On this episode of the "Sponsored" podcast, presented by Powder Radio, host Mike Powell interviews Chris Benchetler, one of the most successful athletes in skiing, who is known for his style. The two discuss food, marriage, and tragedy. When Benchetler was 15, his dad died of cancer. 


"He was from Hungary and he never taught us Hungarian because he escaped during the revolution. He would be in crazy pain, and scared and sick and start talking to me in Hungarian and there was just a lot to deal with that I didn't quite know how," says Benchetler. "He was scared of dying and [Mom] was scared that she wasn't going to be able to take care of us financially. I had to grow up very quick. I dealt with a lot."


Powell also discusses the keys to Benchetlers long and productive career. 


"It's a lot of who you know and the opportunities you can create for yourself and success comes from—you don't get what you don't ask for," says Benchetler. "If you put yourself out there a lot of times you'll surprise yourself."


2:02 Is Chris going to have kids?
3:10 Chris and his family
6:15 Early days skiing
10:35 Rory Silva
11:45 Healthy lifestyle
15:15 Losing his father
20:35 Getting sponsored
22:00 Injured at Parkasaurus
26:00 Atomic
32:00 Money to play with
33:40 Getting sponsors to help with projects
36:35 The proposal
38:45 Crazy travel experiences
42:20 Where do you see yourself in 20 years?

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Sports

On this week's episode of the "Sponsored" podcast, the last of season one, host Mike Powell interviews Rory Silva. If you've been regularly listening to "Sponsored," Silva's name is one that has frequently come up. He was among the top echelon of skiers before a lack of business skills caught up with him. The type 1 diabetic and Mammoth native is now living in Southern Oregon, where he was fulfilling DUI obligations. 


Show Notes: 
2:30: The trials and tribulations of getting a DUI
5:45: Health choices and Diabetes
7:30: Growing up and having Plake around
11:00: Rory and school
12:30: Getting sponsored, how does that happen?
15:00: Superpark, being a professional skier, and movie parts
20:00: Ninthward
24:00: The end of making money in skiing for Rory and what is he up to now?
27:50: Deadabetic ski edits

Sponsored, Episode 34: Rory Silva

On this week's episode of the "Sponsored" podcast, host Mike Powell interviews French Canadian Marc-Andre Belliveau. In 2006, Belliveau was one of the top skiers in the world. He was featured regularly in Teton Gravity Research films for his progressive style. His sister, too, was an Olympic hopeful. One day they were skiing together and she broke her back.  


"I felt really responsible for my sister when she got hurt," he says. "I remember the phone call to my dad to tell him that she was all fucked up. And his reaction was feeling that I was responsible for her accident because we were doing crazy shit. I got really bummed out. I started to feel really shaky about skiing. I actually thought I wasn't going to ski anymore. But she was the first one telling me, 'Yeah, it was bad luck. You don't want to quit skiing just because I got hurt."


Belliveau continued skiing. Then, in 2006, he lost his way on the last day of a trip while filming for TGR and broke his T12 vertebra. He has been paralyzed since. 


"I felt ashamed that I kept going skiing," he says. "It's a dangerous sport. You feel selfish. The things you do can hurt other people. When I got hurt, it really hurt my friends, my parents, and yeah, the word that comes to mind is just being selfish."


After Belliveau's injury, a number of high-profile skiers died while skiing, including 10 people that he knew. Belliveau says he has always had a hard time making the right choice. 


"I'm not bummed out that I chose skiing as a way of life. But I'm very bummed that I skied that run," say Belliveau, who recently gave up drinking and smoking. "I've had a hard time... I've been struggling a lot the last ten years." 

Sponsored, Episode 32: Mike Hattrup

On this episode of the "Sponsored" podcast, Canadian Olympian Matt Margetts joins host Mike Powell. After years pursuing halfpipe competitions, Margetts has joined childhood friends including Riley Leboe, Joe Schuster, and Mike Henitiuk in filming "Seeking Nirvana." The award winning video series—last year it won Best Editing at the 2016 Powder Awards—is a whimsical tribute to creative filming and fun, stylish powder skiing. 


Transitioning from the stunt ditch to fields of powder has been welcome change to Margetts, who often had a hard time meeting his own expectations in the finals of big events. 


"I have an issue with things not working out or not going my way," he says. "If it's something as simple as not doing a run that I wanted to do that I know I can do or falling when I know that I can land I just snap and get super bummed on myself. I was one of those guys that could pull it off in practice or pull it off in qualifiers and then try and go balls to the wall in finals and shit would hit the fan. I couldn't quite figure it out... that was the hard part about it. I worked with a few different people and just couldn't get the answers I was looking for. I couldn't get a solution." 


For Margetts though, as his career turns away from competition and back toward where it started, nothing beats skiing powder with his friends—even if there is less money in it. 


"My whole ski career, if you can call it that, has been on the dirt bag side of things, trying to slum it to make ends meet here and there so I can keep doing it, but I love it, and I want to be able to continue to do it for as long as I can," he says. "It's pretty damn fun." 

Sponsored, Episode 5: Chris Benchetler

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