Backcountry Magazine Podcast
43 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 month ago - ★★★★★ - 36 ratingsFrom legendary athletes to iconic product designers, activists to guides, our world is filled with new views, wisdom, determination and crustiness. This is the Backcountry Podcast.
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Episodes
Doug Stoup: The Iceman
March 13, 2024 18:10 - 52 minutes - 48.7 MBFrom playing NCAA soccer to a successful modeling and acting career to being the top polar explorer of his time, Doug Stoup is an enigma. Host Adam Howard recently journeyed to Antarctica with Stoup, and their conversation ranges from Doug’s personal training of A-list Hollywood actors to near death experiences; adventures with Doug Coombs; and taking novice skiers to the South Pole. Backcountry Magazine | Instagram | Facebook Ice Axe Expeditions
Tele Mike Russell: You Cannot Be What You Cannot See
March 06, 2024 16:00 - 48 minutes - 44.2 MBTele Mike Russell grew up as a sharecropper’s son in Delaware, before attending college and becoming an executive in the pharmaceutical industry. Then he watched the second plane hit the World Trade Center and decided he’d better follow another path, this one to skiing in Colorado, where he’d go on to find a family in the National Brotherhood of Skiers. Backcountry Magazine | Instagram | Facebook National Brotherhood of Skiers Host: Adam Howard Producer + Engineer: Mike Horn
Eric Blehm: Meet Your Heroes
February 26, 2024 23:18 - 48 minutes - 45 MBWhen Craig Kelly died in 2003, the world of snowboarding was devastated. Twenty years later, New York Times best-selling author Eric Blehm returned to the site of Kelly’s death, to uncover the true story of what happened in the avalanche that killed the legendary snowboarder and six backcountry skiers in British Columbia’s Selkirk Mountains. Blehm’s roots in snowboarding run deep. He started riding during the sport’s infancy, and after college became an editor at Transworld SNOWboarding Ma...
Chris Davenport: Plugged-In To The Mountains
January 11, 2024 14:30 - 54 minutes - 51 MBIn the skiing universe, Chris Davenport is a household name. His notoriety is due in part to the many facets of the sport upon which he’s had a lasting impact. He raced for New Hampshire’s Holderness Academy and the University of Colorado before transitioning to freeskiing and winning world championships in 1996 and 2001. He became one of the first American Red Bull athletes and found his way into more than 30 ski films. And that just scratches the surface of Dav’s decades of dominance. He...
Ellen Bradley: The Original Storytellers
January 04, 2024 15:00 - 58 minutes - 54.4 MBTlingit skier Ellen Bradley is an advocate, athlete, scientist and storyteller. Fierce and thoughtful, she defies the narrative that wild Alaska is there only to be conquered by heli operations and other extractive industries. She loves to slide on snow, and wants more Indigenous people to share in her joy. Born and raised in the Seattle area, Bradley started skiing Stevens Pass at age 4. For her, skiing has always been a source of connection to both the land and her ancestors, especially ...
Jeremy Jones: The Art of Schralpinism
December 14, 2023 16:20 - 51 minutes - 48.3 MBFrom a distance, Jeremy Jones’s career looks impossible. He is, after all, a pro snowboarder, entrepreneur, activist, filmmaker and author. Does he ever sleep? Nevermind that he’s also a husband, father and active community member in Truckee, California. Somehow, he still manages to snowboard around 200 days a year. The founder of Jones Snowboards has stayed true to his passions while owning and operating one of the most innovative brands in the sport. At any given time, you might find hi...
Jordan Campbell: Big Mountains and Broken Heroes
October 19, 2023 18:00 - 59 minutes - 54.8 MBJordan Campbell’s relationship with Backcountry spans more than two decades. He published his first story in the magazine—about a ski expedition to Eastern Tibet—in 2002. Throughout the course of his career, Campbell has worked for some of the biggest names in the outdoor industry, including Jagged Edge, The North Face and Marmot. During that time, he found himself increasingly drawn to humanitarian causes around the globe. It was also during this time host Adam Howard found himself chas...
Biff America: Beer is Great, God is Good, People are Crazy
October 12, 2023 20:20 - 48 minutes - 45.3 MBJeffrey Bergeron, aka Biff America, has spent the last 50 years living in the mountains, mainly in Breckenridge, Colorado. Yet his signature accent and brash personality—rooted in the South Shore of Massachusetts—are as rich as they were the day he moved west. Likewise, his sharp and self-deprecating sense of humor is evident through his writing and, as you’ll hear, in this episode. In addition to his columns that have run in Backcountry since 1994, he’s also published two books under the ...
Hadley Hammer: Love, Loss and Light
October 05, 2023 16:00 - 50 minutes - 47.2 MBHadley Hammer might just have the best name in backcountry skiing. Despite growing up in Jackson Hole, however, her path to becoming a professional skier did not follow a linear track. She dabbled in ski racing, figure skating, cross country skiing and other sports before deciding to pursue competitive freeskiing. Her career got off to a rocky start with a last-place finish at a Freeride World Tour event in Argentina. But Hammer is nothing if not determined and, as she says, stubborn. So s...
Dave Grissom: Behind the Curtain at Voilé
February 13, 2023 17:30 - 38 minutes - 36.5 MBFor more than 40 years, Voile has broken trail in the backcountry. The storied Utah brand develops and manufactures its products in the Wasatch, and innovates year in and year out. From developing tele bindings and skis to splitboards and the eponymous Voile strap, the inventors at Voile work at the edges. Their skis show up at our annual Utah ski test quite literally fresh out of the press as they tinker up to the last possible moment on a new model. While many associate Voile with c...
Will Ritter: The Spark
January 31, 2023 16:00 - 56 minutes - 53 MBBackcountry first caught a glimpse of Will’s prototype splitboard bindings in 2008. A brief writeup in the magazine that year was the precursor to inclusion in every Backcountry Gear Guide since. While they lacked polish in the early days the bindings showed promise. And that first generation of Spark clamps would lay the foundation for that elusive “better mousetrap.” Word of Spark’s bindings spread like wildfire in the close-knit backcountry snowboard community, and the company has gr...
Corinne Prevot: Dream Weaver
January 23, 2023 13:00 - 51 minutes - 47.4 MBIf you’ve been to a mountain town in the past decade you’ve seen the proliferation of Skida hats and neckies. They’re part and parcel now to global ski culture. But what about the founder of Skida? That’s 31-year-old Corinne Prevot. What began for Corinne as a means of self expression in high school has blossomed into a business with 20 employees under the age of 30. Most of them are women. Based in Burlington, Vermont, Skida hats and neckwear are renowned for their eclectic patterns a...
Lani Bruntz: Intrepid Explorer
January 09, 2023 14:06 - 51 minutes - 48.7 MBWe recently sat down with intrepid explorer Lani Bruntz, soon after she arrived home from a bikepacking trip in Mexico. Prior to that adventure, she was skiing and guiding in Chile. If there’s one thing we learned about Bruntz during our interview, it’s that she’s almost always on the move. Whether exploring her Crested Butte, Colorado backyard, or remote mountain regions around the globe, Bruntz feels most at home in wild places. She came up as a Nordic ski racer, before discovering a pa...
Nick Russell: Freeride Explorer
December 29, 2022 14:02 - 55 minutes - 54.6 MBIn this episode, we have a conversation with backcountry snowboarder Nick Russell. Like so many of today’s top snowboarders, Nick cut his teeth riding freestyle out East. He grew up in Connecticut before making his way to Vermont’s Stratton Mountain School. The longtime home to the US OPEN, Stratton has produced snowboarding legends like Ross Powers and Danny Davis. Once he realized he wasn’t destined for freestyle greatness, Russell migrated West. He eventually discovered splitboarding an...
Jason Hummel: Cascade Crusader
December 21, 2022 14:23 - 1 hour - 57.1 MBJason Hummel: Cascade Crusader In this episode, photographer and Backcountry contributor Jason Hummel shares his passion for exploring far-flung places in his home range and beyond. Jason grew up backcountry skiing on Washington’s glaciers and in the surrounding wild country, including his first multi day winter traverse of Mt. Rainier at just 10 years old. Fast forward a few decades, and a lifetime of exploring Washington’s wildest winter places has inspired Jason to become a studen...
Bruce Edgerly: BCA and Beyond
December 14, 2022 13:30 - 1 hour - 60.4 MBBruce Edgerly, or “Edge,” as he’s known to the backcountry community, has been around the block. He cut his teeth in the outdoor industry by writing for Powder and Couloir in the 1980s, and traveling the globe to cover the burgeoning extreme skiing movement. In the early nineties, Edge found himself out of a job and largely unemployable, despite having a degree in engineering. A chance encounter with Bruce McGowan inspired the pair to start BCA and a backcountry icon was born. Edge take...
Than Acuff: Talk of the Town
December 07, 2022 13:30 - 36 minutes - 34.9 MBIn this episode we sit down with Than Acuff, Executive Director of the Crested Butte Avalanche Center. The CBAC is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing an avalanche forecast for the community every day of the winter season. The small forecasting team swings way above its weight, all while working in the West Elk Range, home to one of the more challenging snowpacks in the lower 48. Than talks about the challenges of operating a small non profit that’s dedicated to saving lives,...
Setting Sail with Angel Collinson
November 30, 2022 15:29 - 52 minutes - 53.6 MBAngel Collinson turned the freeskiing world upside down when, at 31 years old and the height of her career, she retired from professional skiing, swapping big mountains for the ocean. Angel speaks about the similarities and differences between big mountains and big water, what it takes to master one’s craft (and whether it’s worth it) and when—or if—she’ll ski again. This episode of the Backcountry Podcast is sponsored by Salomon. It's also made possible by our listeners. Please subscri...
Wingwalkers: The Story of California's Redline Traverse
March 09, 2022 20:12 - 33 minutes - 46.6 MBThere’s a range in America’s most populous state that’s hemmed in by desert and people. Each year, millions come to California's Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains to collectively attempt to climb Mt. Whitney or ogle Yosemite’s Half Dome or ski at Mammoth or hike the John Muir Trail. In the spring of 2016, Adam Howard, Craig Dostie and John and Tyson Hausdoerffer came here for a different reason: To ski some of the famed Redline Traverse, first pioneered in the early ’80s. Summits here tower 10...
Gear Crazy
January 26, 2022 16:02 - 47 minutes - 65.7 MBGiven the epic demand for touring gear and the unprecedented way Backcountry Magazine had to test it last year, we pulled together some of our veteran testers to talk about their experience, because it's from their insight that our editors made selections for this year's Gear Guide. We get into those details a bit. We talk about a range of topics—from quivers of one to why tele gear hasn't changed in a decade and the best skins on the market today. And, of course, we share some of our fav...
Powder Days
November 30, 2021 16:06 - 42 minutes - 58.8 MBBackcountry Magazine Contributing Editor Heather Hansman is a recovering ski bum. In her new book, Powder Days: Ski Bums, Ski Towns and the Future of Chasing Snow, Heather threads her own personal narrative—you know, the way she came to once call herself a ski bum—into the American story of ski bumming itself. It sounds so simple on the cover, as if any of us who’ve skied 100-plus days a year could relate. But in the context of today, we’re starting to question not only the future of ski ...
The Two Cohens: Pro Skier Sam and his Photographing Father Lee
February 27, 2021 15:05 - 55 minutes - 76.3 MBLike most ski bums, legendary photographer Lee Cohen was only planning on skiing at Alta, Utah, for one season. Forty years later, he’s still there, shooting skiers in the Wasatch. Since his first image was published in the late ’80s in Powder, he continues to be one of the top shooters in the game. One of his favorite subjects is his son, Sam, himself a professional freeskier. It hasn’t always been easy for either of them: Sam admits he had to ski hard to get beyond the old man’s shadow. Wh...
The Seer: Avalanche Forecaster and Sage Drew Hardesty
February 26, 2021 14:04 - 46 minutes - 63.2 MBA 22-year veteran avalanche forecaster for the Utah Avalanche Center, Drew Hardesty doesn’t simply give the avalanche forecast for the greater Wasatch. He tells the snowpack’s story. He’s part scientist, part philosopher. Part skier, part poet. What other forecaster might relate a scene from Cormac McCarthy’s book The Crossing to a blown avalanche forecast? How many snow scientists were Naval Intelligence officers during Desert Storm or have received a federal Valor Award for aiding 17 lig...
The Makers’ Lament: Part 2
February 15, 2021 15:14 - 47 minutes - 65.6 MBIn April, we reached out to gear and apparel manufacturers to get their take on what the coronavirus pandemic might mean to the outdoor industry. It ended up being our most listened to episode and, in response to the many calls for a follow-up, that’s just what we did. Joining host Adam “Howie” Howard are Thor Verdonk, Alpine Technical Product Director for Lange, Rossignol and Dynastar; Jason Levinthal, founder of Line and J-Skis; and Dan Abrams, cofounder of Flylow. How accurate were their...
Guide Nancy Bockino: Mother of Trees
February 10, 2021 19:56 - 45 minutes - 63.2 MBLike all mountain pros, Nancy Bockino has had a lot of gigs to make it all work. Unlike a lot of mountain pros, Nancy seems to do what she loves year-round. Based in Jackson, Wyoming, Nancy spends the winter ski guiding and teaching avalanche classes for Exum Mountain Guides in the Tetons. Come spring she’s off to the Eastern Sierra to ply her craft guiding alpine climbing and ski touring south of Mammoth for International Alpine Guides. Then, in the summer, she’s back in Jackson working as...
A Walk on the Wildlands Side
January 29, 2021 14:51 - 40 minutes - 55.7 MBNo matter the job, Todd Walton’s work stumping for outdoor brands has never taken him far from backcountry terrain. As the executive director of Winter Wildlands Alliance (WWA), Todd’s latest efforts focus on advocating for the very places and experiences he’s known throughout his career. Once a small, grassroots nonprofit focusing on the mountains around Sun Valley, Idaho, WWA today leads advocacy efforts in nearly every western state. In this episode, Todd dishes on WWA’s latest efforts,...
The Future of Ski Media
December 25, 2020 17:00 - 46 minutes - 63.5 MBNovember 20 was a sad day for the ski community. It was the day POWDER magazine officially halted operations after 49 years of production. It was a staggering turn for the magazine many feel influenced the sport like no other. Among those reflecting on the loss are former editor-in-chief Steve Casimiro, former associate editor Mike Rogge and former interns Ingrid Backstrom and Adam Howard. The four look into the crystal ball to see what the future looks like without POWDER. This episode ...
Bjarne Salén: Lensman of Legends
December 24, 2020 17:00 - 44 minutes - 61.7 MBPowder, stoke, spines—they’re ski movie staples, but they don’t fully show what goes into a successful day in the mountains. Swedish filmmaker Bjarne Salén is changing that. As he captures Cody Townsend’s The Fifty, a project to ski all the lines in the heralded book 50 Classic Ski Descents of North America, Salén speaks up from behind the camera, giving insight into the role filmmakers play in skiing big lines and, in doing so, breaking down the imaginary fourth wall. This episode of th...
Uphill and Beyond
December 22, 2020 21:41 - 53 minutes - 74.4 MBWhat will backcountry ski travel look like this winter? How will the skiing economy deal with the uncertainty Covid-19 presents? Will trailheads be packed? (Yup!) Backcountry’s Adam Howard joins backcountry pioneer Andrew McLean, film star Mike Hattrup and freelance writer and editor Megan Michelson to discuss what Covid-19 means to the backcountry community and resorts grappling with a booming uphill scene. This episode of the Backcountry Podcast is sponsored by the Vermont Department of ...
Plan B - Live: The Maker’s Lament
April 17, 2020 13:15 - 47 minutes - 87.8 MBWith supply chains throughout the world interrupted by the Covid-19 crisis, no industry has been left unaffected. And though we’re nearing skiing and riding’s offseason, even next season’s gear—whether that’s boots made in Italy, apparel made in China or skis made domestically—may be on the line. To get a perspective from across the globe and at home, with brands large and small, Adam Howard and Lucy Higgins speak with Thor Verdonk, global brand director of Lange, Dan Abrams, cofounder of Fl...
Plan B - Live: Out There and Back
April 13, 2020 12:57 - 47 minutes - 87.7 MBHow have adventurers and adventures been impacted by the current Covid-19 pandemic? And what was it like for those out in the mountains when the crisis emerged? What about those who earn their livelihoods in the backcountry? In this episode, we go out there and back, connecting with Leavenworth, Wash.-based splitboarder Ryan Irvin, who has widely shared the story of his personal battle with coronavirus; photographer and writer Mary McIntyre, who was on a skiing and sailing expedition to Gree...
Plan B - Live: Climate and Covid
April 09, 2020 13:38 - 44 minutes - 81.8 MBThese days, we’re seemingly looking at everything through the Covid-19 filter. Today, Backcountry’s Plan B Facebook Live Podcast looks at climate change with Bill McKibben, author, climate activist and founder of 350.org; Sam Killgore, communications manager at Protect Our Winters; and Dr. John Hausdoerffer, director of the Master in Environmental Management Program at Western Colorado University. Along with hosts Adam Howard and Lucy Higgins, they’ll consider what the global pandemic and th...
Plan B - Live: The Go/No Go Paradigm
April 03, 2020 14:55 - 41 minutes - 81.3 MBAfter a few weeks of adjusting to the new normal of social distancing and self isolation, host Adam Howard is joined by editor in chief Lucy Higgins to discuss the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the backcountry community. Higgins and Howard chat with Nick Sargent, president of SIA (SnowSports Industries America), about the organization’s #curbyourturns social campaign; they’re also joined by Backcountry contributor Heather Hansman, who talks about her recent feature on mental health in ...
Annelise Loevlie: Icelantic Dreams
March 18, 2020 16:00 - 57 minutes - 78.8 MBOK, we’re bragging here, but the CEO of Icelantic interned at Backcountry Magazine in 2004. That was just after she earned degrees in Spanish and International Business from UVM and just before she started at a brand-new ski company with her high school friends in Colorado. Through Icelantic’s meteoric rise to near fall, Loevlie found her voice and learned how to make the tough calls.
Dana Gleason: Pack Man
February 25, 2020 20:08 - 1 hour - 94.2 MBDana Gleason retired a millionaire after selling his company, the legendary pack manufacturer Dana Designs, in the late ’90s. But he was adrift and having too much fun skiing powder to feel purpose. His daughter changed that with a simple request: build me a minimalist hip pack. Soon after Mystery Ranch was born, and it’s been going strong for 20 years. And, Dana’s still crazy!
Oliver Steffen: The Genuine Mind of G3
February 25, 2020 20:08 - 1 hour - 56.3 MBFrom making avalanche probes in his Vancouver kitchen, Genuine Guide Gear founder Oliver Steffen has been at the forefront of a slew of trends in backcountry skiing. Known for clean, inspired design, G3 has been a leader in telemark bindings, probes, shovels, skins and, now, tech bindings. We talk to Steffen about the culture of innovation that keeps G3 hopping.
Spearhead Reimagined
January 24, 2020 14:35 - 46 minutes - 63.7 MBThe iconic traverse between Blackcomb and Whistler, B.C. is a paradox. It’s super crowded near its entry and exit points, yet you still have to winter camp if you want to complete the multiday route. But with huts going in, will it be more popular than ever? Or more controlled? Filmmaker of the new movie Spearhead Seth Gillis shares his opinions.
The Electrification of Greg Hill
January 02, 2020 16:58 - 47 minutes - 65.3 MBLike many of us, Canadian ski mountaineer Greg Hill is concerned about how his travels to the trailhead and around the world were contributing to climate change. So in 2017 he decided to realign his priorities and sold his F350 and his snow machine and got an electric car. The result was a short film and a changed man. [Photo] Anthony Bonello
Mike Hattrup, Ahead of the Turn
December 18, 2019 16:49 - 1 hour - 59.1 MBOver his three-decade career in skiing, Mike Hattrup has worn many hats: Freestyle athlete, film star, product innovator, mountain guide. He’s also a hus- band and father. How has Hattrup kept it together for more than 30 years? A new knee helped. But mostly it’s been hard work and living on the cheap.
The Freaks
November 05, 2019 21:25 - 47 minutes - 65.3 MBWhen Olympic Downhiller Wiley Maple wrapped up the 2018 World Cup season, he and some in his Aspen gang called “The Freaks” went to Chamonix, France to scare themselves on some legendlines—badas- sery of the sort we fully approve. What kind of mind manages these wildly different forms of skiing? And, after his best friend and World Cup ski tech died suddenly this spring, would Maple sign up for more? [Photo] Wiley Maple
The Fifty
November 05, 2019 21:18 - 59 minutes - 54.8 MBWhen you think of Cody Townsend, you think TGR and Matchsticks star, Freeride World Tour podiumer and the dude who went straight down “The Crack” and into an otherworldly viral reality that landed him on broadcast morning shows. But then he read a book: 50 Classic Ski Descents of North America. Now he’s dumped the heli and bought some skins (OK, he got them for free) and has skied 20 lines of what promises to be a gooey, YouTubey feast. [Photo] Anthony Bonello
The Gleich Effect
October 24, 2019 12:49 - 46 minutes - 42.5 MBEqual parts athlete, influencer and activist, Caroline Gleich has changed the way we look at pro skiers. And, over her career, she’s changed the way she looks at herself. Unapologetically “open book,” Gleich dishes on putting up with social media trolls, wedding-day stress, the Trump administration and recovering from injury.
The Gleich Affect
October 24, 2019 12:49 - 46 minutes - 44 MBEqual parts athlete, influencer and activist, Caroline Gleich has changed the way we look at pro skiers. And, over her career, she’s changed the way she looks at herself. Unapologetically “open book,” Gleich dishes on putting up with social media trolls, wedding-day stress, the Trump administration and recovering from injury.