Jeremy Jones - Legendary Big Mountain Snowboarder, Climate Change Activist, CEO/Founder of Jones Snowboards | Brought to you by Ikon Pass 

Episode #18 of The SnowBrains Podcast

“I've got a lot going on, I'm running a business, I cant spend my time trying to win over haters. And so I do not look at comments on Instagram. Apologies to any thoughtful discussion that I miss out on. And that is due to the excessive, aggressive, trolling. Some of it professional trolls. You know the downside of that is that meaningful person and I do feel bad about that… My intentions are pure, they are backed by science. I'm fighting for clean air, clean water, and a healthy planet for future generations. How that makes me the worst person in the world in some people's eyes? I don't know. It is what it is and I refuse to let them alter my views or get to me... I feel deep down in my soul that we are on the wrong path, and this is what I really care about. I'm going to put that on Social Media. To not do that because I'm worried about a bad comment? I couldn't look myself in the mirror and I sure as shit couldn't look at my kids in the eye if I did that.”

- Jeremy Jones on The SnowBrains Podcast

Jeremy Jones is widely regarded as one of the best big mountain snowboarders on Earth. He was voted “Best Big Mountain Rider of the Year” by Snowboarder Magazine 10 times and he's starred in over fifty snowboard movies worldwide, including his own award-winning movie series that started in 2010 "Deeper, Further, Higher." Jeremy was nominated for National Geographic's "Adventurer of the Year" in 2013. ESPN ranked him #12 in their "50 Most Influential People in Action Sports". Jeremy is the founder and CEO of Jones Snowboards and also founded Protect Our Winters - a non-profit formed to unite the winter sports community against climate change. Jeremy was recognized as a Champion of Change by President Barack Obama. Jeremy has appeared frequently in worldwide media including CNN, Outside Magazine and TV, Men's Journal, ESPN, Fox News, NBC, MTV and National Geographic, and now, SnowBrains, he he.

In this episode, Jeremy & Miles discuss big mountain snowboarding, switching from helicopters to human-powered snowboarding, Alaska, Founding Jones Snowboards, Founding Protect Our Winters, "Deeper, Higher, Further" movie project, that insane Himalayan spine he rode, surfing, getting caught in avalanches, and more.

Jeremy Jones answers these potent questions:

Dr. Michael Fischman M.D. - COVID Vaccine: When Will Ski Resorts Go Back To Normal? | Brought to you by Alta Ski Area

Episode #17 of The SnowBrains Podcast

Dr. Michael Fischman M.D., M.P.H., FACOEM is an occupational & environmental medicine physician and toxicologist. He serves as a consultant in these fields to large organizations such as Intel & Pixar. Dr. Fischman is a Clinical Professor in and Assistant Chief of the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, at the University of California San Francisco. Dr. Fischman received his medical degree at the University of Michigan and his master’s degree in public health, in environmental health sciences, from the University of California, Berkeley (Go Bears!). He did his residency training in internal medicine and in occupational medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and is board-certified in both fields. Dr. Fischman is also my dad.

Dr. Fischman guides us through where we're all headed with the COVID vaccines, how the vaccines work, what we can do to protect ourselves with and without the vaccine, and when ski resorts will return to normal.

“Since the recording of this podcast on February 12, 2021, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been approved for US use, and is a single shot with 72% efficacy”

Dr. Fischman answers these critical COVID questions:

Mark Staples - Director of the Utah Avalanche Center

"27 Avalanche Deaths in Only 29-Days in the USA... Why Did the US Just See Its Deadliest Avalanche Cycle of All-Time?"

Episode #16 of The SnowBrains Podcast 

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This is another podcast that's gonna a little different.

The USA just went through its deadliest avalanche cycle in history with 27 avalanche fatalities in only 29-days from January 30th, 2021 to February 27th, 2021.

This terrible streak of avalanche deaths is very much affecting our mountain communities.

My guest today is Mark Staples, the director of the Utah Avalanche Center who is here to talk us through what's happening in the Utah snowpack right now and why we are seeing so many avalanche fatalities & multi-victim avalanches in such a short time period in the USA.

This podcast was recorded on February 22, 2021. Within an hour of recording this podcast, Mark had texted me an article about an avalanche fatality that occurred that very day in Wyoming. Since recording this podcast one other person passed away in an avalanche on February 27th, 2021 in Idaho.  

The USA has now seen 33 avalanche fatalities this season. We are now only 3 avalanche deaths away from the worst avalanche season on record.

If the US continues seeing avalanche deaths at the current rate, the final total would be over 40 avalanche deaths this season.

In this episode, Mark Staples tells us the Mill Creek avalanche story where 4 people perished in a deadly avalanche in Utah in February 2021.

“There were two groups one came from Big Cottonwood, and one came from Little Creek. They had actually done three laps down, so they’d put a total of 14 tracks on the slope, that's the slope that avalanched. So that gives you some sense of the nature of these avalanches.

They were on their way back up, and they were going to head out. Near the top of the slope. Meanwhile, Another group of three had approached from the bottom… So this group of three was down below, and this other group was a group of five, but one of them opted out…

Of that group at the top, that group of four, three of them are carried down and buried. The fourth person lunges for a tree, Grabs onto it, hits it so hard it knocks the wind out of him. He musta been on the uphill side. He somehow managed to hang on. Because this never happens. No one ever hangs on. He hangs on, is totally engulfed in the Avalanche, total blackness.

Meanwhile, the avalanche goes on, and catches and buries the three people below.  So now you have six people buried

Dr. Ethan Greene - Director of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center

"Why Did The USA Just Have Its Deadliest Avalanche Cycle in History?"

Episode #15 of The SnowBrains Podcast 

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This podcast is gonna a little different.

The USA just went through its deadliest avalanche cycle in history with 16 avalanche fatalities in only 10-days from January 30th, 2021 to February 8th, 2021.

I think it's really affected all of us in our community.

My guest today is Dr. Ethan Greene, the director of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center who is here to talk us through what's happening in the Colorado snowpack right now and why we are seeing so many multi-victim avalanches in the USA.

Sadly, since Dr. Ethan Greene and I recorded this podcast on February 11th, 2021, 8 more people have died in avalanches in the USA bringing the total to 25 avalanche deaths in only 22-days in the USA - by far the deadliest avalanche cycle in US recreational history. 3 of these latest avalanche deaths occurred on Valentine's day, February 14th, 2021. Two of the Valentine's day avalanche fatalities were in Colorado. Then there was one avalanche death per day for 4 days right up until February 20th, when there were 2 avalanche deaths. There was one avalanche death on each of these days: February 16th, February 17th, February 18th, February 19th, and then 2 avalanche deaths on February 20th bringing the total to 25 avalanche deaths in only 22-days. We have now lost 31 lives to avalanches in the USA in the 2020/2021 winter season and it's only February 22nd. The USA averages 27 avalanche fatalities per season.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please share with friends & family, and please subscribe.

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Bode Miller - The Winningest American Male Ski Racer of All-Time | Brought to you by Sun Valley Resort 

On Fear:

“I don't think I have a lot of fear. I think I'm very respectful of the mountains and understand the danger that's inherently there. The unpredictable nature of being in the mountains and snow conditions and I think I have a healthy dose of awareness, but I wouldn't call it fear. It's more understanding that you're constantly putting yourself in environments that are unforgiving. Fear is more of a mindset. I don't consider myself afraid." - Bode Miller

On Danger:

“When I was eight, I was following two local ski bums who I guess I would call them my friends, but they were 20 years older than me probably. I don't know that they would have called me their friend at that time. But I just chased them around the mountain all the time. I watched a guy walk out of a pair of MRR bindings, old markers and go straight into a beach tree at like 50 miles an hour. No helmet. I was the first one there because I was just 200 yards behind him, and he was just exploded. His head was just apart, still bubbling breath. That was a pretty nasty eye-opener. He passed away while I was right there." - Bode Miller

Bode Miller is the winningest American male ski racer of all time. Bode has won 6 Olympic Medals - 1 of them a gold medal. He's podiumed 79 times on the World Cup with 33 of those podiums being 1st place. He's won 2 World Cup Overall Titles. He's one of only 5 men in history to have won world cup events in all 5 alpine ski disciplines. And he's the only skier with five or more victories in each discipline. What I found out in this podcast is that Bode is a general all-around mountain badass who has been most everywhere and done most everything in the mountains including getting caught in gnarly avalanches, throwing misty 720s, and double front flips, and losing over 50 friends and acquaintances in the mountains. His stories are one of a kind and so is he.

In this episode, Bode & Miles discuss skiing in the Olympics, skiing on the World Cup, losing friends in the mountains, throwing a 360º in competition, his "CBS 60-minutes" hung-over skiing controversy, the dangers of ski racing, and much more.

Bode Miller answers these heavy questions:

Adrian Ballinger - Climbing Mt. Everest & K2 Without Supplemental Oxygen | Brought to you by Alta Ski Area

"I was heli-ski guiding in Alaska, and through a series of communications breakdowns between me my co-guide and my pilot, we ended up getting out of a helicopter my 6 clients me and a co-guide, and it turned out we were on top of a cornice. The cornice broke 18 feet back as the helicopter lifted off. Me and 2 clients were on the wrong side of that break and took an 1800- foot fall. The first 200 feet over cliffs, and then through a huge avalanche runout zone, two people buried, a bunch of broken bones between all of us, and really bad injuries. Took a long time to get comfortable around cornices again." - Adrian Ballinger

"Made it really close. I was probably 400 vertical feet from the summit, at well over 28,500 feet. I got to the point where I couldn’t feel my hands to behind my wrists, So I could no longer clip devices onto the fixed rope. So then I had to solo because I couldn’t use the rope. I was still going up, and Im soloing, and I cant feel my hands, started to think about the consequences of frostbite when I have a girlfriend who is a professional rock climber. It still took a long time, but I did ultimately decide to turn around… Im sure thats what saved my toes and fingers." - Adrian Ballinger

Adrian Ballinger's list of accomplishments is over-the-top. It's too much. Here are some of his career highlights.

Randall Osterhuber - Winter Survival Instructor, Search & Rescue Badass, Snow Scientist, Avalanche Forecaster, Mountain Guide - | Brought to you by Alta Ski Area

“He was almost naked…He had very little clothes on… Frozen to the snow surface… Right when we skied up I thought for sure this guy was dead, but he had a pulse, he had slight respiration… So we assemble the sled, this is all up in this raging wind and snowstorm. Got a couple of sleeping bags inside each other inside a bevy sack, and we grabbed this guy, peeled him off the snow.. and went high speed back towards I-80 where a Truckee fire ambulance was waiting… The ER physician invited us into the trauma room to help with the rewarming. He had a core temperature of 79 faranheit when he was admitted to the hospital, and he was slowly warmed up, he went kinda backward through the whole hypothermia thing. His temperature hit the low 90s he started shivering…spent one night in the hospital, was discharged the next day, no frostbite, no organ damage. He walked away! Amazing.” - Randall Osterhuber

Randall Osterhuber is ridiculously well certified and qualified to do just about anything in the mountains and his accolades are too extensive to list them all here so I'm just gonna go with the highlights. Randall has been a search & rescue leader for Tahoe Nordic Search & Rescue for 39 years. He has a degree in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Nevada, Reno, and a masters in Hydrology & Fluvial Geomorphology from UC Berkeley. He's been an avalanche forecaster for Washoe County, Nevada for the past 22 years. He was the lead scientist at the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab for 24 years. He's been the owner and lead guide of Donner Summit Avalanche Seminars for the past 24 years. He's a Snow Safety Consultant to CalTrans, Liberty Utilities, Vail Resorts, & the North Tahoe Fire Protection District for the past 16 years. He's been a Technical Advisor to Sierra Avalanche Center for the past 15 years. He's been ski mountaineering all over the world for the past 40 years. He's even a winter survival instructor. Randall is the author of more than 50 technical papers on snow, snow hydrology, snow-zone climatology, and snow avalanche dynamics. Basically, no one has seen more in the mountains than Randall and his stories from search and rescue in the depths of winter are simply astonishing.

In this episode, Randall & Miles discuss the best stories from Randall's illustrious search & rescue career, avalanche airbag backpacks, the best ways to stay out of avalanches, what's actually happening with climate change, what he's seen as a snow scientists the past 25-years, how we could improve avalanche beacons, and much much more.

Randall Osterhuber answers these

Cody Townsend - Star & Producer of The Fifty Project - | Brought to you by Alta Ski Area

“I shit my pants in a Helicopter Once… Just like trying to press a fart out way too hard and maybe had a little something bad to eat the night before We were forced to land the helicopter because the pilot got so pissed off.” - Cody Townsend

“We almost got killed by Vladimir Putin, like truly…we got ran off the road while we were driving down this like two-lane highway, all of a sudden a cavalcade of like limos and army cars come racing around the corner in the middle of the road going like 70 miles per hour. We had to slam off into this cliff wall, on the other side was like 400 feet of cliffs. Nearly got ran off the road and killed by Vladimir Putin himself.” - Cody Townsend

Cody Townsend, a California beach kid from Santa Cruz who was the high school quarterback dating the head cheerleader while simultaneously winning the Junior Olympics Downhill ski race at 16 years old, and ended up becoming a legendary freeskier out of Lake Tahoe, California. He's done Hollywood stunts for Vin Diesel, he skied "The Most Insane Line Ever" in Alaska, he's in approximately 1 zillion amazing ski movies, and he now is the star and producer of The Fifty Project where he's attempting to climb & ski the 50 Classic Ski Descents of North America.

In this episode, Cody & Miles discuss the best stories from The Fifty Project, poohing in helicopters, growing up on the beach in Santa Cruz, climate change, "The Most Insane Line Ever", Noah Howell, Cody's favorite mountain ranges to ski, Shane McConkey, Cody's company Arcade Belts, being a stunt double for Vin Deisel, surfing, avalanches, Cody's favorite books, and much more.

Cody Townsend answers these questionable questions:

Chris Davenport - Legendary Freeskier, Ski Mountaineer, Mountain Guide - | Brought to you by Alta Ski Area

“We decided we would go rally this [borrowed] Nissan Pathfinder around in the deep snow and just see what it was capable of, and we ended up upside down on the roof, we flipped it, crashed it, hit a telephone pole, everyone was ok, but we had to drive that thing to the dealership the next day and… I didn’t film for Warren Miller for a couple of years after that. Big Trouble.” - Chris Davenport

Chris Davenport was the world extreme skiing champion in both 1996 and 2000. He's been in over 30 Warren Miller ski movies and a multitude of other ski movies doing things like huck 100' cliffs in Alaska. Chris' ski mountaineering achievements are unparalleled. He was the first to ski all 54 of Colorado's 14,000' peaks in a single year. The guy even skied the Lhotse face at 27,000' in the shadow of Mt. Everest. Oh, and then he summited Everest while guiding. No biggie. Chris is also an author, a TV commentator, a professional speaker, a professional mountain guide, a first descent aficionado, and an all-around good guy.

In this episode, Chris & Miles discuss skiing the Lhotse face, climbing Mt. Everest, Chris' favorite mountain ranges to ski, skiing all 54 of Colorado's 14,000' peaks within 1-year, climate change, ski guiding, Chris' favorite books, Chris' funniest accidents, the glory days of extreme skiing contests, and much more.

Chris Davenport answers these insightful questions:

“I love to go wherever it's good…I'm just gonna list out my favorite places: The Chugach mountains of Alaska, The Coast Range of British Columbia, The island of Hokkaido in Japan, Aspen Snowmass where I live in the elk mountains right here, The San Juan Mountains of Southwest Colorado, the Tetons of W

Marc Riddell, Director of Communications at Whistler Blackcomb | Whistler Blackcomb - Climate Change, The Future of Summer Skiing, COVID | Brought to you by Alta Ski Area

"Climate change is real. Whistler Blackcomb has been proactive for decades to prepare for it. The Horstman T-bar, yeah, it's an iconic lift. We hadn't used it for 3-years. But it's [closing of the Horstman T-bar for summer skiing] certainly had to do with changes in the profile of the glacier. What we do know is that glaciers in British Columbia and around the world are receding. We're not immune and we shouldn't expect to be immune." - Marc Riddell, Director of Communications at Whistler Blackcomb

Marc Riddel is the director of communications at Whistler Blackcomb, the largest ski resort in North America.

In this episode, Marc & Miles talk about climate change, summer skiing & riding, the melting of the Horstman Glacier, the closing of the Horstman T-Bar, the future of Whistler Blackcomb, COVID restrictions, Australians, going 100% cashless, the biggest challenges for Whistler this season.

Marc Riddell answers these in-depth questions:

Please enjoy!

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This episode is brought to you by Alta Ski Area