Athletic Brewing Company Founder, Bill Shufelt (Ep.151)
Athletic Brewing Company is a fast-growing brand in an emerging category that is about to blow up: non-alcoholic craft beer. So we talked to Athletic Brewing’s founder about why he started the company; the stigma of not drinking; why “near beer” has been so bad; why there’s such a need for products like this in the outdoors community; Athletic’s brewing process; how he feels about the emerging competition in the space; and more.
Reviewing the News w/ Cody Townsend (Nov 2020) (Ep.150)
Today we are launching a new segment on the Blister Podcast. Each month, Cody Townsend and Jonathan Ellsworth discuss some of the biggest stories and most interesting news headlines from the world of outdoor sports, and on occasion, the broader world, too. We also share some of the best things we’ve watched, read, or listened to.
Adaptive Sports & Recreation: Past, Present, & Future (Ep.149)
Did you know that 1 out of 5 people in the United States have a disability? That is just one reason why you ought to know about the world of adaptive sports. So to get an overview of the past, present, and future of adaptive sports and recreation, we sat down with Chris Read and Betty Philbin of the Adaptive Sports Center of Crested Butte.
Mali Noyes & Lani Bruntz ski The Wurl (Ep.148)
The Wurl — The Wasatch Ultimate Ridge Linkup — has gained a lot of attention in the trail running and climbing worlds, but it had never been done in the winter, and Mali Noyes and Lani Bruntz set out to ski it. So we talked with Mali and Lani about the origins of this idea to ski The Wurl, and the planning, logistics, and scouting that happened behind the scenes.
Hunt to Eat founder, Mahting Putelis (Ep.147)
This is another installment in our series on food, and food systems, and our guest today was first introduced to me by Blister reviewer, Paul Forward. Mahting Putelis is the founder of Hunt to Eat, which is an organization that “exists to find modern, progressive, and inclusive ways to support and grow the community of folks that go outdoors, harvest wild meat, or plants, or fungi, and take these things home to be cooked with care for themselves or their friends and family.”
Blister Speaker Series 3.1: Cody Townsend (Ep.146)
Cody Townsend came to Western Colorado University and spoke about why his education has been so beneficial to his career; social media and the new responsibilities of athletes today; starting & growing a business (Arcade Belts); The Fifty Project and all of the behind-the-scenes work; and more.
Stan Rey & Alexi Godbout on Skiing Pillows; Spit Cups; & Their New Film (Ep.145)
We talk to Alexi Godbout and Stan Rey about their new film, Follow the Forecast; some potential alternate titles for the film; what’s harder: ski mountaineering or skiing pillow lines?; the founding of their film company, Blank Collective; who won the movie?; and Stan’s spit cup.
Black Crows Skis co-founder, Camille Jaccoux (Ep.144)
We talk to Black Crows Skis founder, Camille Jaccoux, about growing up in Chamonix and his background in skiing; what Black Crows is doing to grow the brand while trying to stay true to the reasons they started the company; the lost art of ski ballet; who would win in a mogul comp between Camille and Glen Plake; and more.
Will Gadd on The Last Ascent + Doing all the Sports (Ep.143)
We talk to the elite ice climber, Will Gadd, about ice climbing, skiing, paragliding, rock climbing, kayaking, mountain biking — and how they relate to one another. And we talk about his new film, The Last Ascent, which documents Will’s return to Mount Kilimanjaro to climb the Messner route and the Tanzanian ice (at 19,000’ altitude) while there’s still time.
Jeremy Jones on His New Film, Purple Mountains (Ep.142)
We talk to snowboarder & Protect Our Winters founder, Jeremy Jones, about his new film; the importance of reviving a lost art; and more.
Paul Forward on Hunting, Climate Advocacy, & Conservation (Ep.141)
Blister reviewer, Paul Forward, is a lifelong hunter. Jonathan Ellsworth has been a vegetarian for over 20 years. So how much common ground do they share? We discuss that plus Paul’s latest solo hunt; why he only hunts with a bow; what the broader hunting community might learn from skiers & mtn bikers in terms of climate advocacy; and what skiers & mtn bikers could stand to learn from the hunting community about conservation.
Adventures of a Hemophiliac: Chris Bombardier on Climbing Mount Everest (Ep.140)
Chris Bombardier is the first person with hemophilia to complete all Seven Summits, and tomorrow, a film comes out called Bombardier Blood that tells Chris’ story and homes in on his attempt to summit Mt. Everest. So we talked to Chris about baseball (and sharks); hemophilia and the experience of those who have the condition; climbing Everest; the important work of Save One Life; and more.
Current State of the Camping Industry (Ep. 139)
“Camping” is a massive industry, and a lot goes on under that single name. So on our latest Blister Podcast, we discuss who’s doing it; what the different segments of camping are; the most important trends; some of the current problems and challenges in the space; and some of the potential solutions.
Jeremy Bloom on Winning, Happiness, & The Weight of Gold (Ep. 138)
Jeremy Bloom is a 3-time world champion mogul skier, a 2-time Olympian, an 11-time World Cup gold medalist, and an All-American football player that was drafted into the NFL. He’s also the executive producer of an important new film, The Weight of Gold, which explores the mental health challenges that Olympic athletes often face. So we talked to Jeremy about his own background; the pursuit of athletic excellence; winning and happiness; brain health; and more.
National Brotherhood of Skiers co-founder & U.S. Ski Hall of Fame inductee, Art Clay (Ep. 137)
Art Clay is the co-founder of the National Brotherhood of Skiers, and he and his NBS co-founder, Ben Finley, are the first African Americans elected into the US Ski-Snowboard Hall of Fame. This past weekend, Jonathan Ellsworth sat down with Art at his home in Chicago to talk about growing up in Chicago in the 1940s; his first time skiing; the idea to start the National Brotherhood of Skiers; cutie pies; the Black Summit; and more.
Skid Row Running Club founder, Judge Craig Mitchell (Ep. 136)
Whether or not you’re a runner, you ought to know about the Skid Row Running Club and the Skid Row Marathon. We talk to the club founder, Judge Craig Mitchell, about why he started the club; his background; the duty of police officers to protect and serve; the need for minimum sentencing reform; and much more.
Olympian Dotsie Bausch on Cycling, Switch4Good, & the Dairy Industry (Ep. 135)
Dotsie Bausch is a 7-time USA Cycling National Champion, an Olympic medalist, a featured athlete in the film, The Game Changers, and the executive director of Switch4Good. We talked to Dotsie about her very unusual path to an Olympic podium; her work at Swith4Good; and what we ought to understand about dairy products and the dairy industry.
What You Need to Know – and Do – about the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) (Ep. 134)
You are probably familiar with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but what do you know about the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)? NEPA is a critical piece of legislation, and each of us needs to understand what it does and why it matters so much — especially since some major changes to NEPA are being proposed that could have extremely serious environmental and human rights consequences. So to help us understand the high stakes of the changes being proposed, we spoke to Hilary Eisen, the policy director for the Winter Wildlands Alliance.
BlackAFinSTEM, Birders, & Bees (Ep.133)
BlackAFinSTEM was started to encourage and support Black individuals who are working in — or who are just passionate about — the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, and also to encourage, support, and increase the visibility of Black naturalists and Black people who recreate and work outdoors. So we talk to Tyler Jones, the co-organizer of Black Birders Week, about all of the above, plus the difference between a bird and a trash bag; Taco Bell & STEM; her graduate work on bees (!!!); and more.
Bees, Green Lawns, “Perfect” Apples, & the Reinvention of Farming (Ep.132)
Most of us know that bee populations are struggling to survive, but why? And why do bees play such a critical role in the production of food? We talk to Peter Nelson and Sally Roy about their new film, The Pollinators, which tells the story of bees and beekeeping and soil and farming practices and pesticides and the EPA and why we need to change the way we produce food — and what each of us can do to help the cause.
Food Sovereignty, Indigenous Rights, & the Film, Gather (Ep.131)
We talk with our friend, Sanjay Rawal, about his new film, Gather. (Sanjay directed the film, Renan Ozturk was the cinematographer, & Jason Momoa produced it.) Gather tells the story of the growing food sovereignty movement among Native American tribes across the U.S., and this film is sure to cause you to re-evaluate your own relationship to food and to land and to a lot of other things.
How to Recreate Responsibly in the Time of COVID (Ep. 130)
As a number of locations are beginning to relax travel restrictions and are able to welcome visitors back, we wanted to discuss some important reminders and best practices for recreating responsibly in this time of COVID. We’ve also included some important links in the show notes to this episode that you should check out to ensure that you are up-to-date on state and local ordinances. So give this a listen, and let’s all do our best to do things the right way.
Geoff McFetridge on The Abstract Wild by Jack Turner (Ep. 129)
In the latest installment of our Blister Book Club, we talk with the artist, Geoff McFetridge, about Jack Turner’s book, The Abstract Wild. We discuss why Geoff selected this book; why it isn’t designed to be a comfortable read; why we need to get clear on the distinction between “the wild” and “wilderness”; and why we think that every reader of BLISTER ought to read this book.
On the State of Heli Skiing: Henry Munter, Chugach Powder Guides (Ep. 128)
Henry Munter is a lead heli guide and the general manager of Chugach Powder Guides in Girdwood, AK, and we talk with him about making the call to shut down operations right as the heli season was in full swing; the evolution of heli skiing; decision making, memory, and some of the tools and practices Henry uses in forecasting, guiding clients, and handling all types of different aspects of the business; and we discuss environmentalism and heli skiing, and how Henry and others at CPG are thinking about those two things.
X Games Real Ski 2020 Gold Medalist, Jake Mageau (Ep. 127)
The creativity and talent on display in X Games Real Ski is always so bonkers that it can be easy to overlook all that goes into making these 90-second edits. So we talked with Real Ski 2020 winner, Jake Mageau, about what really goes into filming a successful 90-second edit; scouting and settling on locations; the insane “Mind Flip” he puts down in this edit, and more.
SKI INC. 2020: The Current State & Future of the Ski Industry (Ep. 126)
The ski industry has undergone rapid changes in the past several years, and we are currently in another unprecedented moment with the COVID-19 pandemic. So to help us better understand the past, present, and future of the ski industry, we talked to industry veteran and author of SKI INC, and SKI INC. 2020, Chris Diamond, about the rise of the EPIC and IKON passes; this recent era of rampant ski resort acquisitions; the state (and fate) of independent ski areas; whether COVID-19 will likely have lasting impacts on the ski industry; and more.
Crash Course: How to Telemark Ski, Part 1 (Ep.125)
Baby giraffes? Organic bamboo scissors? Superman? Since we now have to learn how to tele ski (we’ll explain), we’re crowdsourcing a crash course in what we need to know to avoid embarrassing and / or killing ourselves. So here in Part 1, we solicited the best tips and advice from artist and telemarker, Geoff McFetridge; Flylow Gear president, Dan Abrams; and Blister reviewers, Paul Forward and Kristin Sinnott.
Catching Up with Caite Zeliff (Ep.124)
Caite Zeliff is a former ski racer turned big mountain skier who won the first ever Kings & Queens of Corbet’s competition in 2018, then won it again in 2019, then was on the podium this past year. She’s filmed with Warren Miller and TGR, she is equally fun to ski with and to shoot the breeze with, and, while she’s already accomplished a lot, it seems like Caite is just getting started. So we caught up with Caite on her birthday to discuss skiing; filming vs photo shoots; her best Marcus Caston story; her music and podcast recommendations; and more.
Up & Coming? FWT World Champion, Isaac Freeland (Ep.123)
Before this FWT season, Isaac Freeland, was a very good skier who was definitely on his way up. But then Isaac not only was named the 2020 Freeride World Tour Rookie of the Year, he also became the FTW World Champion. So we had Isaac take us through his first season on the FWT, and walk us through each stop. We also discuss what it was like competing against some of the biggest names in skiing; how he approached each particular comp; the rather surreal — and abrupt — end to this comp season, and more.
Without Precedent: COVID-19, Ski Area Closures, & Ski Towns (Ep.122)
We talk to veteran ski industry reporter, Jason Blevins of the Colorado Sun, about the COVID-19 pandemic and this past weekend’s historic and abrupt mass closure of ski areas. We discuss what, exactly, is going on; what is likely to come next; the impact on ski towns; and what each of us should and shouldn’t be doing right now.