SKIMO GOLD

In this episode of Skimo Gold , Travis Macy sits down with Mike Hogan, Scott Richards, and Dan Mellish to unpack their experience racing the legendary Patrouille des Glaciers (PDG) in Switzerland. A race that’s as much about survival and teamwork as it is about endurance. This is a 57km, 4,000+ meter ski mountaineering race that starts in the middle of the night, crosses glaciated terrain, and dem...

What can ski mountaineers learn from a WorldTour cyclist? In this episode of Skimo Gold , Travis Macy sits down with professional cyclist Joe Dombrowski for a wide-ranging conversation about endurance training, racing strategy, and the mindset required to perform at the highest level across demanding mountain sports. Joe shares insights from his years competing in Grand Tours and major internation...

In this episode of Skimo Gold , Travis Macy sits down with journalist and author Devon O’Neil to explore the story behind his book The Way Out —a deeply reported account of a backcountry hut trip that ended in tragedy and reshaped an entire community. The conversation centers on a 2017 trip to a 10th Mountain Division hut in Colorado, where two skiers left for a quick run and never returned. What...

The final World Cup of the season is in the books, and we’re breaking it all down from Villars. In this episode, Travis Macy and Catie Friend recap a stacked weekend of racing across the vertical, individual, sprint, and mixed relay, including a dramatic sprint finish, dominant performances from familiar names, and one of the most exciting relays of the year. They also zoom out to look at the bigg...

It’s one of the busiest weeks of the season, and we’re breaking it all down. Catie Friend is back to unpack a packed stretch of racing across the global skimo circuit, from the Youth World Championships and World Cup action in Puy Saint Vincent, to the Tour du Rutor, North American Championships, and a wild Elk Mountains Grand Traverse that looked more like a run than a ski race. We get into stand...

We’re back with Catie Friend to break down everything that’s happened since the Olympic debut of skimo and there’s a lot to unpack. Catie takes us inside her experience on the ground in Bormio, from calling races in front of a roaring crowd to the emotional highs (and lows) of watching athletes she’s known for years step onto the Olympic podium. We also get into what happens after the biggest mome...

This week on Skimo Gold , Travis Macy sits down with Joe DeMoor for a wide-ranging conversation on endurance sport, ski mountaineering, and the path that led Joe from elite collegiate running to the skimo podium. Joe shares what it was like growing up in Buena Vista, Colorado, competing in multiple sports, and eventually running for the University of Colorado. He and Travis get into the realities...

The skimo season isn’t slowing down. In this episode of Skimo Gold , Travis Macy sits down with Olympian Cam Smith for a full race roundup covering a packed stretch of ski mountaineering competition. They break down results and storylines from the Power of Four in Colorado, U.S. National Championships at the Wasatch Powderkeg, and the ISMF European Championships and World Cup races in Azerbaijan ....

The long-distance world championships are here, and on this episode of Skimo Gold , Travis Macy is joined by two of America’s top ski mountaineers, Logan Gray and Colin Kelly, for a deep dive into Pierre Menta — the iconic four-day stage race known as the Tour de France of ski mountaineering. Logan and Colin join from France just days before the race to break down what makes Pierre Menta so unique...

Trail running legend and multi-time national champion Max King joins us on Skimo Gold for a wide-ranging conversation about mountain sports, aging as an endurance athlete, and why ski mountaineering might be the ultimate cross-training tool. Max shares how watching European mountain runners—especially athletes like Kilian Jornet—inspired him to pick up skimo as a winter training strategy. What sta...

The Olympic debut of ski mountaineering continues with one of the sport’s most dynamic formats: the mixed relay . In this episode of Skimo Gold , Travis Macy is joined by Team USA athletes Ian Clark and Sarah Burke to break down the results and key moments from the Olympic mixed relay race in Bormio. Together they analyze how the race unfolded, from Emily Harrop’s aggressive opening leg for France...

Ski mountaineering has officially made its Olympic debut and the sprint race delivered drama, chaos, and history. In this Olympic Dispatch episode of Skimo Gold , Travis Macy is joined by former U.S. National Team coach Joe Howdyshell and U.S. athlete rep Rory Kelly to break down the first-ever Olympic Skimo medals. They analyze: Marianne Fatton and Oriol Cardona Coll’s gold medal performances The...

Germany’s Tatjana Paller didn’t start in skimo — she came up through alpine skiing and later raced for Germany’s national cycling team on the road and track before realizing she was missing the mountains. In this Olympic Dispatch episode of Skimo Gold, Tatjana shares what pulled her away from cycling, how quickly skimo clicked when she made the switch in her mid-20s, and why the sport finally felt...

Racing starts tomorrow. Ahead of the Olympic skimo sprint, this episode tells the story of Team USA — how the team got here, who these athletes are, and why the U.S. skimo community is so fired up right now. This is a narrative episode built from standout moments across the Skimo Gold archives, brought together to introduce the people behind Team USA. You’ll hear from Cam Smith before the Olympic...

The Olympics are here—and skimo is finally on the biggest stage. Catie Friend is back on Skimo Gold to help us set the table for what you’re about to watch in Bormio: the Sprint (Feb 19) and the Mixed Relay (Feb 21). We break down the formats in plain English (yes, including the transitions, the boot/binding chaos, and that “800m-lactic-acid-then-technical-downhill” feeling), and then we zoom out:...

On today's Olympic Dispatch, Marianna Jagerčíková (Team Slovakia) joins Travis to talk about her preparation for skimo’s Olympic debut and what it’s taken to stay competitive into her 40s in one of the most demanding disciplines in endurance sport. They get into how Marianna structures her training now compared to earlier in her career, what she learned from overtraining, and why durability,...

On today's Olympic Dispatch episode, Italian skimo standout Alba De Silvestro joins Travis Macy for a deep dive into what it really takes to prepare for skimo’s Olympic moment. Racing for Italy since she was just 17, Alba has lived through the evolution of the sport. From long, grueling endurance races to today’s short, explosive sprint and mixed relay formats. They talk about how training ch...

In this episode of Skimo Gold’s Olympic Dispatch, Travis Macy sits down with two members of Team Australia Skimo: Phil Bellingham and Lara Hamilton—right in the middle of the chaos leading into the first-ever Olympic ski mountaineering races. Phil is heading into his fourth Olympic Games (after three Olympics in cross-country skiing) and shares what it’s like to step into a brand-new Olympic sport...

Emily Harrop has a British last name, a hint of an English accent, and a very French skimo story: raised in the Alps, shaped by alpine ski racing, and ultimately pulled into ski mountaineering by curiosity, adventure, and the sheer love of training. In this Olympic Dispatch episode, Travis Macy and Cam Smith sit down with the three-time overall World Cup champion to talk about the path from “late...

In this Olympic Dispatch episode of Skimo Gold, Travis Macy sits down with two people who embody the idea that performance is never solo: Belgian sprint podium contender Max Drion and his on-snow coach/supporter Pablo Ruiz de Almirón. Max shares how he’s approached this Olympic year differently—prioritizing quality, recovery, altitude, and especially cleaner transitions—plus the mindset work that’...

Cam Smith is heading to Europe for the Olympics—and before he goes, we’re digging into the mental side of performance with one of the best in the game: Dr. Pete Kadushin (“Dr. K”), Manager of Learning & Development for the Chicago Blackhawks and longtime mental performance coach for athletes and leaders. This conversation is part of our Olympic Dispatch coverage, but the tools go way beyond sk...

Today on Skimo Gold's Olympic Dispatch , Travis Macy sits down with Spanish skimo star Oriol Cardona, one of the fastest and most consistent athletes in the world in the sprint and mixed relay disciplines and now an Olympic qualifier. Oriol shares his journey from growing up in Banyoles, Catalonia, to moving into the Pyrenees to fully commit to ski mountaineering. We talk about his early back...

In this Olympic Dispatch episode of Skimo Gold , Travis Macy sits down with Max Valverde—skimo’s ultimate hype man, content creator, and now an NBC Olympic ski mountaineering commentator. Max shares the full arc: from building a startup that scaled to hundreds of employees (and eventually selling to Booking.com), to moving to Park City, discovering skimo, and launching his “dad bod goes pro” exper...

As part of the Skimo Gold Olympic Dispatch series, Travis Macy sits down with one of the true legends of ski mountaineering: Matteo Eydallin. Matteo has spent decades at the very top of skimo—winning iconic team races like Pierra Menta, Mezzalama, and Patrouille des Glaciers—yet his approach to training and racing couldn’t be more grounded. Instead of rigid programs and obsession with metrics, Mat...

On this episode of Skimo Gold , Travis Macy sits down with Italian World Cup standout Giulia Murada for a wide-ranging conversation about growing up in the Italian Alps, the deep cultural roots of ski mountaineering in Valtellina, and what it means to race toward the Olympics in her own backyard. Giulia shares what it was like to grow up watching her dad compete in skimo, how she joined the Italia...