The Powell Movement

Elan Skis is a longtime sponsor, and they have been telling me for years that I would be visiting their factory in Slovenia to see their incredible ski process, factory, and culture. While I was flattered that they would even suggest bringing me out, I never expected it to happen. But it didn't just happen, it happened in All-Time fashion. Not only did I get to travel to Europe and become great fr...

Inappropriate Questions is how I end every show. The idea is that I find a friend of my guest and record 3 questions with them. The questions can be anything that gets the guest to tell a funny, crazy, embarrassing or really, any good story. The goal is to get some gold without pissing off my  guest when I surprise them with the questions. This week, I have a long list of legends on this highlight...

Errol Kerr's professional ski career is actually two ski careers.  A race part, where he was so close to making the World Cup and the US Alpine Ski Team and the other was his ski cross career, which was kick-started when he became a fully funded member of the US Ski Cross Team in his first race. Errol has competed all over the world, raced for Jamaica in the 2010 Olympics, and was a regular at the...

Ryan Schmies is one of the most talented illustrators in action sports and his game changing ski art  singlehandedly helped change the look and feel of skiing in the early 2000's. While he's best known for dark graphics like the Hellbent and Public Enemy franchises that he created during his 15 years at K2 Skis, in recent years Schmies' artistical talents have been showcased by brands like J Skis,...

Josh Berman was an Ivy Leaguer on his way to becoming a professional skier when a catastrophic knee injury derailed his chances of becoming pro. But Josh's passion for skiing was as strong as ever and pre-surgery, Josh strapped up his leg, headed up the mountain and went out and shot for his first Level 1 Production. What was supposed to be a 3-year adventure in filmmaking turned into an award-win...

The Outside Days Festival is the crown jewel of what a festival should be in 2026. It is part industry summit, part independent film festival, part interactive brand activation hub, part park experience, and part incredible music festival all rolled up under the Outside umbrella.  This event was so well done. I used the access I was granted to take in as much as I could--to give you a peek behind...

Bob Landers is a lifelong snowboarder, an underground entrepreneur, a cannabis expert, and a dear friend of mine for almost 40 years.   He's also a professional guide-but I don't disclose any information about what or where on the podcast. What I do is take you on BTS tour of what it was like to be a big-time Colorado cannabis grower, seller, and ski bum in the pre legal era of marijuana.   On the...

Jeff Pensiero is a talented snowboarder and musician, but he was born to be an entrepreneur...and he knew that from an early age. Jeff grew up learning to move on after losing, which every pre Lebron Cleveland sports fan knows all about. Not being afraid to lose along with many traits taught Jeff not only to roll with the punches and preservere, but to take advantage of the opportunities and take...

Ben Fresco has done every job in the ski industry's hardgoods side on his way to his current role as Global Head of Product at Elan Skis. From moving his life from the East Coast to Tahoe and back to the East Coast and now, on a plane traveling the world, Ben's been chasing the perfect turn. And starting out at the legendary Village Ski House, he did over a decade of, not so much ski bumming, lear...

Heimana Reynolds is an Olympic Skateboarder, a lifelong surfer, proud Hawaiian, and a HEST athlete.  Since I spent this weekend at HESTIVAL, a three-day celebration of friends, music, and   the outdoors, this episode includes a few minutes from HESTIVAL. I first chat with old friend and HEST founder Aaron Ambuske. After that, while I usually don't have many skateboarders on the show, Heimana is my...

Chris Garcin is living a ski bum or anyone's dream life and it all began when his good friend broke a pair of sunglasses.   This week's podcast is Chris's story of going from a passionate skier his whole life, to Boulder, to coaching, to almost giving up on the ski lifestyle and settling for "real world." And then, his rockstar of a good friend came over to his house with an idea, Pit Viper, that...

The 420 Episode is a collection of true stories from myself, friends, and athletes that I think you'll find entertaining.   I've never done a proper 4/20 episode before, and I wanted to make sure I got one in before I end this podcast.   So, this week you get a different episode. It's the 420 episode, the weed episode, the cannabis episode, the marijuana episode. If you have kids, maybe have them...

Benny and Luca Harrington were both born to be pro skiers. Their parents were featured in Warren Miller movies in the 90's, and these kids were born with skiing genes and the passion to be the best.   And right now, the Harrington brothers are killing it.   Benny's the built-like-a-tank older brother that's 2-time Olympic halfpipe skier and Luca is coming off back-to-back seasons of X Games Slopes...

Josh Malczyk is the Global Brand Director for K2 and Line Skis, he's a good friend, and a guy that I saw go from the bottom of the barrel of ski marketing with a niche brand, to the top of the food chain directing one of the industry's most iconic brands....From the core skier wearing Tall T's to the collared shirt wearing brand guy. It's fun to see friends grow up/move up and last time I talked w...

The Pain McShlonkey Classic, aka the PMS, is the most important ski event in the world. While some may argue that the Olympics and the X Games are the crown jewels of snow, anyone who's been to Palisades for the PMS knows that, winning Saucers is more important than winning medals. Shane McConkey is the most important and arguably the best skier of our time, and that's why celebrating his legacy i...

Kevin Quinn, the founder of Points North Heli and a true Alaska pioneer, has done more rad stuff than almost anyone I've had on the podcast. He went from pro hockey player, to ski instructor, to pro skier, to entrepreneur, to famous pilot, to coach, and that's just some of what Kevin has done. He also did time in Tahoe with folks like Kreitler, McConkey and so many more; when life was all about sh...

Cassie Abel had a different road than most to the ski industry. While her peers were spending as much time as possible on snow, Cassie was winning 4 State Championships in HS before her Hall of Fame collegiate career. After a stint of a 9-5 lifestyle, Cassie got sucked into the ski industry, first with resort marketing, and then on the brand side with Smith.   But when her dream job left town, Cas...

Jason Arens was the Head Ski Judge at the Milan Cortina Olympics and when he's not traveling the most important ski events, to judge the best athletes in the world, he's an Owner of Surface Skis, Joystick Poles, and Causwell Outerwear.   Jason always has a lot going on...I met him calling tricks at a contest years ago, I was blown away by his ski nerdery, and these days, Jason may be the most know...

Tanner Rainville isn't really a talker, he's a pro skier who lets his skiing do the talking. And while his skiing started with contests, he graduated to the big screen and for 23 years  he's put out a video segments with the major players in the ski film business. Tanner Rainville is all about passion and skiing, he doesn't self promote and getting him to want to do this podcast wasn't easy.  But,...

Hana Beaman has been a top level pro snowboarder for almost 30 years. She's done the contests, collected the hardware, then went into the backcountry to film. After yeaers behind the lens, she went back to a differnt type of competing, won some more hardware (Natural Selection Tour) and cemented her legacy as one of snowboarding's living legends.  On the podcast, we catch up after 10 years and tal...

Jaren Grob, aka "The Monster" won two X Games Gold Medals, was featured on the cover of the Aggressive Inline video game, and had the world in the palm of his hands. Then his sport was iced out of X Games, went underground and Jaren's pro career went from contest winnings to skating shows. But, that's not what makes this one interesting. Jaren grew up poor, went on tour at 14, joined the circus, a...

Winter Sports Market, aka WSM, is the only show that resembles what SIA once was.   It has all the brands, all the new products, all the in-house staff, all the reps, and all the dealers.    As far as industry building and culture building events, outside of movie premiers, this is all skiing has.   I went down to SLC to cover the event and detail my trade show experience and along the way I chat...

Kaya Turski grew up in Montreal and was the little rollerblader who was blowing everyone's collective minds. While Kaya went ASA Pro at 14, she was known for being a gnarly street skater. One of the best women to ever do it. But the bottom dropped out of skating, Kaya decided to give skiing a try and within a year, she was standing on her first X-Games podium in a sport that wasn't her original ca...

Cody Cirillo started his ski career competing on the AFP pro circuit, but huge podiums weren't in Cody's future, graduating from USC magna cum laude all while transitioning his pro ski career from contests to adventure, was the path for Cody. And for the next decade, he's managed to pump out annual ski content, personal project style, while holding down a desk job as a creative director, these day...

Nick Goepper has 2 Olympic Silver and 1 Olympic Bronze in his closet and this year, in a totally new discipline, Nick is aiming to take his first gold medal home at the Milan Cortina Olympic Games. What's crazy is that 3 years ago, when Nick came out of retirement and told the world he was gunning for halfpipe gold, a lot of us thought it was a publicity stunt. But Nick knew exactly what he was do...