Wander Podcast

A conversation with Kade! Kade is the founding editor of Ori Magazine, a print only travel publication that is rethinking how stories about place, people, and culture are told. What began as a life centered around skiing and storytelling has grown into something much broader, rooted in curiosity, connection, and a desire to shift the way we experience the world. In this episode, we talk about Kade...

A conversation with Stephen Shelesky on photography, cycling, skiing, and the kinds of projects that shift the way you see your work. We talk about how Stephen found his way into photography, from shooting landscapes in college to building a career in the ski world, and how that path was shaped by time spent in Jackson, Wyoming. What started as a pretty solitary practice eventually became somethin...

Blair is the founder of FSP Outdoors and co creator of Amateurs Magazine, and in this episode we talk about building slow, intentional creative projects in a fast, hyper digital outdoor culture. We start with the question I ask everyone who are you and what do you spend your time doing which takes us from surfing Rockaway and running in Forest Park to ice climbing, sewing custom packs, freelancing...

A conversation with Joshua Strong and Sydney Lewis, recorded in person! This is also available to watch on our youtube! We talk about how they both found their way into creative work, what it looks like to build something together through Labyrinth Studios, and the reality of freelancing in the endurance world. The conversation moves through creative burnout, stepping away from performance, parent...

Izzy Wedderburn is the founder of New Mountain Magazine , an independent outdoor publication highlighting creativity, storytelling, and the many ways people move through the outdoors. This episode is the third conversation I’ve recorded with Izzy and part of an ongoing Wander series exploring print media in the outdoor world. In our earlier episodes, we talked about the origins of New Mountain, ho...

Mel Webb⁠ is a storyteller working at the intersection of bikepacking, endurance sport, and podcasting. By day, Mel produces podcasts for a B2B agency. Beyond the nine to five, she works as the media manager for the ⁠Mountain Races⁠ , a series of self supported bikepacking events across Morocco, Greece, Kyrgyzstan, and now Turkey. The races include the Atlas Mountain Race, Hellenic Mountain Race,...

“HARD PACK is a new type of ski magazine that combines edgy reportage with cerebral writing to create a new lexicon for the sport that is weird, philosophical, and dangerously fun.” Since its launch, Hard Pack has challenged the conventions of ski media—treating skiing not simply as a performance spectacle, but as culture. Drawing from fashion, architecture, literature, and contemporary art, the m...

PART ONE OF OUR PRINT SERIES For decades, magazines like Backcountry and Mountain Flyer have shaped how we understand skiing and biking culture. In this conversation, I sit down with Greta Close , Managing Editor of Backcountry Magazine and Mountain Flyer , to talk about what it looks like to steward legacy print publications amidst today’s digital news cycle, and alongside the rise of smaller, in...

In this conversation, halfpipe skier Svea Irving reflects on the path that brought her from growing up at the base of Winter Park to qualifying for her first Olympic Games. She talks about skiing as a family language, learning the sport alongside her brother, and what it’s been like to move through a system that has historically been male-dominated. From early days in all-mountain programs to earn...

In this episode, photographer Sofieke van Bilsen joins the podcast to talk about finding her way into sports photography, learning to trust her instincts, and documenting elite sport through emotion rather than spectacle. Sofieke shares how growing up in multiple countries shaped the way she connects with people, why she’s more interested in what happens after the finish line than at it, and what...

A conversation with photographer and artist Kenza, reflecting on five years documenting cyclocross and the creative path that led him there. From early experiments and annual team launches to assembling a printed zine that looks back on the work, we talk about what it means to build something slowly, stay curious, and let a project evolve over time! The conversation moves beyond outcomes and into...

Sydney Peterson grew up encrusted Butte Colorado which is the kind of mountain town that will shape a person into who they are before they can realize it. Sydney is a professional Trail runner for Brooks raised by ski bum parents and surrounded by Mountain culture. Sydney was initially pulled towards team sports spending her earlier years playing basketball and volleyball and then she found runnin...

Sarah Diekmeyer and Maddy Nutt have spent the past few seasons chasing long days, big terrain, and the kind of races that blur the line between competition and adventure. In this episode, we catch up on everything from bikepacking across the Canary Islands to racing Gravelburn in South Africa, and why multi-day efforts continue to pull them back in. We talk about how they first met during a Traka...

Jaelin Kauf has spent more than a decade on the World Cup moguls circuit and is now heading into her third Olympics as one of the most consistent and dynamic skiers in the sport. She’s a two time Olympian and a silver medalist from Beijing 2022! In this episode, we chat about what it means to grow up in a ski family, with parents who were professional skiers themselves, a brother who is just as ps...

A conversation with Danny Awang, a videographer and photographer whose year is basically built around race weekends, edit deadlines, and figuring out how to keep the story feeling fresh! Danny takes us from filming skateboard edits in middle school to an early freelance chapter in Southern California (and the burnout that came with it), then into a totally random “marketing manager for bidets” era...

A conversation with Roma, a content creator, cyclist, and triathlete who’s built her whole last year around saying yes to new challenges and documenting the process as she goes :)! Roma grew up as a competitive rhythmic gymnast, then found endurance sports later through a simple entry point a road bike in Seattle that turned into longer rides, brick workouts, and eventually a full send into triath...

A conversation with Lauren Gregory, a trail runner who’s spent the last few years figuring out where she feels at home in the sport! Lauren grew up running in the foothills around Fort Collins, went on to spend six years at the University of Arkansas winning team titles and racing at the NCAA level, and eventually found herself on the start line of the 2024 Olympic Trials in the 5K. The twist: on...

A conversation with Sam Pratt, a UK based climbing photographer and lifelong climber whose work sits at the intersection of movement, creativity, and community. Sam grew up immersed in climbing through his grandfather, spending weekends on gritstone crags, scrambling in the Peak District, and learning the rhythms of life outdoors early on. Photography came alongside climbing, introduced through fi...

Sara Van Vliet is an artist and cyclist who rides long distances not to escape her studio, but to deepen her connection to it. Her work lives in the space where movement, creativity, and attention meet. Drawing, cycling, filming, observing, all of it shaped by curiosity. For a long time, Sara kept her athletic and artistic lives separate. She raced long distance speed skating at a high level while...

Mia Lambson has spent the better part of her life with a camera in hand, carving out space for women in snowboarding. She’s a filmmaker, director, and the force behind Tomboy Media. After more than a decade shooting contests, street sessions, backcountry missions, and whatever wild projects the community throws her way, she is now pouring all of that grit, skill, and vision into Wayward, a full le...

Australian ski mountaineer Lara Hamilton joins us from Solitude for a catch-up on life in the French Pyrenees, chasing an Olympic sprint spot, and what it’s like to race skimo at World Cup level. We talk couch surfing, learning French via bakery orders, dialing in power and transitions on a nearly snowless pre-season, and how she’s balancing big dreams with staying grounded. A fun, look at an athl...

A conversation from Solitude, Utah with Cam Smith and Anna Gibson! We sat down and chat a bit about who they are, what brought them into the sport, and how this season fits into the lead-up to the 2026 Winter Olympics! Cam has been racing on the skimo World Cup for nearly a decade. Anna is new to the sport but comes in with years of ski experience and strong running fitness, learning the disciplin...

Jane Maus is one of those quietly powerful athletes whose story reveals itself layer by layer, She is a runner, climber, and registered dietitian who’s built her life around movement, curiosity, and the mountains. She grew up in Salt Lake City, found running through steep local trails and the Cirque Series, and eventually wandered her way to Boulder, where community, opportunity, and a whole lot o...

This week, we sit down in-person for the first time and dive into the chaotic & creative rise of Couch View — the cycling media project turning pro racing into 30-second culture-forward mini films. Ansel shares how Couch View began as a simple experiment filming a race off his TV, evolved through early Strade Bianche edits, and grew into a global community of fans, riders, and cycling obsessiv...

A conversation with SENIQ founders Madison Hilson and Tina Thompson, who are reshaping women’s outdoor apparel and redefining what it means to feel good—on trail, on snow, and in the day-to-day! We talk through the origins of SENIQ—from their early days in merchandising at Victoria’s Secret, to chapters at Outdoor Voices and Backcountry, to the moment in the Wasatch Mountains when the idea finally...