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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.WhoChris Cushing, Principal of Mountain Planning at SE GroupRecorded onApril 3, 2025About SE GroupFrom the company's website:WE AREMountain planners, landscape architects, environmental analysts, and community and recreation planners. From master planning to conceptual design and permitting, we are your trusted partner in creating exceptional experiences and places.WE BELIEVEThat human and ecological wellbeing forms the foundation for thriving communities.WE EXISTTo enrich people's lives through the power of outdoor recreation.If that doesn't mean anything to you, then this will:Why I interviewed himNature versus nurture: God throws together the recipe, we bake the casserole. A way to explain humans. Sure he's six foot nine, but his mom dropped him into the intensive knitting program at Montessori school 232, so he can't play basketball for s**t. Or identical twins, separated at birth. One grows up as Sir Rutherford Ignacious Beaumont XIV and invents time travel. The other grows up as Buford and is the number seven at Okey-Doke's Quick Oil Change & Cannabis Emporium. The guts matter a lot, but so does the food.This is true of ski areas as well. An earthquake here, a glacier there, maybe a volcanic eruption, and, presto: a non-flat part of the earth on which we may potentially ski. The rest is up to us.It helps if nature was thoughtful enough to add slopes of varying but consistent pitch, a suitable rise from top to bottom, a consistent supply of snow, a flat area at the base, and some sort of natural conduit through which to move people and vehicles. But none of that is strictly necessary. Us humans (nurture), can punch green trails across solid-black fall lines (Jackson Hole), bulldoze a bigger hill (Caberfae), create snow where the clouds decline to (Wintergreen, 2022-23), plant the resort base at the summit (Blue Knob), or send skiers by boat (Eaglecrest).Someone makes all that happen. In North America, that someone is often SE Group, or their competitor, Ecosign. SE Group helps ski areas evolve into even better ski areas. That means helping to plan terrain expansions, lift replacements, snowmaking upgrades, transit connections, parking enhancements, and whatever built environment is under the ski area's control. SE Group is often the machine behind those Forest Service ski area master development plans that I so often spotlight. For example, Vail Mountain:When I talk about Alta consolidating seven slow lifts into four fast lifts; or Little Switzerland carving their mini-kingdom into beginner, parkbrah, and racer domains; or Mount Bachelor boosting its power supply to run more efficiently, this is the sort of thing that SE plots out (I'm not certain if they were involved in any or all of those projects).Analyzing this deliberate crafting of a natural bump into a human playground is the core of what The Storm is. I love, skiing, sure, but specifically lift-served skiing. I'm sure it's great to commune with the raccoons or whatever it is you people do when you discuss “skinning” and “AT setups.” But nature left a few things out. Such as: ski patrol, evacuation sleds, avalanche control, toilet paper, water fountains, firepits, and a place to charge my phone. Oh and chairlifts. And directional signs with trail ratings. And a snack bar.Skiing is torn between competing and contradictory narratives: the misanthropic, which hates crowds and most skiers not deemed sufficiently hardcore; the naturalistic, which mistakes ski resorts with the bucolic experience that is only possible in the backcountry; the preservationist, with its museum-ish aspirations to glasswall the obsolete; the hyperactive, insisting on all fast lifts and groomed runs; the fatalists, who assume inevitable death-of-concept in a warming world.None of these quite gets it. Ski areas are centers of joy and memory and bonhomie and possibility. But they are also (mostly), businesses. They are also parks, designed to appeal to as many skiers as possible. They are centers of organized risk, softened to minimize catastrophic outcomes. They must enlist machine aid to complement natural snowfall and move skiers up those meddlesome but necessary hills. Ski areas are nature, softened and smoothed and labelled by their civilized stewards, until the land is not exactly a representation of either man or God, but a strange and wonderful hybrid of both.What we talked aboutOld-school Cottonwoods vibe; “the Ikon Pass has just changed the industry so dramatically”; how to become a mountain planner for a living; what the mountain-planning vocation looked like in the mid-1980s; the detachable lift arrives; how to consolidate lifts without sacrificing skier experience; when is a lift not OK?; a surface lift resurgence?; how sanctioned glades changed ski areas; the evolution of terrain parks away from mega-features; the importance of terrain parks to small ski areas; reworking trails to reduce skier collisions; the curse of the traverse; making Jackson more approachable; on terrain balance; how megapasses are redistributing skier visits; how to expand a ski area without making traffic worse; ski areas that could evolve into major destinations; and ski area as public park or piece of art.What I got wrong* I blanked on the name of the famous double chair at A-Basin. It is Pallavicini.* I called Crystal Mountain's two-seater served terrain “North Country or whatever” – it is actually called “Northway.”* I said that Deer Valley would become the fourth- or fifth-largest ski resort in the nation once its expansion was finished. It will become the sixth-largest, at 4,926 acres, when the next expansion phase opens for winter 2025-26, and will become the fourth-largest, at 5,726 acres, at full build out.* I estimated Kendall Mountain's current lift-served ski footprint at 200 vertical feet; it is 240 feet.Why now was a good time for this interviewWe have a tendency, particularly in outdoor circles, to lionize the natural and shame the human. Development policy in the United States leans heavily toward “don't,” even in areas already designated for intensive recreation. We mustn't, plea activists: expand the Palisades Tahoe base village; build a gondola up Little Cottonwood Canyon; expand ski terrain contiguous with already-existing ski terrain at Grand Targhee.I understand these impulses, but I believe they are misguided. Intensive but thoughtful, human-scaled development directly within and adjacent to already-disturbed lands is the best way to limit the larger-scale, long-term manmade footprint that chews up vast natural tracts. That is: build 1,000 beds in what is now a bleak parking lot at Palisades Tahoe, and you limit the need for homes to be carved out of surrounding forests, and for hundreds of cars to daytrip into the ski area. Done right, you even create a walkable community of the sort that America conspicuously lacks.To push back against, and gradually change, the Culture of No fueling America's mountain town livability crises, we need exhibits of these sorts of projects actually working. More Whistlers (built from scratch in the 1980s to balance tourism and community) and fewer Aspens (grandfathered into ski town status with a classic street and building grid, but compromised by profiteers before we knew any better). This is the sort of work SE is doing: how do we build a better interface between civilization and nature, so that the former complements, rather than spoils, the latter?All of which is a little tangential to this particular podcast conversation, which focuses mostly on the ski areas themselves. But America's ski centers, established largely in the middle of the last century, are aging with the towns around them. Just about everything, from lifts to lodges to roads to pipes, has reached replacement age. Replacement is a burden, but also an opportunity to create a better version of something. Our ski areas will not only have faster lifts and newer snowguns – they will have fewer lifts and fewer guns that carry more people and make more snow, just as our built footprint, thoughtfully designed, can provide more homes for more people on less space and deliver more skiers with fewer vehicles.In a way, this podcast is almost a canonical Storm conversation. It should, perhaps, have been episode one, as every conversation since has dealt with some version of this question: how do humans sculpt a little piece of nature into a snowy park that we visit for fun? That is not an easy or obvious question to answer, which is why SE Group exists. Much as I admire our rough-and-tumble Dave McCoy-type founders, that improvisational style is trickier to execute in our highly regulated, activist present.And so we rely on artist-architects of the SE sort, who inject the natural with the human without draining what is essential from either. Done well, this crafted experience feels wild. Done poorly – as so much of our legacy built environment has been – and you generate resistance to future development, even if that future development is better. But no one falls in love with a blueprint. Experiencing a ski area as whatever it is you think a ski area should be is something you have to feel. And though there is a sort of magic animating places like Alta and Taos and Mammoth and Mad River Glen and Mount Bohemia, some ineffable thing that bleeds from the earth, these ski areas are also outcomes of a human-driven process, a determination to craft the best version of skiing that could exist for mass human consumption on that shred of the planet.Podcast NotesOn MittersillMittersill, now part of Cannon Mountain, was once a separate ski area. It petered out in the mid-‘80s, then became a sort of Cannon backcountry zone circa 2009. The Mittersill double arrived in 2010, followed by a T-bar in 2016.On chairlift consolidationI mention several ski areas that replaced a bunch of lifts with fewer lifts:The HighlandsIn 2023, Boyne-owned The Highlands wiped out three ancient Riblet triples and replaced them with this glorious bubble six-pack:Here's a before-and-after:Vernon Valley-Great Gorge/Mountain CreekI've called Intrawest's transformation of Vernon Valley-Great Gorge into Mountain Creek “perhaps the largest single-season overhaul of a ski area in the history of lift-served skiing.” Maybe someone can prove me wrong, but just look at this place circa 1989:It looked substantively the same in 1998, when, in a single summer, Intrawest tore out 18 lifts – 15 double chairs, two platters, and a T-bar, plus God knows how many ropetows – and replaced them with two high-speed quads, two fixed-grip quads, and a bucket-style Cabriolet lift that every normal ski area uses as a parking lot transit machine:I discussed this incredible transformation with current Hermitage Club GM Bill Benneyan, who worked at Mountain Creek in 1998, back in 2020:I misspoke on the podcast, saying that Intrawest had pulled out “something like a dozen lifts” and replaced them with “three or four” in 1998.KimberleyBack in the time before social media, Kimberley, British Columbia ran four frontside chairlifts: a high-speed quad, a triple, a double, and a T-bar:Beginning in 2001, the ski area slowly removed everything except the quad. Which was fine until an arsonist set fire to Kimberley's North Star Express in 2021, meaning skiers had no lift-served option to the backside terrain:I discussed this whole strange sequence of events with Andy Cohen, longtime GM of sister resort Fernie, on the podcast last year:On Revelstoke's original masterplanIt is astonishing that Revelstoke serves 3,121 acres with just five lifts: a gondola, two high-speed quads, a fixed quad, and a carpet. Most Midwest ski areas spin three times more lifts for three percent of the terrain.On Priest Creek and Sundown at SteamboatSteamboat, like many ski areas, once ran two parallel fixed-grip lifts on substantively the same line, with the Priest Creek double and the Sundown triple. The Sundown Express quad arrived in 1992, but Steamboat left Priest Creek standing for occasional overflow until 2021. Here's Steamboat circa 1990:Priest Creek is gone, but that entire 1990 lift footprint is nearly unrecognizable. Huge as Steamboat is, every arriving skier squeezes in through a single portal. One of Alterra's first priorities was to completely re-imagine the base area: sliding the existing gondola looker's right; installing an additional 10-person, two-stage gondola right beside it; and moving the carpets and learning center to mid-mountain:On upgrades at A-BasinWe discuss several upgrades at A-Basin, including Lenawee, Beavers, and Pallavicini. Here's the trailmap for context:On moguls on Kachina Peak at TaosYeah I'd say this lift draws some traffic:On the T-bar at Waterville ValleyWaterville Valley opened in 1966. Fifty-two years later, mountain officials finally acknowledged that chairlifts do not work on the mountain's top 400 vertical feet. All it took was a forced 1,585-foot shortening of the resort's base-to-summit high-speed quad just eight years after its 1988 installation and the legacy double chair's continued challenges in wind to say, “yeah maybe we'll just spend 90 percent less to install a lift that's actually appropriate for this terrain.” That was the High Country T-bar, which arrived in 2018. It is insane to look at ‘90s maps of Waterville pre- and post-chop job:On Hyland Hills, MinnesotaWhat an insanely amazing place this is:On Sunrise ParkFrom 1983 to 2017, Sunrise Park, Arizona was home to the most amazing triple chair, a 7,982-foot-long Yan with 352 carriers. Cyclone, as it was known, fell apart at some point and the resort neglected to fix or replace it. A couple of years ago, they re-opened the terrain to lift-served skiing with a low-cost alternative: stringing a ropetow from a green run off the Geronimo lift to where Cyclone used to land.On Woodward Park City and BorealPowdr has really differentiated itself with its Woodward terrain parks, which exist at amazing scale at Copper and Bachelor. The company has essentially turned two of its smaller ski areas – Boreal and Woodward Park City – entirely over to terrain parks.On Killington's tunnelsYou have to zoom in, but you can see them on the looker's right side of the trailmap: Bunny Buster at Great Northern, Great Bear at Great Northern, and Chute at Great Northern.On Jackson Hole traversesJackson is steep. Engineers hacked it so kids like mine could ride there:On expansions at Beaver Creek, Keystone, AspenRecent Colorado expansions have tended to create vast zones tailored to certain levels of skiers:Beaver Creek's McCoy Park is an incredible top-of-the-mountain green zone:Keystone's Bergman Bowl planted a high-speed six-pack to serve 550 acres of high-altitude intermediate terrain:And Aspen – already one of the most challenging mountains in the country – added Hero's – a fierce black-diamond zone off the summit:On Wilbere at SnowbirdWilbere is an example of a chairlift that kept the same name, even as Snowbird upgraded it from a double to a quad and significantly moved the load station and line:On ski terrain growth in AmericaYes, a bunch of ski areas have disappeared since the 1980s, but the raw amount of ski terrain has been increasing steadily over the decades:On White Pine, WyomingCushing referred to White Pine as a “dinky little ski area” with lots of potential. Here's a look at the thousand-footer, which billionaire Joe Ricketts purchased last year:On Deer Valley's expansionYeah, Deer Valley is blowing up:On Schweitzer's growthSchweitzer's transformation has been dramatic: in 1988, the Idaho panhandle resort occupied a large footprint that was served mostly by double chairs:Today: a modern ski area, with four detach quads, a sixer, and two newer triples – only one old chairlift remains:On BC transformationsA number of British Columbia ski areas have transformed from nubbins to majors over the past 30 years:Sun Peaks, then known as Tod Mountain, in 1993Sun Peaks today:Fernie in 1996, pre-upward expansion:Fernie today:Revelstoke, then known as Mount Mackenzie, in 1996:Modern Revy:Kicking Horse, then known as “Whitetooth” in 1994:Kicking Horse today:On Tamarack's expansion potentialTamarack sits mostly on Idaho state land, and would like to expand onto adjacent U.S. Forest Service land. Resort President Scott Turlington discussed these plans in depth with me on the pod a few years back:The mountain's plans have changed since, with a smaller lift footprint:On Central Park as a manmade placeNew York City's fabulous Central Park is another chunk of earth that may strike a visitor as natural, but is in fact a manmade work of art crafted from the wilderness. Per the Central Park Conservancy, which, via a public-private partnership with the city, provides the majority of funds, labor, and logistical support to maintain the sprawling complex:A popular misconception about Central Park is that its 843 acres are the last remaining natural land in Manhattan. While it is a green sanctuary inside a dense, hectic metropolis, this urban park is entirely human-made. It may look like it's naturally occurring, but the flora, landforms, water, and other features of Central Park have not always existed.Every acre of the Park was meticulously designed and built as part of a larger composition—one that its designers conceived as a "single work of art." Together, they created the Park through the practice that would come to be known as "landscape architecture."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
Quick check in with the person who cocreated this Pod talking about making music negotiating life and the gooner epidemic.You can see the videos we filmed together on youtube at Teamlake, I filmed "Wintergreen" "Furtheraway" and "Afk//Sallybytheseashore" Outro is "soul of a primitive man" By tyler luke YOU CAN CONTACT US RIGHT HERE!
It was such a delight to sit down and chat with Bevin Cohen – he has such a deep love and appreciation for plants, and so many gems of herbal wisdom to share! Our conversation was centered around wintergreen, a plant that he has been learning with since he was a child, but also touched on so many other aspects of living a life rooted in herbalism: from the importance of being in the moment and forming personal relationships with plants, to the crossover between food and medicine – a great reminder that plants' gifts are not solely found in salves, tinctures, and tea!Bevin's journey with wintergreen really illustrates the ways that we can grow as humans alongside the plants, simply by being present, listening, and giving back. He shared so many beautiful ways that wintergreen has shown up in his life, and the many ways he has worked with it through the years – including his go-to recipe for when he starts to feel a cold coming on! Be sure to download your copy of Bevin's healing tea here: https://bit.ly/4hH5MBx By the end of this episode, you'll know:► Why Bevin calls wintergreen tea “one of the most patriotic of all beverages”► How to work with wintergreen to soothe sore, achy muscles► Tips for preparing your wintergreen harvest to get the most potent medicine► How learning the folklore surrounding plants can make you a better herbalist► The amazing benefits of working with plants that grow near you► and so much more…For those of you who don't know him, Bevin Cohen is an award winning author, owner of Small House Farm and host of the popular Seeds & Weeds podcast. Bevin offers workshops and lectures across the country on the benefits of living closer to the land through seeds, herbs, and locally grown food. He is a food and garden writer whose work has appeared in many national publications and he's the author of more than ten books, including his latest, Herbs in Every Season.I'm thrilled to share our conversation with you today!----Get full show notes and more information at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.comFor more behind-the-scenes of this podcast, follow @rosaleedelaforet on Instagram!The secret to using herbs successfully begins with knowing who YOU are. Get started by taking my free Herbal Jumpstart course when you sign up for my newsletter.If you enjoy the Herbs with Rosalee podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review and sharing the show with someone who needs to hear it!On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at herbswithrosalee.com.----Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients Into Foods & Remedies That Heal and co-author of the bestselling book Wild Remedies:...
On the 241st episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith's guest is Patrick Geoffrion-Amorim. Patrick, a native of Montreal, currently coaches and works in Toronto. He accompanied a dozen or more kids to the Wintergreen Resort in Wintergreen, Virginia, for a two-week immersion camp with Steve. One of the highlights of their trip was traveling to the University of Virginia (UVA) for two doubleheaders. The UVA men's and women's tennis teams played Cal Berkeley on Friday and Stanford on Sunday. Patrick's passion for tennis shines through in this episode. Listeners are assured of learning. College tennis is truly special, and hopefully, Patrick and Steve's input paints a picture that encourages people to attend college matches each and every year.Thank you!
The Weekend Whassup for Friday, 3/14/2025! The Point keeps you connected to the top 23 things happening around Sheboygan! (Shout out to the other radio stations that use this!) The “Make Your Mark Career Fair” is at Noon today (Friday) at the Osthoff Resort in Elkhart Lake. Connect with Local Employers. Meet representatives from a variety of industries and learn about current job openings in the area. https://www.facebook.com/events/967430868836916/ The 38th Annual Indoor Ice Bowling Classic is tonight (Friday) and tomorrow (Saturday) at Sheboygan’s Blue Line Ice Center. Free live music, food and beverages… and of course Ice Bowling for a great cause! Family fun at Noon tomorrow (Saturday)! https://wxerfm.com/ice-bowling/ The Random Lake Fire & EMS Fish Fry is tonight (Friday) from 4:30-8 at 718 N. Spring Street in Random Lake. Cod, Shrimp, Chicken Tenders, Hot Dogs and more! Win a big screen TV! https://www.facebook.com/events/1823088075183824 Dare To Dream Theater Presents - Disney Aristocats KIDS on stage at Sheboygan Lutheran High School with Showtimes through this weekend and next! https://www.facebook.com/events/1379662176738184 “Ladies of Country” - A Tribute to Dolly, Shania, Reba & Martina takes the stage tonight (Friday) at 7:30 at The Weill Center For The Performing Arts in Downtown Sheboygan! https://wxerfm.com/events/467775/ The Sheboygan Railroad Museum hosts a Model Train Swap Meet at Lakeshore Lakes tomorrow (Saturday) from 9-4. https://www.facebook.com/events/599622306013732/ There’s a Brat Fry Fundraiser for the Sheboygan County Food Bank tomorrow (Saturday) at 11am at Sunset Hills Golf. Brats, Burgers, hot dogs, raffles and more! https://www.facebook.com/events/851341817057427/ The SCIO Winter Farmers Market happens the first and third Saturdays of the month from 9-Noon, at First Congregational Church UCC. Help support the local farmers who provide our fresh produce, meat, eggs, honey and more! https://www.sheboygancountyinterfaith.org/winter-farmers-market/ The Falcon Families of SFES Spring Craft & Vendor Fair is tomorrow (Saturday) from 9-2 at Sheboygan Falls Elementary School! Crafts and vendors, raffles, and food too! https://wxerfm.com/events/465847/ Tomorrow (Saturday) is Community Day at The John Michael Kohler Arts Center in downtown Sheboygan. Artist Gallery Talks and local art discovery all afternoon! https://www.jmkac.org/event/community-day-this-is-where-im-coming-from/ The 2025 Berth Racing Brat Fry is tomorrow (Saturday) from 11-6:30 at Odyssey Fun Center in Falls. Sprint car season will be here before you know it! Raffles, Food and fun for families all day! https://www.facebook.com/events/1311695433304111/ There’s a Bluebird House Building Workshop tomorrow (Saturday) from 1-3 at Kohler Andrae State Park! Great for anyone 10+. https://wxerfm.com/events/461600/ Beginner Birding (birdwatching) Cabin Fever Series is from 2-4. https://wxerfm.com/events/461599/ Sheboygan Christian School Theater Department Presents: CLUE! On stage with showtimes through this weekend! https://www.facebook.com/events/1365093437997898 Sheboygan’s Mead Public Library and community partners welcome you to WinterGreen tomorrow (Saturday) from 9-4. Free green-themed activities for all ages! Gardening, animals, wellness, cooking and crafts. www.meadpl.org/event/wintergreen-32675 There’s a Craft and Vendor Fair tomorrow (Saturday) from 9-2 at Emil Mazey Hall in Sheboygan. https://www.facebook.com/events/571457185767210 The 37th Annual Maywood Flapjack Day is Sunday from 9:30-1 at Maywood Environmental Park in Sheboygan. Locally made maple syrup too! https://wxerfm.com/events/470491/ The Sheboygan Symphony Chorus Presents: From Sheboygan to Carnegie Hall and Back. A performance dedicated to the memory of Peter Tiboris, Sunday at 3pm at the Weill Center in Sheboygan! https://www.weillcenter.com/events/sheboygan-symphony-chorus/ You could help save a life with a blood drive event this Sunday from 8-Noon at Fire Fitness Camp in Sheboygan. The Early Bird Rotary Club is teaming up for this life-saving event! https://www.facebook.com/events/979939844034191 There’s a Coin Collectors Show Sunday from 9-3 at Lakeshore Lanes in Sheboygan. Free admission. Bring an item for the local food pantry! https://classifieds.gmtoday.com/places/view/6360/sheboygan_coin_show_march_16_2025_.html The annual St Patrick's Day Fundraiser for Elkhart Lake and Plymouth Fire and Rescue is Sunday from Noon to 3pm at JAAAGZ Bar and Grill on 67. Live music! Come out and support the local Fire Departments! https://www.facebook.com/events/615274781394769/ World Down Syndrome Day Celebration is Sunday at 2 at Breaker Bay Waterpark at Blue Harbor Resort in Sheboygan. https://www.facebook.com/events/960918182201040 Circle Of Souls Animal Rescue hosts a Hot Dog Bar and Bingo event Sunday at Noon at Sheboygan’s 3 Sheeps Taproom! https://www.facebook.com/events/1785102498890837/ Sunday is the 8th Annual Lone Wolf Motorsports Pig Roast at Chris & Sue’s in Plymouth. Food raffle baskets and an afternoon of fun! https://www.facebook.com/events/1114577370301928 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Cal, Sean, Katie and Dave speak with a duo from Salford Mets. Claire has PBs of 18:34 for 5k, 37:31 for 10k, 81:56 for half marathon, and 3:26:32 for the marathon. Mike has PBs of 19:45 for 5k, 41:15 for 10k, 95:55 for half marathon, and 3:53:05 for the marathon. We confirm that Mike Race is his real name, and what struggles he has with his name. Mike also talks about how he got into running and what he does that compliments it with other training. Claire tells us of her success of being a junior athlete but plays down her achievements. Claire is also in Sean's camp when it comes to XC but she braves it where Sean doesnt. Mike explains why he loves Parkrun (as most of us do) and why Claire doesnt like it. Both Mike and Claire explain their coach / athlete relationship and how it works so well. Not only that, they talk about their love of running with their dogs.The team discuss how Revival Shots are helping them with training and when to take them. Also, they discuss the Wintergreen products that have been helping the team recover so well. Sean tells us about his stop start marathon block, Dave tells us about his niggles but is gearing up for the National XC, Cal has been sent to shoe lacing school, and Katie is on her way to learn how to pace.This episode is sponsored by Wintergreen.Wintergreen is a trusted brand in the world of endurance sports. Their products are designed for athletes, combining natural ingredients and cutting-edge formulations to enhance performance, aid recovery, and keep you at your best. Whether it's preparing for your next race, maintaining energy during intense training, or soothing tired muscles post-workout, there's a Wintergreen product for every stage of training & competition. As Marathon season in the UK takes full swing, we know the importance of recovering better and faster. Wintergreen Sport UK is the solution. Have a look at their website to learn more www.wintergreensport.co.uk
Have you ever spoken with a remarkable woman? I was fortunate to speak with one on my latest episode of IsThatYouTalking. Leanne Horvath started her career as a graphic artist planning to use her creative side to work in the movie industry before finding her niche in accounting where she contributed to the production of such movies as "Zodiac", "Spider-Man 3",(The best one) and "Brothers Solomon" in addition she's done TV work on "Girls Gone Wild" and "My name is Earl" both of these shows were very formative for me and have a special place in my heart. She now lives a quieter but no less exciting life in New Hampshire on her hobby farm teaching yoga, jujutsu, and burlesque dancing. Yes, a very dynamic and interesting woman. And after speaking with her, it's her kind nature that shines through.Outro music is "Wintergreen" by Jordyy available on Youtube with a music video by yours trulyYOU CAN CONTACT US RIGHT HERE!
Don't let pain dampen your spirits - wintergreen essential oil offers relief in winter and beyond. Let Loving Essential Oils' own Jennifer Lane tell you more… click https://www.lovingessentialoils.com/a/blog/top-10-essential-oils-for-pain-relief now! Loving Essential Oils City: Sacramento Address: 1401 21st Street Suite R Website: https://www.lovingessentialoils.com
In this episode Libby and Nick chat about the gifts they gave each other from Christmas: a Disney princess dress, a Loveshack Fancy Dress that just did not fit, Huckberry shoes for a "grown" man and a sex stone Nick didn't even realize he received! We recap our hilarious viewing of Mamma Mia the musical in downtown Richmond, Virginia. Guess who was told to stop talking?! Guess who also does an amazing impersonation of Scooby Doo and Shaggy? We also recount our adventure snow tubing in Wintergreen, where we lost a very important item on the mountain! Stay tuned til the end to hear our favorites - they might surprise you!
Cinnamon Bear 37-12-10 13 The Wintergreen Witch
Bloomers in the Garden • 10.12.24 • Controlling Weeds in Mulch (Hotline Text) • Yellow Leaves & Mulch Problems • With a Name Like Pansy, They've Gotta Be Tough! • Creepy Crawlers | Spiders and Crickets • Gaultheria Wintergreen & More! A listener texted the Bloomers in the Garden Hotline and asked about controlling weeds growing in their mulch!! Hear how to clean up your landscape beds for the winter! Sometimes you can over mulch! Do you have plants that look yellowish even though you put down fertilizer? We'll tell you what could be going on in our 2nd segment! With a name like Pansy you know these flowers have to be tough! Julio and I will explain what makes these flowers special stand outs in both fall and spring during our 3rd segment!! Halloween is upon us and creepy crawlers are sneaking in my house! Spiders and Crickets are setting up their winter quarters inside your home! Hear how to evict them perminenantly during our 4th segment! We're want to introduce you to a fantastic ground cover that has an evergreen glossy leaf and brilliant red berries, tolerates shade, is deer resistant, and is hardy from zone 3 to 7. Hear what that is during our final Segment Philadelphia, South Jersey, & Delaware Valley Saturdays at 8am 860am WWDB-AM Saturday at 6am & 5pm 93.5FM & 1540am WNWR "The Word".... NYC Tri-State Area Sundays at 8am 1250 AM "Classic Oldies" WMTR Bloomers in the Garden helps you and your neighbors have more beautiful yards, gardens and landscapes. Len and Julio are your “go-to” source for practical information, solid “local” advice that applies to the Delaware Valley. Learn about products and plants you can pronounce that are available at local Independent Garden Centers. Get inspired and confident to try new things, building on our past successful recommendations. Your hosts, Len Schroeder & Julio Zamora Len Schroeder has a rich family heritage of horticulture dating back over 100 years. His own experience spans over 30 years as Owner of Bloomers Home & Garden Center. Bloomers is a Retail Garden Center that caters to the home gardener and the do-it-yourself landscaper. Bloomers prides itself on its staff training. We translate the often confusing gardening information into easy to understand, executable tasks. Len brings a professional lifetime of sorting out plants and products that work when customers get them home. Julio Zamora has worked within Bloomers Nursery Department for over a decade and is a life-long gardener. Julio's unique passion for customers inspires Gardeners of all ages to try new things. His relaxed friendly demeanor and enthusiastic joy when discussing the benefits of gardening is inspirational. Julio's authentic love and concern for people makes him and exceptional individual and host! Have a question for us or a topic you like us to discuss? Have a question for us or a topic you like us to discuss? Call the Bloomer's Garden Hotline” at (609)685-1880 to leave your question, your name and the town you're from! You can also write to len@bloomers.com or julio@bloomers.com
Jeff Lewis recently spent a week with Steve Smith at the Wintergreen Resort in Wintergreen, Virginia. The two, who have known each other for thirty years, recorded two conversations for the listeners of the GreatBase Tennis podcast.To make an understatement, Jeff knows tennis. He was introduced to a wealth of tennis information as a teenager and through decades of deep thought and diversified experiences is now easily one of the best tennis teachers in the US. Please connect with Jeff by following him at jefflewistennis.com and victorytennisprograms.com. Also, visit his YouTube channel and Instagram at youtube.com/jefflewistennis and instagram.com/jefflewistennis. Laughing and learning are guaranteed.
Did you know that we all need more than just water to stay hydrated? Vicki was in her 30's when she first began learning about the importance of proper hydration. Hydration is the first key ingredient to a proper pre and post workout. In this episode we help you understand the tools we have available to support our amazing bodies. We discuss products such as #MetaPWR Recharge, #Wintergreen, #Frankincense, #lemongrass, and #Marjoram to name a few. So tune in and enjoy this fun episode. Scoop of the Day SHIN SPLINTS AND RUNNER'S KNEE REMEDIES • Step 1: In a 10mL roller bottle, create one of the following blends. Add fractionated coconut oil to fill remainder of bottle. Shake to blend. Apply frequently. Massage into areas of concern. › Recipe #1: 10-12 drops each lemongrass and rosemary › Recipe #2: 10 drops lemongrass, 8 drops marjoram, 8 drops wintergreen • Step 2 (optional): Apply a layer of Deep Blue blend or Rub and massage in. Light Blue Roller 25 Deep Blue 15 Frankincense 12 Copaiba 10 mL Roller bottle top off with Fractionated Coconut Oil Hi friends, don't forget to leave us a review, your feedback is always welcome, and helps this podcast reach more ears. Join us in our New Facebook Community! Connect on Instagram We upload a brand new episode every Tuesday and Thursday! Join our step challenge: https://theessentialoilscoop.com/stepchallenge Want to learn more about us? theessentialoilscoop.com Remember to like, share, and subscribe to our podcast so you will be notified every time we upload a brand new episode. Leave us a review as well, your feedback is always welcome. Also opt-in to our newsletter at theessentialoilscoop.com/news If you have any questions or have subject ideas you would like us to cover please email us at theessentialoilscoop@gmail.com Tag us on socials using #theessentialoilscoop Disclaimer: Welcome to The Essential Oil Scoop Podcast. We want to remind our listeners that the information provided in this podcast is for educational purposes only and should not be considered as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The use of essential oils is a personal choice and should be done at your own risk. We are not medical professionals and cannot diagnose, treat, or prescribe any medical condition. Please consult with a qualified healthcare provider before using any essential oils or making changes to your healthcare routine. Any information or opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of any particular organization. Thank you for listening.
On the 211th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith has a conversation with Mike Valentine and Mike McLaughlin. The three old men all worked for the late Vic Braden. Mike and Mike recently made the journey to the Wintergreen Resort in Wintergreen, Virginia to observe and contribute to Steve's students. They left assured that Steve and his students are still honoring the work of the late Vic Braden. The trio reminisce and reflect upon the genius of Braden. By listening, one is assured of laughing and learning.
On the 204th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast Cris Valverde, a teaching pro from Portland, Oregon, asks Steve Smith questions. Cris recently spent a week with Steve at the Wintergreen Resort in Wintergreen, Virginia. He traveled across the US with his two sons for an immersion camp.To make an understatement, Cris's passion for our sport is second to none. Cris's dedication to improving his craft is truly inspirational. Cris has completed an in-depth study of our curriculum and asked Steve to discuss a wide range of topics.
In this episode, we talk about the 15 year anniversary of Snubie.com! We'll also discuss Zyn shortages, the US General Mint and Wintergreen issue, and take questions from the live audience! For all the breaking snus news, newest reviews, and extensive information - http://www.Snubie.com Help Support Snubie.com - http://www.Snubie.com/Support.html. Social Media: Facebook - http://www.Facebook.com/Snubie Instagram - http://www.Instagram.com/SnubieDotCom Twitter - http://www.Twitter.com/SnubieDotCom Reddit - http://www.reddit.com/r/SnubieDotCom --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/snubie/support
The Stinking Pause Podcast - bringing you classic movies since 2013...some good, some not so good. This week, it's Anthony's turn to join Scott and Paul to take a look at an American cop classic from the seventies Anthony is the host of Film Gold, Life And Life Only and Glass Onion: On John Lennon. Electra Glide In Blue (1973) The only thing good-hearted motorcycle cop John Wintergreen (Robert Blake) wants is to become a detective. To wear a big Stetson, smoke fancy cigars and be paid to think. So when he stumbles upon a dead body, he takes the case - and proves he's got the right stuff. But as soon as he's promoted, he finds that the corruption he must tolerate makes his Stetson not fit so well and the cigars not taste so good. Forced to confront his own disillusionment, Wintergreen heads out on his bike, the Electra Glide, and makes another shocking discovery that could cost him his life. "I hate that motorcycle they make me ride. I'm here to tell you there ain't nothing in the world I hate worse than that elephant under my ass." This and previous episodes can be found everywhere you download your podcasts Follow us on Twitter @StinkingPause email: thestinkingpause@gmail.com Thanks for listening!
This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on May 3. It dropped for free subscribers on May 10. To receive future pods as soon as they're live, and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also subscribe to the free tier below:WhoJosh Jorgensen, CEO of Mission Ridge, Washington and Blacktail Mountain, MontanaRecorded onApril 15, 2024About Mission RidgeClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Larry ScrivanichLocated in: Wenatchee, WashingtonYear founded: 1966Pass affiliations:* Indy Pass – 2 days with holiday and weekend blackouts (TBD for 2024-25 ski season)* Indy+ Pass – 2 days with no blackouts* Powder Alliance – 3 days with holiday and Saturday blackoutsClosest neighboring ski areas: Badger Mountain (:51), Leavenworth Ski Hill (:53) – travel times may vary considerably given weather conditions, time of day, and time of year.Base elevation: 4,570 feetSummit elevation: 6,820 feetVertical drop: 2,250 feetSkiable Acres: 2,000Average annual snowfall: 200 inchesTrail count: 70+ (10% easiest, 60% more difficult, 30% most difficult)Lift count: 7 (1 high-speed quad, 3 doubles, 2 ropetows, 1 carpet – view Lift Blog's inventory of Mission Ridge's lift fleet)View historic Mission Ridge trailmaps on skimap.org.About BlacktailClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Larry ScrivanichLocated in: Lakeside, MontanaYear founded: 1998Pass affiliations:* Indy Pass – 2 days with holiday and weekend blackouts (TBD for 2024-25 ski season)* Indy+ Pass – 2 days with no blackouts* Powder Alliance – 3 days with holiday blackoutsClosest neighboring ski areas: Whitefish (1:18) - travel times may vary considerably given weather conditions, time of day, and time of year.Base elevation: 5,236 feetSummit elevation: 6,780 feetVertical drop: 1,544 feetSkiable Acres: 1,000+Average annual snowfall: 250 inchesTrail count: (15% easier, 65% more difficult, 20% most difficult)Lift count: 4 (1 triple, 2 doubles, 1 carpet – view Lift Blog's inventory of Blacktail's lift fleet)View historic Blacktail trailmaps on skimap.org.Why I interviewed himSo much of Pacific Northwest skiing's business model amounts to wait-and-pray, hoping that, sometime in November-December, the heaping snowfalls that have spiraled in off the ocean for millennia do so again. It's one of the few regions in modern commercial skiing, anywhere in the world, where the snow is reliable enough and voluminous enough that this good-ole-boy strategy still works: 460 inches per year at Stevens Pass; 428 at Summit at Snoqualmie; 466 at Crystal; 400 at White Pass; a disgusting 701 at Baker. It's no wonder that most of these ski areas have either no snowguns, or so few that a motivated scrapper could toss the whole collection in the back of a single U-Haul.But Mission Ridge possesses no such natural gifts. The place is snowy enough – 200 inches in an average winter – that it doesn't seem ridiculous that someone thought to run lifts up the mountain. But by Washington State standards, the place is practically Palm Beach. That means the owners have had to work a lot harder, and in a far more deliberate way than their competitors, to deliver a consistent snowsportskiing experience since the bump opened in 1966.Which is a long way of saying that Mission Ridge probably has more snowmaking than the rest of Washington's ski areas combined. Which, often, is barely enough to hang at the party. This year, however, as most Washington ski areas spent half the winter thinking “Gee, maybe we ought to have more than zero snowguns,” Mission was clocking its third-best skier numbers ever.The Pacific Northwest, as a whole, finished the season fairly strong. The snow showed up, as it always does. A bunch of traditional late operators – Crystal, Meadows, Bachelor, Timberline – remain open as of early May. But, whether driven by climate change, rising consumer expectations, or a need to offer more consistent schedules to seasonal employees, the region is probably going to have to build out a mechanical complement to its abundant natural snows at some point. From a regulatory point of view, this won't be so easy in a region where people worry themselves into a coma about the catastrophic damage that umbrellas inflict upon raindrops. But Mission Ridge, standing above Wenatchee for decades as a place of recreation and employment, proves that using resources to enable recreation is not incompatible with preserving them.That's going to be a useful example to have around.What we talked aboutA lousy start to winter; a top three year for Mission anyway; snowmaking in Washington; Blacktail's worst snowfall season ever and the potential to add snowmaking to the ski area; was this crappy winter an anomaly or a harbinger?; how Blacktail's “long history of struggle” echoes the history of Mission Ridge; what could Blacktail become?; Blacktail's access road; how Blacktail rose on Forest Service land in the 1990s; Blacktail expansion potential; assessing Blacktail's lift fleet; could the company purchase more ski areas?; the evolution of Summit at Snoqualmie; Mission Ridge's large and transformative proposed expansion; why the expansion probably needs to come before chairlift upgrades; Fantasy Lift Upgrade; and why Mission Ridge replaced a used detachable quad with another used detachable quad.Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewWashington skiing is endangered by a pretty basic problem: more people in this ever-richer, ever more-populous state want to ski than there are ski areas for them to visit. Building new ski areas is impossible – you'd have better luck flying an American flag from the roof of the Kremlin than introducing a new mountain to Washington State. That shortage is compounded by the lack of slopeside development, which compels every skier to drive to the hill every day that they want to ski. This circumstance reflects a false commitment to environmental preservation, which mistakes a build-nothing philosophy for watching over Mother Earth, an outmoded way of thinking that fails to appreciate the impacts of sprawl and car culture on the larger natural ecosystem.Which is where Mission Ridge, with its large proposed ski-and-stay expansion, is potentially so important. If Mission Ridge can navigate the bureaucratic obstacle course that's been dropped in its path, it could build the first substantial slopeside village in the Pacific Northwest. That could be huge. See, it would say, you can have measured development in the mountains without drowning all the grizzly bears. And since not everyone would have to drive up the mountain every day anymore, it would probably actually reduce traffic overall. The squirrels win and so do the skiers. Or something like that.And then we have Blacktail. Three-ish years ago, Mission Ridge purchased this little-known Montana bump, one of the West's few upside-down ski areas, an unlikely late addition to the Forest Service ski area network seated south of Whitefish Mountain and Glacier National Park. I was surprised when Mission bought it. I think everyone else was too. Mission Ridge is a fine ski area, and one with multi-mountain roots – it was once part of the same parent company that owned Schweitzer (now the property of Alterra) – but it's not exactly Telluride. How did a regional bump that was still running three Riblet doubles from the ‘60s and ‘70s afford another ski area two states away? And why would they want it? And what were they going to do with it?All of which I discuss, sort of, with Jorgensen. Mission and Blacktail are hardly the strangest duo in American skiing. They make more sense, as a unit, than jointly owned Red Lodge, Montana and Homewood, California. But they're also not as logical as New York's Labrador and Song, Pennsylvania's Camelback and Blue, or Massachusett's Berkshire East and Catamount, each of which sits within easy driving distance of its sister resort. So how do they fit together? Maybe they don't need to.Questions I wish I'd askedThere's a pretty cool story about a military bomber crashing into the mountain (and some associated relics) that I would have liked to have gotten into. I'd also have liked to talk a bit more about Wenatchee, which Mission's website calls “Washington's only true ski town.” I also intended to get a bit more into the particulars of the expansion, including the proposed terrain and lifts, and what sort of shape the bedbase would take. And I didn't really ask, as I normally do, about the Indy Pass and the reciprocal season pass relationship between the two ski areas.What I got wrongI said that Mission Ridge's first high-speed quad, Liberator Express, came used from Crystal Mountain. The lift actually came used from Winter Park. Jorgensen corrected that fact in the podcast. My mis-statement was the result of crossing my wires while prepping for this interview – the Crystal chairlift at Blacktail moved to Montana from Crystal Mountain, Washington. In the moment, I mixed up the mountains' lift fleets.Why you should ski Mission RidgeMission Ridge holds echoes of Arapahoe Basin's East Wall or pre-tram Big Sky: so much damn terrain, just a bit too far above the lifts for most of us to bother with. That, along with the relatively low snowfall and Smithsonian lift fleet, are the main knocks on the place (depending, of course, upon your willingness to hike and love of vintage machinery).But, on the whole, this is a good, big ski area that, because of its snowmaking infrastructure, is one of the most reliable operators for several hundred miles in any direction. The intermediate masses will find a huge, approachable footprint. Beginners will find their own dedicated lift. Better skiers, once they wear out the blacks off lifts 2 and 4, can hike the ridge for basically endless lines. And if you miss daylight, Mission hosts some of the longest top-to-bottom night-skiing runs in America, spanning the resort's entire 2,250 vertical feet (Keystone's Dercum mountain rises approximately 2,300 vertical feet).If Mission can pull off this expansion, it could ignite a financial ripple effect that would transform the resort quickly: on-site housing and expanded beginner terrain could bring more people (especially families), which would bring more revenue, which would funnel enough cash in to finally upgrade those old Riblets and, maybe, string the long-planned Lift 5 to the high saddle. That would be amazing. But it would also transform Mission into something different than what it is today. Go see it now, so you can appreciate whatever it becomes.Why you should ski BlacktailBlacktail's original mission, in the words of founder Steve Spencer, was to be the affordable locals' bump, a downhome alternative to ever-more-expensive Whitefish, a bit more than an hour up the road. That was in 1998, pre-Epic, pre-Ikon, pre-triple-digit single-day lift tickets. Fast forward to 2024, and Whitefish is considered a big-mountain outlier, a monster that's avoided every pass coalition and offers perhaps the most affordable lift ticket of any large, modern ski area in America (its top 2023-24 lift ticket price was $97).That has certainly complicated Blacktail's market positioning. It can't play Smugglers' Notch ($106 top lift ticket price) to neighboring Stowe ($220-ish). And while Blacktail's lift tickets and season passes ($450 early-bird for the 2024-25 ski season), are set at a discount to Whitefish's, the larger mountain's season pass goes for just $749, a bargain for a 3,000-acre sprawl served by four high-speed lifts.So Blacktail has to do what any ski area that's orbiting a bigger, taller, snowier competitor with more and better terrain does: be something else. There will always be a market for small and local skiing, just like there will always be a market for diners and bars with pool tables and dartboards hanging from the walls.That appeal is easy enough for locals to understand. For frequent, hassle-free skiing, small is usually better than big. It's more complicated to pitch a top-of-the-mountain parking lot to you, a probably not-local, who, if you haul yourself all the way to Montana, is probably going to want the fireworks show. But one cool thing about lingering in the small and foreign is that the experience unites the oft-opposed-in-skiing forces of novelty and calm. Typically, our ski travels involve the raucous and the loud and the fast and the enormous. But there is something utterly inspiring about setting yourself down on an unfamiliar but almost empty mountain, smaller than Mt. Megaphone but not necessarily small at all, and just setting yourself free to explore. Whatever Blacktail doesn't give you, it will at least give you that.Podcast NotesOn Mission Ridge's proposed expansionWhile we discuss the mountain's proposed expansion in a general way, we don't go deep into specifics of lifts and trails. This map gives the best perspective on how the expansion would blow Mission Ridge out into a major ski area - the key here is less the ski expansion itself than the housing that would attend it:Here's an overhead view:Video overviews:The project, like most ski area expansions in U.S. America, has taken about 700 years longer than it should have. The local radio station published this update in October:Progress is being made with the long-planned expansion of Mission Ridge Ski & Board Resort.Chelan County is working with the resort on an Environmental Impact Statement.County Natural Resources Director Mike Kaputa says it'll be ready in the next eight months or so."We are getting closer and closer to having a draft Environmental Impact Statement and I think that's probably, I hate to put a month out there, but I think it's probably looking like May when we'll have a draft that goes out for public comment."The expansion plan for Mission Ridge has been in the works since 2014, and the resort brought a lawsuit against the county in 2021 over delays in the process.The lawsuit was dismissed earlier this year.Kaputa gave an update on progress with the Mission Ridge expansion before county commissioners Monday, where he said they're trying to get the scope of the Environmental Impact Statement right."You want to be as thorough as possible," Kaputa said. "You don't want to overdo it. You want to anticipate comments. I'm sure we'll get lots of comments when it comes out."In 2014, Larry Scrivanich, owner of Mission Ridge, purchased approximately 779 acres of private land adjacent to the current Mission Ridge Ski and Board Resort. Since then, Mission Ridge has been forging ahead with plans for expansion.The expansion plans call for onsite lodging and accommodations, which Mission Ridge calls a game changer, which would differentiate the resort from others in the Northwest.I'm all about process, due diligence, and checks-and-balances, but it's possible we've overcorrected here.On snowfall totals throughout WashingtonMission gets plenty of snow, but it's practically barren compared to the rest of Washington's large ski areas:On the founding of BlacktailBlacktail is an outlier in U.S. skiing in that it opened in 1998 on Forest Service land – decades after similarly leased ski areas debuted. Daily Inter Lake summarizes the unusual circumstances behind this late arrival:Steve Spencer had been skiing and working at Big Mountain [now Whitefish] for many years, starting with ski patrol and eventually rising to mountain manager, when he noticed fewer and fewer locals on the hill.With 14 years as manager of Big Mountain under his belt, Spencer sought to create an alternative to the famous resort that was affordable and accessible for locals. He got together with several business partners and looked at mountains that they thought would fit the bill.They considered sites in the Swan Range and Lolo Peak, located in the Bitterroot Range west of Missoula, but they knew the odds of getting a Forest Service permit to build a ski area there were slim to none.They had their eyes on a site west of Flathead Lake, however, that seemed to check all the right boxes. The mountain they focused on was entirely surrounded by private land, and there were no endangered species in the area that needed protection from development.Spencer consulted with local environmental groups before he'd spent even “two nickels” on the proposal. He knew that without their support, the project was dead on arrival.That mountain was known as Blacktail, and when the Forest Service OK'd ski operations there, it was the first ski area created on public land since 1978, when Beaver Creek Resort was given permission to use National Forest land in Colorado.Blacktail Mountain Ski Area celebrates its 25th anniversary next year, it is still the most recent in the country to be approved through that process.On Glacier National Park and Flathead LakeEven if you've never heard of Blacktail, it's stuffed into a dense neighborhood of outdoor legends in northern Montana, including Glacier National Park and Whitefish ski area:On WhitefishWith 3,000 skiable acres, a 2,353-foot vertical drop, and four high-speed lifts, Whitefish, just up the road from Blacktail, looms enormously over the smaller mountain's potential:But while Whitefish presents as an Epkon titan, it acts more like a backwater, with peak-day lift tickets still hanging out below the $100 mark, and no megapass membership on its marquee. I explored this unusual positioning with the mountain's president, Nick Polumbus, on the podcast last year (and also here).On “Big Mountain”For eons, Whitefish was known as “Big Mountain,” a name they ditched in 2007 because, as president and CEO at the time Fred Jones explained, the ski area was “often underestimated and misunderstood” with its “highly generic” name.On “upside-down” ski areasUpside-down ski areas are fairly common in the United States, but they're novel enough that most people feel compelled to explain what they mean when they bring one up: a ski area with the main lodge and parking at the top, rather than the bottom, of the hill.These sorts of ski areas are fairly common in the Midwest and proliferate in the Mid-Atlantic, but are rare out west. An incomplete list includes Wintergreen, Virginia; Snowshoe, West Virginia; Laurel, Blue Knob, Jack Frost, and Ski Big Bear, Pennsylvania; Otsego, Treetops, and the Jackson Creek Summit side of Snowriver, Michigan; and Spirit Mountain and Afton Alps, Minnesota. A few of these ski areas also maintain lower-level parking lots. Shawnee Mountain, Pennsylvania, debuted as an upside-down ski area, but, through a tremendous engineering effort, reversed that in the 1970s – a project that CEO Nick Fredericks detailed for us in a 2021 Storm Skiing Podcast.On LIDAR mappingJorgensen mentions LIDAR mapping of Mission Ridge's potential expansion. If you're unfamiliar with this technology, it's capable of giving astonishing insights into the past:On Blacktail's chairliftsAll three of Blacktail's chairlifts came used to the ski area for its 1998 opening. The Crystal double is from Crystal Mountain, Washington; the Olympic triple is from Canada Olympic Park in Alberta; and the Thunderhead double migrated from Steamboat, Colorado.On Riblet chairliftsFor decades, the Riblet double has been the workhorse of Pacific Northwest skiing. Simple, beautiful, reliable, and inexpensive, dozens of these machines still crank up the region's hills. But the company dissolved more than two decades ago, and its lifts are slowly retiring. Mission Ridge retains three (chairs 1, 3, and 4, which date, respectively, to 1966, 1967, and 1971), and has stated its intent to replace them all, whenever funds are available to do so.On the history of Summit at SnoqualmieThe Summit at Snoqualmie, where Jorgensen began his career, remains one of America's most confusing ski areas: the name is convoluted and long, and the campus sprawls over four once-separate ski areas, one of which sits across an interstate with no ski connection to the others. There's no easy way to understand that Alpental – one of Washington's best ski areas – is part of, but separate from, the Summit at Snoqualmie complex, and each of the three Summit areas – East, Central, and West - maintains a separate trailmap on the website, in spite of the fact that the three are interconnected by ski trails. It's all just very confusing. The ski area's website maintains a page outlining how these four ski areas became one ski area that is still really four ski areas. This 1998 trailmap gives the best perspective on where the various ski nodes sit in relation to one another:Because someone always gets mad about everything, some of you were probably all pissed off that I referred to the 1990s version of Summit at Snoqualmie as a “primitive” ski area, but the map above demonstrates why: 17 of 24 chairlifts were Riblet doubles; nine ropetows supplemented this system, and the mountain had no snowmaking (it still doesn't). Call it “retro” or whatever you want, but the place was not exactly Beaver Creek.On Vail and Alterra's Washington timelineI mentioned Washington's entrance onto the national ski scene over the past decade. What I meant by that was the addition of Summit and Crystal onto the Ikon Pass for the 2018-19 ski season, and Stevens Pass onto the Epic Pass the following winter. But Washington skiing – and Mt. Baker in particular – has always been a staple in the Temple of the Brobots, and Boyne Resorts, pre-Ikon, owned Crystal from 1997 to 2017.On Anthony LakesJorgensen mentioned that he applied for the general manager position at Anthony Lakes, a little-known 900-footer lodged in the western Oregon hinterlands. One triple chair serves the entire ski area:The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 33/100 in 2024, and number 533 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe
In this episode, Meg and Heather discuss the benefits of Wintergreen. If you haven't purchased it lately, you will be surprised by the "child proof" like bottle. Since Wintergreen and Birch both contain aspirin-like qualities of a blood thinner, doTERRA has placed them in a special vial. This oil can be used for pain relief in a natural versus a synthetic way. If you have aches or pains and soak you feet in warm water with Epsom salts and Wintergreen, expect relief no matter where the pain. To purchase or find the price of doTERRA Wintergreen essential oil, click here https://doterra.me/tJ_lQK Pick Me Up Diffuser Blend mentioned: 3 drops Bergamot 2 drops Wintergreen 2 drops Wild Orange For more information, check out our website at http://www.bottlepoppinpodcast.com To learn more about Heather Skold, check out http://www.jugglingsimplicity.com To learn more about Meg Fittsgill, check out http://www.balanceredeemed.com
Wintergreen Resort wrapped its ski season earlier this month. Now, volunteers with the Nature Foundation at Wintergreen are turning their attention to native plants in the area. Randi B. Hagi with partner station WMRA reports.
Fluent Fiction - Korean: The Vending Machine's Unexpected Magic Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.org/the-vending-machines-unexpected-magic Story Transcript:Ko: 제목: "우연의 만남, 예상치 못한 소확행""당신이 실제로 사람일 줄이야.En: Title: "A Chance Encounter, Unexpected Small Happiness" "You must really be a person."Ko: " 서울의 한 횡단보도에서 주머니에 쥐어진 동전을 들이대며 민지는 자판기에 탄성을 질렀다.En: Minji exclaimed in awe as she fished out a coin from her pocket on a crosswalk in Seoul.Ko: 6시 방향으로 서 있던 태형은 민지의 행동에 불안해하는 모습이었다.En: Taehyung, standing in the 6 o'clock direction, looked anxious at Minji's actions.Ko: 그는 빤히 민지를 바라보며 이것이 어떤 상황이 된 것인지 이해가 가지 않았다.En: He stared intently at Minji, trying to understand what was happening.Ko: 서울로 봄나들이를 오던 그 둘은 갑자기 터진 봄비에 놀랍게 실내로 대피했었다.En: The two, on their way to a spring outing in Seoul, had suddenly taken shelter indoors from the unexpected spring rain.Ko: 그곳에는 기대에 찬 아이들로 가득했고, 누구보다도 화려한 불빛으로 빛나던 자판기가 있었다.En: The place was filled with eager children, and a vending machine shimmered with more dazzling lights than anyone else.Ko: 민지는 녹색 윈터그린 껌을 건져보려 했는데 버튼을 누르자마자 볼륨을 줄인 텔레비전에서 드라마 주인공이 '절을 하라'는 대사를 외친 것이었다.En: Minji tried to grab a green Wintergreen gum, but as she pressed the button, the TV in the corner lowered its volume, with the drama protagonist shouting, "Do a bow."Ko: 그 때, 민지는 자판기를 향해 절을 하고 있었다.En: At that moment, Minji found herself bowing towards the vending machine instead.Ko: 그녀는 그것이 자판기가 아닌 사람으로 보이기 시작하였다.En: It began to appear to her not as a vending machine, but as a person.Ko: 그 순간 자판기가 환하게 웃었고, 민지는 그 비웃음 속에 뭔가 서울, 잊지 못할 추억을 만들고 있는 것을 느꼈다.En: At that moment, the vending machine smiled brightly, and Minji felt she was creating unforgettable memories in Seoul within that laughter.Ko: 그 표정은 예상치 못한 재미와 행복을 지니고 있었다.En: Her expression held unexpected amusement and joy.Ko: 그들의 남은 여행은 이런 기분 좋은 유머로 가득 찼다.En: The rest of their journey was filled with such pleasant humor.Ko: 그 둘은 웃음으로 서울의 메아리를 채웠으며, 그들의 친근한 웃음 소리는 서울의 모든 거리를 가득 채웠다.En: They filled Seoul's echo with laughter, and their friendly laughter filled every street of Seoul.Ko: 그들은 이후도 민지가 절을 하는 자판기를 망각할 수 없었다.En: They couldn't forget the moment Minji bowed to the vending machine.Ko: 그 순간은 그들의 여행에서 가장 특별한 추억이 되었으며, 그들은 그 소중한 추억을 간직하는 것에 만족했다.En: It became the most special memory of their trip, and they were content in cherishing that precious memory.Ko: 그렇게 그들은 깊은 밤, 서울의 불빛 아래서 웃으며 이야기하고, 각자의 추억 속에 그 때의 웃음을 간직했다.En: So, late at night, under Seoul's lights, they laughed and shared stories, preserving the laughter of that day in their memories.Ko: 그들이 찾아간 그 날의 서울은 고요하고 평화로웠다.En: The Seoul they visited that day was calm and peaceful.Ko: 자판기에게 절한 민지의 추억은 그들의 미소를 더욱 밝게 만들었고, 그들의 여행은 예상치 못한 소확행으로 마무리되었다.En: Minji's memory of bowing to the vending machine brightened their smiles even more, and their journey ended with unexpected small happiness. Vocabulary Words:person: 사람coin: 동전crosswalk: 횡단보도Seoul: 서울anxious: 불안한shelter: 대피children: 아이들vending machine: 자판기Wintergreen gum: 윈터그린 껌button: 버튼TV: 텔레비전drama: 드라마bow: 절laughter: 웃음humor: 유머echo: 메아리street: 거리forget: 망각하다special: 특별한trip: 여행cherishing: 간직late at night: 깊은 밤lights: 불빛shared stories: 이야기 공유brightened: 밝게 하다smiles: 미소journey: 여행peaceful: 평화로운unexpected: 예상치 못한
Advocates in Waynesboro call on Governor Youngkin to sign bills to improve affordable housing in Virginia... But the governor vetoes bills to improve gun safety and protect the state's voting system... A program at Wintergreen promotes the natural and cultural heritage of the Blue Ridge Mountains, including the native plants that populate the forest....
On the 185th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith and Ivan Ozerets have a conversation with Luis Perez. Their guest is a tennis teaching professional who is based in London, England.Luis stumbled upon the free educational tennis content provided on the Internet by GBT. From there, his intellectual curiosity and thirst for knowledge compelled him to travel across the Atlantic to spend a week at the Wintergreen Resort in Wintergreen, Virginia. Luis, who traveled with one of his students, was grateful to be treated as both a player and coach. Even though their visit was just one week, the two Londoners experienced A2Z. They were off the grid at a beautiful mountainside resort and were able to not only have their games analyzed but also study matchplay from the Aussie Open to the Les Petits to the UCLA campus. Students of the game who have an in-person experience with GBT will find that when they re-visit our content, their overall understanding will be greatly enhanced.We are confident that Luis's story will be inspirational to those who love the game of tennis.
Bex Scott hosts one of her all-time favorite Pyrex and vintage collectors, Nate Smith of @MyVintageIs1976, on the show today. Bex and Nate talk about all things Pyrex from how they got started collecting and Nate's favorite patterns to Pyrex swaps and overpriced pieces. Nate is a natural educator and happily shares his passion and Pyrex knowledge, which is vast, with all Bex's listeners.Nate, like Bex, started collecting in 2020 through the need to clear out family houses. Once started, he fell in love with Pyrex and dug into research and collecting on his own. While his husband doesn't share his Pyrex collection love, he is incredibly supportive of Nate's thrifting, reselling, and the revolving seasonal displays in their home. Nate lets Bex in on the best Pyrex finds he's made, his most treasured complete collection, and the rare boxes he's now searching out. They discuss their belief on why kindness and sharing knowledge with new collectors is the best way forward, investigate the differences between pieces named differently in America versus in Canada, and Nate shares his top tips for thrifting success. If you love Pyrex, and you must if you're here, this is one conversation you won't want to miss!Resources discussed in this episode:Nate Smith on Instagram: MyVintageIs1976Colonial MistHorizon Blue“Lady on the Left” Butterprint bowlWillow 473Penn Dutch Friendship boxMrs. Maisel“Pyrex Passion (2nd ed.)” by Michael D. Barber—Contact Rebecca Scott | Pyrex With Bex: Website: PyrexWithBex.comInstagram: @pyrexwithbexContact Bex on her website—TranscriptBex Scott: [00:00:02] Hey everybody, it's Bex Scott and welcome to the Pyrex with Bex podcast where, you guessed it, I talk about vintage Pyrex, but also all things vintage housewares. I'll take you on my latest thrifting adventures, talk about reselling, chat with other enthusiasts about their collections, and learn about a bunch of really awesome items from the past. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you love listening to podcasts so you don't miss a beat. Bex Scott: [00:00:31] Hey everybody, thanks for tuning in to the Pyrex with Bex podcast. Today I am super excited because I have one of my all-time favorite collectors of Pyrex and vintage on today chatting, and it's Nate Smith. You can find him on Instagram at MyVintageIs1976 and I was super excited when I came across your Instagram, Nate, because I love all the education you provide, all of the things that you sell. I wish I had enough money to buy all of them because they're adorable and I could see all of them in my house. But you were also the friendliest and most open to teaching people about what you know and helping new collectors, and I'm super grateful for that. So welcome to the show. Nate Smith: [00:01:16] Thank you so much. It's my pleasure to be here. Bex Scott: [00:01:19] Awesome. So I thought we'd start out with how you got into Pyrex and vintage collecting. Nate Smith: [00:01:26] That's a great question. I had a lot of tragedy actually in 2020, and my sister and I were forced to clean out both my parents and my grandparents homes. My dad died in September and my grandmother died in October right after. And then my mother went into an assisted living at the time. So my sister and I were left with all this stuff and we were like, what are we going to do? So we just started digging in and having to clean out the houses. And that's in Kentucky and I'm in Texas now, so I would go as often as I could to go and help her out. But as we were cleaning out my parents home, we just kept coming across these beautiful bowls and casseroles in this huge variety of patterns, and my parents came by it, honestly. Me growing up too, if there was a wide spot in the road for a yard sale, if there was a thrift store, my mom would want to stop on the way to town. And just in case they put something out on the way back that she would want to stop on the way back. So she was a double stop thrift store kind of gal. Nate Smith: [00:02:32] And a lot of these bowls still had the original $2 $4 dollar thrift store tags on them when she picked them up and my sister and I, we took a lot of stuff to the local thrift store just to donate back. But I couldn't take these bowls. I just kept circling back to them, and I just found them to be so beautiful. And so I asked my sister, can I take some of these back to Texas with me? I just want to research and find out a little bit more. And that deep rabbit hole kept going and going and going, and I started as to resell some of the things instead of just donating them. I saw value in them and I told my sister, like, I'm going to sell some of these. And then there were more and more patterns that I couldn't sell back because I didn't want to let go of them, because I started falling in love with them. And then a new collector was born. Bex Scott: [00:03:31] That's awesome. And do you have family members that collect as well? Does your sister collect? Nate Smith: [00:03:40] My sister has a pattern that she likes. She does the Colonial Mist, which is great because I don't care for it at all. Even though it's blue, I still don't care for it very much at all. But it was one of the last kind of opal ware patterns that Pyrex put out. And so it's pretty easy, still pretty common to find because it's one of the newer patterns. And so I've helped her complete her collections just in my own sourcing and thrifting and antiquing, I've been able to finish out her collection of Colonial Mist for her. But the next generation, like her kids and her kids' kids, no, I think we're pretty much it in the family. So, and none of my husband's side of the family really collects. So yeah, it's just me. I do enough for all of us. Bex Scott: [00:04:30] That's like me as well. It's just me right now. We have two boys and a girl, and I'm trying to get our sons into it. I don't think I'm going to be successful, but maybe. Our daughter's only one so there's lots of years to get her into collecting and hopefully passing my collection on to her, because there's quite a bit of it. Nate Smith: [00:04:50] Yeah. Bex Scott: [00:04:53] And does your husband share your love of vintage as well? Nate Smith: [00:04:57] No, not even a little bit. And like, he humors me sometimes and goes with me to the antique stores, but he will find himself bored pretty quick and will ask me for the keys to the car pretty quick because he can go up and down the aisles relatively quickly and just say, yeah, I'm done. But he humors me, like he never makes me feel bad about my collections. He never questions me about anything. So if anything, he is also like all-star drop stuff off at the post office. All-star I have a lot of boxes to box will you help me? Absolutely. So he's roll up his sleeves, all hands on deck when it comes to that stuff. But he's not himself a collector by nature. Bex Scott: [00:05:51] Yeah, it's good to have that support on that side of things too, with the packing. And that can get to be a lot. Nate Smith: [00:05:58] Yeah, I turn and burn it pretty quickly. Like I can't let it pile up because then my OCD and anxiety just kind of spirals out of control. So like if somebody buys something, I try my best to hurry up and get it out because if it piles up, then I can feel my anxiety increasing. Bex Scott: [00:06:17] Yeah. I remember buying some little bluebirds from you and they arrived so quickly. I was very impressed. So you definitely do get things out the door quickly. Nate Smith: [00:06:30] Thank you, thank you. Bex Scott: [00:06:32] And what does your home look like for displaying your Pyrex and your other vintage items? Nate Smith: [00:06:39] Yeah. Good question. So again, I'm very lucky to have a husband who gives me that kind of creative license, but under a watchful eye of control, which is also good. We live in Texas, so there is no basement. The land of basements is not in Texas, so there aren't a lot of basements here. So I just have to make do with what we've got. And so I have kind of a prized hutch collection of my Pyrex kind of in our sitting room. And then we have some display cabinets in the kitchen that I display pretty regularly. And then I have a rotating seasonal display as well. Other than that, it's usually put in a what I call my Pyrex closet that I use to rotate things in and out for display. And then I also have an inventory room, which is where all the things that I have in preparation for my upcoming Instagram sales or Pyrex swaps kind of lives. So no kids. So easy to just put that stuff in the extra bedroom. Bex Scott: [00:07:49] Yeah, yeah, that sounds like a very organized way to do it. I might have to implement some of that, because I took over our extra bedroom in the basement of our old house, so my parents and my in-laws weren't able to stay over anymore. So that was the Pyrex room. That was an issue. And now we have more storage in this house, but it's quickly escaping the storage room and making its way into other places. So definitely need a new system. Nate Smith: [00:08:19] I could easily fill every cabinet and every display shelf and every closet with my collections. And so then I just kind of realized, yes, I love to look at this, but I know not everyone else does. And so that's why I just make sure I rotate things out so that I can appreciate it not all year long, but for a significant amount of time. And then when I'm tired and I want to see something different, I can pull something else out of the closet. Bex Scott: [00:08:48] Yeah, that makes it fun too, coming up with new displays and seasonal things. Mhm. Nate Smith: [00:08:54] Yeah, absolutely. And my collection too has evolved, I will say. So a lot of the things that I used to collect, like I've kind of pared down. So I don't do a lot of like, when I started collecting I had every refrigerator set. And so then over time I've gotten rid of most of those. I collected a lot of the bowl sets. I don't do any Cinderella bowls in my collection, so I give myself rules in my collection so that it allows for easier storage and better and better collections. Bex Scott: [00:09:27] So is that just a change in taste of what you were collecting? Nate Smith: [00:09:31] Yeah, I think based on what I heard from some of your previous podcasts, we started out very similarly in that if I saw it, I bought it because like, I felt like it was finding gold in a thrift store or finding, you know, and when we first started collecting, because I was right around the same time, 2020, you know, beginning of the pandemic, it was hard to find even in antique stores, if the antique stores were even open, like you weren't finding it. I feel like everybody was just grabbing it when they saw it. And so when I did come across a piece or pieces, I grabbed it if it was affordable and it was in my budget. So that's kind of how I started. And then as you grow as a collector, you start realizing, what do you really love? What patterns do you really want to dive into and collect? I ended up collecting the entire Horizon Blue pattern. That's my favorite kind of standard pattern. So I have the entire line. And then from there you just kind of start realizing, like, okay, I use these seasonally, those I don't use at all, so they're just sitting there, I would rather either pass them on to someone who can appreciate them more than I am right now. And that's kind of how I started becoming a reseller on Instagram. Bex Scott: [00:10:49] That's very similar to kind of how I started as well, because like you said, there were no antique stores. I bought most of it on Marketplace and not knowing what dishwasher damage and what a bowl should look like at the very beginning of my collecting, I think I bought a ton of dishes and bowls and pie plates that I really shouldn't have. They were luckily cheap. But yeah, looking back, there's a lot of things that I wouldn't get now, but it was fun. The process of it, learning about them and starting to resell the ones that I didn't use very often, and it's all part of the Pyrex fun, I think. So it's worth it. Nate Smith: [00:11:28] Absolutely agree. Bex Scott: [00:11:30] And what have been some of your best Pyrex finds that you've had? Nate Smith: [00:11:34] Good question. And I don't know, have you ever been to a Pyrex swap? Bex Scott: [00:11:39] I haven't. I don't think we have many in Canada. There's been 1 or 2 that I've heard of, but I feel like they're really common in the States, which is sad that we don't have them as much here. Nate Smith: [00:11:50] Yeah, and they're growing. Like there are a couple near me that are starting up this next year. I know both Oklahoma and Arkansas are starting swaps and at least closer to you I know there's one in Wisconsin and one in Michigan. So depending on where in Canada you are, right. So there have been some amazing finds at Pyrex swaps just across the country. And for the listeners who aren't familiar, it's basically just kind of a focused flea market. You know, all vintage is up for grabs, like anybody can come and set up at these Pyrex swaps, but it's kind of a definite focus on Vintage Kitchen and Pyrex at these, kind of just I don't want to call it a convention, but depending on how many vendors there are, you know, like Michigan had like 60 plus vendors, Tennessee had over 60 vendors. So a lot of people come from all over the country. I went last year to Pyrex Fest in Maryland. And you do, you find treasures. And it's not just Pyrex. You also find vintage Christmas and other treasures all along at these swaps. And so you never know what you're going to find, because people are coming from all over the country to these swaps. Nate Smith: [00:13:04] In addition, like great antique stores, great thrift stores, like you, I definitely turned online both and Marketplace and Facebook or even eBay to find some great finds that I feel like I was in the right place at the right time and was able to pounce and and grabbed it. And so that gives you that thrill. So obviously there have been just some wonderful things. Dallas where I live, it's pretty dog eat dog. So like I don't do estate sales because the lines are just mammoth around-- Bex Scott: [00:13:41] Oh, I bet. Nate Smith: [00:13:41] I feel like there are a lot of antique stores and a lot of resellers here in such a large metropolis metropolitan area. And so I feel like the competition is high. And so I just say, you know, I'm not from here. I don't know anybody. I don't have any inside tracks here in Dallas. And so I just leave that to them. And so I turn mostly to either the people I know in the Pyrex community or online, mostly, for my finds. Bex Scott: [00:14:10] Yeah, I'll have to start looking for Pyrex swaps, because that's something that I've watched on people's Instagrams that look so fun, and just seeing what they've found from going to them is a lot better than going to the antique stores. We have a ton of antique stores around here, and they're all super overpriced, so it's very rare to find something affordable that's on your list there. But I keep trying. Nate Smith: [00:14:36] Yeah. And sometimes even at the swaps you think it's a gather of collectors, but also it's just people who are vendors. And a friend of mine found a Lady on the Left Butterprint 503, so the large refrigerator dish, priced as if it were a regular refrigerator dish. And so that was a huge score for her. And I was like, because even as collectors and it was like midway through the swap and how many people were there and had noticed and just like, oh, it's just another 503. And she took the time to really pay attention and realize that it was a Lady on the Left. And so big score for her. We were all just like cheering her on. It was so awesome. Bex Scott: [00:15:22] That's awesome. I would be very excited if I found that. And it does make a difference if you take the time to look through things and you can find stuff like that if you're patient. Nate Smith: [00:15:33] Dig a little bit. Absolutely. Yeah. Bex Scott: [00:15:34] Yeah. Mhmm. So what would you say are the most prized pieces in your collection? Nate Smith: [00:15:41] So I will say that as my collection evolved, I have definitely kind of refocused on two major categories. Like I'm never going to get rid of any of my Horizon Blue. That's part of my complete collection, but focused for me now as far as Pyrex goes, I collect the boxes. The boxes have been a wonderfully deep rabbit hole that I have just absolutely fallen in love with the original artwork on the boxes. And then the rares. So those pieces that were either test patterns or things that were maybe one-offs that people made in the factories, and I've even found some people from other people who found out from people who worked there at the factory. A friend of mine bought some pieces directly from someone who used to work there, and he told my friend that basically after hours they could go down into the basement, and if there was already a pattern and already colors and anything, they could just mix and match things in a way for their wives or for anybody that they wanted to. And so he was able to find a Snowflake Cinderella bowl set that somebody had made their wife. And like, obviously that doesn't exist. And so it was amazing. Absolutely. And so for me, obviously, I'm lucky enough to own the Lucky in Love and I own the Constellation, Oh My Stars as it's called sometimes. I own a one of a kind, which is the Tulips, it's usually a white on blue, the 043 Tulip pattern, and I have it as a gold on cream. Bex Scott: [00:17:29] Oh that would be pretty. Nate Smith: [00:17:30] It's just beautiful. I have the Clover Berry. I mean, I'm so lucky to have so many of the rare pieces. And that's actually another reason why I'm still buying and selling on Instagram. You know, My Vintage Is 1976 was kind of born because like, I want to buy and sell. And then that kind of goes into my little Pyrex fun money stockpile that I can afford some of these things that I want to treat myself with. So. Bex Scott: [00:17:57] And the Lucky in Love, there's two different versions, right? Nate Smith: [00:18:01] I don't know what you mean. There's the clear. You know, that's kind of the new version that they kind of reissued that's pretty common that you can find. I think it was done, you know, not so long ago. But then it's on the opal. Bex Scott: [00:18:17] Is there one without hearts? Does it have hearts? Nate Smith: [00:18:19] Oh okay. Now. Yes. So there is one I think in the Corning Museum before they added the hearts. And that's the reason that I also have heard why it never made it to the run. On mine you can see that this is 100% true, the way they layered the paint, so there's some overlap with the heart over the shamrock. And you can see the green shamrock through the light kind of bubblegum pink. And I think so then it didn't pass their standards that you could see one through the other. And so then that's kind of why they stopped production or it never made it to market. Bex Scott: [00:19:01] Interesting. Nate Smith: [00:19:03] Yeah. Yeah. And the reason my second guess is there's a one of a kind, I think that's on the 475, the large casserole. And my friend owns that one and so. It'd be pretty cool to stack a 473 on a 475 just to see it. Bex Scott: [00:19:19] Yeah. Nate Smith: [00:19:20] You know, but. Bex Scott: [00:19:21] That would be very cool. That's awesome. With all of the information that's out there, what's something that people, it's kind of like how do you say it, that isn't accurate that people talk about Pyrex? That you'd say that's kind of like a misinformation about Pyrex, if there is any. Nate Smith: [00:19:40] Sure. Well, I see a lot of times people will say Pyrex as the brand, you know, and Pyrex is a product within the Corning company, you know, so Corning that also made Corelle, that also made Corning Ware, also made Pyrex. So it's easy to talk about, you know, Pyrex as the manufacturer. But they're not, you know, it's just another brand in in the Corning company. A lot of people will call, it's kind of like, oh, you know, you call every adhesive bandage a Band-Aid, you call every facial tissue Kleenex, or every pill Tylenol. You know, I feel like a lot of people will call all kinds Pyrex. You know, whether it's Fire King, Hazel, Atlas, Federal, McKee, any of it. It's just all Pyrex. And I'm like, no, no, it's not. So, that's another one that I'm like, gosh, see that all the time, is that they'll just label it all Pyrex, you know, like it's a one stop shop, one name for all of that kind of cookware. But obviously it's not. Bex Scott: [00:20:51] Right. Yeah, that's a good point. Lots of my family members do that. They'll bring home something for me and they'll say, I got you some Pyrex. Thank you very much. But it's glass, actually. And are there any pieces that you're still on the hunt for in terms of Pyrex? Nate Smith: [00:21:15] Always, always. You know, and it's so easy when in any collection, I feel like, it's so easy to become jealous. And I hate that word, but jealous of other people's collections because, you know, like, oh my gosh, they just have such beautiful... Even if it's just the way they display it. And I hear that often like, oh, I'm so jealous of your collection, but you should be happy with the collection you have. And so, and I oftentimes say, if I never get another piece of Pyrex, the fact that I've been able to be a part of the pieces I currently have history, then I feel beyond lucky. There are several boxes that I would love to add to my collection. If you know the Willow casserole, the cute little 473, I would love to have that box. There are several others. The Penn Dutch promotional friendship pattern. I would love to have that box. The grapes with the little plastic hugger, I think it's a 473 as well. I would love to have that box. Some of the boxes are just really cute, and I would just love to checkmark and add that to my collection. Nate Smith: [00:22:24] As far as just general rares go, I have the turquoise Hex pattern with the lid and it came with an under plate. So I have two pieces. I have the lid and the casserole, but I don't have the under plate, so I would love to add that to my collection. All kinds. There's all kinds. Yeah, it's so funny though that there are some that they're like, Nate, do you want this or whatever? Because once you get to a certain level, a lot of it is just passed amongst the collectors, right? Like once you hit a certain tier, people call and say, hey, I've got this and I'm going to sell. Or hey, if you ever want to sell this, let me know. And a lot of it is just passed and will never hit eBay and will never hit, you know, the market. So I'm lucky enough to be in a lot of those circles as well. And so there are definitely some pieces that my friends have that I was like, if you ever want to let that go. Bex Scott: [00:23:17] Yeah, let me know. Have the boxes been pretty hard to find? Nate Smith: [00:23:25] So I've run across a lot of boxes in person in antique malls. I'm trying to stay very specific. Like I'm trying not to, unless it's just a gorgeous box or Horizon Blue, I'm trying not to do standard line boxes because then that just opens the whole floodgates, right? That's like every pattern, every different casserole, every different everything that, I mean, that's just a lot of boxes. So I'm trying to stay close with just the promotional pieces or the Horizon Blue pieces as far as boxes go, but I'll see several from time to time just, you know, you can tell whether they're Spring Blossom or Butterfly Gold or Snowflake Garland or several others, the Forest Fancies I see a lot, a lot of the later ones, the Shenandoah or the Colonial Mist I'll see pretty often, and you'll see those pop up pretty often on eBay as well, the especially the later ones, because they only have had to be in a basement for, you know, 40 years instead of, uh, 60 years. Bex Scott: [00:24:37] And my grandma has a storage room right now that nobody knows what's in it. I don't think she even knows. So my hope is that she'll let me clean it out someday soon, and I'll find something great in there. Nate Smith: [00:24:53] That's every person's goal. And I feel like that's how, that's why so much is hitting the market and has hit the market so much in the last five years, is because I think the generations of people who received these pieces as wedding gifts, as housewarming presents, now are unfortunately of the age that either they've passed and their children are cleaning out their homes, or they're downsizing and going to live their best condo life in the beach somewhere, you know, and they're finally cleaning out that basement. And they've been in boxes for 60 years. And another reason I love boxes is because they can so easily stack in my closet. And so it's so much easier than having to find individual shelves or, you know, trying to pull a balancing act with how many bowls can I stack on top of each other. Bex Scott: [00:25:52] Can maximize the use of space. Nate Smith: [00:25:54] Just as if they were in a basement. So I love that. Bex Scott: [00:25:57] That's my new reasoning for starting to collect boxes. That they stack well, yeah. Nate Smith: [00:26:02] Absolutely. Bex Scott: [00:26:02] I'm going to tell my husband right after this. And the number of garage sales I've been to where people have had all types of items and they've said, we got this for our wedding 60 years ago and it never came out of our cupboard. It's just mind blowing. And they're selling it for super cheap because they never wanted it, and they expect that nobody else will. Nate Smith: [00:26:28] Absolutely. Or if when these were purchased, I've gotten the boxes that still have the original price on the cardboard or even cut slash prices, it was $3.98 now it's $1.99, you know, on super sale. And I'm like, it's easy to understand that they feel like they can sell this for $5 because it was only $2 back then, you know. So I feel like to them, if they're not checking the eBay comps and in the Facebook groups like we are, understandably so, they don't necessarily see or understand why they would be so valuable. Bex Scott: [00:27:07] Yeah, yeah. Nate Smith: [00:27:10] Because I've had lots of grandmas see my prices at a swap and just be like, you're crazy. I'm like, I'm really not. Bex Scott: [00:27:19] Yeah. Oh that's funny. I've had a few of those when I had a garage sale in the summer, and they were all older women coming into my sale and looking through and seeing all these things from their past. And a bunch of them said, you can't sell it for this much, like it wasn't this when I bought it so that's ridiculous. I'm like, well, like, thanks for your opinion, but... Nate Smith: [00:27:44] Stand over to the side and wait till a couple more customers come through and you'll see this stuff flying out the door. Yeah. Bex Scott: [00:27:51] That's funny. You mentioned Facebook groups. So how do you feel about all of the Pyrex Facebook groups out there and the information that's being spread about, and yeah. What are your thoughts? Nate Smith: [00:28:10] So I do have a lot of opinions about that. Now I will say I'm pretty loyal to my Instagram. Obviously I've mentioned it, My Vintage Is 1976. I feel like it's a wonderful place to come and get information. In 2022, I hosted a year-long series called Let's Chat About Pyrex. And so twice a month I did kind of an educational series, it's a great place all the way to start from here's how the numbers work, here's the different patterns, here's maybe pieces you've never seen before. And then I eventually invited guests on so that they could show pieces from their collection as well. So I feel like it's a great visual educational series that you can still go back and watch. The Facebook groups I feel like it became a lot for me, and if I'm being honest, because there's so many different groups and all of them you can sell in this one and you can't sell in that one, or you better not show a picture that doesn't have a rare in that one or it's going to get deleted. So there just became a lot of rules. And so I left a large percentage of the groups. There are a couple that I absolutely love. I'm a member of the one it's called Pyrex Snobs, so I love that one. It's really cute. It's run by my friend Annette. And then I also love the, it's fairly new group, called Homestead Relics, and that's run by my friends Lindsay and Nicole. And they are phenomenal and they have lots of sales, but they also are just open whether you're a new collector or a veteran collector, it's kind of like we all knew them from the swaps and all that stuff, and they were like, let's go do this right. And they have just been phenomenal. I'm so happy to see the success of their Facebook page. It's been great. Bex Scott: [00:30:08] I'm going to have to go join those groups because I've been considering leaving a lot of the other ones that as a newer collector, I'm scared to ask questions in. Nate Smith: [00:30:20] Yeah, and and there are some people, whether they're the people who run the page or not, there are people in the Pyrex community, and I don't want to just say Pyrex community because it's most collecting groups, who want to make new collectors feel bad about their lack of knowledge, when it's really not their fault and they're really just trying to learn. And as a former educator, like I was a teacher in the classroom for 15 years, and now I'm a counselor, so I've been in education this is my 25th year. And so it's really hard for me not to want to meet people where they're at because as a kid comes into my classroom, you never know where they're coming from, what their background is, what teachers they had last year, what they know, what they don't know. Maybe they're new to your school. And it's the same way with collecting. There's a whole wealth of reasons why people want to start collecting anything. Could be the passing of a loved one. It could be just they found something and they like it, and they want to know more about it, you know? And it's the people who just want to shut them out or make them feel less than because they don't know the answer that makes me just, it made me want to leave a lot of the Facebook groups originally, so I did. Bex Scott: [00:31:35] Mhm. And how have you found the community overall? Do you find that it's mostly supportive and friendly? Nate Smith: [00:31:44] Highs and lows. I'm going to be honest. Because it comes down with different people's personalities. You know, like I've made a lot of people mad in the community. I have people who've blocked me and don't want to talk to me anymore because of the pieces I have and how they think I got them, which it's so funny how it all just, it all spirals like that. But there are also wonderful people and and I feel like as in any group, you get to see these people. I am in the swap circuit. So like I see people a few times a year, you know, when I can and I have my like inner circle of really close friends and then they're just everyone else that you're just friendly with, you know? So I feel like, and just because you see some people a few times a year, sometimes you think people are going to be great people, and then maybe they turn out not to be great people, or you very quickly realize you have a piece that they want and so they're just being kind or nice to you because they, and then when you don't give them what they want then they're like ease on down the road. So yeah like just like in all communities I feel like it's The Breakfast Club. Right? You're going to have all the different kinds of personalities represented. So you just have to find your tribe within this much larger community that can build you up from where you are. And I think that's where you'll get your joy and find your joy. Bex Scott: [00:33:14] I agree. That's a great way to put it. And I've met a lot of really awesome people who have ended up becoming friends just through Instagram, and those are the ones you want to focus on, the ones that support you with your collecting and learning, and just want to have fun with you throughout the whole process of it. Nate Smith: [00:33:33] Absolutely agree. Bex Scott: [00:33:36] And how have you found that collecting has changed from when you first started to now? If it has? Nate Smith: [00:33:42] No, it definitely has. I feel like, well I find joy that there seems to be a steady stream of new collectors in my world on Instagram, like new customers. So there are new people who seem to be buying Pyrex. So that gives me joy to think that it's not a fad or a flash in the pan that's over. I think there are prices that are getting and becoming astronomical that I'm like, oh my gosh, like three years ago I could find that piece for this and now there's no way I'm touching it for that. You know? Like I see some of the pieces and just how they're escalating on eBay or in some of the groups, you know? So I think that has changed. But I do think the joy and love that people get from collecting Pyrex is continuing to spread. Just like I said, there are new Pyrex swaps in different parts of the countries that are popping up. That tells me that there are new people and new communities gathered together to celebrate this and to find joy in it. And I do think that as long as that continues to happen, then I'm super excited that our community is going to continue to grow. I think that people who did collect during the pandemic, it's kind of like all things, right? Like either now they're to the point of where they're over it and they're done and they're ready to move on. Or like we had said, they're to the point to where they want to fine tune their collection a little bit and make it not just a Pyrex collection, but their Pyrex collection, and have it be a reflection of what they enjoy most and what they find the most joy in. So. Bex Scott: [00:35:24] What would you say are the most overpriced right now pieces that are out there? Nate Smith: [00:35:31] So we just came off of Christmas and Christmas always escalates prices. Because we see, whether it be the husbands who are buying something for their wives on eBay or even in the antique stores, people trying to think like, I've saved this back for the customers for Christmas, to think that I'm going to get more out of it, etc. you just never know. So I think that has skewed what I am currently getting ready to say. Overpriced, I feel like everything has gone up, but some of the, well, I don't know, I don't know, no, I don't, I want to say like the Duchess box that went for like five grand a couple months ago on eBay, like that still blows me away. But it was pristine. It was pristine. And even the Duchess in general, which I know is the piece, your unicorn, right? Like it's a beautiful piece. I've had it and sold it. And I've had and sold Pink Stems twice. I just can't keep pink. I just, there's something about I just don't like, I just don't like their pink. So those to me seem the most, or even, oh, here's a good one, Mrs. Maisel. You know, the Mrs. Maisel casserole, the white daisy on pink 045 casserole. That was part of a standard line that was one of the first standard line so maybe a little harder to come by. But I mean, there were thousands out there, but what people were paying for it just because it was on a television show, I was like, well, this was on Murder She Wrote, could I ask more for it? Bex Scott: [00:37:16] Oh, I love Murder, She Wrote. That's a great one. Nate Smith: [00:37:19] Oh, girl, we need to be best friends. Jessica Fletcher and I are tight. We're tight. Bex Scott: [00:37:26] Oh, that's a good point about TV shows and kind of what they do to Pyrex. And I was looking through on Pinterest the other day, which Pyrex pieces have been shown in which shows? And there's so many of them. And this one, yeah, Mrs. Maisel, just everybody gravitated to it and it exploded. Nate Smith: [00:37:46] Well, and they still call it The Mrs. Maisel casserole. You know, I think it was in the first or second episode that she took something to the comedy club in that casserole. And I was like, there have been four seasons since then. Why are we still focused on that? Is that, did you guys only get to the second episode? But that just kind of came became known as The Mrs. Maisel Casserole. And then people were just paying ungodly amounts for it. You know, but yeah. Bex Scott: [00:38:15] Yeah. That's the one that always surfaces. Nate Smith: [00:38:16] A standard line piece. Yeah. Bex Scott: [00:38:19] Yeah Facebook Marketplace, it's all over here, and it's always dishwasher damaged, and it's always like $300 for the worst condition piece of it. Nate Smith: [00:38:29] So can I ask you a question? So you are obviously in the land of the North. So to me, like you always want what you can't have. Right? So I feel like in Canada, I hear about these dream Fire King mugs that never kind of made it down to our market, but they always seem so readily available in Canada. And Federal, you know, like you guys, like all the Federal patterns and bowls and they're so pretty. And I never see Federal. Bex Scott: [00:39:05] Oh really? Nate Smith: [00:39:06] Like yes. All my friends like in Wisconsin or Michigan said like, oh yeah, it all comes down from Canada. It all comes down from Canada. So I have to feel like you're just living in a Federal and Fire King dream up there. Bex Scott: [00:39:20] There does seem to be a ton of it. It's always in the thrift stores and people are always selling it on Marketplace, especially the mugs. There's a few sellers in my area who seem to have every mug possible, and they just slowly leak them out on their Marketplace page, and I see them coming up and it's always 'rare, hard to find' like $1 million for this mug. So yeah, there's a lot of it up here. But yeah, if there's anything specific you're ever looking for, it's probably at Value Village. Nate Smith: [00:39:53] I will, I'll let you know for sure. I was a mug guy for a long, long time. I'm trying to slowly break away from the mugs. We're breaking up. We're on a break. We're on a break. But then, do you know the two US Pyrex patterns that were named differently in Canada? Bex Scott: [00:40:12] Was one Colonial Mist? Nate Smith: [00:40:14] Oh, if it was Colonial Mist, I don't know. The two I know, and may have, so Early American was called Early Canadian, I think, because I think they found a box called Early Canadian. And then I think our Shenandoah pattern is called Wintergreen. Bex Scott: [00:40:33] Oh, cool. Nate Smith: [00:40:34] And was called Wintergreen in the Canada market. Bex Scott: [00:40:37] I didn't know that. Nate Smith: [00:40:39] I would love to have a Wintergreen box. That's the goal. It's the same as Shenandoah, but it just says Wintergreen and I think it's so cute. Like perfect for winter, you know. Bex Scott: [00:40:51] Yeah. We, I very rarely find Early American here. I think I've found it one in British Columbia once, but it doesn't show up very often. Nate Smith: [00:41:01] Yeah. I think it was called Early Canadian. I think. Bex Scott: [00:41:05] That's really cool. Nate Smith: [00:41:07] Because I mean, that makes sense for Canadian market. If it's called Early American, who's going to buy it in a Canadian market? But that's why the Colonial Mist makes pattern or makes sense too, you know, colonial is so oftentimes associated, just the word, with colonial America. So it would make sense that they would change that name for the Canadian market as well. That's being, that's interesting. Bex Scott: [00:41:30] That's really cool. One thing I've been wondering for a long time is what is the difference between Delphite and Bluebell? Is there something different? Because I've posted about Delphite Pyrex and I've had people correct me before. So yeah, I was wondering. Nate Smith: [00:41:49] So I feel like Delphite, so I feel like the bowls here, or the bowls that were created in the US market, are referred to as Bluebell, right? But I feel like you guys had plates and all that kind of dinnerware that I don't necessarily think of as part of that Bluebell pattern. So is that what's considered Delphite? Bex Scott: [00:42:17] Yeah, I don't, I'm not sure. Nate Smith: [00:42:18] In Pyrex world? Bex Scott: [00:42:20] I have a ton of the plates and I never know because I look them up and I get different answers online, so that might be it. Nate Smith: [00:42:29] Yeah. Like I know there's another Pyrex passion book. There's two different ones. There's one that is the promotionals and the lines, and that's kind of the Pyrex passion second edition. I love it. But then I feel like there's one that focuses on dinnerware and tableware and things like that. So I don't know if it's covered in that one or not, but I don't know the answer. Bex Scott: [00:42:56] I'll have to take a look. Nate Smith: [00:42:57] Like I do know in Fire King, which I found this interesting, that they called what we would normally call Delphitec Turquoise. Bex Scott: [00:43:07] Oh. Nate Smith: [00:43:09] Yeah. Like if you look in the old Fire King books, like the teardrop bowls, the Swedish modern mixing balls that they did, like those are referenced as Turquoise, not Delphite. Bex Scott: [00:43:21] Interesting. Huh. Nate Smith: [00:43:23] Yeah. Bex Scott: [00:43:24] That makes things even more confusing. Nate Smith: [00:43:27] Because, like, that's not really turquoise but whatever. Speaker3: [00:43:30] No, that's definitely not. Bex Scott: [00:43:35] So outside of Pyrex, you collect other things as well. Nate Smith: [00:43:39] I do, so I do feel like I in general have an addictive personality, like I, by nature am a completist. So if I collect something, I want as much of it as I can have to say that I've completed the collection, and then I can put it to rest and then move on. So I do love collecting the Holt Howard pixie ware, the little condiment jars and oil and vinegar and dressing cruet, all the things like, I just, I've fallen in love with those wacky little faces. Bex Scott: [00:44:14] They're very cute. Nate Smith: [00:44:14] I think they're so cute. Yeah. I do a lot of vintage Christmas, but I'm very specific about what I collect in the world of vintage Christmas. I buy and sell a lot of vintage Christmas, but for me, I collect a very, very small, defined amount of that. And then, as given by my Instagram handle, my vintage is 1976. You can probably guess that I'm a child of the 80s, and so I love a good 80s toy as well. So whether if that's He-Man, ThunderCats, Monchichi, Smurfs, Pac-Man, if it brings back any sort of nostalgia for me, like I'll have a hard time walking away from that. So yeah, that too. Those three: Pyrex, the pixie ware, and the 80s toys are probably my three favorite things to collect. Bex Scott: [00:45:08] Is it pretty easy to find toys in your area, or do you mostly find them online? Nate Smith: [00:45:13] It's a mix, so I very rarely go looking for something specific in that world. So that's usually like if I find it and I love it, then I let myself have it. I found a boxed Monchichi in an antique store. And I was like, I can't walk away from this. Like, I want it real, real bad, like, instantly. So, like, stuff like that I have to do. I very rarely go searching for He-Man on eBay or anything like that. I tell myself eventually I'm going to recreate my entire ThunderCats collection that I had when I was a kid. So that's an eventual like, maybe I'll get there goal. But for here and now, like, if I find it and I pick it up, that's great. But like I said, I'm a completist. So if I just find a loose guy in an antique mall or a thrift store, I can't buy it because I know he had weapons or something with him, some little accessory. And if it's not there too, like, I can't because then I'll just drive myself crazy looking for that one little piece that I don't have. Bex Scott: [00:46:24] That makes sense. Yeah. It has to be complete. Do you have any advice for new collectors that want to get into Pyrex collecting or kind of vintage as a whole? Nate Smith: [00:46:39] Yeah. So as hard as this may be, I would try to find a Pyrex mentor if you can. You know, someone who's not going to judge you, but someone who's also going to hold your hand and help you through the process. Because while it is super exciting to buy it when you see it, if you see it you buy it, kind of thing, that can become overwhelming very quickly. And so just to have someone kind of put you on pause and say, do you really love this pattern or do you think you're going to eventually love it? Like why or do you just want to buy it because it's Pyrex? You know, something like that. I do think that there are an abundance of resources out there. The Pyrex Passion second edition that I mentioned earlier kind of was my Pyrex Bible when I started. I learned a lot, and I think it's organized very, very well, like the promotionals that you can kind of see with the brief little description in a history of when it came out, all the standard lines and all the pieces within the standard lines. It's organized in a way that I appreciated as a new collector. So I would say find a Pyrex mentor. I would say get a copy of the Pyrex Passion second edition. I would say listen to Pyrex with Bex, and I would say follow Nate, MyVintageIs1976. Bex Scott: [00:48:09] That is all amazing advice. Nate Smith: [00:48:10] That's all you need to do. Bex Scott: [00:48:13] All you need for your Pyrex world domination. Nate Smith: [00:48:19] That's it. Bex Scott: [00:48:21] Love it. Well, do you have any other educational tidbits or anything you'd like to pass on to listeners in closing? Nate Smith: [00:48:33] Absolutely. So I feel like if you are a thrifter, I think it's getting easier to find Pyrex at least than it was a year ago, a year and a half ago, in the thrift stores. I feel like it's showing up again, just like glass. I feel like you couldn't find mid-century glass in thrift stores a year and a half ago, and I'm starting to see it creep back in as well. So I would encourage anybody who is a thrifter to be consistent. If you're going to go, go on a regular basis is the only way you're really going to find something. Like, you might have that jackpot hit every once in a while, but it's the consistency that's really going to help you. I feel like always check the bottom shelf because boxes and other things kind of hide down there. And I would encourage you to do one pass in one direction in a thrift store. And then I would encourage you to turn around and go in the opposite direction. I would encourage you to look with the plates, and you might find some of the casserole lids or other lids that you're looking for. if they put the plates in one section, but a lot of times they'll put the pots and pans in the other section, and a lot of times for a long time, I skip the pots and pans aisle. But then I found like some of the things that they don't know what to do with, like the cradles, are living over there with the other metal pot and pans, and so it helps to look everywhere because you never know where you're going to find something if you're a thrifter. Bex Scott: [00:50:01] Those are all great points, especially about looking in aisles that you don't expect things to be in. And the bottom. I've found so many things on the floor, like underneath the shelves too. So I've even gone on the floor flat on my stomach, looking underneath shelves. So I will do anything to find a good one. Nate Smith: [00:50:21] Absolutely. I'm right there with you. I'm all about, you know, rolling up my sleeves and getting my hands dirty. Absolutely. We have this great, it's about an hour east of Dallas, it's called Canton. Canton. And it's called First Monday Trade Days. And it's like this, it's, I mean, it goes on and on and on, and it's this massive flea market that they have this particular weekend of the first Monday each month. And I found so many treasures there. But it's all about, like I said, being consistent. My biggest advice is just be nice, because these vendors who you're talking to, striking up conversation with, you never know what else they have that they haven't put out. But because you are nice and you asked a question that they might dig out of their van for you, or that they have a whole barn at their house that they, you know, were only able to bring so much. And I've been able to do two house picks just because I struck up a conversation with the right people. And so, you know, people always say a smile doesn't cost a dime. And that's 100% true. So I think there's no harm in putting your best foot forward, striking up a conversation with people, being nice and it's not to get something out of it. But sometimes because you are kind, good things will come back to you. And that's my big piece of advice and takeaway for that. Bex Scott: [00:51:47] Yeah. Kindness definitely goes a long way. And it's, yeah, I agree 100% with what you said. Well thank you so much for chatting with me today. Everybody head over to My Vintage Is 1976 on Instagram. Give Nate a follow. You'll have a ton of fun looking through his posts, looking through what he's selling and up to, and just a lot of great education. So make sure to give him a follow. And thank you so much, Nate. Nate Smith: [00:52:19] Thank you. It was a pleasure.
News with Sean 1-4-2024 ...Bigfoot in Wintergreen ...They are starting to release Epstein Documents
Lonnie Dupre is a polar explorer and mountaineer who has spent considerable time in cold climates. Over a span of 4 decades, Lonnie has witnessed tremendous changes of polar regions of the world due to global warming, including Greenland and Alaska. While Lonnie is mostly an adventurer, he is also an advocate for spreading the awareness of global warming. Recently, the film AMKA, meaning "one with a friendly spirit" in Inuktun was released. This heartwarming film is a story in which the relationship of dog team, the unsung heroes of the Arctic is highlighted. Lonnie Dupre and his partnerJohn Hoelscher circumnavigated Greenland in 2001 by both dog team and by kayak. Lonnie returned in 2022 to work with the Inuit Hunters and Greenlandic Sled Dog in the making of this film. Today's conversation with Lonnie discusses the film, AMKA, the Inuit dogs, the joy of adventuring by dog team and what he recommends for making a difference in curbing global warming : Get out and vote!You can learn more about Lonnie from his website: www.lonniedupre.comLonnie is grateful for his sponsors, Primaloft http://www.PrimaLoft.com and Wintergreen. https://www.wintergreen.comThank you for listening to the Alaska Climate and Aviation's Podcast.Aerial Photography of Alaska's wilderness can be seen at:http://www.katiewritergallery.comKatie WriterJournalist/Pilot/Photographerktphotowork@gmail.com
This week, count ups, POG follow up, general Theta talk, and the worst 10 plus minutes in Pinecast history. You definitely want to miss it.
Cinnamon Bear 37-12-10 13 The Wintergreen Witch
Today, we discuss some garden flowers and common weeds that will probably surprise you!I am starting a campaign to protect and restore the right to trap for meat and fur, and to counter the looney left. Each day, I will post, "Be anti-woke, wear fur." I am asking all my followers to post this message to all your social media. Trapping is humane and fur is beautiful!THE PREPPER'S BLACK FRIDAY CATALOG A gift guide for the tin foil hat wearing survivalist in your life...even if that is YOU. Discounts on gas masks, solar generators, body armor, EMP protection, backup antibiotics, books, classes, and MORE! http://bit.ly/47OnkY1PS. New in the woodcraft Shop: Judson Carroll Woodcraft | SubstackRead about my new books:Medicinal Weeds and Grasses of the American Southeast, an Herbalist's Guidehttps://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2023/05/medicinal-weeds-and-grasses-of-american.htmlAvailable in paperback on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C47LHTTHandConfirmation, an Autobiography of Faithhttps://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2023/05/confirmation-autobiography-of-faith.htmlAvailable in paperback on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C47Q1JNKVisit my Substack and sign up for my free newsletter: https://judsoncarroll.substack.com/Read about my new other books:Medicinal Ferns and Fern Allies, an Herbalist's Guide https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/11/medicinal-ferns-and-fern-allies.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BMSZSJPSThe Omnivore's Guide to Home Cooking for Preppers, Homesteaders, Permaculture People and Everyone Else: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-omnivores-guide-to-home-cooking-for.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BGKX37Q2Medicinal Shrubs and Woody Vines of The American Southeast an Herbalist's Guidehttps://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/06/medicinal-shrubs-and-woody-vines-of.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B2T4Y5L6andGrowing Your Survival Herb Garden for Preppers, Homesteaders and Everyone Elsehttps://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/04/growing-your-survival-herb-garden-for.htmlhttps://www.amazon.com/dp/B09X4LYV9RThe Encyclopedia of Medicinal Bitter Herbs: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-encyclopedia-of-bitter-medicina.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B5MYJ35RandChristian Medicine, History and Practice: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/01/christian-herbal-medicine-history-and.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B09P7RNCTBHerbal Medicine for Preppers, Homesteaders and Permaculture People: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2021/10/herbal-medicine-for-preppers.htmlAlso available on Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B09HMWXL25Podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/show/southern-appalachian-herbsBlog: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/Free Video Lessons: https://rumble.com/c/c-618325
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This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on July 15. It dropped for free subscribers on June 18. To receive future pods as soon as they're live, and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also subscribe for free below:WhoTom Price, General Manager of Timberline, West VirginiaRecorded onJune 26, 2023About Timberline, West VirginiaClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: The Perfect FamilyLocated in: Davis, West VirginiaYear founded: 1983Pass affiliations: The Perfect Pass – unlimited accessReciprocal partners: unlimited access to Perfect North, Indiana with the Perfect PassClosest neighboring ski areas: Canaan Valley (8 minutes); White Grass XC touring/backcountry center (11 minutes); Wisp, Maryland (1 hour, 15 minutes); Snowshoe, West Virginia (1 hour, 50 minutes); Bryce, Virginia (2 hours); Homestead, Virginia (2 hours); Massanutten, Virginia (2 hours, 21 minutes)Base elevation: 3,268 feetSummit elevation: 4,268 feetVertical drop: 1,000 feetSkiable Acres: 100Average annual snowfall: 150 inchesTrail count: 20 (2 double-black, 2 black, 6 intermediate, 10 beginner), plus two named glades and two terrain parksLift count: 4 (1 high-speed six-pack, 1 fixed-grip quad, 2 carpets - view Lift Blog's inventory of Timberline's lift fleet)Why I interviewed himIn January, I arrived at Timberline on day five of a brutal six-day meltdown across the Mid-Atlantic. I'd passed through six other ski areas en route – all were partially open, stapled together, passable but clearly struggling. Then this: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.Perfect North is one of the most incredible ski areas in the country, a machine that proves skiing can thrive in marginal conditions. Timberline is Exhibit B, demonstrating that an operating model built on aggressive snowmaking and constant investment can scale.Which seems obvious, right? We're not exactly trying to decipher grandma's secret meatloaf recipe here. But it's not so easy. Vail Resorts has barely kept Paoli Peaks – Indiana's only other ski area – open two dozen days each of the past two seasons (Perfect North hit 86 days for the 2022-23 winter and 81 in 2021-22). And Canaan Valley, next door to Timberline, is like that house with uncut grass and dogs pooping all over the yard. Surely they're aware of a lawnmower. And yet.Skiers, everywhere, want very simple things: snow to ski on, a reliable product, consistency. That can be hard to deliver in an unpredictable world. But while their competitors make excuses, Timberline and Perfect North make snow.What we talked aboutSnowmaking, snowmaking, snowmaking; applying an Indiana operating philosophy to the Appalachian wilds; changing consumer expectations; 36 inches of snow in May and why the ski area didn't open when the storm hit; night skiing returns; when you fall in love with an uncomfortable thing; leaving Utah for Indiana; The Perfect family and Perfect North Slopes; fire in Ohio; what happened when Perfect North bought Timberline; a brief history of Timberline and why it failed; why this time is different; Mid-Atlantic and West Virginia ski culture; “you bought a ski area with no chairlifts”; why Timberline installed a six-pack to the summit to replace two old top-to-bottom triples; deciding on a fixed-grip quad for a mid-mountain lift; coming tweaks to smooth out unloading; why Timberline moved the beginner area over toward the lodge; whether we could see a mountain-top beginner area; the surprising trail that was a major factor in the decision to purchase Timberline; big plans for the terrain park, including a surface lift; how the trail footprint evolved from one ownership group to the next; trail map as marketing tool versus functional tool; expanding the glade network; potential trail expansion; considering a second summit lift for Timberline; a spectacular lodge renovation; adding up the investment; assessing local and destination support three seasons into the comeback; growing Timberline into more of a Southeast-style resort a-la Snowshoe or Wintergreen; reception so far for the “Perfect Pass” combo pass with Perfect North; the Indy Pass; and Timberline's unique day-ticket price structure. Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewThis has been one of my most-requested interviews since the Perfects bought the place back in 2019. The splash and kazam of Timberline's renovation inspired awe and jealousy among skiers, who couldn't believe how easy the new owners made it all look and resent the 60-year-old Hall doubles spinning at their local. Despite the fact that It's three-decades-old technology, a high-speed six-pack still stirs up a thrill in most skiers, an emblem of prosperity and seriousness, amplified by the fact that some of America's wealthiest resorts – Jackson Hole, Deer Valley, Aspen Mountain and Highlands, Beaver Creek, Alta, Snowbird – still don't have a single sixer between them.Which, OK, great. Throw a $20 million renovation at a trailer park, and it will start to resemble Beverly Hills. But do you want to live there? That's what I needed to figure out: was Timberline a flashy gamble for an out-of-its-league Midwest operator, or proof-of-concept for an industry that needs to fortify itself for life in a different sort of world than most of its ski areas were born into?Obviously, I think it's the latter. But it's hard to explain. Most skiers outside of the region refuse to take Mid-Atlantic skiing seriously. But it's time to start paying closer attention. There are some seriously talented operators in Appalachia. Wintergreen, Virginia just finished a season with exactly zero inches of natural snowfall. Massanutten, Virginia and Wisp, Maryland both opened in November despite temperatures in the 70s for most of the month. The climate catastrophes that loom over skiing's future are the realities that Mid-Atlantic ski areas just spent three decades adapting to.Timberline had the advantage of starting over with all of its institutional knowledge, the hard lessons of the region's recent past, and the low-energy, high-impact technology of the current moment. It's a powerful combination, and one that has made Timberline a showcase for what a ski area of the 2020s can be. With three seasons of operations behind it, it was time to check in and ask how well all that was working.What I got wrongI said that Perfect North had 200 snowguns. The actual number, according to this SMI case study, is 245.I stated that the vertical drop of the now-removed lower-mountain beginner chairlift was “a couple hundred vertical feet maybe.” It was 90 feet, according to Lift Blog.Why you should ski TimberlineTimberline has one thing that its competitors don't: legit, border-to-border terrain. As Price tells me in our interview, there are “probably 100” trails on the mountain when it snows, which it does more in this pocket of high-altitude West Virginia than anywhere else in the region. Most Mid-Atlantic ski areas are all-seasons resorts with ski areas attached. Timberline, however, is more ski than resort. It's a badass little mountain, with a thousand vertical feet of expansive, imaginative lines. That makes Timberline an indispensable character in the regional ski cast, the sort of bruiser that any ski state needs as a foil to its more manicured neighbors (think Mount Bohemia, Michigan; Berkshire East, Massachusetts; Plattekill, New York; Magic Mountain, Vermont; Wildcat, New Hampshire). Yes, parks are important. Grooming is essential. But so is tree-skiing. So is opening up the wide and wild world off-piste. This is what keeps skiing interesting, and what sends locals out into the wider world, north and west, to explore the vastness of it all.Podcast NotesOn Perfect NorthThe other day, my family watched Back to the Future Part II. My daughter hadn't been with us when we'd watched part one a few days prior, and so she was a little confused. Similarly, if you listen to this Timberline episode before the episode I recorded with Perfect North GM Jonathan Davis last summer, you'll be starting behind. Not only does that episode contain important background on the Perfect family's accidental but fierce entrance into the ski industry, but Davis discusses how the family bought Timberline in a 2019 auction. The story starts at the 1:30:33 mark:On Timberline's renaissanceDC Ski also wrote a comprehensive article on Timberline's comeback:On the lodge fire at Mad River (not that Mad River)Price was general manager at Mad River, Ohio – which was at the time owned by Peak Resorts and is now a Vail property – when a fire destroyed the lodge:Peak Resorts quickly built a new lodge, investing $6.5 million into a facility that was almost twice the size of the old one.On the lift accident at TimberlinePrice discusses a lift de-ropement that marred Timberline's reputation. The local ABC News affiliate wrote about the incident shortly after it occurred, in February 2016:About 25 people fell to the ground after a ski lift derailed at the Timberline Resort in Davis, West Virginia, this morning, an official told ABC News.The drop was about 30 feet, according to Joe Stevens of the West Virginia Ski Areas Association, of which Timberline is a member.Two people were hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries, Stevens said.About 100 skiers were left stranded on the ski lift after the derailment, Chief Sandy Green of Canaan Valley Fire Department Chief Sandy Green told ABC News.The lift in question was Thunderstruck, a triple chair that, along with the resort's other two chairlifts, the new owners demolished in 2020.On the old trailmaps/lift configuration/trail footprintPrice and I talked extensively about Timberline's new and old lift and trail alignments, which differ significantly. Here's a circa 2016 trailmap, showing the mountain with two top-to-bottom triples and several trails that no longer exist:And here are the old and contemporary maps side by side:On White Grass and Canaan ValleyTimberline is adjacent to two ski areas: White Grass Touring Center and Canaan Valley. Here's how they stack together on the map:White Grass is widely considered one of the best cross-country ski areas in the East, with 50 kilometers of trails:Canaan Valley is owned by the state of West Virginia. It's an 850-footer with 95 acres of terrain:Both Canaan and White Grass are Indy Pass partners. You can ski between all three ski areas, Price says, on cross-country skis, though a peak separates White Grass and Canaan.As impressive as this three-resort lineup is, the region could have grown into something even more spectacular, had a planned resort been built at nearby Mount Porte Crayon. Blue Ridge Outdoors profiled this ski-area-that-never-was in 2010:Porte Crayon has all the right ingredients for a resort: an average of 150 to 200 inches of snow a year, a unique hollow shape that helps push much of the windblown snow onto the northern slopes, and big vertical drop.“From top to bottom, we were looking at a true 2,200 foot vertical drop, making it the sixth largest vertical drop at a resort east of the Rockies, with weather similar to southern Vermont,” Jorgenson says. “It would have been the largest resort south of Lake Placid, New York.”Bright Enterprises started buying up land on Porte Crayon over a decade ago. The plan called for a 2,000-acre resort with more than 2,000 feet of vertical drop on a north-facing slope that got plenty of natural snow. Skiers salivated over the prospect of skiing that kind of terrain below the Mason Dixon, while environmentalists cringed at the thought of a mountaintop village, golf course, and second home development scarring the pristine landscape.For ten years, a debate brewed with locals and skiers coming down hard either for or against Almost Heaven. Eventually, Bright Enterprises failed to purchase a significant piece of private land at the top of the mountain, and resort plans fell apart.Today, the mountain is a well-known backcountry ski zone. It sits just eight miles overland from Timberline:The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 60/100 in 2023, and number 446 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Want to send feedback? Reply to this email and I will answer (unless you sound insane, or, more likely, I just get busy). You can also email skiing@substack.com. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe
Colton kicks off the show with “The Breakdown” presented by First Bank with a recap of a surprise Raptors in the MLR playoffs, an exploration into the legality of signing a player before a playoff game, and All of the Rugby You Can Watch this weekend presented by Wintergreen. After “The Breakdown”, Colton answers your questions in the mailbag. Following the mailbag presented by O'Neills, Colton assigns some Gilly-related “Required Reading” presented by Maria Empanda, and closes the show with “The Loop” presented by Physio Pro. Follow on Twitter: @DNVR_Rugby Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Colton starts the show with “The Breakdown” presented by First Bank with some American Raptors news, some current and former Raptors competing in the Premier Rugby Sevens, and All of the Rugby You Can Watch this weekend presented by Wintergreen (0:00-8:38). After “The Breakdown”, Colton runs an interview with American Raptors center Aki Pulu after he made the Super Rugby Americas First XV back in Round 2 (8:40-24:22). Following the interview presented by O'Neills, Colton assigns some on-site “Required Viewing” presented by Maria Empanda, and closes the show with “The Loop” presented by Physio Pro (24:24-29:34). Follow on Twitter: @DNVR_Rugby Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Colton starts the show with “The Breakdown” presented by First Bank by talking about the American Raptors' season-ending victory, some of the top performers, and All of the Rugby You Can Watch this Weekend presented by Wintergreen (0:00-6:26). After “The Breakdown”, Colton chats with American Raptors rugby coordinator Scott Nies about the tour in 2023, the focus in the second half of the season, and what's on tap this summer (6:28-23:05). Following the interview presented by O'Neills, Colton assigns some “Required Reading” presented by Maria Empanda, and closes the show with a special rerun of the Denver Nuggets rugby sevens draft to celebrate the Nuggets NBA Finals run in “The Loop” presented by Physio Pro (23:07-1:25:07). Follow on Twitter: @DNVR_Rugby Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Colton starts the show with “The Breakdown” presented by First Bank by talking about an unsettling trend over the course of the American Raptors' previous three matches, their final match of the season, and All of the Rugby You Can Watch this weekend presented by Wintergreen (0:00-11:36). After “The Breakdown”, Colton runs an interview with American Raptors center Aki Pulu after he made the Super Rugby Americas First XV back in Round 2 (11:38-19:34). Following the interview presented by O'Neills, Colton assigns some “Required Reading” presented by Maria Empanda, and closes the show with “The Loop” presented by Physio Pro (19:36-25:01). Follow on Twitter: @DNVR_Rugby Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Colton begins the show with “The Breakdown” presented by First Bank by talking about the final two American Raptors matches of the season, building momentum, and All of the Rugby You Can Watch this weekend presented by Wintergreen (0:00-9:21). After “The Breakdown”, Colton digs up interviews with American Raptors forwards Sebastian Otero (9:23-13:43) and Diego Fortuny (13:45-18:04) from Media Day back in January. Following the interviews presented by O'Neills, Colton assigns some “Required Reading” presented by Maria Empanda, and closes the show with “The Loop” presented by Physio Pro (18:06-25:02). Follow on Twitter: @DNVR_Rugby Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Colton begins the show with “The Breakdown” presented by First Bank by talking about the Raptors' loss to Yacare XV in Round 11, a change in times for one of the final matches, and All of the Rugby You Can Watch this weekend presented by Wintergreen (0:00-7:13). After “The Breakdown”, Colton talks with American College Rugby chairman Rich Cortez about his interesting career, American College Rugby, and the responsibilities of a Match Day Commissioner for Super Rugby Americas (7:15-41:05). Following the interview presented by O'Neills, Colton assigns some exciting “Required Reading” presented by Maria Empanda, and closes the show with “The Loop” presented by Physio Pro (41:07-46:27). Follow on Twitter: @DNVR_Rugby Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Colton begins the show with “The Breakdown” presented by First Bank by talking about the Raptors' loss to Peñarol in Round 10, he talks with Diego Magno about the progress the team is making, and All of the Rugby You Can Watch this weekend presented by Wintergreen (0:00-7:59). After “The Breakdown”, Colton chats with American Raptors wing Daytwon Sheridan about his wild two weeks of rugby, what it's like being one of the original XO players on the team, and how he's worked his way into the lineup and onto the Super Rugby Americas try leaderboard (8:01-28:03). Following the interview presented by O'Neills, Colton assigns some “Required Reading” presented by Maria Empanda, and closes the show with “The Loop” presented by Physio Pro (28:05-32:01). Follow on Twitter: @DNVR_Rugby Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Colton begins the show with “The Breakdown” presented by First Bank by talking about the Raptors' first Super Rugby Americas win over Selknam, some players that impressed, and All of the Rugby You Can Watch this weekend presented by Wintergreen (0:00-6:09). After “The Breakdown”, Colton talks with American Raptors forward Will Crawford about the win, the team's mindset after a tough start to the season, and what some of the differences that he sees between Super Rugby Americas and Major League Rugby (6:11-25:51). Following the interview presented by O'Neills, Colton assigns some “Required Reading” presented by Maria Empanda, and closes the show with “The Loop” presented by Physio Pro (25:52-30:34). Follow on Twitter: @DNVR_Rugby Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On the 134th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith (SS) has a conversation with Steve Campbell (SC). SS & SC studied tennis together in the '80s and, most importantly, both worked for the late Vic Braden.SC and his wife, Colleen, have a wealth of tennis wisdom to share. They currently work together at the Wintergreen Resort in Wintergreen, Virginia. Steve serves as the tennis director.Starting this summer, parents, players, coaches, program directors, and club owners can visit the beautiful mountainside resort to learn a mountain of tennis information, insights, and ideas.
To support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. The discounted annual rate is back through March 13, 2023.WhoChristian Knapp, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Pacific Group ResortsRecorded onFebruary 27, 2023About Pacific Group ResortsPacific Group Resorts (PGRI) owns and/or operates six North American ski areas:While they don't have a single unified pass like Vail Resorts or Mountain Capital Partners, PGRI's ski areas do offer reciprocity for their passholders, largely through their Mission: Affordable product. Here are the 2022-23 exchanges – the company has not yet released 2023-24 passes:Why I interviewed himThere are more than a dozen companies that own three or more ski areas in North America. The National Ski Areas Association itemizes most of them* here. Everyone knows Vail and Aspen, whether they ski or not. The next tier is a little more insider, but not much: Alterra, Boyne, Powdr. These are the ski companies with national footprints and Ikon Pass headliner resorts. If skiers haven't heard of these companies, they're familiar with Mammoth and Big Sky and Snowbird. Everything else on the list is regionally dense: Invision Capital's three California ski areas (Mountain High, Dodge Ridge, China Peak); Wisconsin Resorts six Midwestern bumps (Alpine Valley, Pine Knob, Mt. Holly, and Bittersweet in Michigan; Alpine Valley in Wisconsin; and Searchmont in Ontario); the State of New York's Belleayre, Gore, and Whiteface. Some – like Midwest Family Ski Resorts' trio of gigantors – align with Indy Pass, while others stand alone, with a pass just for their mountains, like Mountain Capital Partners' Power Pass.PGRI doesn't fit any of these templates. The company has a national footprint, with properties stretching from coastal BC to New Hampshire, but no national pass presence (at least before the company inherited Jay Peak's Indy Pass membership). Its properties' season passes sort of work together but sort of don't. It's all a little strange: a small ski area operator, based in Park City, whose nearest ski area is more than a 400-mile drive away, on the edge of Colorado's Grand Mesa. PGRI is built like a regional operator, but its ski areas are scattered across the continent, including in improbable-seeming locales such as Maryland and Virginia.Despite the constant facile reminders that American Skiing Company and SKI failed, small conglomerates such as PGRI are likely the future of skiing. Owning multiple resorts in multiple regions is the best kind of weather insurance. Scale builds appeal both for national pass coalitions and for banks, who often control the cash register. A larger company can build a talent pipeline to shift people around and advance their careers, which often improves retention, creating, in turn, a better ski experience. Or so the theories go. Independence will always have advantages, and consolidation its pitfalls, but the grouping together of ski resorts is not going away. So let's talk to one of the companies actively growing on its own terms, in its own way, and setting a new template for what corporate skiing balanced with local control can look like.*Missing from the NSAA's list is the Schmitz Brothers trio of Wisconsin ski areas: Little Switzerland, Nordic Mountain, and The Rock Snow Park; the list also includes Sun Valley and Snowbasin, which are jointly owned by the Holding Family, but excludes the other two-resort groups around the country: Berkshire East/Catamount, Labrador/Song, 49 Degrees North/Silver Mountain, Homewood/Red Lodge, Perfect North/Timberline, and Mission Ridge/Blacktail - there may be others).What we talked aboutThe bomber western winter; closing Wintergreen early; the existential importance of Eastern snowmaking; why Mid-Atlantic ski resorts are such great businesses; growing up in the ski industry; Mt. Bachelor in the ‘90s; Breck in the early Vail days; why founding the Mountain Collective was harder than you probably think; the surprising mountain that helped start but never joined the pass; how essential the existence of Mountain Collective was to Ikon Pass; why Ikon didn't kill Mountain Collective; the origins and structure of Pacific Group Resorts (PGRI); reviving the historically troubled Ragged Mountain; the two things that PGRI did differently from previous owners to finally help Ragged succeed; the Mission: Affordable pass suite; how Jay Peak turbocharged reciprocity between the company's resorts; how reciprocity for Jay Peak may shape up for 2023-24 passes; why we're unlikely to see a Mission: Affordable pass at Jay Peak; why Mount Washington Alpine hasn't had a Mission: Affordable pass; the future of Jay Peak – and, potentially the rest of PGRI's portfolio – on the Indy Pass; the fate of Ragged's Pinnacle Peak expansion; how and why PGRI started running and eventually purchased Wisp and Wintergreen; wild and isolated Mount Washington Alpine; could that Vancouver Island resort ever be a destination?; thoughts on replacing the West End double at Powderhorn; why PGRI has not prioritized lift replacements at the rate of some of its competitors; priorities for lift upgrades at Wisp; winning the bid for Jay Peak; reflecting on receivership; the chances of getting a new Bonaventure lift; and whether PGRI will buy more ski areas.Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewThe lazy answer: PGRI just bought Jay Peak, and while writing the various stories leading up to and after the auction in which they acquired the joint, I established contact with PGRI corporate HQ for the first time. My first impression was not a great one (on their side), as I managed to not only jack up the company name in the headline announcing their opening bid, but get the fundamentals of the story so wrong that I had to issue a correction with a full article re-send for the only time in Storm history. Which apparently created a huge PR pain in the ass for them. Sorry.Maybe the stupid jokes eventually disarmed them over or something, but for whatever reason Knapp agreed to do the pod. As you know I don't typically host marketing-type folks. I work with them all the time and value them immensely, but that's just not the brand. The brand is talk-to-whoever-is-in-charge-of-whatever-mountain-or-company-I'm-talking-about. But Knapp is a unique case, the former CMO of Aspen Skiing Company and the creator of the uber-relevant-to-my-readers Mountain Collective Pass. So Knapp joins the equally impressive Hugh Reynolds of Snow Partners as the only other marketing lead to ever carry his own episode.Ahem. What I was trying to get to is this: yes, this was a convenient time to drill into PGRI, because they just bought one of the most important ski resorts on the Eastern seaboard and everyone's like, “Now what, Bro?” But this is a company that has been quietly relevant for years. It cannot be overstated what an absolute shitshow Ragged Mountain was for five decades. No one could get that thing right. Now it is one of the most well-regarded ski areas in New Hampshire, with knockout grooming, a killer glade network, one of the state's best lift systems, and a customer-friendly orientation that begins with its ridiculous Mission: Affordable season pass, one of the few all-access season passes under $400 at a thousand-foot-plus mountain in New England.Which set them up perfectly to glide into the Jay marquee. Almost any other buyer would have ignited mutiny at Jay. No one I've spoken to who skis the mountain regularly wanted the place anywhere near the Ikon Pass. So no Alterra, Powdr, or Boyne. Epic? LOL no. Locals have seen enough downstate. Another rich asshat cackling with cartoon glee as he shifts hundreds of millions of dollars around like he's reorganizing suitcases in his Escalade? F**k no. Jay will be shedding the scabs of Ariel Quiros' various schemes for decades. PGRI hit that Goldilocks spot, a proven New England operator without megapass baggage that has operated scandal-free for 15 years, and is run by people who know how to make a big resort go (PGRI CEO Vern Greco is former president and GM of both Park City and Steamboat, and the former COO of Powdr Corp).PGRI is just good at running ski areas. Wisp opened Thanksgiving weekend, despite 70-degree temperatures through much of that month, despite being in Maryland. Visitation has been trending up at Powderhorn for years after steady snowmaking improvements. It's hard to find anyone with a bad opinion of Ragged.But PGRI has never been what business folk call a “consumer-facing brand.” Meaning they let the resorts speak for themselves. Meaning we don't know much about the company behind all those mountains, or what their plans are to build out their network. Or build within it, for that matter. PGRI has only stood up one new chairlift in 16 years – the Spear Mountain high-speed quad at Ragged. Powderhorn skiers are side-eyeing the 51-year-old, 1,655-vertical-foot, 7,000-foot-long West End double chair and thinking, “are you kidding me with this thing?” Five years into ownership, they want a plan. Or at least to know it's a priority. There are lesser examples all over the portfolio. It was time to see what these guys were thinking.Questions I wish I'd askedI had a few questions teed up that I didn't quite get to: why is Ragged still owned by something called RMR-Pacific LLC (and operated by PGRI)? I also wanted to understand why some PGRI ski areas use dynamic pricing but others don't. I'm still a little confused as to the exact timeline of Pacific Group purchasing Ragged and then PGRI materializing to take over the ski area. And of course I could have filled an entire hour with questions on any of the six ski areas. What I got wrongWhen I summarized Ragged's traumatic financial history, I said, “ownership defaulted on a loan.” It sounded as though I was suggesting that PGRI defaulted on the loan, when it was in fact the previous owner. You can read the full history of Ragged's many pre-PGRI financial issues on New England Ski History.I said that Midwest Family Ski Resorts had announced two new high-speed six-packs “in the past couple years.” They've actually announced two within the past year, both of which will be built this summer: a new Eagle Mountain lift at Lutsen, and a new sixer to replace three old Riblets on the Jackson Creek Summit side of Snowriver.Somehow though I got through this entire interview without calling the company “Pacific Resorts Group” and I would like credit for this please.Why you should ski PGRI's mountainsWell let's just fire through these real quick. Jay: most snow in the East. Nearly 300 inches so far even in this drab-until-the-past-two-weeks New England season. Some of the best glade skiing in the country. Just look:Ragged: Also strong on glades, though it gets maybe a third of Jay's snowfall if it's lucky. When the snow doesn't come, Ragged has some of the best grooming in New Hampshire:Wisp and Wintergreen: you know, I take my kid to Mt. Peter, a small ski area outside of New York City, every Saturday for a seasonal ski program. I'd say 80 percent of the parents arrive in street clothes, drop their kids, and sit in the lodge zombie-scrolling their phones for 90 minutes. Why? Why wouldn't a person ski every opportunity they have? This is what Wisp and Wintergreen exist for. Sure, you live in the Mid-Atlantic. No one is trying to pretend it's Colorado. But these are good little mountains. Wisp is a zinger, with terrific fall line skiing. Wintergreen sprawls, with a fun trail network and two high-speed sixers. If you live anywhere near them, there's absolutely no reason not to pick up their sub-$400 season passes (though Wintergreen's is not a true season pass, excluding Saturdays and holidays, which are reserved for club members) to supplement the Epic or Ikon Pass you use for those Western or New England vacations:Powderhorn: If you live in Grand Junction, you can fight your way east, or stop on the Mesa and go skiing:Mt. Washington Alpine: I know you'll all tell me this is for locals, that no one would bother trekking out to Vancouver Island when they can reach Whistler in a fraction of the time. But I don't know man, I've done enough wild voyages to the ass-ends of the earth to have convinced myself that it's always worth it, especially if skiing is involved:Besides, you're not going to find Whistler crowds here, and this is about enough mountain for most of us.Podcast NotesOn Wisp and Wintergreen opening and closing datesI mentioned on the podcast that Wisp opened in November. The exact date was Nov. 25 for Wisp. The resort is still open today, though on “limited terrain,” and I imagine the season is winding down quickly. Wintergreen opened on Dec. 20 and closed Feb. 26. Ugh.On the world's largest snow fortKnapp said he helped start this tradition when he worked at Keystone:On the Mountain CollectiveKnapp and I had an extensive discussion about his role founding Mountain Collective, which debuted in 2012 with two days each at Alta, Aspen-Snowmass, Jackson Hole, and Palisades Tahoe. At $349, it's underwhelming to today's ski consumer, but it's impossible to overstate how miraculous it was that the product existed at all. I won't give away the whole story, but this 2012 Powder article crystalizes the shock and stoke around the realization that these four resorts were on the same pass, Brah!On Pinnacle Peak at Ragged PGRI is probably hoping I will stop asking them about this stalled expansion at Ragged sometime this century. No luck so far, as I presented Knapp with the same set of questions that I'd asked Ragged GM Erik Barnes on the podcast last year. Here's what I was talking about: in 2007, PGRI took over Ragged. From 2014 to 2019, the mountain teased this future expansion on its trailmaps:Then, without explanation, the expansion disappeared. What happened? “The expansion does not make financial sense,” Knapp told me last year. But I wanted a more thorough explanation. Knapp delivered. This is still one of the most talked-about projects in New England, and its sudden abeyance has been a source of curiosity and confusion for Ragged skiers for a few years now. Listen up to find out what happened.The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. The discounted annual rate is available until March 13, 2023.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 19/100 in 2023, and number 405 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Want to send feedback? Reply to this email and I will answer (unless you sound insane, or, more likely, I just get busy). You can also email skiing@substack.com. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe
Bobby Neuman and Dave Friedman handicap the weekend's biggest stakes races including, Carousel, G3 Honeybee, G2 Rebel, G1 Saudi Cup, Wintergreen, GP Sprint, Gander, Stymie, Red Hedeman Mile, Mine That Bird Derby, Albert & Henry Dominguez Memorial, plus, give you the weekend's "Best Bet."
Colton kicks off the show with “The Breakdown” presented by O'Neills by recapping the American Raptors Round 1 loss to Selknam, previews the upcoming match against Penarol, and All of the Rugby You Can Watch this weekend presented by Wintergreen (0:00-9:42). After “The Breakdown”, Colton talks with American Raptors lock Max Dacey about the Round 1 loss, bouncing back against Penarol, and what to look for in Round 2 (9:43-24:15). Colton then checks in for the third time this tour with the road dog, American Raptors Rugby Coordinator Scott Nies about the second leg of the trip, airport rankings, and his thoughts on the league (24:18-33:52). Follow on Twitter: @DNVR_Rugby Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Colton kicks off the show with “The Breakdown” presented by O'Neills by talking about the American Raptors opener against Selknam, VPNs, and All of the Rugby You Can Watch this weekend presented by Wintergreen (0:00-4:50). After “The Breakdown”, Colton talks with American Raptors Head Coach Sarah Chobot about how the team is feeling ahead of Round 1, rejoining a league, and what to expect from Selknam (4:52-10:56). Colton then checks in with the road dog, American Raptors Rugby Coordinator Scott Nies about the first leg of the trip, what the plans look like after the match, and all of the places that he's been (10:59-17:36). Following the interview presented by GuardLab, Colton talks about some Chile facts in the Stat of the Week presented by Catapult, assigns some “Required Reading”, and closes the show with “The Loop” presented by First Bank (17:38-21:13). Follow on Twitter: @DNVR_Rugby Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Colton starts the show with “The Breakdown” presented by O'Neills by talking about the American Raptors preseason matches, the travel roster, a new MLR team, and All of the Rugby You Can Watch this weekend presented by Wintergreen (0:00-6:47). After “The Breakdown”, Colton talks with American Raptors Rugby Coordinator Scott Nies about the beginning of the trip, how to make him mad on the road, and some of the Raptors' best travelers (6:148-18:01). Following the interview presented by GuardLab, Colton talks about the roster makeup in the Stat of the Week presented by Catapult, assigns some “Required Reading”, and closes the show with “The Loop” presented by First Bank (18:03-22:56). Follow on Twitter: @DNVR_Rugby Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Colton starts the first of four episodes with “The Breakdown” presented by O'Neills by talking about American Raptors Media Day, the plan to roll out all of these interviews over the next four days, and All of the Rugby You Can Watch this weekend presented by Wintergreen (0:00-4:53). After “The Breakdown”, Colton checks in with interviews with Watson Filikitonga, Patrick Madden, Will Crawford, Jeff Peleseuma, Ethan McVeigh, Steve Cluley, Mo Vainikolo, Justin Barlow, Ma'ake Muti, and Sefo Mailangi from American Raptors Media Day. (4:54-39:21). Following the interviews presented by GuardLab, Colton closes the show with “The Loop” presented by First Bank and reminds you to check back here for Part 2 on Saturday (39:23-40:31). Follow on Twitter: @DNVR_Rugby Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Colton begins the show with “The Breakdown” presented by O'Neills by talking about the upcoming announcement regarding the American Raptors preseason schedule, a change to the roster, and All of the Rugby You Can Watch this weekend presented by Wintergreen (0:00-5:46). After “The Breakdown”, Colton chats with American Raptors forward Adagio Lopeti about playing college football at Kansas, making the switch to rugby, and what he loves most about the sport (5:48-24:06). Following the interview presented by GuardLab, Colton assigns some “Required Reading”, and closes the show with “The Loop” presented by First Bank (24:08-26:36). Follow on Twitter: @DNVR_Rugby Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
EP300 - GoodwillFinds CEO Matt Kaness In this interview, we cover the sale of ModCloth to Walmart, Matts's subsequent work at Lucky Brand and Afterpay, and his new role as CEO at Goodwillfinds. Goodwillfinds.com is an e-commerce site, which sells previously owned merchandise, which has been donated to Goodwill. We cover many of the tactical challenges (onboarding SKUs, product content, fulfillment, and curation), as well as the opportunities of this new "CircularCommerce" space. We also get some of Matt's predictions about what's coming next in digital commerce. Episode 300 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded on Wednesday January 4th, 2023. http://jasonandscot.com Join your hosts Jason "Retailgeek" Goldberg, Chief Commerce Strategy Officer at Publicis, and Scot Wingo, CEO of GetSpiffy and Co-Founder of ChannelAdvisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing. Episode 300 is an interview with Matt Kaness, CEO of Goodwillfinds.com. Matt was formerly on episode 79, when he was CEO of Modcloth, which later sold to Walmart. Transcript Jason: [0:23] Welcome to the Jason and Scot show this is the much-anticipated episode number 300 being recorded on Wednesday January 4th, 20:23 I'm your host Jason retailgeek Goldberg and as usual I'm here with your co-host Scot Wingo. Scot: [0:41] Hey Jason and welcome back Jason and Scot show listeners Jason not only is this the first show of 20:23 it's a big milestone for us with episode what better way to celebrate than having one of our oldest friends for both you and I personally but also to the show back for an update Matt kaness he was last on the show back in episode 79 I think many listeners will remember that one and certainly your mom who's one of our biggest fans and back then he was CEO of ModCloth, a lot has changed since then so we're looking forward to getting an update some of the highlights Matt help sell ModCloth to Walmart he was exact chair and interim CEO at Lucky Brand he's on several boards yeah I've been advisory to several companies and since September of 2022 he has been CEO of goodwillfinds.com Matt welcome back to the show. Matt: [1:35] Great to be here guys thanks for having me. Jason: [1:38] Oh my gosh Matt we are really excited to catch up it seems like if you factor in the pandemic your last episode was about 15 years ago if I'm and so happy I'm happy to report we've added a bunch of listeners since then so before we jump into it can you kind of remind the listeners about your background and how you got in e-commerce. Matt: [2:02] Yeah have you too I like to think about my career or having two careers to date the first one was, very foundational for what I'm doing now but very quantitative, process-oriented mechanical engineering patent law Manufacturing, Ops Consulting things that had nothing to do with retail or fashion or e-commerce and then I. [2:32] Fell into the category when I was a full-time consultant at Burton Snowboards about 16 17 years ago, and fell in love with lifestyle Brands and have, try to stay in that lane for the majority of that time period since, from Burton Snowboards I went onto Urban Outfitters was there for close to eight years up sensibly and I had a growth roll my last title there was Chief strategy officer and then from there I went to ModCloth, where I was the CEO for three years and was running the company when we sold it to Walmart I will say that, I've been in hindsight found myself attracted to these amazing consumer lifestyle brands, that are experiencing inflection points either in their business or in the industry when I was at Burton snowboarding was really for the first time finding a mass audience crossing over into, the Olympics the next games and, when I was at Urban it was the rise of Web 2.0 and I got to ride that wave my entire time there and really, I'll be on the Forefront of pioneering you know what everybody know of calls omni-channel. [3:59] ModCloth the founder of their Susan Koger was one of the pioneers of inclusive fashion and so I felt personally accountable to try to scale that and I think we, if once the industry specifically plus size women's fashion and you know today you look around and it's become pretty normative, for Brands to design into extra extra small to 4X and I'm really proud of the work we did at ModCloth being on the front end of that and then. I do some Consulting work at after pay where buy now pay later was really just becoming a thing, we're younger consumers were focused more on debit versus credit products so with really fortunate to get connected with that team and enjoyed, partnering with them and being an advisor and then you know what I'm doing now at Goodwill where secondhand is really having a moment, in the culture and getting a chance to come in and lead a ground-up startup for the Goodwill Network and helping them to. It's a digitized so to speak and you bring this new Marketplace into the world, it's just for me it's like the next chapter in that really fortunate career second career that I've had. Jason: [5:23] Very cool and I know some of those roles were Bay Area based but you are a Philly guy correct. Matt: [5:29] Philly guy born and raised I'm probably on the short list of people who have moved back to Philly twice. I was in Boston the first time when my wife became. Preggers with our oldest and we wanted to be closer to family and then the second time was when we were in the Bay Area after I left Walmart, we had a break in the action and our oldest was about to start high school and we decide we want to be back here. For the high school years but we've lived all around and I'd obviously travel a lot for work so I have an affinity for the bay area as well as some other places around the country but but Phillies the hometown. Jason: [6:14] Yeah but I'm assuming it's Philly sports teams most importantly. Matt: [6:18] I have been an eagle season ticket holders 2000 yes. Jason: [6:23] Awesome and for people that don't know Philadelphia and Pennsylvania as a whole is a is is a weird e-commerce concentration Point like there's a lot of e-commerce kind of was born or gravitated in the area so I think of like Mark Rubin and Dick's Sporting Good and in Pittsburgh and urban obviously was a huge player there was Urban your first like hardcore e-commerce experience or were you doing a lot of e-commerce at Burton. Matt: [6:56] I was not at Burton Urban is really where I started to cut my teeth on e-commerce. Direct to Consumer more than e-commerce it was really about this when I got there this billion dollar Consolidated Enterprise across there are three main brands, Urban Outfitters anthropology and Free People and the business had started as a catalog, division of what was you know let's call it 95 percent of the sales came through their store Channel. For retail versus direct to Consumer and so when I got there or there was a there was a. [7:43] 100 million Consolidated direct-to-consumer business which was split between catalog and e-commerce, but it was nascent it was not a strategic focus and then you know the founder of their dick ain't really had. This put a natural understanding of consumer behavior and where the industry was going and he had a vision for how to scale the business multi-channel and so we were all, trying to make that that future reality every day for the eight years I was there and we had a lot of success going back to your point about Pennsylvania and Philly first round capital, one of their there I believe their original headquarters and then one of their major offices, is in Philly and so I think I think a lot of it stems from their presence as well not just decaying and Reuben and some others, but also Philly from a talent perspective is kind of like a six suburb or borough of New York, where you get a lot of folks in New York and then they realize that. It's just the standard of living the cost of living is so much better in Philadelphia and so you get a lot of transplants to come down to Philly as well working in e-commerce. Jason: [9:11] Yeah and I want to say I met you I think we all met on the shop dot-org board when you were at Urban later in your your tenure Urban and some of my Fondest Memories another good friend of the show Billy met who at the time was at Abercrombie is the two of you like heckling each other about like your two brands. Matt: [9:34] Yeah like that was that was really fun for me because you know Urban. Um was pretty insular you meaning that we were so obsessively focused on the customer, and on the fashion trends and on what we were doing internally, that we never really thought about competition so we didn't spend a ton of time looking around the industry, so for me that was that was kind of a an introduction to what else was happening across the industry and then Billy occasionally would call me and say. Hey you guys make me look bad because you just had another great quarter ecomp rowing and you know your your results are now The Benchmark that I have to deliver against. But you know what I what I found in that shop or Community which is now part of NRF, is that it was not very competitive it was very collaborative I couldn't believe. [10:46] How much everybody support each other and wanted to share strategies and ideas and Etc and I think that's one of the things that really drew me into this career path on the digital Commerce side, versus pursuing merchandising or. We're kind of the brick-and-mortar offline space is it's just how, how great that the digital Community has been in the US that I've experienced so that's one of the one of the things that I try to do now is to make sure that. Making myself available I'm kind of giving back and spending time with folks and helping them along and sharing ideas because I know that you guys and others certainly do that for me way back in the day. Jason: [11:32] Yeah I feel like we all have done that for each other and I feel like we've all obviously benefited greatly from that community, and so then you leave the Eagles behind and you go join what at the time was a Founder led a venture back pure-d to see is that, a fair characterization for Vermont cough if when you. Matt: [11:58] Yes my father my father is a pure pointy Taylor yeah. Like 10,000 uniques on the site all third party. The company was vertically integrated so homegrown Ruby on Rails codebase e-commerce. Order management system warehouse management system all the way down to the call center and the warehouse it was, um pretty pioneering on the web services side as far as. [12:35] Look it was an early social commerce player as far as leveraging Pinterest and things that you could do with. Facebook and some of the other platforms Tumblr to engage customers and get them to participate in the shopping experience we were one of the first to integrate, ugc from customers into the shopping experience into the carousels on the website, um we had personalization that was driven by customer reviews that were captured in the website versus outsourced to a bizarre Voice or the like so it was the technology is pretty pioneering, the business was was very underdeveloped and the brand I felt was. Had a lot of opportunity to broaden its appeal when I got there so it was a little bit of a turnaround, financially what I'm joined which having now done this a few times there's always a reason they bring in an outside CEO. Jason: [13:44] It's not because things are just going awesome and they just want to share the awesomeness. Matt: [13:47] Yeah I can't I can't think of a single time that CEO in a business that's humming and doing great he says you know what let's bring in somebody else to do this so I. Jason: [13:57] I think Andy jassy is saying that about Amazon right now by the way. Matt: [14:02] Yeah yeah yeah what I mean there's there's a there's a lot of chatter about looking at. It was on the Facebook and Tesla and what those Founders were doing the last couple years selling stock so I think they kind of all knew what was about to happen. But you know just quickly on ModCloth I'll say that you know we were able to quickly come in. [14:32] Turn around the business financially but more importantly we pivoted it to what then was called a DM BB model, a digitally native vertical brand model which was just meant that the vertical piece that you were procuring designing selling your own product or exclusive product versus, third party which you know in the world of Amazon it's really hard to scale a business that you know what you're selling you can find on Amazon or other larger marketplaces, so we build out a design studio and sourcing operation weary platform the entire Tech stack we developed, a showroom concept similar to what we're being bonobos had developed and tested that and rolled that out and had a really aggressive growth plan against that we went out to raise money and her wound up, getting an offer from the team at jet.com that 6-month previous had, I've been sold to Walmart and they came in and made an offer and the board accepted it and so we sold it. And and I stayed on at Walmart for a year and oversaw our integration into that that ecosystem. Scot: [15:51] Cool the that was kind of a chain reaction right where you guys several companies they Acquired and did you play a role in kind of that roll up. Matt: [16:01] We were like the third or fourth of six or seven Acquisitions and they did within a year and a half two year period. And then as part of my year there I did get involved in some of their business development MMA, conversations and and I did spend a little bit of time helping them, on one of the further Acquisitions but you know they what I learned about Walmart when I was there is. They have such a strong culture they have a real clear view of who their customer is and why they're serving them and you know I would tell you that. The Acquisitions that spray that they went on those two years was really a catalyst for. Something that W Mellon said at a meeting that I attended where he talked about convenience. [17:03] Being valued as much as low-cost in the kind of the online or multi-channel retail environment versus pre-internet, and so they had to find a catalyst under Mark Lori to accelerate their the cultural change, to understand how customers writ large were valuing convenience as much as low-cost when their Heritage had been, Yoda Point technology to make improvements in supply chain and sourcing and Merchandising so that they could always win on price now they had a win on price and convenience, and so though the individual Acquisitions You could argue whether there was an Roi on them or not against the purchase price. I would say that. Internally it was a massive success in creating that kind of cultural change that Doug. Mandated from. Mark and and then you know I was only there a year and I left but just watching what progressed and if you look at the moldable on Walmart stock I think it's hard to argue that it wasn't a success. Scot: [18:18] Yes tricky with Acquisitions you can't just look at the you know the interior ModCloth business you have to look at the whole halo effect and the stock price yeah there's a multi-faceted way to look at these things that's kind of complicated. Matt: [18:32] Yeah I think any business that they could grow if you could grow organically in definitely I think most businesses would do that there's a reason why companies you know use MMA to your point. Scot: [18:46] Did some point I think I saw a ModCloth working to the stores where you there for that. Matt: [18:53] No no that I left before any of those kind of process integration initiatives occurred. Scot: [19:03] Yeah and then didn't they do they sell it back out do they spin it. Matt: [19:08] Yeah they sold it back out there were some after I left there were some further leadership changes that occurred and and they wound up the best thing it and selling it to I want to say it was a fermented New York. Scot: [19:23] Like a private Equity Firm or another. Matt: [19:24] Yeah I think so yeah. Scot: [19:28] Did you didn't want to jump in there and take it over again usually they call the previous CEO I bet there's an 80% chance you got a call. Matt: [19:37] No comment. Scot: [19:41] All right we found something you don't want to talk about good it's part of my goal on this show is to see if we can we can find that you have any family safe Mark Lori stories I've spent a fair amount of time with him he's a he's a pretty wacky dude. Matt: [19:56] I mean I didn't spend that much time working for him but I mean man like talk about somebody who just has total belief in himself and the team and what's possible, and so much energy for. For Commerce for startups for Innovation so I mean it's it was contagious working for him, um working for his team's I wanted to takeaways I had for my time at Walmart and my time working with. [20:32] With Mark and his jet team is I just didn't have that kind of passion for the mass-market the way that, you had to have to be successful working at a Walmart or working at a jet before the acquisition, yeah I love the specialty space I love you know the Branded premium space I love, Yoda kind of the Middle Market where it's not based on price and it's not luxury it's somewhere in between. I just find that that it's super creative there's lots of opportunities for differentiation. There's always new things that you get to learn but you know Walmart I got there was a camera don't quote me on the exact number but. [21:27] Like there was a conversation about like how many millions of American flags are they going to sell between Memorial Day and and. And Fourth of July. [21:38] On one of their promos and I was just like I couldn't even fathom the scale of having to move that many units and so, yep so for me it was kind of a validation of the lane that I've been in and and enjoyed being in and so when I left. Eventually wind up going to Lucky that was kind of part of the calculus on my part was to get back into the into that that category that Wayne of specialty. Scot: [22:07] My one of my first Mark Laurie experiences I was at Jet and he was telling us how the Company motto was billions or body bags and I was like that's kind of a weird way to motivate, and then I talked to several employees I was like how do you like it here and there like billions of body bags that like they were just like it was a mantra like you know that they were just so focused on it was either going to be 0 or this huge outcome and sure enough it was billions. Matt: [22:31] Yeah there's there's definitely I mean I think think he was a successful High School athlete so there's definitely a lot of rah-rah with with him in the team it's that's not my personality I. ModCloth one of the investors accused me of being two column in the boardroom. They said you know Matt if you had slammed on the table a little bit more you know and I'm sitting there like like. That's the that never crossed my mind trying to make an argument to do something required me slamming my hand on the table. Scot: [23:14] A tantrum yeah. Matt: [23:15] My voice yeah but maybe that's Versa tween you know a founder and yeah an operator. Jason: [23:23] Scot was definitely a table Slammer. Matt: [23:25] I don't believe you. Scot: [23:26] Like man I have an engineering background and they drummed that out of us in those four years. Matt: [23:33] Totally yeah I think you're right I think the scientific method does not allow for that that level of emotion that come into into the argument. Jason: [23:44] Yeah but I will say a lot of mechanical things can be fixed by hitting them with a hammer I will, the so I'm super grateful that you guys didn't throw Mark Glory under the table because I at the moment have to totally pandor to him because his new business he has Starbucks trucks that will drive to your house and deliver coffee to your house, so I like I feel like I need to stay in his good graces, but so so the sale happens you transition out of ModCloth you've you've got kids in college and or in school and no source of free clothing so I'm guessing that's what drove the, you're interesting lucky brands. Matt: [24:28] Yeah well I got to say. When I worked at Urban my wife definitely took advantage of the anthropology discount. [24:43] And I act funny funny and true story, when I was considering the opportunity at ModCloth I was having a couple other conversations in the in the fashion space. And I showed my daughter who at the time was probably about seven or eight I showed her the apps for the shopping apps for, the three businesses that I was talking to and I won't say who but there was one in particular based in La that she was like Dad no way she was like you cannot work selling that fashion. But she approved of ModCloth and so so I got her endorsement so yeah when I went to Lucky it's really I wasn't necessarily looking. You're back into fashion as much as I really thought that there was this route there's a unique opportunity with lucky they were. Over a billion in gmv which is to say the direct to Consumer wholesale and the value of their licensing business in the market was over a billion dollars. So brand revenues and net revenue is like call it 650 million and it was independent. [26:08] And there were not a lot of businesses at that scale. In the u.s. that still were independent versus part of a conglomerate. [26:21] And we're had already gone public and so I had been friendly with one of the partners at Wintergreen. Who called me about the opportunity and after spending some time with them talking about it I said. You really need somebody in LA full time in the arts district where they were headquartered and I'm not moving to LA and moving actually back east and they said. Hey would you come in and manage the company to get us through holiday while we won for somebody. And also give us a strategy like a like a financial model a business case three-year strategy. And so that's how I initially got involved there was more as like a board advisor interim manager and then. By January of twenty I'd really seen this amazing Lane. For an older Millennial younger Gen-X. That we could reposition Lucky Brand to be a cause marketer the company did a tremendous amount of good work in Downtown LA taking. Old Denim and. [27:50] Giving it. Nonprofits that work with the homeless population there for clothing to for installation. And then other other efforts to help that population, and so I felt like we could reposition lucky to not mean like going to the casino getting lucky but meaning gratitude. Like I feel lucky I made it I have the ability to spend a hundred dollars in a pair of jeans and I want to support. [28:27] This this amazing company that does all this good work and so. That I had this vision for how you could reposition the brand the business was running like it was 2005 as far as. Go to market so there was a lot of heavy lifting that had to be done around digital transformation around merchandising around. Rationalizing the stores there was way too much discount so there's a lot of work to do, but I got really excited about the opportunity and wound up agreeing to stay on as exact chair in January 2020. And part of my remit would have been to hire a CEO and partner with that individual and I had to kill people in my network that I thought would be great for it who be willing to move to LA. But two months later the covid walk down start. And then it turned into something you know completely different than we were just trying to survive we lost ninety percent of our revenue and that April. And we wound up. [29:43] Making it through to July August that summer but at that point yeah the damage had been done and the private Equity Firm decided to. Sell it to a party that had been interested in the business for a number of years which was authentic Brands group out of New York so I stayed on to oversee that process and then once the deal is done I. Said that was a lot of work I'm exhausted and wound up turning down the opportunity to stay on with a b g and left but, I got to say I'm really grateful thankful for the team that I had there because they were amazing, to work with during such a difficult period that that Q2. And early summer of 2020 it was it was really really challenging to be in the market and I learned a lot about myself as a leader from it. Jason: [30:46] Oh my gosh I I am sure you did I'm laughing though because you think about all the work involved there and so you decided to do something easier in your next gig like oh I don't know like starting from scratch business in the middle of a really old non-profit. Matt: [31:08] Well I gotta say you know after after the lucky experience. Um I really felt drained I didn't have. The passion for retail for e-commerce digital for. Brands for fashion like I had for the previous you know well 15 years and. I was fortunate that I have the ability to do this but I basically gave myself 2021 off. I've been sitting on a few boards I did some Consulting work I had been Angel Investing for a few years so I had a number of startup Founders and CEOs that I was mentoring and Advising, and I just said to myself I really need to get re-inspired I need to like, get back out in the market broadly see what's happening see where the Innovation is occurring and and, get excited but also get lucky because a lot of these things from a career perspective is based on timing I was really fortunate that. [32:27] I went to Urban when I did I was really fortunate to be part of, ModCloth the journey during the years that was there the year that I was at Walmart was a really critical year in the Amazon the Walmart Battle. Um amazing timing too. Be available to do Consulting work with the after pay the exact summer that the founder moved from Australia to San Francisco. So you know I'm acutely aware that you can't control timing and, and yet the kind of put yourself out there so that was my plan last year and in doing so what I realized was I'm like I get the most energy and I do my best work when, back in the phase of a company where it's. [33:22] Focused on growth and Innovation and so no more turnarounds the end of Lucky business was a turnaround. ModCloth was a pseudo turn around, so I just said you know I want to get back to you know that stage where it's really about solving for customer needs and Market positioning and Prague service Innovation and deploying technology, and then a couple that with also wanted to get in a part of retail where I can learn. And you know secondhand what's happening right now the this whole cultural phenomenon around thrifting, and you're the pioneering work of a thread up and a real real Poshmark deep op-ed see ya the last decade, that was the that was the heavy lifting you know those Founders you know basically creating the category, but now there's a critical mass now there's a consumer acceptance so I don't see it as it as a, as hard as maybe it looks like from the outside it's I think it's the timing is great for the Goodwill Network to Rally around this new platform for us. As a separate entity to stand up this new company to launch this new Marketplace. [34:48] There's definitely engineering challenges to figuring out how do you successfully profitably scale. Um second-hand and vintage when you know every item is unique and we have a distributed model where our sellers are. Various. Goodwill members across the u.s. so we're not centralized so there's definitely some some challenges but to me that's part of the fun that's part of the learning. Jason: [35:18] I can imagine I want to take just half a step backwards to make sure the listeners are tracking with exactly what you're doing now because I think it's super interesting so, formal title is CEO of goodwillfinds and goodwillfinds is a new offering from Goodwill that is selling Goodwill Merchant previously owned Goodwill merchandise via a website is that the in my clothes. Matt: [35:44] Yeah yeah so I think it's worth kind of spelling out the context a little bit because it took me a little bit honestly to fully understand it and grasp it. Goodwill has been around for over 100 Years everybody knows Goodwill it's an amazing nonprofit franchise. There is a I call it a holding company I don't know that that's the right. Firm but there is a parent company that owns the Goodwill Master license in Metro DC and they have. License out the brand to I believe the numbers 155, individual territories across the u.s. and each of those territories have, Goodwill organization with their own leadership team their own operations around treasury their own board of directors obviously they vary in. Size and location and specification and you know mix the revenue and all those things but they all share the same Mission and the mission a Goodwill is. [36:57] To enhance lives for the Dignity of work, and it's my older brother was born with a disability and I've watched him go on and off disability a few times in his life and I tell you, that he's his best self when he's working. So when I first got connected with the folks at Goodwill earlier last year it really touched my heart like I really. I wanted this to be successful for them because I know how important their mission is but as I got to learn more about the network. [37:37] Of 155 Goodwill's and more about the opportunity and there are six founding. Good we'll see EOS that came together to organize this new separate entity called goodwillfinds where a virtual Delaware company. And those six are the ones that are the board that I report to and they've been working on this for years they were, ready to watch this last year and decided that they needed to hire a CEO, to come in build a team set up the company oversee the launch so I joined pre-revenue and we're now in our fourth month of selling, the consumer response has been. Unbelievable sales are more than doubling month-over-month it's it's really. A unique opportunity to build something that is not only. [38:39] In a part of retail that is innovating and growing and scaling rapidly but it's also doing it for this amazing Mission and you know really trying to redefine what does. Nonprofit in the circular economy look like to deliver social impact at scale so I feel like that's the Mandate that I signed up for and the team that I'm building. And the business model that we're designing right now to go with the marketplace are the is the execution of that but the bigger Vision here is to create this platform that not only. [39:24] Overtime all 155 Goodwill members will have access to be on as sellers but that. For the first time we'll have decentralized marketing funnel brands. Strategy content messaging 1p data and then. [39:48] But technical roadmap that were able to deploy that will integrate with the store operations and the back of house operations that will allow for scared investments in technology that all the good wolf can take advantage of. On the consumer side I think all the players and secondhand have the same goal which is to make the. [40:10] The option to buy second-hand versus new so compelling and so convenient and so exciting and cool. That more and more consumption dollars go towards second hand and move away from New and by, doing that, it has this incredibly measurable impact on the environment in creating sustainable. Impact and then in our case you add to it. The fact that every net dollar that we collect from our sales go back to the location where the Goodwill was the item was donated to fund the Goodwill programs I mean it's I feel like we're pioneering, this new this new kind of business model for circularity and so all that to me is like super compelling super interesting, and I'm really fortunate that this opportunity found me. Scot: [41:19] Cool hearing you talk about it I can tell you like to build stuff the channel visor we had a lot of customers that were kind of in this General space the challenge with this use Consignment World Is You Gotta you know I'm sure these Goodwills are getting, they're only going to sell online a fraction of what comes in so you got to figure out what what things do you want to sell in the store versus online you gotta create digital assets which are the descriptions and the pictures and then you gotta you know imagine you're not going to send them to a central location so then you've got to create a shipping method that works down at the store level how are you guys solving all those problems at scale. Matt: [42:00] Yeah well I'll tell you a couple of things and you're exactly right there's a ton of operational challenges we have a couple things going for us one. These Goodwills already have the physical infrastructure they already have, donation centers they already have Micro warehouses that are already selling online as a three-piece seller through Amazon and eBay and some other Regional marketplaces, so they have a lot of these physical operations setup, so we're leveraging that and we're not having to deploy Capital to do it. That's 12 there's a there's a maturity in the technology vendor Market you'd be surprised at how many. Providers are in the space to automate. We have a partner that we work with that leverages Google Lens technology and Leverage is the Einstein a I was Salesforce that allows us to, take a lot of the heavy lifting out of item creation we have vendors that we work with that. [43:15] Take images of items three-dimensional scans that send it to and Outsource in India where descriptions are being written for these items you know so there's, and I'm learning this right but you'd be shocked at how much software deployment automation deployment already exists. [43:38] So we're managing that to deploy in a way that integrates into these existing operations at and. The other thing that we have an advantage of is because we are nonprofit. [43:53] We're selling primarily me exclusively right now but overtime will be primarily selling donated items which have. Is this not a zero cost of goods but it's a near zero cost of goods. So we have room in the margin line to play with value-added services on each item, if we feel like there's a lift that we can justify with that you know with respect to photography with respect to. Metadata on each of the items with respect to Howard thinking about tagging, there's a lot there's a lot of players out there that we're evaluating right now and we watched with. [44:42] Over 100,000 unique items back in the first week of October. Mid-December we were at nearly 200,000 items. And our roadmap is to have a million unique items in our active. Catalog by October of this year so this entire endeavor. Has been from the start designed for scale. So we feel like that's giving us an advantage because we're able to do some things that, other startups that are venture-backed that are having to start from scratch with a lot of that infrastructure that have a cost of sourcing and and Supply acquisition that we don't, it would be financially prohibitive for them to make some of the Investments that we're making right now. Scot: [45:43] Yeah it's interesting to hear you say you're using some of the AI Jason's not a believer in AI but I'm a big proponent. Jason: [45:50] Haha I haven't said a word on this whole podcast I've just been using my AI Avatar. Scot: [45:57] Ugh. Matt: [45:58] For the record this isn't Matt talking this is Matt's chat TPT talking. Jason: [46:04] Yeah we tested both in the shed she'd Beatty was much more Salient so we went with that. [46:17] Yeah so it's interesting to me mad because, you mentioned a lot of the early Pioneers in our e-commerce and by the way just from buzzword Bingo like are you re Commerce person or you like do you have a favorite label for what you're doing now. Matt: [46:34] Yeah I'm. I'm back in the the interview circuit right now trying to get the word out about what we're doing and promoting the Goodwill Mission so I'm still trying some phrases on I mean yeah RI Commerce is definitely. [46:50] What. The buzzword but I think what we're doing at goodwillfinds and and in partnership with the Goodwill network is really about circularity you know in my mind's eye. Getting a Marketplace standing up a new Marketplace from the zero. You know it's the old Beezus flywheel the back of the napkin that I think about every day and in my version of it their supply demand admission and without the mission we don't get supply. And the better job we do partnering with our members sellers in acquiring the right Supply and and listing it. In a high-quality way, you know then that allows us to be able to meet demand in the market which the proceeds from those sales go right back to the Goodwill where we got the donation and there's the kind of the flywheels complete, and one of the stories around that and this is what we have to do a better job. [47:52] This year versus last year's to get these stories these amazing stories about the Goodwill Network out into the world, the more successful we are Google finds meaning the more that we're able to sell and scale demand. The more people each of the Goodwill sellers have to hire in their e-commerce operations. Because they're doing the listings they're doing the pick pack and ship on the on the outbound but those jobs are higher skill and they and they pay better. And so it actually accelerates the local mission. [48:27] The more successful we are because they have to hire more people and bring more people and train them into these higher value jobs that then they go get placed somewhere else they can go work within. The digital economy you know the digital retail industry and so we really I really think about what we're doing as pioneering circularity. We also are talking to some retailers and Brands you want to partner with us on they're both on the demand and supply side and part of it is because we're a nonprofit that there's a tax, right up Advantage for them but it's there's also this, PSG component to the large corporates that they have to think about especially in, in apparel where they had to think about you know what is their end to end environmental impact and. [49:27] It's it's really I can't believe the timing of this but it's really a moment right now not just with consumers but in the industry and so that's another aspect of circularity where you have. Yeah it's not Nike so but I'll just use them as an example to speak of Austria of Lee imagine Nike telling their full price customers. That they can buy second-hand Nike at goodwillfinds.com. Or imagine a Chanel it's not Chanel so I'll just use them electrically but imagine them. [50:04] Wanting to use us as their authentication partner so that when you find second-hand should now at goodwillfinds.com versus a real real or somewhere else, you can you can you know that you have this objective third-party authenticator that you can partner with to control, the the brand experience in the second hand market so it's, I'm really excited about the possibilities and and we have a really big vision for what we're doing I don't I think we Commerce to me feels, like a term that soap a little bit Limited. Jason: [50:41] Totally fair so maybe circular Commerce its, it's interesting to me though like so we've had a bunch of those Founders from the circular Commerce. Brands on and like their fundamental problem is not your fundamental like their biggest problem is sourcing, the goods by getting people to send them stuff and then when they curate it they're mostly interested in, luxury designer so they end up with a relatively poor yield and they don't have. [51:13] Any monetization or you know frankly like a ecologically redeeming way to deal with, all the goods they get that aren't they don't meet their criteria so it's like you you seem like they're like through the Goodwill Network you've got all these stores to put Goods in you've got a bunch of you do have luxury consumers that are searching for vintage and value but you also have more pure value consumers you it just seems like it's a really interesting fit because you saw some of the, problems that are endemic to the re Commerce guys you've got the first gen, Val you guys like the you know the fast fashion guys who are you know of course making stuff cheap but it's a psychological disaster and they only sell like half of it and the other half ends up in a landfill and all that and then you've got the, discount guys who I think is the funniest of all I don't know if you follow this but Burlington Coat Factory, right before the pandemic shut down their e-commerce and they shut it down because they fundamentally couldn't solve what you're doing like they couldn't figure out how to cost effectively make, product detail pages for all the super thin inventory that they had and so it just interesting like, because you built this business on top of the Google Network it feels like you got a nice sort of Head Start in the in all three corners of that problem if you will. Matt: [52:36] Yeah Jason so first off I know a lot of the players the founders execs at those other places and, again I want them all to be successful because the more successful the category is it's a tide that will lift all boats and I think we're all being led by the consumer who is voting yes yes yes, I also think that the consumer, um is not just the the deal Seeker the value Seeker but it really is a trend ribbon, style driven younger consumer who if you think about you know the. [53:19] Tick Tock and Instagram and this this viral social world that we live in where you nobody wants to look the same, wearing the same things that shopping vintage and second-hand is actually a way to differentiate yourself and show your, your individual style so it's there's a really interesting marriage there between second hand and kind of social morality, and what's happening there and then there's also a tell you a more affluent customer or aspirational customer who could Shop full price and does Shop full price but they really care about, about the impact in the narrative and they want to talk about the story, where they bought it not just what they bought and so there's it feels like there's this really. [54:15] Great timing of all three customer segments and then the last thing I tell you is compared to the Discounters. Do I have read about some of them struggling, with figuring out e-commerce and I think I've read the rational rationalization was that it's hard to do Discovery online versus in the store. What I would tell you is that what we're doing augments the in-store thrifting experience at goodwillfinds, now if you're shopping Goodwill at your local store. The assortment is very limited it's what just showed up that week or that month as far as donations go but, you can do that because there are certain categories of people like to touch and feel or try on because fit matters or Texture and finish and, and material matter you know how home goods and furniture and the like one of those big bulky items that you know are easier to buy and store but to be able to couple that with. [55:29] Now shopping you know I don't want to say the best but the that e-commerce. Assortment of other Goodwills across the country. We're now you're getting access to donations from New York to LA Seattle to Miami, Chicago to Austin and I mean wow like what a treasure Trove to be able to shop your Goodwill store and go online and get access to all these thrift stores in one place, in our case I think it's a massive value add and. Given the fact that the Goodwill brand has been around for 100 years and already has tens of millions of customers shopping their stores you know our primary focus to start is how do we, how do we complement the in-store shopping experience to those tens of millions of customers to convert them to be multi-channel customers with the brand, and at the same time how do we compete in the market too. [56:38] Solicit this this these other two audiences that I mentioned the style and Trend driven younger consumer that's looking for vintage that's looking for. For differentiated as well as this this aspirational and more affluent customer who loves the loves the purpose loves the mission loves the story of circularity and wants to participate. Scot: [57:03] Cool sounds like your you're fired up and it's going to be exciting to watch the progress we're running up against time but while we have you you've been that this over 15 years the whole e-commerce retail thing what are some of the other Trends you're watching other than this circular kind of recycling element anything anything interesting on your radar for example do you think the digitally native vertical brand thing has played out or is that still got legs any other trends that are interesting to you. Matt: [57:36] Yeah well on DM BB which just a an iteration of DTC. Did you see to me was always a go to market strategy was never a business model. Scot: [57:47] Yeah. Matt: [57:49] The the early players the first movers in that space who did the, you know go to the source and sell an item at the wholesale price versus the retail price because you're cutting out the middleman Zappos is kind of one of the one of the pioneers of that, um That was a momentum thing I've always viewed and again kind of sticking to my knitting here in this specialty premium you know Market space. I've always viewed, yeah the brand equity which is what we're all striving to create and grow and maintain. It gets generated by picking an attractive customer, that you want to obsess about and I don't and attractive I mean somebody that you think is a viable there's enough of them and they're viable to have a long-term relationship with. [58:56] And obsessing about them to the point where you understand their needs better than they and you can create differentiated product and service, where, they fall in love with your Solutions with your customer experience and they want to tell their friends and then you couple that with the right distribution, so that you can find more people like them which allows you to scale in an efficient manner and direct-to-consumer now going back 15 years, was just the new go to market to find more like-minded customers to ones that you already had so urban urban already had amazingly strong brands with a lot of brand equity, so what we did writing the Web 2.0 wave was really just figuring out you know how do we, how do we reach the same or similar customers and give them a better experience a different experience online than what they experience in store, and then Mark what was the opposite I got there and we had no physical experience and so the exercise was how do we take this brand love that exists. [1:00:07] At this website and and translate it into a three-dimensional experience that, the existing customers would love but would allow us to expand our market and introduce the brand and more people so I yeah so I don't I never saw DM BB by itself as a sustainable business model. [1:00:27] As far as other Trends in the market today I when I left Walmart I did a talk. [1:00:37] Where I said I felt like it was an amazing time, to start a brand and I really meant it and I really believe that the market was was so like there's so much sameness in the market that. That there's a huge opportunity for four new brands coming to the market Leverage The technologies that have matured and and really differentiate against the incumbents I tell you sitting here right now after. I feel like consumers. [1:01:12] Have now accepted the fact that their multi-line store is where they shop for everything. The whole idea of this retailers essential and that one's not and those shutdowns for a year plus I think really changed consumer. Perception of where's viable to shop the where it's not and I and so I think the bigger players, have a massive advantage in this market especially this year with inflation continuing going into a recession I think it's I think this year is going to be really hard, for smaller players to differentiate and survive so that's more from a consumer lens. From a technology lens I'm sorry to say Jason but I'm a big believer in AI, and I think it's early days and what I counseled a lot of folks who are earlier in their career is find a mega technology trend, in the market that you can get passionate about learning that you think is early Innings and ride it. [1:02:17] I certainly did that with e-commerce I was. They're early with the that whole Social Mobile Local, moment you know that was existing after the iPhone and Facebook launched, I'm I feel like marketplaces are like halfway up the s-curve I feel like there's still a lot more room to grow and so I'm working on that technology curve right now with goodwillfinds. But I would say that I don't I'm not a Believer it in web 3.0 today it feels like, the.com in the late 90s where it was five years too early, there just weren't enough participants to make it viable I think web 3.0 in whatever form it takes is five years out before becomes something that you could commercially work on. And then you know I'd say I think the subscription in. In a lot of categories is having a lot of success right now which is less about technology and more about, business model but that's that's that's an area as well that I think is worth exploring for a lot of businesses that are trying to figure out ways to monetize Their audience. Jason: [1:03:40] Matt that is awesome, basically we're mostly aligned I'm 100% with you on a I I'm also with you on web 3 / metaverse being too early the one thing I'm gonna just for the record disagree on is I I can't public admit that marketplaces are thing because that'll that'll go to Scott said too much if we admit that. But, it's going to surprise no one mat that has happened again we've used slightly more than our allotted time so we're gonna leave it with those words of wisdom from you as always if listeners found value from this show we sure would love it if you'd jump on iTunes and leave us that five star review but Matt, so awesome to reconnecting and congrats on everything you're doing it's it's fun to watch and and put your point like it's also adding a heck of a lot of value to the world. Matt: [1:04:33] Guys I really appreciate the time always great to reconnect congrats on the pot I'm a huge fan and let's do it again at number five hundred. Scot: [1:04:44] Sounds good Matt if folks want to find you online or you on the on MySpace where do you hang out. Matt: [1:04:52] Yeah have you heard of Tumblr no. Um yeah I would just say if anybody needs to get ahold of me reach out through Linkedin and my contact information is there. Scot: [1:05:06] Sounds good we really appreciate taking time and good luck with the new Venture sounds really exciting. Matt: [1:05:11] Thanks guys. Jason: [1:05:12] And until next time happy commercing.
Pete Moran has been a lot of things: ski instructor, snowshoe mountain marketing manager, 'People Magazine's "Most Eligible Bachelor," Red Bull marketing manager, agent, and entrepreneur. But really, Pete is a people person, and his natural ability to build relationships has helped him create an incredible life. On the podcast, we talk about all of the above and some great athlete stories revolving around Shane McConkey, Kasey Keller, and Marshawn Lynch. Recording episodes with my good friends are always fun. Pete Moran Show Notes: 5:30: Judging his Virginia accent, knowing everyone, owning radio stations, skiing, and tennis 15:00: Ski instructing at Wintergreen in HS, Davis and Elkins College, and Snowshoe Mountain 19:00: The Intrawest factor, People Magazine's Most Eligible Bachelor of the Year 20:00: Stanley: Get 30% off sitewide with the code drinkfast Outdoor Research: The best outerwear ever built just got better GoPro: The only POV cam that matters 23:00: Spreading the Snowshoe Gospel, meeting McConkey, and getting hired by Red Bull 31:00: Launching the Mid-Atlantic, The Red Bull Air Force, moving to Seattle to win back the market, and the Seahawks 42:00: Peter Glenn Ski and Sports: Over 60 years of getting you out there 10 Barrel Brewery: Buy their beers; they support action sports more than anyone Elan Skis: Over 75 years of innovation that makes you better 44:30: The NBA, money, big marketing spends, leaving to start his own marketing firm, Josh Brown, Kasey Keller, Marshawn Lynch, and his Caesars Palace Jump that I Emceed 60 :00: Inappropriate Questions with Bob Snyder
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