Reviewing the News w/ Cody Townsend (November 2022) (Ep.239)

22 comments on “Reviewing the News w/ Cody Townsend (November 2022) (Ep.239)”

1. Absolutely loving the optimism from the startup that they think someone might undertake a significant mining operation to retrieve a ski 150m down haha Also with all the comments these days that freestyle skiing is is just gymnastics, ribbons in skiing seems like next progression. Rhythmic slopestyle?! Those short poles are dying for some ribbons. Some good laughs in this one!

   • Ryhthmic slopestyle is the best ski industry idea I’ve heard in a while.

2. This episode’s golf story captures my dislike of golf.
   In my city there are a few golf courses plopped right into the residential areas, especially the closest one to me taking away from many a housing or park.

   Its also why I will proudly tout disk golf as the better option, where it can be well integrated into parks and public spaces (a great example is a 5 minute drive from my nemesis golf course).

   Occupying such high value land for a private, low-yield purpose is a bit frustrating when you ride the bus past it daily knowing the park next to it could be nearly 100 times larger (no joke) if the golf course was not private

   • Good thoughts, Michael. Thanks.

3. Here’s a question for the next “Mountain Town Advice” (unfortunately, mostly unrelated to mountain sex or relationships): Grew up in the lower mid-Atlantic hiking, rafting, and skiing the Appalachians. In college I spent a summer being a backpacking guide out in New Mexico. Loved it. next summer, had the option to return OR to take a summer research assistantship in the southern states that would lead me both towards a PhD and away from the west. At the time, I did not fully understand what the career path was if I fell in love with guiding and moved out west (this was back in the early 90’s), so I asked myself, where did I think I would be on either path when I was 40. The PhD path seemed easier to understand so I went there, and now it’s what I expected- I’m a 49 year old tenured professor and I have a great family, very stable, but I live in the Midwest where the job was. Got the itch to go skiing again for the first time in 20 years a while back (Winter Park) and all those emotions about the path unchosen kicked in. Now I’m flying to CO once or twice a year to ski and wondering what things would have looked like if I had turned down the assistantship and returned to guiding.

   Here’s the actual question- what IS the career path for a kid from out east who falls in love with a mountain town and wants to stay? Without growing up in that culture, I was afraid things would peter out around 35 and I’d be living in a hut by myself guiding with all these teenagers until I just wandered off into the woods sometime to stay. I’m no athlete like many at Blister, so I knew I did not have a future in that direction. What advice do you have for kids in college today who want to make a career of it but know they’re not going to be on the Freeride world tour? Where do most people guiding in their 20’s end up in their 40’s? Is it easier to make it now than it would have been in the 90’s or is it harder?

4. For the person asking about skiing in Japan, checkout Myoko near Nagano. I think it would work really well for a family ski trip. Two ski areas Akakura Kanko and Akakura Onsen are right in town. We went with Powder Recon, an Australian outfit for setting up our trip. They may not be able to accommodate a toddler in their lodge but they will be able to help you out. https://powder-recon.com.au/

5. I’m just here to voice my support for Paul Forward and his taste in film. New top gun was garbage

   • JShortOnTaste.

     :)

     • Surely there must be something Ellsworth our time to put in the podcast besides poor film critiques!

6. Another point about Japan, Niseko is generally too cold for young children, Agree with Vincent about Myoko, Madarao is also a good spot and Nozawa Onsen. Also these places a lot cheaper than Niseko and Hakuba as they aren’t as popular.
   Great listening from Australia and am hanging to get back to Japan in January :) It has been too long!

7. The thing with The Bear is that season 2 will be that same group struggling with having the money. The money should serve as an “antagonist” for the core group who will have very different ideas on how to spend it. I think the dream coming true and getting the money sets you up to think that season 2 might be the way Cody describes, but the audience will get a rude awakening when we figure out it is actually makes things harder. The struggle being the same every season would be too much.

   • Good thoughts. Season 2 can’t come soon enough…

8. Ya know what, I’ll be the one to say it and back up Paul Forward.

   Top Gun Maverick was “Meh”, at best. I don’t see what the big deal is.

   There, I said it.

   On the other hand, The Bear was indeed AWESOME.

   • Congrats on being correct 50% of the time, Jeremy!

     • Bear in mind that I didn’t say that Top Gun Maverick was bad. Simply that it was not, in my mind, anything special.

9. This may not fit squarely in the mountain town dating advice category, since I’m not exactly soliciting advice – but maybe this will lead to some advice from the experts here.

   My significant other works for the US Ski Team. I shared last months reviewing the news segment with (name redacted for confidentiality), particularly Cody’s comments on the US Alpine Team x Stifel partnership just to share what I thought was a very sound perspective on the matter. Well, this directly led to a fight, because the backlash to this partnership has directly caused a fair amount of stress at work. So I guess what I came her to say was me sharing the same thoughts on the matter with Cody didn’t go over well. We reconciled, but it’s safe to say I will not be touching that subject again.

   Keep doing what your doing, but I will listen to Blister in secret now.

   PS – please don’t use my name :)

   • Damn it, now we’re back down to only having 100 listeners! We need your significant other back! So please continue to listen with her – just tell her that you *always* disagree with Cody’s stupid takes.

     Win / Win.

10. Hi Jonathan and Cody, I have a question for Mountain Town Advice:

    I dated a guy for about four years. We both loved skiing, camping, and hiking. But he was a better skier and hiker than me and always complained about how slow I was. It was a big strain on our relationship and a big part of the reason my ex eventually broke up with me.

    Fast forward a few years and I have switched jobs, moved to a mountain town, and devoted a ton of time to improving my fitness and outdoor skills. I am now a better hiker and skier than my ex. I also have a new boyfriend.

    My new boyfriend and I share a lot of interests and friends and generally enjoy hanging out with each other. My problem is that my new boyfriend is not good at skiing, and doesn’t even like hiking. Not only that, he barely seems interested in trying to improve. I am at the point that I want to dump him just because he cannot keep up. However, I am torn because I do not want to do exactly what my ex did to me.

    So here is my question: is disparity in skiing skill a legitimate reason to end a relationship? And if so, do I just tell him that? Or do I let him down easy?

    • Great question, Clarissa. (We might take up the entire episode discussing it … but great question.)

11. Mostly love what you do on this Podcast. I originally started listening to get well-researched dialogue about the outdoors and outdoor industry. While I marginally enjoy the NFL and agree that Brett Favre is a despicable human being (ala denial of sexting and welfare scandals), I was initially pissed about what sounded like uninformed loathing of Kirk Cousins and Russell Wilson. I am a lifelong Seahawks fan; however, after looking at the pictures of the hedonistic hauler that Wilson is flaunting, I can see the tie to the Blister ethos and some of the basis of your criticism. Oh, and it pricked my conscience about the gasoline engine propelled 4Runner I cherish that gets me to the places I love to enjoy and play in. So in that respect, well done – maybe I’ll get into finding a planet friendly rig that can still get me and my buddies to the remote places we frequent.

    On the detesting NFL quarterbacks front, If you’re going to say you detest someone, I’m sure you can do better than merely stating you hate everything they say. I get that they are in the public eye and have a very influential platform. Perhaps we can chalk it up to Cody coercing you to produce the podcast when you were “Salty”. Challenge: Invite Russell Wilson Kirk Cousins to Blister HQ and give them the proper well-informed planet education I know you are both capable of.

12. 100% agree with Cody on the lack of World Cup Alpine coverage and it’s nice to see this topic get coverage outside of the small ski racing circle. It’s really a travesty when you consider what Mikaela is doing and very few are seeing it. I lay blame at FIS for allowing these antiquated ways to continue, could the US ski team do more, I don’t know? I’m curious to know the real issue if this is simply a matter of money that NBC is not willing to pay for the rights of a niche sport in a non-olympic year and that the US ski team does not have the funds to procure them outside of NBC.

    Lastly, I disagree with Jonathan on how great low pass prices are. If you live anywhere within a few hours of a metro area, cheap passes have destroyed the experience even for those of us with passes at indy resorts because of the volume cheap passes have created in even getting to skiing. I’m not saying go all the way back to $2k season passes, but where they are now is unsustainable. I don’t fully buy that a $700 Epic Local pass really provides greater access, that’s still a large commitment for a beginner.

13. Glad to see that you all are tackling the important issues in line ethics – totally agree, you cannot post up your group’s gear and walk away.

    I think now you need to address the adjacent ethics surrounding ‘friend/group-joining’ (ie coming from the back of a line to join a party, pre lift opening when everyone is standing around).

    An egregious example : big funi line on a powder morning, people have been lining up for an hour already. Guy knows he has friends in the front of the line. Guy proceeds to walk all the way around the line, outside the ropes, hands skis across the crowd who passes it along to their friends. Guy then walks to the back of the line and shimmies his way up the crowd sans gear, maintaining the appearance that he had been up in the line originally and was coming back, carefully avoiding side-eye of all other line members and joins friends in the front. Not cool right?

    When is okay or not-okay to friend-join in lift/gondola/tram lines? Seems like if you plan to ride as a group, y’all need to be organized and show up together if you are playing the early lift game, because everyone else did.

    Also, I think we need a corollary to the original leaving your gear in line decision – what if your entire party gets in line with gear, establishes their position, and then an individual member tags out to use restroom, discard trash, grab coffee, etc.

    What’s the ruling on this grey area and it’s various permutations?

    I await your wise and just decisions.