 (1 six-pack, 5 high-speed quads, 1 fixed-grip quad, 3 doubles, 1 carpet – view Lift Blog's inventory of Mount Hood Meadows' lift fleet)About Cooper SpurClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: The Drake FamilyLocated in: Mt. Hood, OregonYear founded: 1927Pass affiliations: Indy Pass, Indy+ Pass – 2 days, no blackoutsClosest neighboring U.S. ski areas: Mt. Hood Meadows (:22), Summit (:29), Mt. Hood Skibowl (:30), Timberline (:37)Base elevation: 3,969 feetSummit elevation: 4,400 feetVertical drop: 431 feetSkiable acres: 50Average annual snowfall: 250 inchesTrail count: 9 (1 most difficult, 7 more difficult, 1 easier)Lift count: 2 (1 double, 1 ropetow – view Lift Blog's inventory of Cooper Spur's lift fleet)Why I interviewed himVolcanoes are weird. Oh look, an exploding mountain. Because that seems reasonable. Volcanoes sound like something imagined, like dragons or teleportation or dinosaurs*. “So let me get this straight,” I imagine some puzzled Appalachian miner, circa 1852, responding to the fellow across the fire as he tells of his adventures in the Oregon Territory, “you expect me to believe that out thataways they got themselves mountains that just blow their roofs off whenever they feel like it, and shoot off fire and rocks and gas for 50 mile or more, and no one never knows when it's a'comin'? You must think I'm dumber'n that there tree stump.”Turns out volcanoes are real. How humanity survived past day one I have no idea. But here we are, skiing on volcanoes instead of tossing our virgins from the rim as a way of asking the nice mountain to please not explode (seriously how did anyone make it out of the past alive?).And one of the volcanoes we can ski on is Mount Hood. This actually seems more unbelievable to me than the concept of a vengeful nuclear mountain. PNW Nature Bros shield every blade of grass like they're guarding Fort Knox. When, in 2014, federal scientists proposed installing four monitoring stations on Hood, which the U.S. Geological Survey ranks as the sixth-highest threat to erupt out of America's 161 active volcanoes, these morons stalled the process for six years. “I think it is so important to have places like that where we can just step back, out of respect and humility, and appreciate nature for what it is,” a Wilderness Watch official told The New York Times. Personally I think it's so important to install basic monitoring infrastructure so that thousands of people are not incinerated in a predictable volcanic eruption. While “Japan, Iceland and Chile smother their high-threat volcanoes in scientific instruments,” The Times wrote, American Granola Bros say things like, “This is more proof that the Forest Service has abandoned any pretense of administering wilderness as per the letter or spirit of the Wilderness Act.” And Hood and the nation's other volcanoes cackle madly. “These idiots are dumber than the human-sacrifice people,” they say just before belching up an ash cloud that could take down a 747. When officials finally installed these instrument clusters on Hood in 2020, they occupied three boxes that look to be approximately the size of a convenience-store ice freezer, which feels like an acceptable trade-off to mass death and airplanes falling out of the sky.I know that as an outdoor writer I'm supposed to be all pissed off if anyone anywhere suggests any use of even a centimeter of undeveloped land other than giving it back to the deer in a treaty printed on recycled Styrofoam and signed with human blood to symbolize the life we've looted from nature by commandeering 108 square feet to potentially protect millions of lives from volcanic eruption, but this sort of trivial protectionism and willful denial that humans ought to have rights too is the kind of brainless uncompromising overreach that I fear will one day lead to a massive over-correction at the other extreme, in which a federal government exhausted with never being able to do anything strips away or massively dilutes land protections that allow anyone to do anything they can afford. And that's when we get Monster Pete's Arctic Dune Buggies setting up a casino/coal mine/rhinoceros-hunting ranch on the Eliot Glacier and it's like thanks Bros I hope that was worth it to stall the placement of gardenshed-sized public safety infrastructure for six years.Anyway, given the trouble U.S. officials have with installing necessary things on Mount Hood, it's incredible how many unnecessary ones our ancestors were able to build. But in 1927 the good old boys hacked their way into the wilderness and said, “by gum what a spot for snoskiing” and built a bunch of ski areas. And today 31 lifts serve four Mt. Hood ski areas covering a combined 4,845 acres:Which I'm just like, do these Wilderness Watch people not know about this? Perhaps if this and similar groups truly cared about the environmental integrity of Mount Hood they would invest their time, energy, and attention into a long-term regional infrastructure plan that identified parcels for concentrated mixed-use development and non-personal-car-based transit options to mitigate the impact of thousands of skiers traveling up the mountain daily from Portland, rather than in delaying the installation of basic monitoring equipment that notifies humanity of a civilization-shattering volcanic eruption before it happens. But then again I am probably not considering how this would impact the integrity of squirrel poop decomposition below 6,000 feet and the concomitant impacts on pinestand soil erosion which of course would basically end life as we know it on planet Earth.OK this went sideways let me try to salvage it.*Whoops I know dinosaurs were real; I meant to write “the moon landing.” How embarrassing.What we talked aboutA strong 2024-25; recruiting employees in mountains with little nearby housing; why Meadows doesn't compete with Timberline for summer skiing; bye-bye Blue double, Meadows' last standing opening-year chairlift; what it takes to keep an old Riblet operating; the reliability of old versus new chairlifts; Blue's slow-motion demolition and which relics might remain long term; the logic of getting a free anytime buddy lift ticket with your season pass; thoughts on ski area software providers that take a percentage of all sales; why Meadows and Cooper Spur have no pass reciprocity; the ongoing Cooper Spur land exchange; the value of Cooper Spur and Summit on a volcano with three large ski areas; why Meadows hasn't backed away from reciprocal agreements; why Meadows chose Indy over Epic, Ikon, or Mountain Collective; becoming a ski kid when you're not from a ski family; landing at Mountain Creek, New Jersey after a Colorado ski career; how Moonlight Basin started as an independent ski area and eventually became part of Big Sky; the tension underlying Telluride; how the Drake Family, who has managed the ski area since inception, makes decisions; a board that reinvests 100 percent of earnings back into the mountain; why we need large independents in a consolidating world; being independent is “our badge of honor”; whether ownership wants to remain independent long term; potential next lift upgrades; a potential all-new lift line and small expansion; thoughts on a better Heather lift; wild Hood weather and the upper limits of lift service; considering surface lifts on the upper mountain; the challenges of running Cascade Express; the future of the Daisy and Easy Rider doubles; more potential future expansion; and whether we could ever see a ski connection with Timberline Lodge.Why now was a good time for this interviewIt's kind of dumb that 210 episodes into this podcast I've only recorded one Oregon ep: Timberline Lodge President Jeff Kohnstamm, more than three years ago. While Oregon only has 11 active ski areas, and the state ranks 11th-ish in skier visits, it's an important ski state. PNW skiers treat skiing like the Northeast treats baseball or the Midwest treats football or D.C. treats politics: rabid beyond reason. That explains the eight Idaho pods and half dozen each in Washington and B.C. These episodes hit like a hash stand at a Dead show. So why so few Oregon eps?Eh, no reason in particular. There isn't a ski area in North America that I don't want to feature on the podcast, but I can't just order them online like a pizza. Relationships, more than anything, drive the podcast, and The Storm's schedule is primarily opportunity driven. I invite folks on as I meet them or when they do something cool. And sometimes we can connect right away and sometimes it takes months or even years, even if they want to do it. Sometimes we're waiting on contracts or approvals so we can discuss some big project in depth. It can take time to build trust, or to convince a non-podcast person that they have a great story to tell.So we finally get to Meadows. Not to be It-Must-Be-Nice Bro about benefits that arise from clear deliberate life choices, but It must be nice to live in the PNW, where every city sits within 90 minutes of a ripping, open-until-Memorial-Day skyscraper that gets carpet bombed with 400 annual inches but receives between one and four out-of-state visitors per winter. Yeah the ski areas are busy anyway because they don't have enough of them, but busy with Subaru-driving Granola Bros is different than busy with Subaru-driving Granola Bros + Texas Bro whose cowboy boots aren't clicking in right + Florida Bro who bought a Trans Am for his boa constrictor + Midwest Bro rocking Olin 210s he found in Gramp's garage + Hella Rad Cali Bro + New Yorker Bro asking what time they groom Corbet's + Aussie Bro touring the Rockies on a seven-week long weekend + Euro Bro rocking 65 cm underfoot on a two-foot powder day. I have no issue with tourists mind you because I am one but there is something amazing about a ski area that is gigantic and snowy and covered in modern infrastructure while simultaneously being unknown outside of its area code.Yes this is hyperbole. But while everyone in Portland knows that Meadows has the best parking lot views in America and a statistical profile that matches up with Beaver Creek and as many detachable chairlifts as Snowbasin or Snowbird and more snow than Steamboat or Jackson or Palisades or Pow Mow, most of the rest of the world doesn't, and I think they should.Why you should ski Mt. Hood Meadows and Cooper SpurIt's interesting that the 4,845 combined skiable acres of Hood's four ski areas are just a touch larger than the 4,323 acres at Mt. Bachelor, which as far as I know has operated as a single interconnected facility since its 1958 founding. Both are volcanoes whose ski areas operate on U.S. Forest Service land a commutable distance from demographically similar markets, providing a case study in distributed versus centralized management.Bachelor in many ways delivers a better experience. Bachelor's snow is almost always drier and better, an outlier in the kingdom of Cascade Concrete. Skiers can move contiguously across its full acreage, an impossible mission on Balkanized Hood. The mountain runs an efficient, mostly modern 15 lifts to Hood's wild 31, which includes a dozen detachables but also a half dozen vintage Riblet doubles with no safety bars. Bachelor's lifts scale the summit, rather than stopping thousands of feet short as they do on Hood. While neither are Colorado-grade destination ski areas, metro Portland is stuffed with 25 times more people than Bend, and Hood ski areas have an everbusy feel that skiers can often outrun at Bachelor. Bachelor is closer to its mothership – just 26 minutes from Bend to Portland's hour-to-two-hour commutes up to the ski areas. And Bachelor, accessible on all versions of the Ikon Pass and not hamstrung by the confusing counter-branding of multiple ski areas with similar names occupying the same mountain, presents a more clearcut target for the mainstream skier.But Mount Hood's quirky scatterplot ski centers reward skiers in other ways. Four distinct ski areas means four distinct ski cultures, each with its own pace, purpose, customs, traditions, and orientation to the outside world. Timberline Lodge is a funky mix of summertime Bro parks, Government Camp greens, St. Bernards, and its upscale landmark namesake hotel. Cooper Spur is tucked-away, low-key, low-vert family resort skiing. Meadows sprawls, big and steep, with Hood's most interesting terrain. And low-altitude, closest-to-the-city Skibowl is night-lit slowpoke with a vintage all-Riblet lift fleet. Your Epic and Ikon passes are no good here, though Indy gets you Meadows and Cooper Spur. Walk-up lift tickets (still the only way to buy them at Skibowl), are more tier-varied and affordable than those at Bachelor, which can exceed $200 on peak days (though Bachelor heavily discounts access to its beginner lifts, with free access to select novice areas). Bachelor's $1,299 season pass is 30 percent more expensive than Meadows'.This dynamic, of course, showcases single-entity efficiency and market capture versus the messy choice of competition. Yes Free Market Bro you are right sometimes. Hood's ski areas have more inherent motivators to fight on price, forge allegiances like the Timberline-Skibowl joint season pass, invest in risks like night and summer skiing, and run wonky low-tide lift ticket deals. Empowering this flexibility: all four Hood ski areas remain locally owned – Meadows and T-Line by their founding families. Bachelor, of course, is a fiefdom of Park City, Utah-based Powdr, which owns a half-dozen other ski areas across the West.I don't think that Hood is better than Bachelor or that Bachelor is better than Hood. They're different, and you should ski both. But however you dissect the niceties of these not-really-competing-but-close-enough-that-a-comarison-makes-sense ski centers, the on-the-ground reality adds up to this: Hood locals, in general, are a far more contented gang than Bachelor Bros. I don't have any way to quantify this, and Bachelor has its partisans. But I talk to skiers all over the country, all the time. Skiers will complain about anything, and online guttings of even the most beloved mountains exist. But talk to enough people and strong enough patterns emerge to understand that, in general, locals are happy with Mammoth and Alpine Meadows and Sierra-at-Tahoe and A-Basin and Copper and Bridger Bowl and Nub's Nob and Perfect North and Elk and Plattekill and Berkshire East and Smuggs and Loon and Saddleback and, mostly, the Hood ski areas. And locals are generally less happy with Camelback and Seven Springs and Park City and Sunrise and Shasta and Stratton and, lately, former locals' faves Sugarbush and Wildcat. And, as far as I can tell, Bachelor.Potential explanations for Hood happiness versus Bachelor blues abound, all of them partial, none completely satisfactory, all asterisked with the vagaries of skiing and skiers and weather and luck. But my sense is this: Meadows, Timberline, and Skibowl locals are generally content not because they have better skiing than everyplace else or because their ski areas are some grand bargain or because they're not crowded or because they have the best lift systems or terrain parks or grooming or snow conditions, but because Hood, in its haphazard and confounding-to-outsiders borders and layout, has forced its varied operators to hyper-adapt to niche needs in the local market while liberating them from the all-things-to-everyone imperative thrust on isolated operations like Bachelor. They have to decide what they're good at and be good at that all the time, because they have no other option. Hood operators can't be Vail-owned Paoli Peaks, turning in 25-day ski seasons and saying well it's Indiana what do you expect? They have to be independent Perfect North, striving always for triple-digit operating days and saying it's Indiana and we're doing this anyway because if we don't you'll stop coming and we'll all be broke.In this way Hood is a snapshot of old skiing, pre-consolidation, pre-national pass, pre-social media platforms that flung open global windows onto local mountains. Other than Timberline summer parks no one is asking these places to be anything other than very good local ski areas serving rabid local skiers. And they're doing a damn good job.Podcast NotesOn Meadows and Timberline Lodge opening and closing datesOne of the most baffling set of basic facts to get straight in American skiing is the number of ski areas on Mount Hood and the distinction between them. Part of the reason for this is the volcano's famous summer skiing, which takes place not at either of the eponymous ski areas – Mt. Hood Meadows or Mt. Hood Skibowl – but at the awkwardly named Timberline Lodge, which sounds more like a hipster cocktail lounge with a 19th-century fur-trapper aesthetic than the name of a ski resort (which is why no one actually calls it “Timberline Lodge”; I do so only to avoid confusion with the ski area in West Virginia, because people are constantly getting Appalachian ski areas mixed up with those in the Cascades). I couldn't find a comprehensive list of historic closing dates for Meadows and Timberline, but the basic distinction is this: Meadows tends to wrap winter sometime between late April and late May. Timberline goes into August and beyond when it can. Why doesn't Meadows push its season when it is right next door and probably could? We discuss in the pod.On Riblet clipsFun fact about defunct-as-a-company-even-though-a-couple-hundred-of-their-machines-are-still-spinning Riblet chairlifts: rather than clamping on like a vice grip, the end of each chair is woven into the rope via something called an “insert clip.” I wrote about this in my Wildcat pod last year:On Alpental Chair 2A small but vocal segment of Broseph McBros with nothing better to do always reflexively oppose the demolition of legacy fixed-grip lifts to make way for modern machines. Pack does a great job laying out why it's harder to maintain older chairlifts than many skiers may think. I wrote about this here:On Blue's breakover towers and unload rampWe also dropped photos of this into the video version of the pod:On the Cooper Spur land exchangeHere's a somewhat-dated and very biased-against-the-ski-area infographic summarizing the proposed land swap between Meadows and the U.S. Forest Service, from the Cooper Spur Wild & Free Coalition, an organization that “first came together in 2002 to fight Mt. Hood Meadows' plans to develop a sprawling destination resort on the slopes of Mt. Hood near Cooper Spur”:While I find the sanctimonious language in this timeline off-putting, I'm more sympathetic to Enviro Bro here than I was with the eruption-detection controversy discussed up top. Opposing small-footprint, high-impact catastrophe-monitoring equipment on an active volcano to save five bushes but potentially endanger millions of human lives is foolish. But checking sprawling wilderness development by identifying smaller parcels adjacent to already-disturbed lands as alternative sites for denser, hopefully walkable, hopefully mixed-use projects is exactly the sort of thing that every mountain community ought to prioritize.On the combination of Summit and Timberline LodgeThe small Summit Pass ski area in Government Camp operated as an independent entity from its 1927 founding until Timberline Lodge purchased the ski area in 2018. In 2021, the owners connected the two – at least in one direction. Skiers can move 4,540 vertical feet from the top of Timberline's Palmer chair to the base of Summit. While Palmer tends to open late in the season and Summit tends to close early, and while skiers will have to ride shuttles back up to the Timberline lifts until the resort builds a much anticipated gondola connecting the full height, this is technically America's largest lift-served vertical drop.On Meadows' reciprocalsMeadows only has three season pass reciprocal partners, but they're all aspirational spots that passholders would actually travel for: Baker, Schweitzer, and Whitefish. I ask Pack why he continues to offer these exchanges even as larger ski areas such as Brundage and Tamarack move away from them. One bit of context I neglected to include, however, is that neighboring Timberline Lodge and Mount Hood Skibowl not only offer a joint pass, but are longtime members of Powder Alliance, which is an incredible regional reciprocal pass that's free for passholders at any of these mountains:On Ski Broadmoor, ColoradoColorado Springs is less convenient to skiing than the name implies – skiers are driving a couple of hours, minimum, to access Monarch or the Summit County ski areas. So I was surprised, when I looked up Pack's original home mountain of Ski Broadmoor, to see that it sat on the city's outskirts:This was never a big ski area, with 600 vertical feet served by an “America The Beautiful Lift” that sounds as though it was named by Donald Trump:The “famous” Broadmoor Hotel built and operated the ski area, according to Colorado Ski History. They sold the hotel in 1986 to the city, which promptly sold it to Vail Associates (now Vail Resorts), in 1988. Vail closed the ski area in 1991 – the only mountain they ever surrendered on. I'll update all my charts and such to reflect this soon.On pre-high-speed KeystoneIt's kind of amazing that Keystone, which now spins seven high-speed chairlifts, didn't install its first detachable until 1990, nearly a decade after neighboring Breckenridge installed the world's first, in 1981. As with many resorts that have aggressively modernized, this means that Keystone once ran more chairlifts than it does today. When Pack started his ski career at the mountain in 1989, Keystone ran 10 frontside aerial lifts (8 doubles, 1 triple, 1 gondola) compared to just six today (2 doubles, 2 sixers, a high-speed quad, and a higher-capacity gondy).On Mountain CreekI've talked about the bananas-ness of Mountain Creek many times. I love this unhinged New Jersey bump in the same way I loved my crazy late uncle who would get wasted at the Bay City fireworks and yell at people driving Toyotas to “Buy American!” (This was the ‘80s in Michigan, dudes. I don't know what to tell you. The auto industry was falling apart and everybody was tripping, especially dudes who worked in – or, in my uncle's case, adjacent to (steel) – the auto industry.)On IntrawestOne of the reasons I did this insane timeline project was so that I would no longer have to sink 30 minutes into Google every time someone said the word “Intrawest.” The timeline was a pain in the ass, but worth it, because now whenever I think “wait exactly what did Intrawest own and when?” I can just say “oh yeah I already did that here you go”:On Moonlight Basin and merging with Big SkyIt's kind of weird how many now-united ski areas started out as separate operations: Beaver Creek and Arrowhead (merged 1997), Canyons and Park City (2014), Whistler and Blackcomb (1997), Alpine Meadows and Squaw Valley (connected via gondola in 2022), Carinthia and Mount Snow (1986), Sugarbush and Mount Ellen (connected via chairlift in 1995). Sometimes – Beaver Creek, Mount Snow – the terrain and culture mergers are seamless. Other times – Alpine and the Palisades side of what is now Palisades Tahoe – the connection feels like opening a store that sells four-wheelers and 74-piece high-end dinnerware sets. Like, these things don't go together, Man. But when Big Sky absorbed Moonlight Basin and Spanish Peaks in 2013, everyone immediately forgot that it was ever any different. This suggests that Big Sky's 2032 Yellowstone Club acquisition will be seamless.**Kidding, Brah. Maybe.On Lehman BrothersNearly two decades later, it's still astonishing how quickly Lehman Brothers, in business for 158 years, collapsed in 2008.On the “mutiny” at TellurideEvery now and then, a reader will ask the very reasonable question about why I never pay any attention to Telluride, one of America's great ski resorts, and one that Pack once led. Mostly it's because management is unstable, making long-term skier experience stories of the sort I mostly focus on hard to tell. And management is mostly unstable because the resort's owner is, by all accounts, willful and boorish and sort of unhinged. Blevins, in The Colorado Sun's “Outsider” newsletter earlier this week:A few months ago, locals in Telluride and Mountain Village began publicly blasting the resort's owner, a rare revolt by a community that has grown weary of the erratic Chuck Horning.For years, residents around the resort had quietly lamented the antics and decisions of the temperamental Horning, the 81-year-old California real estate investor who acquired Telluride Ski & Golf Resort in 2004. It's the only resort Horning has ever owned and over the last 21 years, he has fired several veteran ski area executives — including, earlier this year, his son, Chad.Now, unnamed locals have launched a website, publicly detailing the resort owner's messy management of the Telluride ski area and other businesses across the country.“For years, Chuck Horning has caused harm to us all, both individually and collectively,” reads the opening paragraph of ChuckChuck.ski — which originated when a Telluride councilman in March said that it was “time to chuck Chuck.” “The community deserves something better. For years, we've whispered about the stories, the incidents, the poor decisions we've witnessed. Those stories should no longer be kept secret from everyone that relies on our ski resort for our wellbeing.”The chuckchuck.ski site drags skeletons out of Horning's closet. There are a lot of skeletons in there. The website details a long history of lawsuits across the country accusing Horning and the Newport Federal Financial investment firm he founded in 1970 of fraud.It's a pretty amazing site.On Bogus BasinI was surprised that ostensibly for-profit Meadows regularly re-invests 100 percent of profits into the ski area. Such a model is more typical for explicitly nonprofit outfits such as Bogus Basin, Idaho. Longtime GM Brad Wilson outlined how that ski area functions a few years back: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 episode of the Veterinary Cancer Pioneers Podcast, host Dr. Rachel Venable welcomes Dr. David Vail, renowned veterinary oncologist, professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and co-editor of the widely used Small Animal Clinical Oncology textbook. Dr. Vail reflects on the evolution of veterinary oncology over the past four decades, sharing pivotal developments such as the introduction of Tanovea and the wide-reaching impact of Cerenia. He explores the rise of comparative oncology and the increasingly bidirectional collaboration between veterinary and human medicine. The discussion highlights cutting-edge advances in immunotherapy and how combination therapies and naturally occurring canine cancer trials are shaping human clinical research. Tune in for a thoughtful look at the past, present, and future of oncology through the lens of a true pioneer.

Conversations on Dance hosts Rebecca King Ferraro and Michael Sean Breeden welcome two of the Festival's most beloved artists for a long-anticipated live podcast recording: Calvin Royal III, Principal Dancer with American Ballet Theatre, and Unity Phelan, Principal Dancer with New York City Ballet. Royal and Phelan—widely regarded as one of the most iconic duos to emerge from the Vail Dance Festival—will reflect on their enduring partnership, born at Vail and nurtured through countless collaborations across stages and companies. This conversation explores the artistic trust, chemistry, and shared vision that have made them audience favorites. This episode is brought to you by Discover Vail and was recorded live from the Vail Dance Festival on July 31, 2025.Tickets to Conversations on Dance at the 2025 Vail Dance Festival on sale now! https://vaildance.org/conversations-on-dance/LINKS:Website: conversationsondancepod.comInstagram: @conversationsondanceMerch: https://bit.ly/cod-merchYouTube: https://bit.ly/youtube-CODJoin our email list: https://bit.ly/COD-email Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Host: Chuck Marsh Guest: Karen Berdoulay Air date: Jul 30, 2025

In this episode, Anna Rose welcomes back Daniel Kang professor at UIUC and founding technical advisor at VAIL, for an update on ZKML and how the space has evolved since early 2023. Daniel covers the 2023-2024 cohort of ZKML tools including zkCNN, zkLLM, EZKL, and his original ZKML project, while introducing his new project ZKTorch, which offers a flexible hybrid of specialized and general-purpose approaches. The discussion explores practical applications like verified FaceID, proof of prompt, and proof of training, along with the technical challenges of adding ZK proofs to machine learning models. Daniel shares insights on the performance trade-offs between specialized cryptographic systems and generic circuits, and how ZKTorch aims to offer both flexibility and speed for proving ML inference. Related links: ZKTorch: Open-Sourcing the First Universal ZKML Compiler for Real-World AI ZKTorch: Compiling ML Inference to Zero-Knowledge Proofs via Parallel Proof  ZK Torch GitHub Accumulation by Bing-Jyue Chen, Lilia Tang, Daniel Kang Episode 369: Ligero for Memory-Efficient ZK with Muthu Episode 356: ZK Benchmarks with Conner Swann Episode 364: AI and ZK Auditing with David Wong Episode 265: Where ZK and ML intersect with Yi Sun and Daniel Kang Bonus Episode: zkpod.ai & Attested Audio Experiment with Daniel Kang ZK13: ZKTorch: Efficiently Compiling ML Models to Zero-Knowledge Proof Protocols - Daniel Kang AI Agent Benchmarks are Broken VAIL zkCNN: Zero Knowledge Proofs for...

In episode 56 of 'Lifting, Running, and Living,' the hosts dive into two hot fitness topics: the creatine gummy scandal and a controversial moment at a Hyrox competition. The episode kicks off with personal updates, highlighting a grueling hill climb race in Vail, Colorado, and detailing a new training regimen focused on balancing lifting and cardio. The discussion then shifts to the creatine gummy scandal involving Push Supplements, where third-party testing revealed significantly lower creatine content than advertised. Lastly, the hosts analyze a viral video from a Hyrox competition where a competitor continued the event despite his partner collapsing, prompting a debate on the balance between mental toughness and human empathy.00:00 Introduction and Episode Kickoff00:18 Fitness Headlines Overview01:23 Hill Climb Race Recap11:34 Training and Nutrition Updates21:56 Creatine Gummy Scandal30:57 Influencer's Creatine Experience32:50 Placebo Effect in Fitness33:59 Supplement Industry Ethics36:08 Importance of Whole Foods38:10 Influencer Trust and Sponsorships42:13 Hyrox Competition Controversy45:32 Debate on Competitor's Actions58:27 Final Thoughts and Wrap-UpFollow the pod at ⁠⁠⁠@liftingrunninglivingpod⁠⁠⁠Email us at ⁠⁠⁠liftingrunninglivingpod@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠Follow JK at ⁠⁠@coachjkmcleod⁠⁠Follow Kelly at ⁠⁠⁠@runningklutz ⁠

Tusayan Mayor Clarinda Vail joins the show to give the debrief on the devastating fires around the Grand Canyon. The town near the South Rim is witnessing lots of smoke as the fires rages across the canyon near the North Rim. 

Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.   Justin interviews Neil Colclough, RIMS Rocky Mountain Chapter President and 2025 RIMS Volunteer of the Year Award Winner, about his career path, how his Royal Marines service time helped steer his risk management path, and why he moved to Colorado. Neil tells of his years of experience in risk management, his risk philosophy, his DE&I philosophy, and how he feels about volunteerism.   Listen to learn the benefits of making your risk management career more fulfilling through volunteering.   Key Takeaways: [:01] About RIMS and RIMScast. RIMScast is a proud nominee of the 20th Annual People's Choice Podcast Awards. We are nominated in the category of Government and Organizations, and we would appreciate your support. Help us win that award at PodcastAwards.com.  [:35] About this episode of RIMScast. Our guest today is the RIMS Volunteer of the Year Award winner, Neil Colclough. We will learn about his career and all the great work he has done for us at the RIMS Rocky Mountain Chapter. [1:05] RIMS-CRMP Workshops! The next Virtual RIMS-CRMP exam prep, co-hosted by Parima, will be held on September 2nd and 3rd. [1:17] The next RIMS-CRMP-FED virtual workshop will be led by Joseph Mayo on July 17th and 18th. Register by July 16th. Links to these courses can be found on the Certification Page of RIMS.org and through this episode's show notes. [1:34] RIMS Virtual Workshops! We have a day-long course on July 24th, “Risk Taxonomy for Effective Risk Management.” On August 5th, we have a day-long course about “Emerging Risks.” [1:47] We've launched a new course, “Intro to ERM for Senior Leaders.” This is a two-day course. The first two-day course will be held on August 12th and 13th and will be led by former RIMS President, Chris Mandel. [2:02] The course will be held again on November 4th and 5th and will be led by Elise Farnham. RIMS members enjoy deep discounts! [2:11] The full schedule of virtual workshops can be found on the RIMS.org/education and RIMS.org/education/online-learning pages. A link is also in this episode's notes. [2:22] If you tuned in to the recent episode featuring James Lam, you will know he is hosting a new six-module workshop for us, the “RIMS-CRO Certificate in Advanced Enterprise Risk Management”. [2:36] The inaugural summer course is completely sold out! We are filled to the virtual capacity! Don't worry, in the Fall, the bi-weekly course will begin on October 9th. Registration closes on October 2nd. A link is in this episode's notes. Check it out and register today! [2:55] Mark your calendars for November 17th and 18th for the RIMS ERM Conference 2025 in Seattle, Washington. The agenda is being built. Soon, we will distribute a Call for Nominations for the ERM Award of Distinction. I'll update this episode's show notes when that link is ready. [3:19] Think about your organization's ERM program or one you know of, and how it has generated value. We will have more on that in the coming weeks. [3:27] RISKWORLD 2026 will be in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 3rd through May 6th. RIMS members can now lock in the 2025 rate for a full conference pass to RISKWORLD 2026 when registering by September 30th. [3:41] This also lets you enjoy earlier access to the RISKWORLD hotel block. Register by September 30th, and you will also be entered to win a $500 raffle. Don't miss out on this chance to plan and score some extra perks. [3:54] The members-only registration link is in this episode's show notes. If you are not yet a member, this is the time to register at RIMS.org/membership. [4:04] On with the show! Our guest today is Neil Colclough. He has been President of the RIMS Rocky Mountain Chapter since 2023. In 2025, he was named the Volunteer of the Year. A link to his profile in the Awards Edition of RIMS Risk Management magazine is in the show notes. [4:24] Justin is stoked that Neil is joining us on RIMScast to discuss his well-deserved recognition and why he shares it with many other members of the RIMS Rocky Mountain Chapter. [4:37]  We're also going to learn about his military career and how that shaped his risk career and his enthusiasm for volunteerism. [4:45] Interview! Neil Colclough, welcome to RIMScast! [5:00] Neil is incredibly proud of the RIMS 2025 Volunteer of the Year Award. [5:16] Neil continues as the President of the RIMS Rocky Mountain Chapter until September. [5:39] Neil has been in Colorado for 27 years. He left behind family, friends, and a job he loved to move to the Colorado Rocky Mountains to take advantage of the lifestyle the area offers. He wanted to be a semi-ski bum. [6:25] Neil had to learn to ski in the military. He fell in love with the sport. He landed a job on Vail Mountain. He skied over 100 days a year for several years when he lived in Vail. [6:51] Neil is from Stoke-on-Trent, England. As a kid, he wanted to be a soldier. He joined the Royal Marines for six years and travelled the world. He saw communities outside of the resort areas. [8:10] Neil believes his risk management career grew out of his service. Public service is managing risk, considering what could go wrong at all times, and having a Plan B and C for those instances. It's also not being risk-averse. [8:33] His military service left him with the mindset that you can do anything, you just have to put the effort into doing it properly and give it your best shot. They all kept themselves incredibly fit. The risk of not being fit didn't just impact you; it impacted the guys you worked with. [9:17] Neil enjoyed the fitness routine in the military, going for morning runs with his closest friends. [9:34] If Neil hadn't moved to Colorado, he probably would have stayed home. He was focused on moving to the Rocky Mountains. He had been to the U.S. about 10 times before he moved. He moved in 1998. [11:11] Neil says he is of the generation who “fell into” the risk management industry, versus going to school for a risk management degree. He was dragged reluctantly into risk management. [11:28] Neil was asked four times to fill a new role in the corporate headquarters of Vail Resorts. He didn't want to leave Vail, but he liked the person hiring him, and the offer made sense, so he joined the corporate office and did not look back. RIMS membership came with that job. [11:58] At the time, Neil had no idea what RIMS was. He joined the Rocky Mountain Chapter in early 2008. He's been a member of the chapter since then. He attended programming and social events. He progressed in the chapter. [12:14] The operational experience he had gained in the military and from running the Security Team at Vail Mountain fed into the risk management function. It gives him a bit of a leg up when it comes to solving issues. His experience adds credibility with his internal clients today. [12:40] Neil's career has been a natural progression. He loves his job. He loves the people he does it for. It's like a hobby. He's genuinely interested in it. [13:00] Neil loves being in the RIMS Rocky Mountain Chapter as a whole. He joined the board in 2018 with Incoming President Peggy Miller and Past President Emily Bloedel. The board was a great group of people. They have great, respectful discussions. There's no negativity. [13:49] As long as Neil has been a member of the chapter, that has always been the case. He says the board feels proud to be part of the chapter and to have a positive impact.  [14:09] Justin mentions that Emily Bloedel was a RIMS Rising Star recently. Peggy Miller is with Kroenke Sports & Entertainment. Justin met Peggy at the RIMS ERM Conference in Denver. Neil ran the DEI education session at ERM, and he did a great job. [14:52] Neil says Emily Buckley is also on the board. They have a great pipeline of leadership to look forward to, and the future is super bright. [14:58] Justin mentions there's a lot of talent in Colorado. Emily Buckley was a guest on RIMScast last year for Specialized Bicycles on bicycle safety. Justin says, if you're a risk professional looking for a place to move, start with Colorado and look up Neil!  [15:33] DE&I is a passion for Neil. He's super connected to it. Justin and Neil discuss whether it's helpful to speak the words Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion for people who may be less committed. [16:53] You might lean on Inclusion a little more to help people understand that this is about making sure that everybody has the same opportunities. [17:22] Neil is the RIMS Volunteer of the Year. The award used to be called the Heart of RIMS Award, but was rebranded to be more specific. [17:57] Neil thinks that all RIMS chapters should have the succession of vice presidents and presidents built into their bylaws as the Rocky Mountain Chapter does. A lot of presidents have sat on boards for many years, and they struggle to recruit people to become board members. [18:22] Volunteerism takes effort. If you're taking an hour out of your day to do a podcast to talk about yourself, then you've got to make up that time somewhere else. If you're doing chapter work during business hours, you have to have an employer who supports what you're doing. [18:54] You have to have family behind you, that gets it. You can't just disregard your daily job duties in favor of volunteerism. [19:09] Neil says, encourage chances to have an intentional succession plan for chapter leadership. Encourage people early in their careers to serve on boards, become leaders of the chapter, and shape the future. [19:40] If you've just graduated from an RMI program and joined the workforce, you may not think you're qualified to lead on a chapter board. Neil says, we want to hear from the future of the industry so we who are in it can prioritize what is going to be meaningful after we've gone. [20:03] Reach out to younger people, let them know what a safe space it is, and give them the opportunity to serve. [20:12] RIMS Events! The 49th Annual Florida RIMS Educational Conference will be held again at the Ritz-Carlton in Naples, Florida, from July 29th through August 2nd. Visit Florida.RIMS.org for more information and to register. [20:30] The very first RIMS Texas Regional Conference will be held from August 4th through the 6th in San Antonio, Texas, at the Henry B. González Convention Center. Public Registration is open. The full conference agenda is now live. [20:46] Don't miss the post-conference workshop, the RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep Course, available on site. [20:52] This event is open to any RIMS Chapter member. If you are local to the area, you might consider becoming a RIMS member today so that you can get all the benefits and begin networking with your new RIMS Texas peers. Links are in this episode's show notes. [21:07] You can also visit the Events Page of RIMS.org for more information. We look forward to seeing you in Texas! [21:15] A month later, we will be up North for the RIMS Canada Conference 2025, from September 14th through the 17th in Calgary. Registration is open. Lock in those favorable rates; Visit RIMSCanadaConference.CA. We look forward to seeing you in Calgary! [21:34] On September 18th, the 10th Annual Chicagoland Risk Forum will be held at the Old Post Office in Chicago. Register at ChicagoRIMS.org. [21:44] Also on September 18th, the Spencer Educational Foundation will host the 2025 Funding Their Future Gala at the Cipriani 42nd Street. Visit SpencerEd.org. [21:57] On October 1st through the 3rd, the RIMS Western Regional Conference will be held in North San Jose at the Santa Clara Marriott. The agenda is live. It looks fantastic! Visit RIMSWesternRegional.com and register today. [22:12] Let's Return to My Interview with the RIMS 2025 Volunteer of the Year, Neil Colclough! [22:23] Neil joined Sage Hospitality Group in January 2025. He had spoken with his new boss about his role at the RIMS Rocky Mountain Chapter, and she was super supportive. [22:48] The whole company understands the importance of risk management. They see the value of having me remain involved with RIMS at the chapter and society level. It was an easy conversation to have. [23:18] Neil is over a total of seven people at Sage. He says this is rare except in well-established, large companies. This is Neil's first experience with anything that comes close to that. [23:56] Two of Neil's team have been with the company for over 30 years. Another has been with the company for 11 years. That speaks volumes to Neil about the company culture and the investment the company makes in risk management. It was a huge attraction to Neil. [24:18] Neil was previously with Inspirato, another hospitality group. It was high-end luxury travel where you would subscribe to a membership and get access to a portfolio of homes. One client was mad that they didn't inform them that it was hurricane season when they were traveling. [26:06] When Neil moved to Colorado, he went to a job fair for Vail Resorts in Denver. He was offered two jobs, one as a ski instructor and one with the Security Department, a seasonal job. [26:24] When Neil showed up for work on his first day of training for the Security Team, it was October 19, 1998, the day of the terrorist arson at the Two Elk Lodge, the largest act of eco-terrorism in North America at the time. [26:42] Neil's job went from being seasonal to year-round. The department grew. He was promoted a couple of times fairly quickly. He had never ridden a snowmobile, but they put him on it, and he rode 400 miles a week on a snowmobile. [27:12] With this experience, Neil understands the principles of emergency preparedness and response. He worked closely with the public sector in Vail and Eagle County. The local government and the ski resort have to work closely together to align in the same direction. [27:31] Neil says they did some good stuff over the years to mitigate potential risks. A wildland fire was a big concern. They did mass-casualty incident drills with Vail Ski Patrol and the town of Vail. [27:59] Neil lives east of Boulder. His office is in Denver. [28:34] Neil says the award is not just one person. It takes a village. It takes a lot of people who think like you and have the same heart to make good things happen. He's never volunteered at any event where he's walked away feeling down and thinking it was a waste of time. [29:00] A little can go a long way. If you're thinking about ways to volunteer in the risk and insurance industry, the local RIMS chapter is a great vehicle to do that. You can contact Neil, and he can introduce you to some people he has networked with around the country. [29:24] Volunteerism is so rewarding. It takes effort. You can't just go to meetings. You have to put pen to paper in between meetings to take action on what you say you're going to do. Neil battles constantly with the feeling that he's not fully delivering on what he should be. [29:45] You have to give yourself a little bit of grace when it comes to those times. People's capacity ebbs and flows. Surround yourself with people who can pick up the slack when you have to step into your day job a little bit more at certain times. [30:00] When you're juggling the balls, just don't drop the glass ones! Keep your responsibilities prioritized. [30:13] Neil talks of DE&I sponsorship, advocating for somebody who's not in the group. One way to do that is to ask if you can take a young professional along with you when you're invited somewhere as a risk professional. Request that someone be at a meeting who wasn't invited. [31:02] That can create opportunities and give that person experience. It's a simple act with a potentially massive impact. [31:15] Neil, it's been a real pleasure to speak with you again! I appreciate all your insight here. Congratulations again on being named the RIMS 2025 Volunteer of the Year. We've got a link for the RIMS Rocky Mountain Chapter in the notes. Locals, if you want to join, give Neil a shout! [31:37] Neil says, I'll get back to you eventually! There are about 200 professional members in the chapter through the Society, plus Chapter Associates and Student Members. There is a free membership for RIMS Affinity Partners, all of whom have been represented on RIMScast. [33:06] Justin mentions again the RIMS Western Regional Conference; register at RIMSWesternRegional.com. [33:17] Special thanks again to RIMS Rocky Mountain Chapter President and 2025 RIMS Volunteer of the Year Award Winner, Neil Colclough. We appreciate him making the time for us. A link to the special Awards Edition of RIMS Risk Management magazine is in the show notes. [33:35] Check out Neil's profile as well as the other 2025 RIMS Award Winners. A link to the RIMS Rocky Mountain Chapter site is in this episode's show notes. Check out all the great work they are doing. [33:48] Plug Time! You can sponsor a RIMScast episode for this, our weekly show, or a dedicated episode. Links to sponsored episodes are in the show notes. [34:16] RIMScast has a global audience of risk and insurance professionals, legal professionals, students, business leaders, C-Suite executives, and more. Let's collaborate and help you reach them! Contact pd@rims.org for more information. [34:35] Become a RIMS member and get access to the tools, thought leadership, and network you need to succeed. Visit RIMS.org/membership or email membershipdept@RIMS.org for more information. [34:52] Risk Knowledge is the RIMS searchable content library that provides relevant information for today's risk professionals. Materials include RIMS executive reports, survey findings, contributed articles, industry research, benchmarking data, and more. [35:08] For the best reporting on the profession of risk management, read Risk Management Magazine at RMMagazine.com. It is written and published by the best minds in risk management. [35:23] Justin Smulison is the Business Content Manager at RIMS. You can email Justin at Content@RIMS.org. [35:30] Thank you all for your continued support and engagement on social media channels! We appreciate all your kind words. Listen every week! Stay safe!   Links: 20th Annual People's Choice Podcast Awards! Vote for RIMScast (Gov't & Organizations)To vote for RIMScast, please sign up with your email, then select RIMScast on the pulldown under Government and Organizations. Thank you! RIMS Risk Management Magazine 2025 Awards Edition RIMS Texas Regional 2025 — August 3‒5 | Registration open. RIMS-CRMP In-Person Workshop in Texas Aug. 6 & 7 RIMS 2025 Florida Educational Conference | July 31‒Aug 2 | Registration open. RIMS Canada 2025 — Sept. 14‒17 | Registration open! 10th Annual Chicagoland Risk Forum — Sept. 18 | Registration open! RIMS Western Regional — Oct 1‒3 | Bay Area, California | Registration open! RISKWORLD 2026 — Members-only early registration! Register through Sept 30! RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP) The Strategic and Enterprise Risk Center Spencer Educational Foundation 2025 Funding Their Future Gala — Sept. 18, 2025 in NYC! Spencer Education Foundation — General Grants 2026 — Application Deadline July 30, 2025 RIMS ERM Conference 2025 — Nov 17‒18 in Seattle! [Save the Date!] RIMS-CRO Certificate in Advanced Enterprise Risk Management — Featuring Instructor James Lam! Summer course sold out! | Next bi-weekly course begins Oct 9. RIMS Diversity Equity Inclusion Council RISK PAC | RIMS Advocacy | RIMS Legislative Summit SAVE THE DATE — March 18‒19, 2026 RIMS Risk Management magazine | Contribute RIMS Now RIMS Rocky Mountain Chapter RSVP for the RISK PAC Reception in Philadelphia | July 16, 2025 | Sofitel Philadelphia at Rittenhouse Square RIMS Webinars: RIMS.org/Webinars   Upcoming RIMS-CRMP Prep Virtual Workshops: RIMS-CRMP-FED Exam Prep Virtual Workshop — July 17‒18 RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep Virtual Workshop — Sept 2‒3, 2025 | Presented by RIMS and PARIMA Full RIMS-CRMP Prep Course Schedule “Risk Taxonomy for Effective Risk Management” | July 24 | Instructor: Joe Mayo “Emerging Risks” | Aug 5 | Instructor: Joe Mayo “Intro to ERM for Senior Leaders” | Aug. 12‒13 | Instructor: Chris Mandel “Intro to ERM for Senior Leaders” | Nov. 4‒5 | Instructor: Elise Farnham See the full calendar of RIMS Virtual Workshops RIMS-CRMP Prep Workshops   Related RIMScast Episodes: “Mid-Year Update: RIMS Legislative and Risk Management News” “RIMS 2025 Rising Star Megan Smalter: Giving Yourself Grace” “Live from RISKWORLD 2025” “RIMS 2025 Risk Manager of the Year, Jennifer Pack” “Julie Bean, 2024 Heart of RIMS Award Winner”   Sponsored RIMScast Episodes: “The New Reality of Risk Engineering: From Code Compliance to Resilience” | Sponsored by AXA XL (New!) “Change Management: AI's Role in Loss Control and Property Insurance” | Sponsored by Global Risk Consultants, a TÜV SÜD Company “Demystifying Multinational Fronting Insurance Programs” | Sponsored by Zurich “Understanding Third-Party Litigation Funding” | Sponsored by Zurich “What Risk Managers Can Learn From School Shootings” | Sponsored by Merrill Herzog “Simplifying the Challenges of OSHA Recordkeeping” | Sponsored by Medcor “Risk Management in a Changing World: A Deep Dive into AXA's 2024 Future Risks Report” | Sponsored by AXA XL “How Insurance Builds Resilience Against An Active Assailant Attack” | Sponsored by Merrill Herzog “Third-Party and Cyber Risk Management Tips” | Sponsored by Alliant “RMIS Innovation with Archer” | Sponsored by Archer “Navigating Commercial Property Risks with Captives” | Sponsored by Zurich “Breaking Down Silos: AXA XL's New Approach to Casualty Insurance” | Sponsored by AXA XL “Weathering Today's Property Claims Management Challenges” | Sponsored by AXA XL “Storm Prep 2024: The Growing Impact of Convective Storms and Hail” | Sponsored by Global Risk Consultants, a TÜV SÜD Company “Partnering Against Cyberrisk” | Sponsored by AXA XL “Harnessing the Power of Data and Analytics for Effective Risk Management” | Sponsored by Marsh “Accident Prevention — The Winning Formula For Construction and Insurance” | Sponsored by Otoos “Platinum Protection: Underwriting and Risk Engineering's Role in Protecting Commercial Properties” | Sponsored by AXA XL “Elevating RMIS — The Archer Way” | Sponsored by Archer   RIMS Publications, Content, and Links: RIMS Membership — Whether you are a new member or need to transition, be a part of the global risk management community! RIMS Virtual Workshops On-Demand Webinars RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP) RISK PAC | RIMS Advocacy RIMS Strategic & Enterprise Risk Center RIMS-CRMP Stories — Featuring RIMS President Kristen Peed!   RIMS Events, Education, and Services: RIMS Risk Maturity Model®   Sponsor RIMScast: Contact sales@rims.org or pd@rims.org for more information.   Want to Learn More? Keep up with the podcast on RIMS.org, and listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.   Have a question or suggestion? Email: Content@rims.org.   Join the Conversation! Follow @RIMSorg on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.   About our guest: Neil Colclough, Vice President of Risk, Compliance, and Audit, SAGE HOSPITALITY GROUP RIMS Rocky Mountain Chapter President   Production and engineering provided by Podfly.  

Recorded only two days before the great man's passing, this audiobook-style episode is a Brian Wilson diary that covers the 27 sessions it took to accomplish one of his great works, a span of six months that kicks off at the moment in December 1965 when he first heard The Beatles' Rubber Soul and vowed to make the greatest rock record of all time, to Pet Sounds' release in May 1966. I'm joined by the world's foremost Petsoundsologist Chuck Granata, author of the incredible book Wouldn't It Be Nice: Brian Wilson And The Making Of The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. This episode features a critical cameo by the great Fred Vail.Here's just a few of the many things that Chuck discusses with Discograffiti in this podcast:The Pickwick Bookstore acid flashback that inadvertently provided the initial inspiration for Pet Sounds;The unlikely figure who first introduced Van Dyke Parks to Brian Wilson;The only song on the record that features The Beach Boys playing instruments;The record company's real motivation for releasing “Sloop John B” as a single;How Brian countered record company disinterest in a classic meeting held at Capital HQ;The importance of Bruce Johnston's UK Pet Sounds unveiling;And a beautiful cameo by Fred Vail describing the atmosphere at the mastering session, which was only attended by Fred and Brian's wife Marilyn.There'll be a short sneak peak running publicly for free, but the entirety of this podcast will only be accessible on the Major Tier of Discograffiti's Patreon. Don't miss it, or you'll only be getting part of the story. Get it as a one-off, get the full series, or better yet just subscribe.Full Episode: Patreon.com/Discograffiti (available on the Major Tier & up)Free Sneak Peek: linktr.ee/discograffitiSubscribe to Discograffiti's Patreon and receive a ceaseless barrage (4 shows a week!) of must-hear binge-listening. It's completely free to be a basic member, $1 to get your backstage pass, $5/month for the weekly Sunday show by & for our community, $10 for weekly early release, ad-free, super-extended Director's Cuts of the main show plus access to half our Patreon episode archive, & $20 for Discograffiti's weekly bonus episodes and access to our entire Patreon episode archive. There are now over 300 Patreon episodes.CONNECTJoin our Soldiers of Sound Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1839109176272153Patreon: www.Patreon.com/DiscograffitiPodfollow: ⁠⁠https://podfollow.com/1592182331⁠⁠YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClyaQCdvDelj5EiKj6IRLhwInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/discograffitipod/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Discograffiti/Twitter: https://twitter.com/DiscograffitiOrder the Digital version of the METAL MACHINE MUZAK 2xLP (feat. Lou Barlow, Cory Hanson, Mark Robinson, & W. Cullen Hart): www.patreon.com/discograffiti/shop/197404Order the $11 Digital version of the MMM 2xLP on Bandcamp: https://discograffiti.bandcamp.com/album/metal-machine-muzakOrder the METAL MACHINE MUZAK Double Vinyl + Digital package: www.patreon.com/discograffiti/shop/169954Merch Shop: https://discograffitipod.myspreadshop.com/allVenmo Dave A Tip: @David-GebroeWeb site: http://discograffiti.com/CONTACT DAVEEmail: dave@discograffiti.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/hooligandaveInstagram:  https://www.instagram.com/davidgebroe/Twitter: https://twitter.com/DaveGebroeThere is no other Patreon in existence where you get more for your money.  If you're already a member, please comment below about your experience.  www.Patreon.com/discograffiti#chuckgranata #wouldntitbenice #thebeachboys #brianwilson #beachboys #denniswilson #mikelove #carlwilson #music #thehollies #aljardine #thebeatles #brucejohnston #rock #petsounds #brianwilsonrip #goodvibrations #paulmccartney #surf #rocknroll #davidmarks #records #surfing #california #beach #surfrock #discograffiti #metalmachinemuzak #soldiersofsound #andyourdreamscometrue

#499 Climb Part 2 - A Game of Gear Inches Welcome to Episode #499 of the 303 Endurance Podcast. We're your hosts Coaches Rich Soares and April Spilde. Thanks for joining us for another week of news, coaching tips and discussion. July is bike climbing month here in the front range. Pikes Peak climb last weekend and this weekend we have two iconic events with serious climbs - Saturday is the Triple Bypass Ride with 10,800 and 118 miles and Sunday is the Boulder Peak triathlon with 3 miles of 10%.    Show Sponsor: UCAN UCAN created LIVSTEADY as an alternative to sugar based nutrition products. LIVSTEADY was purposefully designed to work with your body, delivering long-lasting energy you can feel. Whether UCAN Energy Powders, Bars or Gels, LIVSTEADY's unique time-release profile allows your body to access energy consistently throughout the day, unlocking your natural ability to finish stronger and recover more quickly!   In Today's Show Announcements and News  Ask A Coach: How to improve my climbing? Get Gritty Tip: The Four Agreements TriDot Workout of the Week: FTP Fun Segment: Triple Bypass Trivia!   Announcements and News: Our Announcements are supported by VESPA Power today. Vespa Power Endurance helps you tap into steady, clean energy—so you stay strong, focused, and in the zone longer. Vespa is not fuel, but a metabolic catalyst that shifts your body to use more fat and less glycogen as your fuel source. Vespa comes in CV-25, Junior and Concentrate. Less sugar. Higher performance. Faster recovery.  Home of Vespa Power Products | Optimizing Your Fat Metabolism Use discount code - 303endurance20   TriDot Pool School July 26-27. https://www.tridotpoolschool.com/component/eventbooking/pool-school/tridot-pool-school-20250726-844-986-401-167-857/94?Itemid=762   Ask A Coach Sponsor: G2G Endurance Your watch gives you data. But does your training plan know what to do with it? Ours does. Grit2Greatness Endurance Coaching has partnered with TriDot to deliver custom workouts powered by cutting-edge analytics. You bring the sweat, we'll bring the smarts. Start with a free 2-week trial, then keep building for only $14.99/month. We have our sign-up links waiting for you in the show notes—click one and let's geek out on your progress. Website - Grit2Greatness Endurance Coaching Facebook page @grit2greatnessendurance   Coach April Spilde April.spilde@tridot.com TriDot Signup - https://app.tridot.com/onboard/sign-up/aprilspilde RunDot Signup - https://app.rundot.com/onboard/sign-up/aprilspilde    Coach Rich Soares Rich.soares@tridot.com Rich Soares Coaching TriDot Signup - https://app.tridot.com/onboard/sign-up/richsoares RunDot Signup - https://app.rundot.com/onboard/sign-up/richsoares   Ask A Coach: What gearing do I need for X Grade Climb?  When the road tilts upward, smart gearing can make or break your climb. Whether you're grinding up a 5% incline or crawling up a brutal 15%, choosing the right gear ratio is key to maintaining an efficient cadence—ideally around 80 RPM. Here's a breakdown of ideal gear inches and recommended chainring/cassette combinations for gradients from 5% to 15%. Gear Inches Table | BikeCalc   Takeaway Tips: Lower gear inches help maintain cadence on steeper grades. A compact crankset (e.g., 34/50T) paired with a wide-range cassette (up to 31T or 32T) gives you the flexibility to tackle tough climbs. For gradients above 12%, consider a granny gear setup or even a 1x drivetrain with a wide-range cassette.   Get Gritty Tip: The Four Agreements Get Gritty Tip: Master Your Mindset with The Four Agreements This week, let's talk about The Four Agreements—a powerful framework for living with intention, resilience, and clarity. These four simple principles can help us break free from limiting beliefs and live with more purpose in both triathlon and life. 1. Be Impeccable with Your Word. Your words create your reality. In triathlon, this means speaking positively to yourself and others. When you talk about your abilities, your goals, and your progress, choose words that empower and uplift. If you say, “I can do this,” you're setting yourself up for success. But if you tell yourself “I'll never get faster” or “This is too hard,” you're building mental barriers. Choose words that propel you forward. 2. Don't Take Anything Personally. People's opinions and reactions are a reflection of them, not you. In triathlon, you'll face challenges, setbacks, and criticism, whether it's a tough race, a hard workout, or someone questioning your pace. But remember: It's not about you. Their words and actions are influenced by their own journey. Instead of letting it derail you, stay focused on your own path, goals, and growth. 3. Don't Make Assumptions. We often create stories in our minds about what others think of us or what we think is happening in a race or workout. But assumptions only hold us back. Instead, ask questions, seek clarity, and stay open-minded. Don't assume you know the outcome of a race or a workout before you even begin. Focus on the process, not the assumptions. 4. Always Do Your Best. This one's simple but powerful: give everything you have in each moment. Whether it's an interval, a long ride, or an intense swim, always give your best effort. And remember, your best changes from day to day. Some days you'll have more energy, and some days will feel like a struggle. But as long as you show up and give your best, you are making progress.     Action Item: Apply The Four Agreements to your training this week. Focus on the words you use, let go of external opinions, stay clear of assumptions, and always do your best. This simple mindset shift will help you approach both your triathlon journey and life with more clarity, resilience, and grit.   TriDot Workout of the Week: Functional Threshold Power   Today's workout is a Functional Threshold Test (20-minute) Session Note Conducting time trial (TT): Goal is to hold pace you can sustain for the entire TT without blowing up early or having enough left to kick at the end.   10 min @ Z2 with 3 x 30 sec (30 sec) Spinups and 3 x 1 min (1 min) @ Z4   20 min - all out maximal effort   Be sure to enter/confirm your assessment results to update your training intensities and race projections.     Fun Segment: Triple Bypass Trivia! It's time to shift gears and test your mountain mettle with the Triple Bypass Trivia Showdown! Whether you've tackled this legendary Colorado ride or it's still on your bucket list, these questions will challenge your knowledge of one of the most iconic endurance events in the U.S. Grab your water bottle, clip in, and let's find out if you're a seasoned alpine expert—or just coasting! When did the first Triple Bypass ride take place? A) 1978 B) 1988 C) 1998 Answer: B) 1988 — One July day in 1988, a group of avid cyclists decided that it would be fun and challenging to ride from Evergreen to the Vail Valley, Colorado. And so it was. Thirty-seven years later and thousands of more friends beside them, the Triple Bypass is an epic bucket-list ride.   True or False: The full Triple Bypass covers approximately 118 miles with over 10,000 feet of climbing. Answer: True — The classic route takes cyclists over three mountain passes and gains roughly 10,800–10,000 feet in elevation. But what about the Double Bypass?  Answer: A good entry ride, The Double Bypass covers 801 miles and gains 6,500 feet of elevation over two mountain passes: Loveland and Vail. The Double Bypass start location for 2025 is in Empire.  Which three mountain passes are included in the full Triple Bypass route? A) Juniper, Loveland, Vail B) Independence, Kenosha, Red Mountain C) Monarch, Cottonwood, Hoosier Answer: A) Juniper, Loveland, Vail — These iconic Colorado climbs define the course. True or False: The event is a competitive race with official timing and podiums. Answer: False — The Triple Bypass is a non-competitive, fully supported challenge ride focused on endurance, experience, and personal accomplishment.    Roughly how much has the event donated to charity since its inception? A) $500,000 B) $3.5 million C) $10 million Answer: B) $3.5 million — Over the decades, the ride (organized by Team Evergreen Cycling) has contributed millions to nonprofits.   Boulder Peak Close The first Boulder Peak Triathlon was held in 1992. It quickly became one of Colorado's most iconic triathlons, known for its challenging course, especially the infamous Olde Stage Road climb. Over the years, it has attracted both elite and amateur athletes and has been a staple of the summer triathlon season in Boulder. Would you like a timeline of its notable milestones or how the course has evolved over the years?   Here's a **timeline of notable milestones** in the history of the **Boulder Peak Triathlon**, one of Colorado's most iconic endurance events: Boulder Peak Triathlon Timeline   - **1992****Inaugural Race**   - Founded by Paul Karlsson and David Jensen.   - Featured the now-famous **Olde Stage Road** climb.   - Attracted top pros like Dave Scott and Mark Allen in its first year.   - 400 participants and a $500 prize purse.   - **1996****Pro Women's Head Start Introduced**   - Suggested by Paula Newby-Fraser to increase spectator excitement.   - Created a dramatic “chase” dynamic between men and women.   - **Early 2000s****Ironman World Championship Qualifier**   - Boulder Peak briefly served as a qualifier for Kona, elevating its prestige.   - **2004****Ownership Change**   - Sold to **5430 Sports**, run by Barry and Jodee Siff.   - Continued to grow in popularity and professionalism.   - **2009****Acquired by Life Time Fitness**   - Became part of the Life Time Triathlon Series.   - Integrated into a national network of high-profile triathlons.   - **2014****Returned to Local Ownership**   - Taken over by **Without Limits Productions**, led by Lance Panigutti.   - Renewed focus on community, athlete experience, and local flavor.   - **2017** **National Recognition**   - Named one of the **Top 15 Most Amazing Triathlons in the U.S.** by *The Culture Trip* [1](https://www.withoutlimits.co/boulder-peak-triathlon-duathlon).   - **2020****COVID-19 Cancellation**   - Like many races, the event was paused due to the pandemic.   - **2021–Present****Resurgence**   - Strong return with growing participation.   - Continues to be the **crown jewel of the Colorado Triathlon Series**.   Thanks again for listening this week. Please be sure to follow us @303Triathlon and @grit2greatnessendurance and of course go to iTunes and give us a rating and a comment. We'd really appreciate it! Stay tuned, train informed and enjoy the endurance journey!

I spent much of my early life living for anyone & everyone but myself.  For a long time I was ignorant to the fact that I was doing so.  Thank goodness that my life got so bad that I finally reached out for help and in turn began a journey of recovery and self-discovery that introduced me to the idea that it was healthy, courageous and wise to begin living an authentic life OF MY OWN :)  At this point in my life I am deeply feeling the results of building and embracing this life of my own and it's an incredible place to be! How about you? Are you living a life of YOUR own? If so then YAHOOOOWHEEE!!! If not, then why not?  "Why am I doing what I'm doing" is the greatest question I have been courageous enough to ask myself AND continue to ask myself. It's changed my life in ways I didn't think possible.  Take a listen to this episode and perhaps you'll be inspired to ask yourself that question, for the first time ever OR for the millionth time, and in turn either embark on your own journey to begin building an authentic life of YOUR own OR digging deeper into the life you've already begun to build!  Either way here's to gettin' busy livin' :) **DISCLAIMER: Please take note that any references to ketamine infusions or any other form of medicinal treatments, mainstream or non mainstream, are strictly meant to provide an insight into my own experiences. That being said, should you find yourself curious about anything spoken about on my podcast I firmly suggest speaking to a doctor/psychologist/therapist/family member/psychiatrist/etc. before making any decisions. Asking for help is a courageous act. YOU MATTER!! :) Lifeline (988lifeline.org) Eagle Valley Hope Center: Your Hope Center: YOUR 24/7 SUPPORT LINE: (970) 306-4673 I LOVE Ebay!! I've had an online shop for over 15 years! My podcast is proudy sponsored by SHYGIRL'S SHOP :) | eBay Stores I'm always in the process of rebuilding my inventory :) 1 Million Strong - Supporting 1 Million People in Recovery High Country Infusion And Wellness : Ketamine Treatment In Frisco, CO My friend Alex introduced me to the world of podcasting and was the catalyst in my creating a podcast of my own! Below is his podast ;) The Builders Journey - A behind the scenes look at the Vail, Colorado and its surrounding communities through the eyes of a builder. My intro & outro music came from the endless archives of Pond5!! Are you interested in Pond5's incredible catalog of music, sounds and videos for your own podcast? Use my link for 20% off your first order!  https://www.pond5.com?ref=ashy743 Michael Singer 8 Week Course: Living From a Place of Surrender – Michael Singer Course Michael Singer Podcast - Sounds True Welcome to the Phellowship!!! | Love First SCI Jellyfish – The Jellyfish – Celebrating Life, "One Incident at a Time" (9) The Gateway (Clean & Sober Widespread Panic fans) | Facebook (9) the Hot Tea Party (tHTP) | Facebook (9) Much Obliged | Facebook (9) Wharf Rats | Facebook Interested in checking out some of the books I've mentioned in any of my episodes?   If so check out Audible or Amazon to find what your lookin' for :) AND feel free to use the links below to explore membership options available on Audible :) Try Audible Premium Plus and Get Up to Two Free Audiobookshttps://amzn.to/3JckYp5 https://www.amazon.com/hz/audible/mlp/membership/plus?ref_=assoc_tag_ph_1524216631897&_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=pf4&tag=jabberjaw777-20&linkId=a99e6a781d9a05447fc1965421e65c63 https://www.amazon.com/hz/audible/gift-membership-detail?tag=jabberjaw777-20&ref_=assoc_tag_ph_1524210806852&_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=pf4&linkId=684d5bd8bca7a06ed5c2816b57fd73d9 https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/hz/signup?ref_=assoc_tag_ph_1454291293420&_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=pf4&tag=jabberjaw777-20&linkId=0dfcda1f5ff3e45f2cb35569b0bd50db

Today we discuss ‘Homeland' – a ski touring only ‘resort' in Italy, we ask what should be on Rob Katz's ‘to do' list as he takes up the reins again at Vail Resorts, plus we find out about skiing along the Mississippi. Host Iain Martin was joined in the studio by freelance journalist Sam Haddad and host of the Storm Skiing Podcast, Stuart Winchester, as well as down the line with snow reports by Rachael Oakes-Ash in Australia and Guy Beatson in New Zealand. SHOW NOTES Sam was last on the show talking about La Grave in Episode 214 (1:15) Stuart was last on the show in Episode 235 (1:30) Find out about La Sarenne in Alpe d'Huez (4:00) Stuart's last day of skiing was at Arapahoe Basin in Colorado (5:00) Guy Beatson reported from New Zealand (9:30) Rachael Oakes-Ash from Snowsbest reported from Australia (11:00) Homeland is a ski touring ‘resort' in Italy (13:00) Read Sam's Substack ‘Climate and Board Sports' (14:00) Read Sam's article for the Guardian We featured Madesimo in Episode 165 (18:00) Read Stuart's Storm Skiing Journal Substack (23:30) ”Everyone's searching for skiing's soul. I'm trying to find its brains” We covered the Ikon Pass, Indy Pass, Mountain Collective & Epic Pass in Episode 265 We discussed how the Epic Pass is making a difference in Australia in Episode 250 (25:45) Vail launched the Epic Pass in 2008 (26:00) Sales of the Epic Pass were down for the first time in 2024/25 (28:30) The ski patrol strike in Park City was a PR disaster for Vail Resorts (30:00) The CEO of Vail Resort Kirsten Lynch resigned in May 2025 (32:00) She was replaced by Rob Katz (32:30) What should be on Rob Katz's 'to do' list (32:45) “Walk-up lift ticket prices that would embarrass a luxury handbag store!” “Wait, There's a Limit to What People Will Pay to Ski 7 Hours on a Tuesday in a Highly Competitive Market?” Skiing in Alabama (37:00)  Feedback I always enjoy listener feedback. Please leave a comment on Spotify, Instagram and Facebook – our handle is @theskipodcast – or drop me an email to theskipodcast@gmail.com  Guy Beatson: "I really enjoy the podcast – it helped prepare for my trip to Big Sky and Grand Targhee in late January"  You can follow me @skipedia and the podcast @theskipodcast. You can also follow us on WhatsApp for exclusive material released ahead of the podcast.  If you enjoyed this episode and would like to help the podcast, there are three things you can do:  -          Follow us, or subscribe, so you never miss an episode -          Give us a review on Apple Podcasts or leave a comment on Spotify -          ‘Buy me a coffee' at buymeacoffee.com/theskipodcast

Social Security is the backbone of the US retirement system, but even though it effects nearly every American at some point, it wasn't designed to be easily understood by the majority. Donna and Nathan break down some of the commonly misunderstood provisions of the Social Security system to help you more confidently plan your retirement income. Also on MoneyTalk, why more and more people are planning to claim their Social Security benefits early, and how this could impact the future stability of the system. Hosts: Donna Sowa Allard, CFP®, AIF® & Nathan Beauvais, CFP®, CIMA®; Air Date: 7/8/2025; Original Air Dates: 7/1/2024 & 4/29/2025. Have a question for the hosts? Visit sowafinancial.com/moneytalk to join the conversation!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this chic and empowering episode of Lady Journey, entrepreneur and mom Nicole Schnitzlein joins the girls to chat about her journey building Lady Jones, a beloved women's apparel store bringing affordable luxury to Vail and Denver

Learn more about our upcoming Women's Hiking Retreat in Moab, Utah: https://sunandmoonsoberliving.com/moab-retreat/Access a free mindfulness meditation to help manage cravings and regulate emotions: https://pages.sunandmoonsoberliving.com/easemeditationFollow along on Instagram: @sunandmoon.soberliving ___Robert Shearon is the Founder and Executive Director of RECONNECTED Foundation, which is a nonprofit recovery community based in Vail, Colorado dedicated to providing peer support services, social events, community education, and ending the stigma surrounding addiction. He's passionate about combining the outdoors with recovery, and has organized everything from camping trips to national skiathons. Rob's mission is to help others realize that recovery is not only possible, but that it can be fun!Topics discussed in this episode include:Rob's addiction recovery storySocial anxietyGetting sober as a college studentPersonal growth in recoveryThe importance of communityDiscovering new hobbiesThe benefits of taking on challengesHarm reductionEmbracing progress over perfection#TheWeightWeCarry FundraiserFind out more about RECONNECTED Foundation: https://reconnected.org/Support #TheWeightWeCarry Fundraiser: https://donate.vailhealthfoundation.org/campaign/reconnected-the-weight-we-carry/c689856__Disclaimer: The content of this podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Send us a textAudio only, see YouTube for full video...ThanksSki Cooper outside Leadville, Colorado, offers an affordable, uncrowded skiing experience with rich historical connections to the 10th Mountain Division. The resort stands apart from corporate-owned ski areas, offering great value tickets and a meaningful opportunity to honor the veterans who shaped American skiing.• Natural Medic films a ski run at Ski Cooper, experiencing ideal conditions with manageable crowds• Detailed history of how the 10th Mountain Division trained nearby during WWII before fighting in the Italian Alps• Monuments at Ski Cooper commemorate the 990 soldiers who lost their lives during the WWII campaigns• 10th Mountain Division veterans went on to establish major Colorado ski resorts, including Vail and Aspen• Cooper provides an affordable alternative to corporate resorts while maintaining excellent skiing conditions• Budget approach to ski gear with tips on finding quality equipment at thrift stores for under $100• Recommendation to rent equipment first before investing in personal gearIf you liked the video, make sure to give it a thumbs up and think about subscribing for future adventures of the Natural Medic.Support the show

PGA Tour Caddie Scott Vail joined OverDrive to discuss Keegan Bradley's triumph at the Travelers Championship, the birdie putt to win the tournament, the dynamics of his shot on the 18th hole, Tommy Fleetwood's missed opportunity, captaining the Ryder Cup and representing United States and more.

Feeling intimidated by the Bible? You're not alone — but that shouldn't keep you from opening it. Fr. Mike Schmitz explains why that feeling is normal and even good. He shares how to approach Scripture with humility and curiosity, and offers tools like The Bible in a Year podcast and the Great Adventure Bible Timeline to help you get started. Don't wait until you feel ready, begin today! Tickets are on sale now for Fr. Mike Schmitz's Parables Tour at https://www.AscensionPress.com/FrMikeTour July 9 - Vail, CO October 20 - Detroit, MI October 21 - Sugar Land, TX October 22 - Cedar Park, TX October 23 - Fort Worth, TX Join Fr. Mike live for an unforgettable event as he unpacks the parables of Jesus. This is your chance to experience his powerful message in person!

Tickets to Conversations on Dance at the 2025 Vail Dance Festival on sale now! https://vaildance.org/conversations-on-dance/Today it's just us as we catch up on the past few weeks: Miami City Ballet's recent announcement of Gonzalo Garcia as the new Artistic Director, Michael's time in Amsterdam, the Clive Barnes awards, and we go through all our events that are coming up at the 2025 Vail Dance Festival. You can support the Clive Barnes Foundation by donating here: https://www.clivebarnesfoundation.org/.SPONSOR:Felice Lesser Dance Theater celebrates its 50th Anniversary with the live documentary, I AM A DANCER 2020, a real-time journey into the effects of the pandemic on the dance world. Combining live dance, projected video, and filmed interviews depicting how dance workers navigated the COVID-19 pandemic, I AM A DANCER 2020 will have four performances, June 26th to 28th at New York Live Arts in New York City. For tickets and information, please visit newyorklivearts.org.LINKS:Website: conversationsondancepod.comInstagram: @conversationsondanceMerch: https://bit.ly/cod-merchYouTube: https://bit.ly/youtube-CODJoin our email list: https://bit.ly/COD-email Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join Eric Thompson on the Ninja Selling Podcast as he sits down with "Ninja Jack" Affleck, a top-producing real estate broker with Slifer, Smith & Frampton in beautiful Vail, Colorado. Recorded on location in Vail, this episode explores how to successfully apply Ninja principles in a unique resort market. Jack shares his inspiring journey, from his previous career as the iconic resort photographer for Vail Resorts to becoming a leading real estate professional, and how he's achieved his best year ever and best start to a year by embracing authentic Ninja practices. Discover how Jack leverages his stunning photography in his marketing, creating a genuine connection with clients who love Vail. Learn about his creative "hospitality satchels" – fun, personalized gifts for people he meets on the ski lift or golf course – and how these simple gestures build rapport and open doors. Jack also discusses the challenges and strategies for staying in flow with clients who are often not in town, emphasizing the importance of consistent, authentic communication and sharing his passion for the Vail lifestyle. This episode delves into Jack's evolution with real estate reviews, from initial apprehension to a breakthrough approach of asking for feedback and focusing on providing value without immediate valuation. He also highlights the critical role of Ninja Coaching with Lisa Connors in his success, focusing on accountability, support, and refining his systems. Whether you're in a resort market or not, Jack's story is packed with actionable takeaways on building genuine relationships, leveraging your unique strengths, and finding joy and success in your real estate business. Join the community of 16,000+ Ninjas on the Ninja Selling Podcast Facebook Group for more valuable insights, collaboration, and networking opportunities! Leave a voicemail at 208-MY-NINJA if you'd like to offer more direct feedback. Be sure to check out Ninja Selling Events for upcoming installations and other events, and if you'd like personalized help in achieving your goals, visit Ninja Coaching to connect with one of our fantastic coaches. Episode Highlights: Introducing "Ninja Jack" Affleck from Slifer, Smith & Frampton in Vail, Colorado Jack's Record-Breaking Success: Best Year Ever and Best Start to a Year The Power of Authentic Flow: Connecting Genuinely with Clients Jack's Unique Background: From Vail Resorts Photographer to Top Real Estate Broker Leveraging Personal Brand: Using Iconic Vail Photography in Marketing Creative Connection: "Hospitality Satchels" for Ski Lifts and "Birdie Bags" for Golfers Staying in Flow in a Resort Market: Connecting with Part-Time Residents The Hot & Warm List Business Tracker: Maintaining a Realistic Dashboard and Motivation Jack's Evolution with Real Estate Reviews: From RPRs to Value-Focused Market Updates The Breakthrough: Asking for Feedback on Real Estate Reviews The Importance of Personalized, Authentic Marketing (vs. "Canned" Content) The Value of Ninja Coaching: Accountability, Support, and System Refinement Jack's Commitment to Ninja: Multiple Installations and Ninja Now Attendee Key Takeaways: "The thing that I began much, much more of is to become more and more in flow with my people because they're not in town." "[Lisa Connors] has encouraged me to really be me with my people and share who I am with them and be genuine." "If it's gonna be a postcard, if it's gonna be something that's gonna be in their inbox, it has a piece of me. It's with my voice, and it's not something that's canned." "I really enjoy my clients become my friends. And they enjoy hearing from me and I enjoy reaching out and sharing my life with them..." "[The hospitality satchel is] basically a survival kit if you fall in a tree well... everything you need to survive is right here and oh, so there may be a need for my card as well." "When you think about somebody, call them. Write something, text them. Let them know that you're thinking about them." "By looking at the business tracker, what it does is it helps me find out where they are in their mindset and help me understand how I can best serve them." "[The breakthrough with real estate reviews was] asking them for their opinion on it... I need you to help me to be better." "If you have the opportunity to make something that is truly genuine to you... that is what your people want." "Accountability is so, so critical because we think that we're doing all the things that we are."   Links: Website: http://www.NinjaSelling.com/Podcast  Email: TSW@NinjaSelling.com  Phone: 1-800-254-1650  Podcast Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/TheNinjaSellingPodcast  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NinjaSelling  Instagram: @NinjaSellingOfficial LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ninjaselling  Upcoming Public Ninja Installations: https://NinjaSelling.com/events/list/?tribe_eventcategory%5B0%5D=183&tribe__ecp_custom_2%5B0%5D=Public  Ninja Coaching: http://www.NinjaSelling.com/course/ninja-coaching/

Loneliness is real and loneliness is really difficult. How do I handle feeling alone and what does my loneliness mean? Fr. Mike speaks into the deep and painful experience of loneliness, especially in the Christian life. He reminds us that loneliness is not a sign of failure or weakness, but a reflection of our God-given longing for love and communion. While God is always near, Fr. Mike encourages us to be honest about our pain and to invite Jesus into that place — because even in our loneliness, we are never truly alone. Tickets are on sale now for Fr. Mike Schmitz's Parables Tour at https://www.AscensionPress.com/FrMikeTour July 9 - Vail, CO October 20 - Detroit, MI October 21 - Sugar Land, TX October 22 - Cedar Park, TX October 23 - Fort Worth, TX

Join me today as we talk Vail, Blind Judo, uncomfortable ways to say "I LOVE YOU" and how to take your fingers off with a mandolin!

PGA Tour Caddie Scott Vail joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines for the U.S. Open, the difficulty of the Oakmont Country Club course, caddying for Keegan Bradley, the challenges of around the greens, the projected score of the tournament, the philosophy of a caddie, and more.

What started as a holiday workaround turned into a nationwide tour that's touched hundreds of lives. In this behind-the-scenes episode, Lesley Logan and Brad Crowell share the unfiltered origin story of the OPC Tour. From cross-country van trips to pandemic pivots, their journey proves that big dreams are built on small, intentional steps. Tune in to hear how messy action, community love, and a little bit of stubbornness made it all possible.If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:How a simple book tour idea inspired a cross-country Pilates tour.Their first cross-country drive and unexpected Instagram interest from fans.The rough logistics and lessons from their 2019 tour across 8 cities.How COVID-19 disrupted plans—and why they still bought a van anyway.The importance of staying persistent and evolving with each tour.Episode References/Links:OPC Summer Tour - https://opc.me/eventsBalanced Body - https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/ Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/ Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  Just try the smallest version of the idea out that has the intentionality of what you want. We wanted to bring the community together, and we wanted to get across the country. Lesley Logan 0:09  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started.Lesley Logan 0:52  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast with Brad as my guest. Brad Crowell 0:56  What? Who is here? Lesley Logan 0:57  Have we actually done it where you're my guest?Brad Crowell 1:00  Maybe. I mean, I've been on a couple of episodes where we've had, like, a group with some guests, but, like, has it just been you and I on them? Lesley Logan 1:07  But you're also, no, I don't think so. Brad Crowell 1:09  Maybe this is, I'm making a debut, people. Lesley Logan 1:11  All right, so here's the deal. We actually have to, like, do this as if I was introducing that episode, so that there can be an ad break. Brad Crowell 1:18  All right, go ahead. Lesley Logan 1:19  Hey guys. So today's episode is gonna be a little different, because, yes, as you heard, Brad's on the show, and we're gonna be talking a bit about the tour, and I thought it'd be really fun for us to actually take you back in the history of like, how the OPC tours started, why we do them, and just have some talk about the tour this week, because we're coming up on our eighth tour.Brad Crowell 1:40  I can't believe it's been eight. That's like mind blowing, actually. Lesley Logan 1:43  We're crazy people. Brad Crowell 1:44  Maybe a little bit, maybe just a little bit. Lesley Logan 1:46  Okay. So, Brad, do you remember when we did the first tour? Do you remember how the idea came to be?Brad Crowell 1:52  I do remember how the idea came to be. So you and I were in a coaching group, and there was another couple in the group who had written a book. They were very excited about this book, and they wanted to go around the cities and do a book tour launch slash hosting workshops while they were effectively selling their book. Lesley Logan 2:11  Yeah. And we were like, well, how can we go on a book tour? Because, I mean, yes, I have a book, but I didn't want to, like, go on a tour about the book. I was like, that doesn't really, I don't know if that's something I could do all the time. We're like, what if I, like, what, how can we go on a tour? And then, because you were a touring musician.Brad Crowell 2:25  Right, as soon as I, as soon as I heard them say that, and we started talking, I was like, we could just teach Pilates classes as we drive around on a tour. Like, hello. So obvious. Why did we not think of it before? Lesley Logan 2:37  The year, so we need to go back a year before that, Brad. So the only reason we actually thought we could do a tour in 2019 was because in 2018 I put my feet in the sand and said, I'm not flying home for the holidays. I'm not doing it. I love your family, but I can't do another flight. We've already done 150,000 miles of flying. I've been everywhere, and I hate flying at Christmas time. And also, for some reason, guys, LAX to Philly is almost impossible to find a nonstop flight. It's impossible to find a nonstop flight from Las Vegas to Philly, and so you have to fly red eyes, which is annoying because it's four and a half hours, not six hours, so you're not getting any sleep. And then you land there, and it's 11am somehow, and you're like, how?Brad Crowell 3:22  Yeah, you land at seven, by the time you get back to the house, it's 10:30, yeah, I mean, it's.Lesley Logan 3:26  Annoying. Brad Crowell 3:26  Not great. Lesley Logan 3:26  Anyways. Also, the last time we flew in 2017, I did finally fall asleep. And then, of course, the lights come on and they're like, is there a doctor on the plane? And I was just like, if they land this plane, if someone is not, of course, I want people to live. I'm not an asshole. But also I was finally asleep. So anyways, because we had done a cross-country tour. Brad Crowell 3:50  Trip. Lesley Logan 3:50  Trip, trip, in 2018. Brad Crowell 3:51  We just, we just rented a car, let's just go east, basically. And we didn't have an agenda other than we just had a couple of friends along the way that we were interested in seeing and saying hi to, and that was it. Lesley Logan 4:05  Just kind of based on, like, how many hours we thought, like, together we could drive. And, okay, that gets us here at night. And, oh, we have friends in St Louis. Okay, we can go here. So we have this tiny little car with the two dogs, and we drove. Brad Crowell 4:17  And we rented an SUV. But I was like, oh, you know, I don't need a, I don't need like a huge Tahoe or Chevy Suburban or anything. We could just get a regular SUV. It was so small, y'all. Lesley Logan 4:28  I don't know how they can call it an SUV. You guys, it was like, no, this is not an SUV. If you put a family of five in there, you couldn't have the groceries in the car, like it was so small. But anyways, it was just the two of us and the two dogs. And when we were on this trip, I was like, posting on Instagram, and this is before you really used Instagram for business, but I was posting like, oh, we're here. You know, I feel like, are you teaching here? And I was like, oh, people want us to teach here. I didn't know people would want your class on the holidays. So this had happened in 2018. Brad Crowell 4:56  That's right. Lesley Logan 4:57  Fast forward to October of 2019, and we are hearing this, and we're like, well, how can we do, so we had the, we knew.Brad Crowell 5:04  Kind of like had like I, like, we, we'd been prompted by our members from OPC, but that didn't actually turn into like we're going to do this tour thing next year, until this other couple was talking about their book launch, you're right. So, that was like, the second step to push us, if we're, like, to make it happen. Lesley Logan 5:21  Yeah and because we knew we could do the drive. Brad Crowell 5:22  Right, because we just done it the previous year, and we drove, you know, we drove both ways, you know, back and forth. Lesley Logan 5:28  Yeah. So we actually did the posters on the wall. I should have grabbed it for the visual, but we did, like, eight or nine cities, actually, we did on the very first we did Las Vegas. Brad Crowell 5:37  So that was 2019. Lesley Logan 5:39  We did Las Vegas, Denver, we did. Brad Crowell 5:43  Did we do St Louis? Lesley Logan 5:44  I don't know that we did St Louis. We did, no, we did Libertyville. So we did outside of Chicago, and then we did, like, some other ville, like, which was outside of Cleveland, but not Cleveland. Brad Crowell 5:55  Yeah, it was close to Cleveland, though. Lesley Logan 5:57  And then we did Lehigh Valley. Brad Crowell 6:00  Right, yeah, it was like, basically Bethlehem. Lesley Logan 6:03  And then we did Nashville, and then we did Atlanta. Brad Crowell 6:06  Oh, we did Nashville? Lesley Logan 6:07  Yeah. Brad Crowell 6:08  Oh. Lesley Logan 6:08  It was huge, like, 30 people, and that's why it's so, and people were like are you in Nashville, you guys are not, like, ever since then, not such a great follow up, you guys are not great. Love you. We want to go, trust me, we want to do Nashville. Um, then we did Atlanta, and then we did Austin, and then we did Phoenix. Brad Crowell 6:28  Geez, I don't even know how you remember these things. Lesley Logan 6:30  And then, I know, and then, and then, I don't know that we considered it part of the tour, although very much was. It was in January, we did Redlands, and then the world shut down. And then, so our first tour. Brad Crowell 6:46  We did Scottsdale. It was the last stop. Lesley Logan 6:48  Yeah, yeah, yeah. We did this really cool place in Scottsdale. Brad Crowell 6:51  Yeah. So I actually just pulled up the list. You nailed it, Vegas to Denver, to Chicago, which is Libertyville, to Cleveland, which is Strongsville, your second ville.Lesley Logan 6:58  I said it was another ville. Brad Crowell 6:59  I'm so impressed. Then Lehigh Valley, which is Bethlehem, and then Nashville, Austin and Scottsdale. Yeah. I am impressed. Lesley Logan 7:06  And then there was like, this little post tour stop in Redlands, which was not part of the tour. We added it in after the fact, but it was so fun. And it was like the true die hards, you know, the people who know the band before they make it to Coachella. It was like.Brad Crowell 7:20  Scottsdale was insane to me, that people even came out. It was like, negative 4 million degrees hot, and we had an outdoor venue. Lesley Logan 7:28  It was New Year's Eve. It was New Year's Eve at an outdoor venue. Brad Crowell 7:32  We literally had, like, it was, like, every three mats, there was a space heater, and everyone was like, oh my God, it's so cool. We're doing Pilates outside on January 1st. What are we doing? Lesley Logan 7:40  We all got warm enough, and it was super fun. And it was so great. Brad Crowell 7:44  It was so fun. Lesley Logan 7:45  It was sold out. It was such a great spot. And people, like, came from Canada, there, it was just like crazy. So, at any rate, it was so much fun, and we wanted new, we knew we want to do it again, but then, of course, the pandemic happened. But here's what got to happen, guys, so the pandemic happened, Brad and I still drove across the U.S., but we thought. Brad Crowell 8:01  I was just looking at the ticket sales, we had 133 tickets sold on that first tour.Lesley Logan 8:07  On the first tour, yeah. But we did that with a Tahoe, by the way. Brad Crowell 8:11  What, the second tour? After the first tour.Lesley Logan 8:15  No, no, we went to the Tahoe for the first tour. We went to the Tahoe. Brad Crowell 8:18  2019 yeah, you're right, yeah, because we knew that the tiny little SUV wasn't going to cut it, especially because we were bringing, like, stuff, and it was gonna be a little more of a robust tour. So we rented a Tahoe, and that was fine-ish, you know, it wasn't, it wasn't ideal, though, because, like, there was no real, yes, you could lay down on the back seat. We had this, the back, the middle seat was laid flat, but like, you know, it wasn't comfortable trying to sleep in the passenger seats sucks, like.Lesley Logan 8:45  Yeah, and also, you guys, we also, because we're going to places where we had clients, it wasn't necessarily places where we had friends, and so we were getting hotels. We had a hotel in Denver. We stayed in the financial district. Brad Crowell 8:57  Oh, I forgot we did. Lesley Logan 8:58  And then, in Libertyville we did stay at the host, like, basement, but Gaia had an accident. We're like, my God, we can't stay in people's houses, because Gaia's old. At any rate, it was really fun, and we, like, did it, but then with the pandemic, we obviously couldn't do it again. But what we did do during the year of 2020, was we actually bought the van, and because we knew we wanted a tour vehicle, and thank God we bought it, even though we weren't going on tour that year because they wanted to pay us what we paid for that van, like people were like, clamoring to get that van off our hands. But we got the van, you guys, we took it across the country in less than 48 hours. We drove from Las Vegas.Brad Crowell 9:34  That was 55 on the way home. Yep, 55 hours solid, from Philadelphia to Vegas. Lesley Logan 9:39  We, but on the way there, I don't think that van ever really stopped, because we tried to sleep in Vail on a mattress on the metal base of this cargo van. Brad Crowell 9:50  So okay, so here's what this looks like. We buy a cargo van. A cargo van is an empty box on wheels. Okay? And we bought the longest and the tallest, so it's 23 feet long, it's nine and change tall. And it's a big, it's a big, empty box. Lesley Logan 10:07  We've loaded it up. We have pictures of you and the empty box. Brad Crowell 10:09  The only thing that we did was throw things on the floor. There was nothing else in there. We literally had a mattress with six blankets on it, right? And then we had boxes and suitcases. Lesley Logan 10:21  Everything had to be tied on the walls. Brad Crowell 10:23  We took our, we took our, this is so fun, we raided our own laundry room because in the laundry room we have one of those wheelie situations where you could throw your dirty laundry, but then you could hang clean laundry up at the top. So I took that out of the laundry room, and I zip tied it to the wall of the van, bungee corded it to the wall of the van, and that became like, how did we store? How did we do our clothes, you know? So, like, that was our closet. Lesley Logan 10:49  It was crazy, because then we were driving back with all these boxes, I just felt like everything was gonna fly on us. Anyways, so, Erika Quest shout out to Erika Quest, she had a dream about us the night we were sleeping in Vail, because we're in the Walmart parking in Vail. So we pull into this Walmart parking lot in Vail, and I'm in the bed. Went into the six blankets. We got the three dogs. You're under the blankets. It's great. It's actually fine, because, like, we blasted the heat. Everything's fine. Brad Crowell 11:11  I mean, it was cold, like cold in your face, but it was like the mummy bags when you went camping as a kid. Lesley Logan 11:16  Yeah. So, so great. So anyways, we're halfway through the night, we're sleeping so good and then August stands up to turn around in the bed, and he basically just twists all the blankets off of us. And in that instant, you and I both were awake. Brad Crowell 11:29  I was so angry. Lesley Logan 11:29  And so angry and so cold. Brad Crowell 11:30  Because I had just gone to sleep. It was midnight when I pulled in, and then I was literally asleep for two hours, and then he pulled all the blankets off of all of us by twirling around. And I was so frustrated about it, and it was eight degrees out, and I was like, screw it, we're just gonna continue to drive to Denver.Lesley Logan 11:47  Erika Quest had a dream that night that we were cold. She had a dream that we were really cold. And I said, well, you don't have to worry, because Brad drove us to Denver, where it was a little bit warmer. Brad Crowell 11:56  It was 30 degrees in Denver, it was so much warmer. Lesley Logan 11:58  So much more tolerable to sleep in. At any rate, we, like, got across the country, and people are like, oh, I wish you were doing the tour. And it's like, yeah, well, it's COVID. It's very unsafe, we cannot do it. But we were able to plan how much driving is possible. What do we want to do, and how we want to do this. And then, we did in 2021.Brad Crowell 12:14  We suppose, oh, that was '21. Lesley Logan 12:17  Yeah. So then, 2021, we were vaccinated, we were ready. We planned this whole tour, but we planned a small one. It was actually, I don't think it was as big as our first one, because. Brad Crowell 12:28  No, it was only like. Lesley Logan 12:30  Seven cities or something like that, because we, we, I think our first stop was going to be Pennsylvania.Brad Crowell 12:34  It was Philly, New York, like, city, Atlanta, Miami, Dallas. We were talking about Providence, but we postponed it, so it was only five. Lesley Logan 12:45  It was really small. And we actually had to cancel Philly and New York City, because along the route, I was exposed to COVID. I didn't know that I had it. And thankfully, someone texted me, and everything was going crazy at the time that variant came up. So we still did the tour. It was quite small. The (inaudible) happened and. Brad Crowell 13:03  We have way more time at my parents house than we normally do.Lesley Logan 13:07  A lot of time it was super fun, but we knew we're like, like, we want these tours to be a thing. And I ought to share this with you, because when you're being it till you see it, way of doing things, this is how long goals can take. Brad Crowell 13:17  2018 was our first cross country drive. 2019 was the first tour, 2020 was canceled. 2021 was, was. Lesley Logan 13:25  Was already going to be a smaller tour, because of the pandemic. Brad Crowell 13:29  It was five stops max. Lesley Logan 13:31  And by the way, every stop we picked were like huge spaces that's why they were picked.Brad Crowell 13:35  Yeah, we actually picked large rooms. Lesley Logan 13:37  Huge spaces. The Philly one was like softball, baseball, indoor practice arena, it was like 3000 square feet.Brad Crowell 13:42  I think they only started vaccinating people a couple months prior. Lesley Logan 13:45  No, this summer we got vaccinated. Brad Crowell 13:47  It was the summer, yeah. Six months.Lesley Logan 13:49  Yeah, so, but there was the booster, and then there's the thing. Anyways, because it was the holidays, we wanted to be conscientious. We want to make sure people felt safe. So we're like, these studios are massive, and we're only filling half the spaces. So at any rate, we really kind of got sidelined on that first half of that tour, but we got to do it. We got to do the second half, and we got to do Miami, Atlanta and Dallas, but then we were able to meet up with Balanced Body in the march of the next year. We got to tell them what we were doing. Got to get them really excited, and that's when we actually got to actually start to make our tours even bigger and better and add the Summer Tour.Brad Crowell 14:25  So that was tour number four. Lesley Logan 14:27  Tour number four was our first Summer Tour.Brad Crowell 14:28  It was the first with Balanced Body. That was the first Summer Tour. And we've been telling Balanced Body about these tours from the beginning. Lesley Logan 14:35  October of 2019, I told them what we were doing, and Ken and Al were like, oh, can you put a Reformer in that van? Anyways, all this to say this was like years in the making. And we'll, and next episode, we'll actually go into a bit about, like, why we work with a sponsor, what our tours have like become because they are bigger. They used to be, like, two weeks long, eight cities, five cities, and then they became 14 and 18 and 22 and and now we're getting like, 800 people to come and some amazing things. Lesley Logan 15:05  I want to wrap this up with some, be it action items, because I think that that's what is really important. So you'll do some, Brad, I'll do some. We never get to do, but that's, this will buy me time, because I didn't prepare you for this. One of the best things I could say is take a note of when those little things go, oh, I want to do something like that, even if you're like, wow, that's crazy. Why would I even think of that idea? It's such a crazy idea. Pay attention to those crazy nudges and then make it something that's possible to do now, because a lot of people come with an idea, oh, I'm gonna go on a book tour and I'm gonna have sponsors, and have this, and have this. We literally had like, two prizes. We had no sponsors. Brad Crowell 15:44  Yeah, I think, I think you might have got called Toesox and, or, you know, like.Lesley Logan 15:48  Yeah, I called Toesox and Carbon38. Brad Crowell 15:50  And we just said, hey, can you give us some socks? That was the cool thing. We want to do a giveaway. Lesley Logan 15:55  We didn't have any paid sponsors. We didn't have local vendors coming through. We did not make anything bigger. Brad Crowell 16:01  We also didn't even know that that was what we should turn into. It was more like, initially, it was an excuse to not fly and drive across the country, and then it grew. And each tour became more complex. Lesley Logan 16:16  I think the Be It Action Item was like, don't over complicate something, just try the smallest version of the idea out that has the intentionality of what you want. We wanted to bring the community together, and we wanted to get across the country. And the original tours basically paid for the gas.Brad Crowell 16:32  Not even exaggerating, they paid for the gas. And the one hotel that we stayed at. Initially, that was the vision. It was literally like, how do we pay for gas? Oh, let's teach a class. Great. We made $200 on it, let's pay the gas.Lesley Logan 16:45  How do we make sure the holiday trip is a write off? Let's work a few to have, you, technically it's some work 50% of the trip, and then it's a write off. So make sure you talk to your accountant. But anyways, so my Be It Action Item is do the least complex version of the idea and see if you'd like it. Because each time we did the tour, we'd get from like Philly to Nashville in a night, that was insane we're like we're never doing that again. Lesley Logan 17:09  Like Texarkana or something weird. I remember that. Lesley Logan 17:11  Yes, and we've like 12 hours to get from Nashville to there. Brad Crowell 17:14  We drove 14 hours in one day. That was brutal. Lesley Logan 17:17  Yeah, that was brutal, because we had to teach so, so we learned from by making it not complex, we actually got to learn a lot more. That's really helped us. You'll hear about how the tours have changed. What's your Be It Action Item?Brad Crowell 17:28  Okay. So my Be It Action Item, with that, I was gonna say take messy action but I mean, that's, we're pretty famous for that. I think that persistency, you know, like we didn't know the studio owners that we were trying to teach at? It wasn't like we were calling our friends in random cities and being like, hey, can we teach there? We started just reaching out to people and saying here's what our idea is. Is this of interest to you? And it was because we were persistent that we even found a location. Because I remember it was like, No. It was like, oh, okay, all right. Well, I guess this is the wrong location. No problem. We'll find another. Because for us, we knew, okay, this is the right stop, you know, this is approximately when we would want to be stopping driving for the day, when we should be teaching somewhere near here. How do we find a spot? You know, and working backwards, there's some logic there. But also we still have to find the people. We still have to meet the people, and then we have to be creative with the marketing. I remember at first we were like, We don't know anybody in Libertyville, Ohio. How can we, you know, connect with people, or Strongsville, Ohio, sorry, yeah, you're right. And I remember we started using Instagram hashtags to just hunt down Pilates people in the area and just leave it in voice notes, like. Lesley Logan 18:45  That was very, we were very persistent. You're correct, very persistent. And then I think, just to tack onto that, and then we'll wrap this up, because we'll tell you more on the next episode, not being afraid of rejection. One of the things we had to do was, like, you're gonna have stops turn you away. Like, no, I don't want to do that. We had people go, why are you doing that? They were like, really sketchy about us. Brad Crowell 19:04  We just had it happen yesterday with our eighth tour coming up, where someone you know was like, actually, this is the wrong time of the year for my clients. So no, he's like, oh, okay. Lesley Logan 19:14  It's not personal,. All right, loves. Well, stay tuned for how these tours have gotten to be bigger and even better and better for you, and better for my sleep and all those things in our next episode. Until next time, Be It Till You See It. Brad Crowell 19:29  Bye for now. Lesley Logan 19:31  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 20:13  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 20:18  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 20:23  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 20:30  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 20:33  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/be-it-till-you-see-it/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us.WhoPete Sonntag, Chief Operating Officer and General Manager of Sun Valley, IdahoRecorded onApril 9, 2025About Sun ValleyClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: The R. Earl Holding family, which also owns Snowbasin, UtahPass affiliations:* Ikon Pass – 7 days, no blackouts; no access on Ikon Base or Session passes; days shared between Bald and Dollar mountains* Mountain Collective – 2 days, no blackouts; days shared between Bald and Dollar mountainsReciprocal pass partners: Challenger Platinum and Challenger season passes include unlimited access to Snowbasin, UtahLocated in: Ketchum, IdahoClosest neighboring ski areas: Rotarun (:47), Soldier Mountain (1:10)Base elevation | summit elevation | vertical drop:Bald Mountain: 5,750 feet | 9,150 feet | 3,400 feetDollar Mountain: 6,010 feet | 6,638 feet | 628 feetSkiable Acres: 2,533 acres (Bald Mountain) | 296 acres (Dollar Mountain)Average annual snowfall: 200 inchesTrail count: 122 (100 on Bald Mountain; 22 on Dollar) – 2% double-black, 20% black, 42% intermediate, 36% beginnerLift fleet:Bald Mountain: 12 lifts (8-passenger gondola, 2 six-packs, 6 high-speed quads, 2 triples, 1 carpet - view Lift Blog's of inventory of Bald Mountain's lift fleet)Dollar Mountain: 5 lifts (2 high-speed quads, 1 triple, 1 double, 1 carpet - view Lift Blog's of inventory of Dollar Mountain's lift fleet)Why I interviewed him (again)Didn't we just do this? Sun Valley, the Big Groom, the Monster at the End of The Road (or at least way off the interstate)? Didn't you make All The Points? Pretty and remote and excellent. Why are we back here already when there are so many mountains left to slot onto the podcast? Fair questions, easy answer: because American lift-served skiing is in the midst of a financial and structural renaissance driven by the advent of the multimountain ski pass. A network of megamountains that 15 years ago had been growing creaky and cranky under aging lift networks has, in the past five years, flung new machines up the mountain with the slaphappy glee of a minor league hockey mascot wielding a T-shirt cannon. And this investment, while widespread, has been disproportionately concentrated on a handful of resorts aiming to headline the next generation of self-important holiday Instagram posts: Deer Valley, Big Sky, Steamboat, Snowbasin, and Sun Valley (among others). It's going to be worth checking in on these places every few years as they rapidly evolve into different versions of themselves.And Sun Valley is changing fast. When I hosted Sonntag on the podcast in 2022, Sun Valley had just left Epic for Ikon/Mountain Collective and announced its massive Broadway-Flying Squirrel installation, a combined 14,982 linear feet of high-speed machinery that included a replacement of North America's tallest chairlift. A new Seattle Ridge sixer followed, and the World Cup spectacle followed that. Meanwhile, Sun Valley had settled into its new pass coalitions and teased more megalifts and improvements to the village. Last December, the resort's longtime owner, Carol Holding, passed away at age 95. Whatever the ramifications of all that will be, the trajectory and fate of Sun Valley over the next decade is going to set (as much or more than it traces), the arc of the remaining large independents in our consolidating ski world.What we talked aboutThe passing and legacy of longtime owner Carol Holding and her late husband Earl – “she was involved with the business right up until the very end”; how the Holdings modernized the Sun Valley ski areas; long-term prospects for Sun Valley and Snowbasin independence following Mrs. Holding's passing; bringing World Cup Downhill races back to Sun Valley; what it took to prep Bald Mountain for the events; the risks of hosting a World Cup; finish line vibes; the potential for a World Cup return and when and how that could happen; the impact of the Challenger and Flying Squirrel lift upgrades; potential upgrades for the Frenchman's, River Run, Lookout Express, and Christmas lifts; yes Sun Valley has glades; the impact of the Seattle Ridge chairlift upgrade; why actual lift capacity for Sun Valley's legacy high-speed quads doesn't match spec; explaining Sun Valley's infrastructure upgrade surge; why Mayday and Lookout will likely remain fixed-grip machines; the charm of Dollar Mountain; considering Dollar lift upgrades; what happened to the Silver Dollar carpet; why Sun Valley is likely sticking with Ikon and Mountain Collective long-term after trying both those coalitions and Epic; whether Sun Valley could join Ikon Base now that Alterra ditched Ikon Base Plus; RFID coming at last; whether we could still see a gondola connection between Sun Valley Village and Dollar and Bald mountains; and why Sun Valley isn't focused on slopeside development at Bald Mountain.Why now was a good time for this interviewSince I more or less covered interview timing above, let me instead pull out a bit about Sun Valley's megapass participation that ended up being timely by accident. We recorded this conversation in April, well before Vail Resorts named Rob Katz its CEO for a second time, likely resetting what had become a lopsided (in Alterra's favor) Epic-versus-Ikon battle. Here's what Sonntag had to say on the pod in 2022, when Sun Valley had just wrapped its three-year Epic Pass run and was preparing for its first season on Ikon:… our three-year run with Epic was really, really good. And it brought guests to Sun Valley who have never been here before. I mean, I think we really proved out the value of these multi-resort passes and these partner passes. People aspire to go other places, and when their pass allows them to do that, that sometimes is the impetus. That's all they need to make that decision to do it. So as successful as that was, we looked at Ikon and thought, well, here's an opportunity to introduce ourselves to a whole new group of guests. And why would we not take advantage of that? We're hoping to convert, obviously, a few of these folks to be Sun Valley regulars. And so now we have the opportunity to do that again with Ikon.When I asked Sonntag during that conversation whether he would consider returning to Epic at some point, he said that “I'm focused on doing a great job of being a great partner with Ikon right now,” and that, “I'm not ready to go there yet.”With three winters of Ikon and Mountain Collective membership stacked, Sonntag spoke definitively this time (emphasis mine):We are very very happy with how everything has gone. We feel like we have great partners with both Ikon, which is, you know, partnering with a company, but they're partners in every sense of the word in terms of how they approach the partnership, and we feel like we have a voice. We have access to data. We can really do right by our customers and our business at the same time.Should we read that as an Epic diss on Broomfield? Perhaps, though saying you like pizza doesn't also mean you don't like tacos. But Sonntag was unambiguous when I asked whether Sun Valley was #TeamIkon long-term: “I would see us staying the course,” he said.For those inclined to further read into this, Sonntag arrived at Sun Valley after a long career at Vail Resorts, which included several years as president/COO-equivalent of Heavenly and Whistler. And while Sun Valley is part of a larger company that also includes Snowbasin, meaning Sonntag is not the sole decision-maker, it is interesting that an executive who spent so much of his career with a first-hand look inside the Epic Pass would now lead a mountain that stands firmly with the opposition.What I got wrongI mischaracterized the comments Sonntag had made on Epic and Ikon when we spoke in 2022, making it sound as though he had suggested that Sun Valley would try both passes and then decide between them. But it was me who asked him whether he would decide between the two after an Ikon trial, and he had declined to answer the question, saying, as noted above, that he wasn't “ready to go there yet.”Why you should ski Sun ValleyIf I was smarter I'd make some sort of heatmap showing where skier visits are clustered across America. Unfortunately I'm dumb, and even more unfortunately, ski areas began treating skier visit numbers with the secrecy of nuclear launch codes about a decade ago, so an accurate map would be difficult to draw up even if I knew how.However, I can offer a limited historical view into the crowding advantages that Sun Valley offers in comparison to its easier-to-access peer resorts. Check out Sun Valley's average annual skier visits from 2005 to 2011, compared to similarly sized Breckenridge and Keystone, and smaller Beaver Creek:Here's how those four ski areas compare in size and average skier visits per acre:Of course, 2011 was a long time ago and multi-mountain passes have dramatically reworked visitation patterns. Breck, Keystone, and Beaver Creek, all owned by Vail during the above timeframe, joined Epic Pass in 2008, while Sun Valley would stand on its own until landing on Mountain Collective in 2015, then Epic in 2019, then back to MC and Ikon in 2022. Airline service to Sun Valley has improved greatly in the past 15 years, which could also have ramped up the resort's skier visits.Still, anecdote and experience suggest that these general visitation ratios remain similar to the present day. Beaver Creek remains a bit of a hidey-hole by Colorado standards, but Breck and Keystone, planted right off America's busiest ski corridor in America's busiest ski state, are among the most obvious GPS inputs for the Epic Pass masses. No one has to try that hard to get to Summit County. To get to Sun Valley, you still have to work (and spend), a bit more.So that's the pitch, I guess, in addition to all the established Sun Valley bullet points: excellent grooming and outrageous views and an efficient and fast lift network. By staying off the Ikon Base Pass, not to mention Interstates 70 and 80, Sun Valley has managed to achieve oxymoron status: the big, modern U.S. ski resort that feels mostly empty most of the time. It's this and Taos and Telluride and a few others tossed into the far corners of the Rockies, places that at once feel of the moment and stand slightly outside of time.Podcast NotesOn Sun Valley/Pete 1.0Sonntag first joined me on the pod back in 2022:On Carol HoldingLongtime Sun Valley owner Carol Holding passed away on Dec. 23, 2024. Boise Dev recalled a bit of the family legacy around Sun Valley:“One day, I spotted Earl and Carol dining on the patio and asked him again,” Webb told Bossick. “And Carol turned to him and said, ‘Earl, you've been saying you're going to do that for years. If you don't build a new lodge, I'm going to divorce you.' That's what she said!”The lodge opened in 2004, dubbed Carol's Dollar Mountain Lodge.In a 2000 interview with the Salt Lake Tribune, Carol made it clear that she was as much a part of the business as Earl, whose name caught most of the headlines.“I either became part of his business or lived alone,” she said.The pair often bought distressed or undervalued assets and invested to upgrade them. She told the Tribune that paying attention to the dollars in those early years made a big difference.“I still have the first dollar bill that anyone gave me as a tip,” she said.Once they bought Sun Valley, Robert and Carol wasted no time.Wally Huffman, the resort's GM, got a call to the area above the Ram Restaurant. Someone was stuffing mattresses out the window, and they were landing with a thud on the kitchen loading dock below. Huffman called Janss – the person who had owned the resort – and asked what to do.“I think you should do whatever Mr. Holding tells you to do.”Robert and Carol had purchased the property, and upgrades were well underway. They didn't know how to ski. But they did know hospitality.“Why would anyone who didn't know how to ski buy a ski resort? That wasn't why we bought it—to come here to ski,” Carol said. “We bought it to run as a business.”Earl Holding's 2013 New York Times obituary included background on the couple's purchase of Sun Valley:A year later, Carol Holding, who was her husband's frequent business partner, showed him a newspaper article about the potential sale of Sun Valley. He bought the resort, which had fallen into disrepair since its glory years as a getaway for Ernest Hemingway and others, after he and his wife spent a day there skiing. They had never skied before.Davy Ratchford, President of sister resort Snowbasin, told a great story about Carol Holding on the podcast back in 2023 [31:20]:Mrs. Holding is an amazing woman and is sharp. She knows everything that's going on at the resorts. She used to work here, right? She'd flip burgers and she'd sell things from the retail store. I mean she's an original, right? Like she is absolutely amazing and she knows everything about it. And I was hired and I remember being in our lodge and I had all the employees there and she was introducing me, and it was an amazing experience. I remember I was kneeling down next to her chair and I said, “You know, Mrs. Holding, thank you for the opportunity.” And she grabs both your hands and she holds them in tight to her, and that's how she talks to you. It's this amazing moment. And I said, “I just want to make sure I'm doing exactly what you want me to do for you and Earl's legacy of Snowbasin.” I know how much they love it, right? Since 1984. And I said, “Can I just ask your advice?” And this is exactly what she said to me, word for word, she said, “Be nice and hire nice people.” And every employee orientation since then, I've said that: “Our job is to be nice and to hire nice people.”Listen to the rest here:On Sun Valley's evolutionWhen the Holdings showed up in 1977, Sun Valley, like most contemporary ski areas, was a massive tangle of double and triple chairs:The resort upgraded rapidly, installing seven high-speed quads between 1988 and 1994: Unfortunately, the ski area chose Yan, whose bungling founder's shortcuts transformed the machines into deathtraps, as its detachable partner. The ski area heavily retrofit all seven machines in partnership with Doppelmayr in 1995. Sun Valley has so far replaced three of the seven Yans: the Seattle Ridge sixer replaced the detach quad of the same name last year and the Broadway sixer and Flying Squirrel quad replaced the Broadway and Greyhawk quads in 2023, on a new alignment:Sonntag outlines which of the remaining four Yan-Doppelmayr hybrids will be next on the pod.I've summarized the Yan drama several times, most recently in the article accompanying my podcast conversation with Mammoth COO Eric Clark earlier this year:On World Cup resultsWhile we talk in general about the motivation behind hosting the World Cup, what it took to prep the mountain, and the energy of the event itself, we don't get a lot into the specifics of the events themselves. Here are all the official stats. Videos here.On gladesYes, Sun Valley has glades (video by #GoProBro, which is me):On Ikon Pass' evolutionI feel as though I publish this chart every other article, but here it is. If you're reading this in the future, click through for the most current:On the Sun Valley Village masterplanWe discuss an old Sun Valley masterplan that included a gondola connection from the village to Dollar and then Bald mountains:The new village plan, which is a separate document, rather than an update of the image above, doesn't mention it:Why? We discuss.The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast is a reader-supported publication. Please support independent ski journalism, or we'll all be reading about bros backflipping over moving trains for the rest of our lives. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

In this episode of the ThinkData Podcast, I was joined by Matt Vail, CTO at Datavant, the largest health data exchange in the U.S.Topics include:❤️‍

Cody and Jonathan discuss Rob Katz's return as the CEO of Vail; what's going on with REI; the sale of Pieps; the latest way to speed up Mt. Everest; the Most Canadian News; the return of the Blister Book Club; what we're reading & watching; and more.Note: We Want to Hear From You! We'd love for you to share the stories or topics you'd like us to cover next month on Reviewing the News; your most pressing mountain town advice questions; or you spiciest hot takes for us to rate. Email those to us at info@blisterreview.comRELATED LINKSSkratch Labs: Fuel SmartBLISTER+ Get Yourself CoveredTOPICS & TIMES:Jonathan's Mtn Bike Fuel (1:34)Does BLISTER+ Cover Owl Attacks? (2:32)Blevins' Corner: Katz Back as CEO of Vail (5:26)REI: What's Going On? (18:42)New Ways to Get Up Everest Fast (31:51)The Sale of Pieps (42:08)EV Battery Breakthrough? (47:58)Most Canadian News (57:28)What We're Reading & Watching: (57:28)Alex Hutchinson, The Explorer's Gene (57:37)Will Cockrell, Everest, Inc. (1:01:44)Blister Book Club is back (1:05:14)The Last of Us (1:06:20)The NFL Draft / Peak Optimism (1:14:03)Mountainhead (1:17:14)Andor (1:23:10)CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Blister CinematicCRAFTED Bikes & Big IdeasGEAR:30 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of First Chair, PSIA-AASI National Team member Lyndsey Stevens joins host George Thomas to discuss her recent achievement of earning her Adaptive Snowboard Level III certification — the first in over a decade in the Rocky Mountain Region. Lyndsey shares how her path into adaptive snowsports began at Vail, and how that experience reshaped her approach to teaching and riding. She talks about the preparation process, the value of teamwork and mentorship, and the pressure of pursuing high-level certification as a team member. This conversation offers insights into the commitment behind certification success and reinforces the importance of staying curious and adaptable — no matter where you are in your snowsports career. Learn more at thesnowpros.org.

Join us for a delightful conversation with the fabulous Leah Vale. Leah shares her journey from a romance novel critic to a successful author of 19 books, with a special focus on her love for cowboys and ranch life. Learn how her unique voice shaped her writing career, and get a sneak peek into her recent work, including a book being adapted into a film. Leah also discusses her future projects, her inspirations, and even her adventures with pets and camping. Don't miss this entertaining and insightful interview, complete with insider tips and engaging anecdotes.   Want even more bookish fun? Sign up at FreshFiction.com for daily fresh picks, exclusive contests, and can't-miss author events — all delivered straight to your inbox. It's free, it's fun, and it's full of fabulous reads! Sign up today: http://eepurl.com/Q-u19     00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome 00:32 Leah's Journey to Becoming a Writer 03:07 Love for Cowboys and Horses 05:32 Research and Inspiration for Cowboy Stories 07:33 Exciting News: Book Adaptation into Film 11:22 The Cowboy Undoing: A Unique Romance 14:30 Rapid Fire Questions and Fun Facts 19:44 Upcoming Projects and Staying Connected 21:51 Conclusion and Final Thoughts Leah Vale: https://freshfiction.com/author.php?id=7491 THE COWBOY'S UNDOING: https://freshfiction.com/book.php?id=136686

The concert season is surely up on us and I feel like I'm already in full swing!! In this MUSIC INSPIRED episode I'm here to share with you 2 of my most recent musical experiences. I recently attended performances by the Hawaiian Jam Rock band KANEKOA, and looper extraordinaire KELLER WILLIAMS! BOTH are performers NOT to be missed!!  I had never heard of Kanekoa, but decided to take a chance due to a comment from Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann. Being a Deadhead myself I was sold when I heard he stated that, "Kanekoa are the Hawaiian Grateful Dead." That's all it took for me to take a chance and man oh man am I SOOOO glad I did!! As you'll hear me say MANY MANY times in this episode, "They are SPECTACULAR!"  In regards to Keller, well I've seen him perform many times BUT had never taken in one of his "Grateful Gospel" concerts and since this one was on Easter Sunday I just knew I had to go!!! Oh what a way to celebrate life!!! He equally, as expected, did not disapoint and neither did his back up band :) Have you heard of neither? Are you familiar with both? Know one but not the other?  Whatever your answer is, spend a little time with me and get pumped about seeing one, the other or BOTH!! OR get inspired to fill up YOUR concert docket for this summer's concert season with YOUR favorite performers!! MAY THE MUSIC NEVER STOP :) **DISCLAIMER: Please take note that any references to ketamine infusions or any other form of medicinal treatments, mainstream or non mainstream, are strictly meant to provide an insight into my own experiences. That being said, should you find yourself curious about anything spoken about on my podcast I firmly suggest speaking to a doctor/psychologist/therapist/family member/psychiatrist/etc. before making any decisions. Asking for help is a courageous act. YOU MATTER!! :)   Lifeline (988lifeline.org) Eagle Valley Hope Center: Your Hope Center: YOUR 24/7 SUPPORT LINE: (970) 306-4673 I LOVE Ebay!! I've had an online shop for over 15 years! My podcast is proudy sponsored by SHYGIRL'S SHOP :) | eBay Stores I'm always in the process of rebuilding my inventory :) 1 Million Strong - Supporting 1 Million People in Recovery High Country Infusion And Wellness : Ketamine Treatment In Frisco, CO My friend Alex introduced me to the world of podcasting and was the catalyst in my creating a podcast of my own! Below is his podast ;) The Builders Journey - A behind the scenes look at the Vail, Colorado and its surrounding communities through the eyes of a builder. KANEKOA Grateful Gospel — KELLER WILLIAMS KELLER WILLIAMS Thalian Hall Home Greenfield Lake Amphitheater Tickets & Schedule | Wilmington Concert Venue My intro & outro music came from the endless archives of Pond5!! Are you interested in Pond5's incredible catalog of music, sounds and videos for your own podcast? Use my link for 20% off your first order!  https://www.pond5.com?ref=ashy743 These are just a few of my favorite folks to listen to along with a few of my favorite products:  Michael Singer 8 Week Course: Living From a Place of Surrender – Michael Singer Course Michael Singer Podcast - Sounds True Pema Chödrön Foundation – Wisdom for a Courageous Life https://www.dramapothecary.com/?sld=ashyisbadass https://www.everydaydose.com/ANGIESHY https://taspens.com/?ref=ANGELASHY https://wingedwellness.refr.cc/default/u/angieshy?s=esp&t=cp Interested in checking out some of the books I've mentioned in any of my episodes?   If so check out Audible or Amazon to find what your lookin' for :) AND feel free to use the links below to explore membership options available on Audible :) Try Audible Premium Plus and Get Up to Two Free Audiobookshttps://amzn.to/3JckYp5 https://www.amazon.com/hz/audible/mlp/membership/plus?ref_=assoc_tag_ph_1524216631897&_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=pf4&tag=jabberjaw777-20&linkId=a99e6a781d9a05447fc1965421e65c63 https://www.amazon.com/hz/audible/gift-membership-detail?tag=jabberjaw777-20&ref_=assoc_tag_ph_1524210806852&_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=pf4&linkId=684d5bd8bca7a06ed5c2816b57fd73d9 https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/hz/signup?ref_=assoc_tag_ph_1454291293420&_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=pf4&tag=jabberjaw777-20&linkId=0dfcda1f5ff3e45f2cb35569b0bd50db

In this episode, Master Sommelier Bobby Stuckey returns to the Vint Wine Podcast for a wide-ranging conversation on the art of hospitality, the evolving role of the sommelier, and the deep connections forged through thoughtful service. From his early days bussing tables after being expelled from school, to building one of America's most respected restaurant groups, Bobby shares the personal philosophy that guides his work on the floor, in the cellar, and as a leader.We explore what defines a great sommelier, the enduring importance of humility and guest-focused service, and why social media influence is no substitute for decades of commitment. Bobby also reflects on the continued growth of Frasca Hospitality Group, the complexities of operating in a luxury hotel setting, and the expansion of his Scarpetta wine label in Friuli, Italy. Along the way, he shares stories that reveal why graduation dinners and post-surgery guests in Vail can be as instructive as any textbook on hospitality.This episode is essential listening for those passionate about wine, committed to service, or building something with lasting impact.

The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast is a reader-supported publication (and my full-time job). To receive new posts and to support independent ski journalism, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.WhoJoe Hession, CEO of Snow Partners, which owns Mountain Creek, Big Snow American Dream, SnowCloud, and Terrain Based LearningRecorded onMay 2, 2025About Snow PartnersSnow Partners owns and operates Mountain Creek, New Jersey and Big Snow American Dream, the nation's only indoor ski center. The company also developed SnowCloud resort management software and has rolled out its Terrain Based Learning system at more than 80 ski areas worldwide. They do some other things that I don't really understand (there's a reason that I write about skiing and not particle physics), that you can read about on their website.About Mountain CreekLocated in: Vernon Township, New JerseyClosest neighboring public ski areas: Mount Peter (:24); Big Snow American Dream (:50); Campgaw (:51) Pass affiliations: Snow Triple Play, up to two anytime daysBase elevation: 440 feetSummit elevation: 1,480 feetVertical drop: 1,040 feetSkiable Acres: 167Average annual snowfall: 65 inchesTrail count: 46Lift count: 9 (1 Cabriolet, 2 high-speed quads, 2 fixed-grip quads, 1 triple, 1 double, 2 carpets – view Lift Blog's inventory of Mountain Creek's lift fleet)About Big Snow American DreamLocated in: East Rutherford, New JerseyClosest neighboring public ski areas: Campgaw (:35); Mountain Creek (:50); Mount Peter (:50)Pass affiliations: Snow Triple Play, up to two anytime daysVertical drop: 160 feet Skiable Acres: 4Trail count: 4 (2 green, 1 blue, 1 black)Lift count: 4 (1 quad, 1 poma, 2 carpets - view Lift Blog's of inventory of Big Snow American Dream's lift fleet)Why I interviewed himI read this earlier today:The internet is full of smart people writing beautiful prose about how bad everything is, how it all sucks, how it's embarrassing to like anything, how anything that appears good is, in fact, secretly bad. I find this confusing and tragic, like watching Olympic high-jumpers catapult themselves into a pit of tarantulas.That blurb was one of 28 “slightly rude notes on writing” offered in Adam Mastroianni's Experimental History newsletter. And I thought, “Man this dude must follow #SkiTwitter.” Or Instabook. Of Flexpost. Or whatever. Because online ski content, both short- and long-form, is, while occasionally joyous and evocative, disproportionately geared toward the skiing-is-fucked-and-this-is-why worldview. The passes suck. The traffic sucks. The skiers suck. The prices suck. The parking sucks. The Duopoly sucks. Everyone's a Jerry, chewing up my pow line with their GoPro selfie sticks hoisted high and their Ikon Passes dangling from their zippers. Skiing is corporate and soulless and tourist obsessed and doomed anyway because of climate change. Don't tell me you're having a good time doing this very fun thing. People like you are the reason skiing's soul now shops at Wal-Mart. Go back to Texas and drink a big jug of oil, you Jerry!It's all so… f*****g dumb. U.S. skiing just wrapped its second-best season of attendance. The big passes, while imperfect, are mostly a force for good, supercharging on-hill infrastructure investment, spreading skiers across geographies, stabilizing a once-storm-dependent industry, and lowering the per-day price of skiing for the most avid among us to 1940s levels. Snowmaking has proven an effective bulwark against shifting weather patterns. Lift-served skiing is not a dying pastime, financially or spiritually or ecologically. Yes, modern skiing has problems: expensive food (pack a lunch); mountain-town housing shortages (stop NIMBY-ing everything); traffic (yay car culture); peak-day crowds (don't go then); exploding insurance, labor, utilities, and infrastructure costs (I have no answers). But in most respects, this is a healthy, thriving, constantly evolving industry, and a more competitive one than the Duopoly Bros would admit.Snow Partners proves this. Because what the hell is Snow Partners? It's some company sewn together by a dude who used to park cars at Mountain Creek. Ten years ago this wasn't a thing, and now it's this wacky little conglomerate that owns a bespoke resort tech platform and North America's only snowdome and the impossible, ridiculous Mountain Creek. And they're going to build a bunch more snowdomes that stamp new skiers out by the millions and maybe – I don't know but maybe – become the most important company in the history of lift-served skiing in the process.Could such an outfit possibly have materialized were the industry so corrupted as the Brobot Pundit Bros declare it? Vail is big. Alterra is big. But the two companies combined control just 53 of America's 501 active ski areas. Big ski areas, yes. Big shadows. But neither created: Indy Pass, Power Pass, Woodward Parks, Terrain Based Learning, Mountain Collective, RFID, free skiing for kids, California Mountain Resort Company, or $99 season passes. Neither saved Holiday Mountain or Hatley Pointe or Norway Mountain or Timberline West Virigina from the scrapheap, or transformed a failing Black Mountain into a co-op. Neither has proven they can successfully run a ski area in Indiana (sorry Vail #SickBurn #SellPaoliPeaks #Please).Skiing, at this moment, is a glorious mix of ideas and energy. I realize it makes me uncool to think so, but I signed off on those aspirations the moment I drove the minivan off the Chrysler lot (topped it off with a roofbox, too, Pimp). Anyhow, the entire point of this newsletter is to track down the people propelling change in a sport that most likely predates the written word and ask them why they're doing these novel things to make an already cool and awesome thing even more cool and awesome. And no one, right now, is doing more cool and awesome things in skiing than Snow Partners.**That's not exactly true. Mountain Capital Partners, Alterra, Ikon Pass, Deer Valley, Entabeni Systems, Jon Schaefer, the Perfect Clan, Boyne Resorts, Big Sky, Mt. Bohemia, Powdr, Vail Resorts, Midwest Family Ski Resorts, and a whole bunch more entities/individuals/coalitions are also contributing massively to skiing's rapid-fire rewiring in the maw of the robot takeover digital industrial revolution. But, hey, when you're in the midst of transforming an entire snow-based industry from a headquarters in freaking New Jersey, you get a hyperbolic bump in the file card description.What we talked aboutThe Snow Triple Play; potential partners; “there's this massive piece of the market that's like ‘I don't even understand what you're talking about'” with big day ticket prices and low-priced season passes; why Mountain Creek sells its Triple Play all season long and why the Snow Triple Play won't work that way (at least at first); M.A.X. Pass and why Mountain Creek declined to join successor passes; an argument for Vail, Alterra and other large ski companies to participate on the Snow Triple Play; comparing skiing to hotels, airlines, and Disney World; “the next five years are going to be the most interesting and disruptive time in the ski industry because of technology”; “we don't compete with anybody”; Liftopia's potential, errors, failure, and legacy; skiing on Groupon; considering Breckenridge as an independent ski area; what a “premium” ski area on the Snow Triple Play would be; why megapasses are “selling people a product that will never be used the way it's sold to them”; why people in NYC feel like going to Mountain Creek, an hour over the George Washington Bridge, is “going to Alaska”; why Snow Triple Play will “never” add a fourth day; sticker shock for Big Snow newbs who emerge from the Dome wanting more; SnowCloud and the tech and the guest journey from parking lot to lifts; why Mountain Creek stopped mailing season passes; Bluetooth Low Energy “is certainly the future of passes”; “100 percent we're getting more Big Snows” – but let's justify the $175 million investment first; Big Snow has a “terrible” design; “I don't see why every city shouldn't have a Big Snow” and which markets Snow Partners is talking to; why Mountain Creek didn't get the mega-lift Hession teased on this pod three years ago and when we could see one; “I really believe that the Vernon base of Mountain Creek needs an updated chair”; the impact of automated snowmaking at Mountain Creek; and a huge residential project incoming at Mountain Creek.What I got wrong* I said that Hession wasn't involved in Mountain Creek in the M.A.X. Pass era, but he was an Intrawest employee at the time, and was Mountain Creek's GM until 2012.* I hedged on whether Boyne's Explorer multi-day pass started at two or three days. Skiers can purchase the pass in three- to six-day increments.Why now was a good time for this interviewOkay, so I'll admit that when Snow Partners summarized the Snow Triple Play for me, I wasn't like “Holy crap, three days (total) at up to three different ski areas on a single ski pass? Do you think they have room for another head on Mount Rushmore?” This multi-day pass is a straightforward product that builds off a smart idea (the Mountain Creek Triple Play), that has been a smash hit at the Jersey Snow Jungle since at least 2008. But Snow Triple Play doesn't rank alongside Epic, Ikon, Indy, or Mountain Collective as a seasonlong basher. This is another frequency product in a market already flush with them.So why did I dedicate an entire podcast and two articles (so far) to dissecting this product, which Hession makes pretty clear has no ambitions to grow into some Indy/Ikon/Epic competitor? Because it is the first product to tie Big Snow to the wider ski world. And Big Snow only works if it is step one and there is an obvious step two. Right now, that step two is hard, even in a region ripe with ski areas. The logistics are confounding, the one-off cost hard to justify. Lift tickets, gear rentals, getting your ass to the bump and back, food, maybe a lesson. The Snow Triple Play doesn't solve all of these problems, but it does narrow an impossible choice down to a manageable one by presenting skiers with a go-here-next menu. If Snow Partners can build a compelling (or at least logical) Northeast network and then scale it across the country as the company opens more Big Snows in more cities, then this simple pass could evolve into an effective toolkit for building new skiers.OK, so why not just join Indy or Mountain Collective, or forge some sort of newb-to-novice agreement with Epic or Ikon? That would give Snow Partners the stepladder, without the administrative hassle of owning a ski pass. But that brings us to another roadblock in Ski Revolution 2025: no one wants to share partners. So Hession is trying to flip the narrative. Rather than locking Big Snow into one confederacy or the other, he wants the warring armies to lash their fleets along Snow Partners Pier. Big Snow is just the bullet factory, or the gas station, or the cornfield – the thing that all the armies need but can't supply themselves. You want new skiers? We got ‘em. They're ready. They just need a map to your doorstep. And we're happy to draw you one.Podcast NotesOn the Snow Triple PlayThe basics: three total days, max of two used at any one partner ski area, no blackouts at Big Snow or Mountain Creek, possible blackouts at partner resorts, which are TBD.The pass, which won't be on sale until Labor Day, is fully summarized here:And I speculate on potential partners here:On the M.A.X. PassFor its short, barely noted existence, the M.A.X. Pass was kind of an amazing hack, granting skiers five days each at an impressive blend of regional and destination ski areas:Much of this roster migrated over to Ikon, but in taking their pass' name too literally, the Alterra folks left off some really compelling regional ski areas that could have established a hub-and-spoke network out of the gate. Lutsen and Granite Peak owner Charles Skinner told me on the podcast a few years back that Ikon never offered his ski areas membership (they joined Indy in 2020), cutting out two of the Midwest's best mountains. The omissions of Mountain Creek, Wachusett, and the New York trio of Belleayre, Whiteface, and Gore ceded huge swaths of the dense and monied Northeast to competitors who saw value in smaller, high-end operations that are day-trip magnets for city folks who also want that week at Deer Valley (no other pass signed any of these mountains, but Vail and Indy both assembled better networks of day-drivers and destinations).On my 2022 interview with HessionOn LiftopiaLiftopia's website is still live, but I'm not sure how many ski areas participate in this Expedia-for-lift-tickets. Six years ago, I thought Liftopia was the next bargain evolution of lift-served skiing. I even hosted founder Evan Reece on one of my first 10 podcasts. The whole thing fell apart when Covid hit. An overview here:On various other day-pass productsI covered this in my initial article, but here's how the Snow Triple Play stacks up against other three-day multi-resort products:On Mountain Creek not mailing passesI don't know anything about tech, but I know, from a skier's point of view, when something works well and when it doesn't. Snow Cloud's tech is incredible in at least one customer-facing respect: when you show up at a ski area, a rep standing in a conspicuous place is waiting with an iPhone, with which they scan a QR code on your phone, and presto-magico: they hand you your ski pass. No lines or waiting. One sentimental casualty of this on-site efficiency was the mailed ski pass, an autumn token of coming winter to be plucked gingerly from the mailbox. And this is fine and makes sense, in the same way that tearing down chairlifts constructed of brontosaurus bones and mastodon hides makes sense, but I must admit that I miss these annual mailings in the same way that I miss paper event tickets and ski magazines. My favorite ski mailing ever, in fact, was not Ikon's glossy fold-out complete with a 1,000-piece 3D jigsaw puzzle of the Wild Blue Gondola and name-a-snowflake-after-your-dog kit, but this simple pamphlet dropped into the envelope with my 2018-19 Mountain Creek season pass:Just f*****g beautiful, Man. That hung on my office wall for years. On the CabrioletThis is just such a wackadoodle ski lift:Onetime Mountain Creek owner Intrawest built similar lifts at Winter Park and Tremblant, but as transit lifts from the parking lot. This one at Mountain Creek is the only one that I'm aware of that's used as an open-air gondola. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

A packed episode this week includes our interviews with TUFF Fund Executive Director Andy Carl, new Temple basketball recruit Derrian Ford, and Grace Crosby, the coxswain who led the Temple men's crew varsity eight to a gold medal at last Saturday's Dad Vail Regatta. Carl shared some insightful stories about his time leading an NIL collective that helped raise more than $1 million for Temple athletics while Ford, a former 4-star and top-100 recruit, explained why he committed to Adam Fisher and his staff without an official visit. And Crosby, who steered the gold-medal varsity eight boat at the Dad Vail less than 48 hours after graduating from Temple's Klein College of Media and Communication, took listeners into the demands of being a coxswain on one of the nation's top crew teams. Intro: 0:00 – 1:40 Andy Carl interview: 1:40 – 26:54 Adam Fisher reels in three new transfers: 26:54 – 32:27 Former 4-star Derrian Ford talks about choosing Temple: 32:27 – 34:23 Sizing up the men's hoops roster: 34:23 – 38:22 Grace Crosby talks about Temple crew's Dad Vail gold: 38:22 – 56:49 On (or around) this date: 56:49 – 1:07:32 Mailbag: 1:02:32 – end ** Timestamps are approximate due to advertisements.

In this episode of the Healthy, Wealthy, and Smart Podcast, host Dr. Karen Litzy welcomes TJ Slattery, a seasoned entrepreneur and strategic advisor dedicated to helping small business owners thrive. With over 20 years of experience in small business management, TJ shares insights on how to grow your business while achieving personal and professional freedom sustainably. He reflects on his entrepreneurial journey, which began in his youth with various small ventures, and discusses the importance of leveraging experience and strategic partnerships to propel business success. Tune in for valuable tips and inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners alike!   Time Stamps:  [00:03:25] Strategic leaders vs. reactive operators. [00:03:48] Importance of proactive planning. [00:07:30] Delegating roles in business. [00:12:24] Owner feedback and business growth. [00:15:24] Transitioning from PT to CEO. [00:19:00] Team toxicity and leadership challenges. [00:21:20] System changes and entrepreneurship challenges. [00:27:30] Celebrating personal business wins. [00:28:07] The importance of asking questions. [00:32:07] Take it easier on yourself. More About TJ Slattery: TJ is a lifetime entrepreneur, small business owner, and strategic advisor with an insatiable desire to help other small business owners scale their enterprise and gain freedom in their professional and personal lives. With 20 years operating in the world of small business and entrepreneurship, TJ leverages his boots-on-the-ground experience and tenure as a business advisor to partner with small business owners and propel their business to the next level.   A Denverite with midwestern roots and a passion for music, gardening, house-projects, travel, skiing, and spoiling his dog Bella, TJ has a deep appreciation for keeping a balance between running a successful business and pursuing the things in life that make us happy.  TJ earned his bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Business Management from Miami University of Ohio and his MBA from the University of Denver. Gathering more experiences along the way, TJ has worked in multitude of industries. From owning and operating a pedicab service in Vail, CO and a handyman service in Denver, CO, to becoming a partner in a facilities management firm in London, UK and starting Zuni Street Brewing in Denver, CO. Resources from this Episode: Crowsnest Consulting Business Case Studies   Jane Sponsorship Information: Book a one-on-one demo here Front Desk @ Jane Mention the code LITZY1MO for a free month Follow Dr. Karen Litzy on Social Media: Karen's Twitter Karen's Instagram Karen's LinkedIn Subscribe to Healthy, Wealthy & Smart: YouTube Website Apple Podcast Spotify SoundCloud Stitcher iHeart Radio

Hello & welcome back to Raw Intentions! This week, we're sitting down with serial entrepreneur and Gravity Haus founder, Jim Deters. Jim is a dad of three, an avid skier & biker, and a major force in the world of startups, hospitality, tech, and wellness. He's built companies like Ascendant Tech, Galvanize, and now Gravity Haus—a boutique hotel and social club experience built for outdoor lovers & wanders seeking community. We talk about his journey from small-town Illinois to Vail, CO, how he made his first dollar, the lessons he's learned building multiple companies, and why mindfulness is at the core of everything he does. He opens up about fatherhood, building companies with his wife Alicia, success, mental health, and what he's most proud of (spoiler: it's not his businesses). Such a powerful, honest conversation, and I learned SO much from the few hours we spent together. Can't wait for you to hear it, and let us know your favorite takeaways.Gravity Haus: https://www.instagram.com/gravityhaus/?hl=enGravity Haus: https://gravityhaus.com/Shop Raw & Rebellious: https://www.rawrebellious.com/Raw & Rebellious Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/raw_rebellious/Raw & Rebellious TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@raw_rebellious?lang=enRaw Intentions Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rawintentionspodcast/

After acquiring secretly recorded audio of Felix Vail, Jerry Mitchell approaches a Louisiana prosecutor named Hugo Holland who takes on the case. Hugo makes additional breakthroughs in the investigation, and nearly 51 years after his first wife's death, Felix stands trial. Find us on ⁠Facebook⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠TikTok⁠ and ⁠Twitter⁠. You can also subscribe to our newsletter, ⁠Gone South with Jed Lipinski⁠. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Clay and frequent guest Lindsay Chervinsky discuss the American Revolution in a “live” podcast recording in Vail, Colorado. Was George Washington a great military strategist? How vital was Jefferson's Declaration of Independence when it was written? Why weren't women incorporated as full citizens — as Abigail Adams suggested — when America re-constituted itself in the 1770s and 1780s? Was what happened in those dramatic years a true revolution — or merely a separation from the mother country England? How important was Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense? This program was the first time Clay and Lindsay had met in person and one of the few live audience recordings of Listening to America. This podcast was recorded live on March 27, 2025.

After discovering a shocking audio interview with Felix Vail's son, reporter Jerry Mitchell publishes his story detailing mutliple alleged murders. The case stalls -- until a reader in Texas contacts Jerry Mitchell with a plan to approach Felix in person. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's episode is going to focus on the workup of a patient with a suspected multiligamentous knee injury as well as a surgical approach that follows – including acute versus delayed surgery, repair versus reconstruction, surgical technique and order of operations in the OR. We are joined today by two outstanding guests! Dr. Matt Provencher is an orthopedic surgeon at the Steadman Clinic in Vail Colorado, Principle Investigator at the Steadman Philippon Research Institute and assistant Editor-in-Chief of Arthroscopy.  He is very active in academic societies and serves on the Board of Directors for AOSSM, AANA and SOMOS.Dr. Armando Vidal is also an orthopedic surgeon at the Steadman Clinic in Vail and is the Vice President of the Medical Staff of Vail Health Hospital.  He is was previously the head team physician for the Denver Nuggets, and  former team physician for the University of Colorado men's basketball and the University of Denver men's hockey.So, without further ado, let's get to the Field House!

What happens when you quit your bartending job, book the largest event space in Las Vegas, and only sell two tickets? For most, that would signal the end of an entrepreneurial journey—but for Steve Werner, it was just the beginning of a remarkable transformation from failure to seven-figure success.Steve pulls back the curtain on his journey from working seven days a week in a Vail ski town to building a thriving business helping entrepreneurs craft signature talks, high-converting offers, and emotionally resonant content. The turning point? A Tony Robbins event that forced him to confront the uncomfortable truth about where his life was heading if he continued on the same path.What sets Steve's story apart is his refreshing approach to failure. Rather than retreating after his disastrous first event, he developed a powerful methodology: "Take action, learn without emotion. Did this work? Did this not work? What can I learn from it?" By removing emotional attachment from his analysis, he could iterate rapidly, holding progressively more successful events and crossing the million-dollar mark within just three years.For e-commerce entrepreneurs struggling to create emotional connections with "ordinary" products, Steve offers two practical pathways: either align your brand with a meaningful cause (like TOMS Shoes) or incorporate authentic personal storytelling into your marketing. He emphasizes that everyone has a story worth telling—it's about finding the right angle that resonates with your audience.The conversation takes a fascinating turn when Steve reveals the dramatic shifts in the post-COVID event landscape. Virtual events have surged in popularity but suffer from abysmal attendance rates, while traditional conferences are struggling as consumers increasingly demand solutions to specific pain points rather than generalized content. This explains why even established events like Traffic and Conversion Summit are canceling shows that would have been considered successful by previous standards.Ready to transform your message into a movement? Steve's insights will help you build deeper connections with your audience while avoiding the pitfalls that derail most entrepreneurs. The question isn't whether you'll face obstacles—it's whether you'll have the mindset to turn those obstacles into opportunities.How to connect with Steve: Website: https://stevenphillipwerner.com/Steve.coffee.com Book a call with Steve: https://bookacall.reachingmillions.co/Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-phillip-werner/Podcast: Grow Your Impact, Income & Influence Podcast - [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grow-your-impact-income-influence/id1532299107]Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stevenphillipwerner/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SteveWernerStoriesFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/StevenPhillipWerner Support the show

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 25, 2025 is: travail • truh-VAIL • noun Travail is a formal word, usually used in plural, that refers to a difficult experience or situation. // The book describes the political travails of the governor during her first year in office. See the entry > Examples: "Written by Samy Burch, the film [Coyote vs. Acme] follows the travails of the desert denizen who is tired of being slammed with Acme products as he tries to outsmart the Roadrunner. Coyote finally decides to hire a lawyer to take the Acme Corp. to court for product liability, such as faulty rocket skates and defective aerial bombs." — Meg James, The Los Angeles Times, 20 Mar. 2025 Did you know? Travail traces back to trepalium, a Late Latin word for an instrument of torture. We don't know exactly what a trepalium looked like, but the word's history gives us an idea. Trepalium comes from the Latin adjective tripalis, which means "having three stakes" (from tri-, meaning "three," and palus, meaning "stake"). Trepalium eventually led to the Anglo-French verb travailler, meaning "to torment" but also, more mildly, "to trouble" and "to journey." The Anglo-French noun travail was borrowed into English in the 13th century, along with another descendant of travailler, travel.

The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and to support independent ski journalism, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.WhoTrent Poole, Vice President and General Manager of Hunter Mountain, New YorkRecorded onMarch 19, 2025About Hunter MountainClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Vail ResortsLocated in: Hunter, New YorkYear founded: 1959Pass affiliations:* Epic Pass, Epic Local Pass – unlimited access* Epic Northeast Value Pass – unlimited access with holiday blackouts* Epic Northeast Midweek Pass – unlimited access with holiday and midweek blackouts* Epic Day Pass – All Resorts, 32 Resorts tiersClosest neighboring ski areas: Windham (:16), Belleayre (:35), Plattekill (:49)Base elevation: 1,600 feetSummit elevation: 3,200 feetVertical drop: 1,600 feetSkiable acres: 320Average annual snowfall: 120 inchesTrail count: 67 (25% beginner, 30% intermediate, 45% advanced)Lift count: 13 (3 six-packs, 1 high-speed quad, 2 fixed-grip quads, 1 triple, 2 doubles, 1 platter, 3 carpets)Why I interviewed himSki areas are like political issues. We all feel as though we need to have an opinion on them. This tends to be less a considered position than an adjective. Tariffs are _______. Killington is _______. It's a bullet to shoot when needed. Most of us aren't very good shots.Hunter tends to draw a particularly colorful basket of adjectives: crowded, crazy, frantic, dangerous, icy, frozen, confusing, wild. Hunter, to the weekend visitor, appears to be teetering at all times on the brink of collapse. So many skiers on the lifts, so many skiers in the liftlines, so many skiers on the trails, so many skiers in the parking lots, so many skiers in the lodge pounding shots and pints. Whether Hunter is a ski area with a bar attached or a bar with a ski area attached is debatable. The lodge stretches on and on and up and down in disorienting and disconnected wings, a Winchester Mansion of the mountains, stapled together over eons to foil the alien hordes (New Yorkers). The trails run in a splintered, counterintuitive maze, an impossible puzzle for the uninitiated. Lifts fly all over, 13 total, of all makes and sizes and vintage, but often it feels as though there is only one lift and that lift is the Kaatskill Flyer, an overwhelmed top-to-bottom six-pack that replaced an overwhelmed top-to-bottom high-speed quad on a line that feels as though it would be overwhelmed with a high-speed 85-pack. It is, in other words, exactly the kind of ski area you would expect to find two hours north of a 20-million-person megacity world famous for its blunt, abrasive, and bare-knuckled residents.That description of Hunter is accurate enough, but incomplete. Yes, skiing there can feel like riding a swinging wrecking ball through a tenement building. And I would probably suggest that as a family activity before I would recommend Hunter on, say, MLK Saturday. But Hunter is also a glorious hunk of ski history, a last-man-standing of the once-skiing-flush Catskills, a nature-bending prototype of a ski mountain built in a place that lacks both consistent natural snow and fall lines to ski on. It may be a corporate cog now, but the Hunter hammered into the mountains over nearly six decades was the dream and domain of the Slutsky family, many of whom still work for the ski area. And Hunter, on a midweek, when all those fast lifts are 10 times more capacity than you need, can be a dream. Fast up, fast down. And once you learn the trail network, the place unfolds like a picnic blanket: easy, comfortable, versatile, filled with delicious options (if occasionally covered with ants).There's no one good way to describe Hunter Mountain. It's different every day. All ski areas are different every day, but Hunter is, arguably, more more different along the spectrum of its extremes than just about any other ski area anywhere. You won't get it on your first visit. You will show up on the wrong day, at the wrong time, in the wrong parking lot, and the whole thing will feel like playing lasertag with hyenas. Alien hyenas. Who will for some reason all be wearing Jets jerseys. But if you push through for that second visit, you'll start to get it. Maybe. I promise. And you'll understand why one-adjective Hunter Mountain descriptions are about as useful as the average citizen's take on NATO.What we talked aboutSixty-five years of Hunter; a nice cold winter at last; big snowmaking upgrades; snowmaking on Annapurna and Westway; the Otis and Broadway lift upgrades; Broadway ripple effects on the F and Kaatskill Flyer lifts; supervising the installation of seven new lifts at three Vail Resorts over a two-year period; better liftline management; moving away from lettered lift names; what Otis means for H lift; whether the Hunter East mountaintop Poma could ever spin again; how much of Otis is re-used from the old Broadway lift; ski Ohio; landing at Vail Resorts pre-Epic Pass and watching the pass materialize and grow; taking over for a GM who had worked at Hunter for 44 years; understanding and appreciating Hunter madness; Hunter locals mixed with Vail Resorts; Hunter North and the potential for an additional base area; disappearing trailmap glades; expansion potential; a better ski connection to Hunter East; and Epic Local as Hunter's season pass.Questions I wish I'd askedI'd wanted to ask Poole about the legacy of the Slutzky family, given their founding role at Hunter. We just didn't have time. New York Ski Blog has a nice historical overview.I actually did ask Poole about D lift, the onetime triple-now-double parallel to Kaatskill Flyer, but we cut that segment in edit. A summary: the lift didn't run at all this past season, and Poole told me that, “we're keeping our options open,” when I asked him if D lift was a good candidate to be removed at some near-future point.Why now was a good time for this interviewThe better question is probably why I waited five-and-a-half years to feature the leader of the most prominent ski area in New York City's orbit on the podcast. Hunter was, after all, the first mountain I hit after moving to the city in 2002. But who does and does not appear on the podcast is grounded in timing more than anything. Vail announced its acquisition of Hunter parent company Peak Resorts just a couple of months before I launched The Storm, in 2019. No one, including me, really likes doing podcast interviews during transitions, which can be filled with optimism and energy, but also uncertainty and instability. The Covid asteroid then transformed what should have been a one-year transition period into more like a three-year transition period, which was followed by a leadership change at Hunter.But we're finally here. And, as it turns out, this was a pretty good time to arrive. Part of the perpetual Hunter mess tied back to the problem I alluded to above: the six-pack-Kaatskill-Flyer-as-alpha-lift muted the impact of the lesser contraptions around it. By dropping a second superlift right next door, Vail appears to have finally solved the problem of the Flyer's ever-exploding liftline.That's one part of the story, and the most obvious. But the snowmaking upgrades on key trails signal Hunter's intent to reclaim its trophy as Snow God of the New York Thruway. And the shuffling of lifts on Hunter East reconfigured the ski area's novice terrain into a more logical progression (true green-circle skiers, however, will be better off at nearby Belleayre, where the Lightning Quad serves an incredible pod of long and winding beginner runs).These 2024 improvements build on considerable upgrades from the Peak and Slutzky eras, including the 2018 Hunter North expansion and the massive learning center at Hunter East. If Hunter is to remain a cheap and accessible Epic Pass fishing net to funnel New Yorkers north to Stowe and west to Park City, even as neighboring Windham tilts ever more restrictive and expensive, then Vail is going to have to be creative and aggressive in how the mountain manages all those skiers. These upgrades are a promising start.Why you should ski Hunter MountainThink of a thing that is a version of a familiar thing but hits you like a completely different thing altogether. Like pine trees and palm trees are both trees, but when I first encountered the latter at age 19, they didn't feel like trees at all, but like someone's dream of a tree who'd had one described to them but had never actually seen one. Or horses and dolphins: both animals, right? But one you can ride like a little vehicle, and the other supposedly breathes air but lives beneath the sea plotting our extinction in a secret indecipherable language. Or New York-style pizza versus Domino's, which, as Midwest stock, I prefer, but which my locally born wife can only describe as “not pizza.”This is something like the experience you will have at Hunter Mountain if you show up knowing a good lot about ski areas, but not much about this ski area. Because if I had to make a list of ski areas similar to Hunter, it would include “that Gwar concert I attended at Harpos in Detroit when I was 18” and “a high-tide rescue scene in a lifeguard movie.” And then I would run out of ideas. Because there is no ski area anywhere remotely like Hunter Mountain.I mean that as spectacle, as a way to witness New York City's id manifest into corporeal form. Your Hunter Mountain Bingo card will include “Guy straightlining Racer's Edge with unzipped Starter jacket and backward baseball cap” and “Dude rocking short-sleeves in 15-degree weather.” The vibe is atomic and combustible, slightly intimidating but also riotously fun, like some snowy Woodstock:And then there's the skiing. I have never skied terrain like Hunter's. The trails swoop and dive and wheel around endless curves, as though carved into the Tower of Babel, an amazing amount of terrain slammed into an area that looks and feels constrained, like a bound haybale that, twine cut, explodes across your yard. Trails crisscross and split and dig around blind corners. None of it feels logical, but it all comes together somehow. Before the advent of Google Maps, I could not plot an accurate mental picture of how Hunter East, West, North, and whatever the hell they call the front part sat in relation to one another and formed a coherent single entity.I don't always like being at Hunter. And yet I've skied there more than I've skied just about anywhere. And not just because it's close. It's certainly not cheap, and the road in from the Thruway is a real pain in the ass. But they reliably spin the lifts from November to April, and fast lifts on respectable vert can add up quick. And the upside of crazy? Everyone is welcome.Podcast NotesOn Hunter's lift upgradesHunter orchestrated a massive offseason lift upgrade last year, moving the old Broadway (B) lift over to Hunter East, where the mountain demolished a 1968 Hall Double named “E,” and planted its third six-pack on a longer Broadway line. Check the old lines versus the new ones:On six-packs in New York StateNew York is home to more ski areas than any other state, but only eight of them run high-speed lifts, and only three host six-packs: Holiday Valley has one, Windham, next door to Hunter, has another, and Hunter owns the other three.On five new lifts at Jack Frost Big BoulderPart of Vail Resorts' massive 2022 lift upgrades was to replace eight old chairlifts at Jack Frost and Big Boulder with five modern fixed-grip quads.At Jack Frost, Paradise replaced the E and F doubles; Tobyhanna replaced the B and C triples; and Pocono replaced the E and F doubles:Over at Big Boulder, the Merry Widow I and II double-doubles made way for the Harmony quad. Vail also demolished the parallel Black Forest double, which had not run in a number of years. Blue Heron replaced an area once served by the Little Boulder double and Edelweiss Triple – check the side-by-side with Big Boulder's 2008 trailmap:Standing up so many lifts in such a short time is rare, but we do have other examples:* In 1998, Intrawest tore down up to a dozen legacy lifts and replaced them with five new ones: two high-speed quads, two fixed-grip quads, and the Cabriolet bucket lift (basically a standing gondola). A full discussion on that here.* American Skiing Company installed at least four chairlifts at Sugarbush in the summer of 1995, including the Slide Brook Express, a two-mile-long lift connection between its two mountains. More here.* Powder Mountain installed four chairlifts last summer.* Deer Valley built five chairlifts last summer, including a bubble six-pack, and is constructing eight more lifts this year.On Mad River Mountain, OhioMad River is about as prototypical a Midwest ski area as you can imagine: 300 vertical feet, 144 acres, 36 inches of average annual snowfall, and an amazing (for that size) nine ski lifts shooting all over the place:On Vail Resorts' acquisition timelineHunter is one of 17 U.S. ski areas that Vail purchased as part of its 2019 acquisition of Peak Resorts.On Hunter's 2018 expansionWhen Peak opened the Hunter West expansion for the 2018-19 ski season, a number of new glades appeared on the map:Most of those glades disappeared from the map. Why? We discuss.On Epic Pass accessHunter sits on the same unlimited Epic Local Pass tier as Okemo, Mount Snow, Breckenridge, Keystone, Crested Butte, and Stevens Pass. Here's an Epic Pass overview:You can also ski Hunter on the uber-cheap 32 Resorts version of the Epic Day Pass: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

Stuart Rempel has one of those resumes. If you look at it, you know that he has lived an incredible life, and it all started with a ski bum mentality. Stuart went from pounding nails and skiing winters to running Salomon NA, Olin, K2 Skis, and Whistler. Most people at that level have a few degrees and plenty of suits. That's not Stuart, though. Throughout his career, he made it a priority to be on snow as much as possible, and the beta he gathered from the hill was used to make skiing better.  It's another great business episode with an important person in the hardgoods and resort world, and Stuart's legendary neighbor, Mike Douglas, asks the Inappropriate Questions.   Stuart Rempel Show Notes: 4:00:  His streak, growing up in Kamloops, skiing, working construction to ski, going to the ski show, getting into the biz at the bottom, the traveling RV sample room, Salomon Rep,  the boot launch, and being a subsidiary 20:00:  Stanley:  The brand that invented the category! Only the best for Powell Movement listeners.  Check out Stanley1913.com   Best Day Brewing:  All of the flavor of your favorite IPA or Kolsch, without the alcohol, the calories, or the sugar. 22:00:  Working with French Salomon Team, launching the skis, Olin Skis, sharing technology, Smooth Johnson, K2, Your Mamas a Mountain campaign, internet sales and Intrawest 40:00:   Elan Skis:  Over 75 years of innovation that makes you better. Outdoor Research:  Click here for 25% off Outdoor Research products (not valid on sale items or pro products) 42:30:  The early Whistler vibe, using the weather to market the mountain, the energy of Whistler, does Vail change that energy   60:00:  Expensive taste, not making the 2018 Olympic team, bad teammates, not going to his last Olympic because of injury Palmer and Nate Holland  54:00:  Inappropriate Questions with Mike Douglas

Watch the YouTube version of this episode HERE.Are you a lawyer who is looking for advice on starting a firm? In this insightful episode of the Maximum Lawyer podcast, Tyson engages in a discussion with Alycia Vail Taylor, founder of the law firm, Avail. Alycia shares her journey and innovative strategies for standing out in the crowded legal marketplace. Alycia shares some misconceptions of working in the legal field. One of them is that lawyers are greedy and only want to work to make money. But, for Alycia she came to the realization that it is possible and sometimes needed to be accessible to your clients to ensure they get the support they need during stressful times. This could be monetary or adjusting your working style. Alycia embeds community and service into her firm's mission to ensure those in her community can make connections and network for other services.Alycia and Tyson chat about marketing across different legal practices. Marketing for different practice areas can be tough and very time consuming to ensure you are reaching a wide range of people. It does involve utilizing multiple social media platforms to reach different audiences. Since Alycia has a community based model, it helps to get the word out there through community partners on what the firm offers.Take a listen to learn more!05:30 Advice for Law Students14:45 Revenue Generation for Law Firms 16:07 Potential Subscription Model for Clients 22:09 Health and Wellness Importance26:08 Virtual Firm Services 35:10 Marketing for Multiple Practice Areas 45:25 Managing a Law FirmTune in to today's episode and checkout the full show notes here. Connect with Alycia:Website  Website Instagram  Facebook Linkedin  Youtube TikTok 

Companies, investors, and countries are all having a hard time knowing what the future holds. And that makes forecasting hard. (00:21) Jason Moser and Matt Argersinger discuss: - The market's correction reaction to tariffs, and what higher prices might mean for consumers that are already spending less. - The market's questions around Tesla's tough start to 2025, slipping european sales, and Elon Musk. - Earnings from Adobe, Vail, and Docusign. (19:22) Macro-focused investor Richard Bernstein walks Ricky Mulvey through the big picture he's seeing, and how tariffs, trade uncertainty, and how it all flows into what we've seen in the stock market over the past few weeks. (32:51) Jason and Matt break down where they turn to celebrate Pi Day and two stocks on their radar: Ansys and Starbucks. Stocks discussed: TSLA, ADBE, MTN, DOCU, ANSS, SBUX Host: Dylan Lewis Guests: Jason Moser, Matt Argersinger, Richard Bernstein, Ricky Mulvey Engineers: Dan Boyd Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices