BLISTER Podcast

We talk to DPS Skis founder, Stephan Drake, about the early days of DPS, ski design, and the new DPS ski boot that aims to change skiing as we know it. TOPICS & TIMES: Where did you grow up, and when did you get into skiing? (2:25) Being a “gringo ski bum” down in Las Lenas, Argentina (7:40) Were you interested in product design in general? / Early days of DPS? (13:35) Carbon fiber & the h...

We're talking again with Blister reviewer, Paul Forward, the Alaskan heli guide who we spoke with a couple of podcasts back (Ep. 34). This has shaped up to be a very good winter in the Chugach, so Paul has been getting a lot of time in on some fat skis, and I wanted to talk to him about a number of them. TOPICS & TIMES: DPS Lotus 124 Alchemist (3:30) 16/17 Blizzard Spur (10:48) New HEAD Kore 1...

Magnus Granér is different. Funky. We talk to him about his Real Ski win, SLVSH, The Bunch, growing up in Sweden, attending the real Hogwarts School, skiing on Mars, and more... TOPICS & TIMES: Magnus in Zermatt (1:45) Andorra & SLVSH CUP (3:45) Growing up in Hörnefors, Sweden — and growing up snowboarding (13:10) Playing soccer, "floorball", and husky racing (16:05) Thinking / Not Thinkin...

What is the least understood but arguably most important piece of ski equipment? Ski boot liners. So we talk to ski boot pioneer, Sven Coomer, about why boot liners don’t receive the attention they deserve, what makes Zipfit liners different, and why Sven believes that liners are the single most important piece of ski equipment. TOPICS & TIMES: Why "Liners" should be called "Inner Boots," and...

Paul Forward is a lead heli guide for Chugach Powder Guides in Girdwood, Alaska. He is also a physician who works a lot in the arctic village of Kotzebue, just north of the Arctic Circle. And in addition to that, Paul is one of our senior reviewers here at Blister — as well as being a bow hunter, a fly fisherman, an absolute gear whore, a lover of big missions, a good friend of mine, and (as a lot...

This is a round-table conversation with three custom ski manufacturers about the process of building custom skis, and what “custom” really means. We sat down with Pete Wagner of Wagner Custom Skis, Mark Wallace of Parlor Custom Skis, and Mike McCabe of Folsom Custom Skis, and among other things, we discussed why they each decided to go the custom route; how they each go about the custom process; a...

In this episode, we discuss the most intriguing, the most head scratching, and the most bizarre new products for next season that we saw at the SIA tradeshow. Some of the New Products We Discuss: Scarpa Maestrale; Armada ARV 116; Scott S1 130 AT Boot; Atomic Hawx XTD 130 AT Boot; G3 Sender 112 Touring / 50-50 Ski; Patagonia Descensionist Touring Kit; Patagonia Descensionist Pack; Advances in airba...

Warner and I discuss his background; the business of ski racing and ski academies; the thorny issue of sponsorships and athletes skiing on equipment that isn’t a good match for them; and Kitzbuhel. TOPICS & TIMES: Warner’s review of the movie, “Scully” (0:00) Warner’s First Beer League Race (which happened last week); Warner's Early Years + the first race he ever won (9:36) The problem of the...

If you spend time outside skiing, biking, camping, hiking, climbing, boating, or running in the mountains, how prepared are you to handle injuries when you are far from medical help? Will you just stand there panicked and helpless? Or will you do things that make the injuries worse? This topic does not get talked about enough. So today, we’re talking with three experienced first responders to help...

From Bend, we announce the release of a new special-edition Blister Pro, then talk to Blister reviewers David Steele and Andrew Forward about growing up in Alaska; speed flying; Glacier National Park; funny & painful ski touring missions, Super Burrito, and more. TOPICS & TIMES: Meet the new reviewers (2:30) Our take on Bachelor and a recap of the week (4:00) News about the release of a sp...

We talk to Semi-Rad.com's Brendan Leonard about creativity and the process of creating: How to stop procrastinating and get started; why - or why not - to try something new; and what it takes to keep going. TOPICS & TIMES: The reception of Brendan's book, "60 Meters from Anywhere" — and what it's like to do a 43-stop Book Tour (5:50) Brendan's new book, "Make it Till You Make It" (16:00) On Ho...

We stopped by Armada’s headquarters in Park City, Utah, to sit down with Andy Hytjan and Logan Imlach to talk about Armada’s past, present, and future; Armada’s stacked team and how they work with Andy and Logan; how Logan landed a design job in the industry; and we discuss a number of specific skis in the Armada line, including the history of the JJ, the evolution of the Edollo, the Invictus 108,...

We talk to our bike editor, Noah Bodman, right from the showroom floor about the highlights — and lowlights — of Interbike. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We recorded this podcast a few days ago in Canterbury, New Zealand, where we were wrapping up our ski review trip from one of our favorite ski areas in the world, Craigieburn Valley Ski Area. Our four reviewers talk about the skis they've been testing from Kastle, Moment, Salomon, Armada, 4FRNT, K2, and more — which of them surprised us the most, which impressed us most, and which skis we’d most w...

This week marks the Centennial of the National Parks Service. So we headed to Bar Harbor, Maine — right next to Acadia National Park — to talk about the parks with James Kaiser, who has been writing about the parks and spending a whole bunch of his time in them for years. James is the author of best-selling guides to national parks, including exceptional guidebooks to Acadia, Yosemite, Joshua Tree...

On today's podcast, we present a rather quintessential American Success Story that goes by the name of ENVE Composites. If you ride bikes and have a thing for high-quality gear, you already know ENVE. But you almost certainly don’t know the whole story. You’d never guess from the look of things now, but ENVE’s trajectory wasn't exactly a rocket ship, but more of a roller coaster ride with lots of...

Luke Jacobson has been Moment's head ski designer, and he is also now Moment's new CEO. We talk to Luke about their new 16/17 lineup (including the new Meridian, the new Bibby Tour, and the redesigned Tallac), and Luke breaks some exclusive news about two other new skis. We also discuss how Moment’s rather unique aesthetic came to be, why Luke thinks that the "Deathwish" isn't the worst name ever...

Xavier de le Rue is a 3-time World Freeride Champion, a 4-time boarder-cross World Champion, and he has pushed the boundaries of big mountain riding so far, it is basically impossible to overstate his significance and influence. (Or his total badassery.) He also happens to be one of the smartest and most reflective skiers or boarders out there. Among other things, Xavier and I talk about his philo...

This week's podcast somehow ended up being about topics that begin with the letter 'B' — Noah and I talk about bikes; Brexit; Butte (Montana); Brady (Tom), the best bike movie, bands (Noah’s favorites) ... I could go on. And we even discuss one or two things that don’t start with the second letter of the alphabet, like the new SRAM Eagle 1x12 drivetrain; the current state of bike trails access and...

On our last podcast, we talked to Ståle Møller, the co-founder and lead designer of Sweet Protection, about the critically important issue of head injuries, and how helmets can mitigate the risks we take outside. Today's episode can be viewed as Part II of that conversation, and we focus a bit more on The Future and What's Next? To that end, we recruited the senior director of R&D at Giro, Rob...

These days, most people understand that when we're out skiing, biking, boating, or climbing, it's pretty stupid not to wear a helmet. More than ever before, we are gaining a better understanding of the variety and the devastating consequences of head injuries, ranging from (what we used to call) "mild" concussions, to full-blown "CTE" (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy). But while we can agree that...

Brendan Leonard is one of our favorite authors and favorite people. He's also the creator of one of our favorite websites, Semi-Rad.com. If you don’t know Semi-Rad, you need to. Brendan has a new book out, called, Sixty Meters to Anywhere. So it was a good time to bring Brendan onto the podcast to talk about the book, and a bunch of other things. Brendan is a great storyteller, so if you love the...

Question: Aside from the graphics, what’s the difference between one ski from the next? How do you tell whether a ski is well-built or poorly-built? What sort of things should you be looking for? We’ve just returned from our review trip to the PNW, and our very first stop in Portland was at the ON3P Skis factory, where we stopped by to talk to ON3P founder, Scott Andrus. Of all the people I know i...

It's time to talk bikes, so we brought in Blister's bike editor, Noah Bodman. Noah and I talk about a whole bunch of stuff. TOPICS: What the 'Most Montana' town in Montana is? Aaron Gwin’s impressive world cup victory in Lourdes, France, on his new bike Whether Noah thinks I could beat Gwin down a DH course if I got to ride a DH bike and he had to ride a hardtail Why Noah doesn’t think I should sh...

At the 2015 World Championships, Ted became the first skier to win three consecutive World Championship titles in GS. At the age of 21, he became the youngest American male to win an Olympic Gold Medal in Alpine Skiing, and he continues to dominate the men’s alpine circuit with five World Cup Overall GS titles and five World Championship titles. In our conversation, Ted and I talk about his end-of...