The Powell Movement

Tom van Steenbergen is known for going huge and setting records with the gigantic front flips that have become his signature. We chatted a week after Tom won his first X Games Gold Medal and a time when everything seems to be firing for Tom. While he's not known for being a big talker, you wouldn't know it as Tom is not afraid to share. On the podcast, we talk about dirt bikes, BMX racing, Canada,...

Tommy Czeschin was born into a life of mountains and lakes, so it's no surprise that he loves snowboarding and water sports-but what's shocking is that he was able to go pro in both. Not too bad for the quiet kid with talent who started ski racing and was the forerunner for the Jr Olympics before seeing snowboarding and making the switch. Within 5 years, he was traveling the world with the US Snow...

Red Gerard has won every slopestyle event out there: The Olympics, X Games, Dew Tour, World Cups, Grand Prix, you get the idea and Red is only 23 years old. While his life will be defined by his Olympic Gold, Red's snowboarding career isn't all about contests. He's just as comfortable taking his trick vocabulary to the backcountry and laying it down for his film segments. The beauty of Red is that...

The X Games is the pinnacle event in action sports, and while it's not what it once was, the new ownership group, MSP Sports Capital, plans to not only turn that around but make the X Games property bigger than ever. There's a lot of excitement around the new regime and its plans, and the X Games media team invited me down to get my unbiased take on what X Games has turned into. As I do with all m...

Ace Kvale has lived the ultimate ski bum life but he's no bum, Ace is a legend. A Midwest kid who hitchhiked his way west at 18 for bigger mountains and a better lifestyle. After a few years of resort hopping, Ace made his way to Europe, connected with Marko Shapiro, and became part of the original Clambin Crew. He started out living in a chalet in Verbier, traveling the world skiing for the camer...

Bobby Brown was a dominant force at contests starting in 2010, and by 2017, it looked like he was on his way to his second Olympic Games, until that dream was taken away by injury. Knowing that traditional contests weren't in his future, Bobby pivoted and took his tricks to the backcountry.  Now, his pro ski life is totally different than when we talked in 2017, and this time around, we discuss hi...

While Lucas Foster is not a one-trick pony, when he landed his Alley Oop Double McTwist in the pipe,   his career and his life totally changed forever.   What's crazy is that Lucas grew up in Telluride, a place without a halfpipe, meaning Lucas came up learning his tricks at contests with barely any practice.   Nowadays, Lucas has all the resources available to up the ante even more as he's a memb...

Outside Festival is a first-year event in Denver aimed at bringing the outdoor industry, the consumers, the brands and the athletes together. I'm hearing this called the intersection of SBSW and CES for the outdoor industry. Outside has swung for the fences a lot over the years, and I travel to Colorado to see if the event lives up to the massive expectations. Along the way, I connect with Pat Mil...

Peter Olenick changed halfpipe skiing when he landed the first double in competition. His "Whiskey Flip" defined Peter's life on and off snow; he went big, took chances, and partied his face off during his legendary career. He was on top of the contest world during one of the most run eras. On the podcast, we talk about not being cool growing up, Aspen, finding confidence at High North Ski Camp, s...

Jeff Thomas is an award-winning filmmaker, a once-sponsored skier, and a guy who was born to be a baseball player. While he can still throw the ball at 85 mph, the day Jeffy's dad showed him the brochure to high North Ski Camp in the late '90s, Jeff's life went from boring baseball to the epicenter of the new school of skiing. At camp, he met his heroes, athletes, and his biggest inspiration, film...

Zach Miller is different than any World Champion I've had on the podcast. While he appears to be able-bodied, Zach has Cerebral Palsy, a neurological disorder that affects his mobility, posture, and balance. Zach found snowboarding through a hospital program, and that changed his life. Today, Zach is a Paralympian who travels the world to snowboard. On the podcast, we talk about CP and everything...

Scotty Lago had a path to pro snowboarding that's different than almost anyone I've interviewed. Most high school dropouts don't have Olympic Medals to go along with a grip of X Games and Dew Tour hardware, but that's what Scotty Lago did. Along the way, he was part of the legendary Frends Crew, he filmed with Grenade, he filmed with Travis Rice for the biggest movies in snowboard history, and he...

Dane Tudor has had an incredible pro ski career that's been going on for 15+ years, and while he's getting older, Dane shows no sign of slowing down ski-wise, and no brands seem to care for some reason. When I say no signs of slowing down, in 2009, when Dane was 19, he won "Male Performance of the Year," a huge award in skiing. Then, in 2023, 15 years later, Dane won that same coveted award again....

Jake Hopfinger created a name for himself in sk i ing at the Kings and Queens of Corbet's in Jackson Hole. The double backflip he threw there for a 3 rd instantly made his name known worldwide . While the dollars and travel budgets are now coming in, Jake was once an aspiring D1 East Co a st ski racer who could never finish a race. Then he quit racing, moved to Montana, and learned to ski powder....

Jessica Sobolowski-Quinn is a lifer in the ski industry. She's skied more powder than almost anyone on the planet over the past 20 years, which is what you'd expect from the owner of one of Alaska's premiere heli operations, Points North. But Jess didn't grow up chasing powder in helicopters; she was a D1 ski racer who made her way to Palisades after college. From there, she met famous friends, st...

Colter Hinchliffe is living proof that the Aspen rockstar ski bum dream not only exists but it can thrive if your heart is in the right place. Colter spent his life surrounding himself with the only thing that mattered to him - Skiing.  And between growing up near Aspen, dropping out of college to shred, moving to Alta, and returning to Aspen, he made the right contacts to make the dream come true...

The Pain McShlonkey Classic is arguably the most important event in all of skiing. The coveted Golden Saucer is up for grabs, and this year, 60 ski bladers had KT early ups on a Saturday pow day. The weekend's goal is to raise money in the name of our time's most important skiers and personalities. While Shane McConkey didn't look like an elite level athlete, he was way more than that: the funnies...

Elyse Saugstad is not only a Powder Award-winning skier known for her impressive movie segments over the years, but she's also a woman who's put her career on the line to better the treatment of women in big mountain ski competitions. Throughout Elyse's career, people have said no to her, but she's never taken no as the final answer. On the podcast, we talk about growing up in Alaska, ski racing,...

Jess Kimura's life has never been easy. Yeah, she's a pro snowboarder who travels the world to ride, which sounds like a dream - But, hearing about the path that led Jess to snowboard superstardom, I doubt many people would trade places with her. What she has achieved is incredible. On the podcast, we talk about life lessons of the skatepark, leaving home at 16, being broke, snowboarding, mental h...

Maggie Voisin's life has been defined by skiing, family, and the highs and lows that come with both. A three-time Olympian and 7-time X Games medalist, Maggie knows what it's like to achieve her goals and experience the highest of highs. But, between losing a brother to suicide, untimely injuries, and countless knee surgeries, she's also experienced the lowest of lows. Throughout it all, Maggie in...

Kaitlyn Farrington grew up on a cattle ranch in Bellevue, Idaho. Life growing up was all about hard work, rodeoing, and, if there was fresh snow, skipping school to head to her home mountain of Sun Valley.  Eventually, she switched from skiing to snowboarding, earned a scholarship for the Sun Valley Team, and things happened quickly. She went from being nobody to the World Cup to being named to th...

Mark Mackay is a country music star in the making, but his background as a ski rep makes him the perfect new business episode. His road to Nashville included stints with Rossignol, Dynastar, and Atomic, all by the time he was 20. He was the head sales rep in California when Atomic started exploding, he had a dream job, he was young, and he left it all for the lucrative world of medical sales. Soon...

Andy Hetzel is the Rick Kane of snowboarding. Hailing from Arizona, Andy's first love was skateboarding, then punk rock. This eventually led to Andy finding snowboarding and moving his life to Breckenridge. He competed early and often and achieved pro status, but Hetzel won't be remembered for contests, well maybe as the reigning World Mogul Champion. But, outside of that bump title, Andy and the...

Greg Stump, the legendary filmmaker behind ski classics like Blizzard of Aahhh's, The Maltese Flamingo, Groove Requiem in the Key of Ski, and Legend of Aahhh's, is back on the podcast. Stumpy is promoting his March Residence at the Isis Theatre in Aspen this March, where he is screening the incredible films mentioned above. On the podcast, we discuss stories from each movie and talk about many pla...

Nick McNutt's ski bum story is one of the best. After ten years of dirtbagging it, Nick became a big-name pro skier and one of the faces of TGR movies. When Nick moved to Whistler at 17, he quickly became the skier other skiers were talking about because of his huge switch landings…something that wasn't too common back in the day. While he filmed with smaller production companies, TGR's 100K Colla...