Mind the Track @Pow_Bot and @trail_whisperer

Boasting some of the biggest vertical relief in North America and some of the best skiing anywhere in the world, California’s Eastern Sierra Nevada hits its zenith in spring with warm weather for camping at the foot of massive snow-covered peaks. For the last 25 years, Nate Greenberg has been documenting all the best lines to ski, and his book, Backcountry Skiing California’s Eastern Sierra (along with co-author Dan Mingori), is the “bible” of the region. In addition to co-authoring the book, Nate was also a GIS expert in his former life working for Mono for two decades, now the Chief Administrative Officer for Inyo County. He’s also the co-founder of the Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center. We chat with Nate about a variety of topics related to the Eastern Sierra and what makes it so special, as well as the controversial launch of the OnX Backcountry app featuring ski lines from the book, which some fear will blow up all the secret spots. Nate also opens up about a harrowing avalanche incident in the Bardini Chutes that nearly took his life. Purchase the book at your local outdoor retailer or online at Wolverinepublishing.com and donate to ESAC at esavalanche.org.

1:00 – Pow Bot and Trail Whisperer recording from the Toyota Sunrader on the shores of Convict Lake in the Eastern Sierra Nevada after skiing Mount Morrison.

7:00 – Nate Greenberg – CIO for Inyo County, 20 year employee of Mono County, GIS expert,  Co-Author of Backcountry Skiing California’s Eastern Sierra.

11:00 – Talking about avalanches, the OnX Backcountry app and the concept of gatekeeping

18:40 – The story behind the convicts who Convict Lake was named after.

21:00 – The unique gift of skiing the Eastern Sierra Nevada.  

22:25 – Nate grew up in Orange, California and skied and climbed in Mammoth as a kid.

27:00 – Nate’s background in GIS, and built Mono County’s GIS infrastructure.

30:30 – All about Backcountry Skiing California’s Eastern Sierra by Nate Greenberg and Dan Mingori

40:00 – Has Nate’s perspective on skiing big lines changed in recent years with having a family and a real job?

43:00 – The challenges of finding a good skiing partner.

46:20 – Founding the Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center (ESAC) with Walter Rosenthal, who passed in the fumarole accident at Mammoth Mountain in 2006.

57:00 – Nate’s story about getting caught in an avalanche in Bardini Chute and being seriously injured.

1:13:15 – Going from the book to an app on your phone – the launching of a partnership with OnX Backcountry featuring skiable lines in the Eastern Sierra Nevada, and the controversy of gatekeeping.

1:26:30 – How do you protect “secret spots” from the masses with an app like OnX, and how does it compare to the impacts of social media accounts and influencers?

1:39:00 – Incorporating an ethos of how to appropriately experience the outdoors, the importance of mentorship and education and having respect for the rules of backcountry skiing.

1:47:00 – Nate’s Mentors: Don Sharaf, Ian McCammon, Christian Pondella.

1:50:00 – What is it that Nate loves the most about skiing the Eastern Sierra Nevada?

1:54:14 – What does Mind the Track mean to you?

1:56:45 – Support the Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center, make a donation.

“Snow is blissful, it’s pure, it’s white, it’s serene, it’s a siren call. But it’s also very dark, it’s death. The darkest white is the perfect analogy for an avalanche,” said New York Times bestselling author Eric Blehm on Episode 35 about his latest book, The Darkest White, chronicling the life and untimely passing of legendary snowboarder Craig Kelly. Widely regarded as the Michael Jordan of snowboarding, Kelly was a pioneer in this uniquely American sport, and in his book, Blehm dives deep in to Kelly’s life and his pivotal role in the history of snowboarding and splitboarding. Blehm also goes into remarkable detail about the 2003 La Traviata avalanche in the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, where Kelly and six other skiers lost their lives, including Truckee local Kathy Kessler. Our chat with Blehm covers a bit of the history here in Lake Tahoe, a bit about Kelly and an insightful discussion around the human factors involved in the tragic avalanche. Learn more about Blehm and purchase his award-winning non-fiction books at ericblehm.com.

2:30 – Recording from Jim and Bonnie Zellers garage in Tahoe Donner.

3:50 – Introducing Eric Blehm, author of Fearless, The Only Thing Worth Dying For, The Last Season and his new book, The Darkest White, about the history of snowboarding, Craig Kelly and the La Traviata avalanche.

7:20 – Kathy Kessler – a core lord in Truckee who lost her life in the La Traviata avalanche with Craig Kelly.

9:10 – The roots of snowboarding were on Donner Summit – Donner Ski Ranch, Soda Springs and Boreal.

10:10 – Mind the Track Superfan #1 – Scott Kessler. Thanks for the shout out buddy!

13:15 – Eric was a snowboard magazine editor at TransWorld when he met Jim and Bonnie Zellers, the original backcountry snowboarders for The North Face.

15:30 – Transitioning from being a short-form magazine editor to a long-form book author and investigative journalist.

22:06 – Learning about the formation of the Mount Baker Hard Core, the lawsuit between Burton and Sims over Craig Kelly.

23:00 – Tom Sims claimed to have invented the snowboard before Sherman Poppen, but it was never confirmed.

25:00 – Mount Baker, Donner Ski Ranch, Boreal and Soda Springs were one of the first places to allow snowboards on chairlifts.

30:00 – Parts of Craig’s story that were cut from the book – Greg Stump’s film Siberia with Kelly and Scott Schmidt.

34:30 -Craig Kelly’s unique riding style, his fall line style influenced a generation of riders and convinced Trail Whisperer that he should have been a snowboarder.

45:00 – Craig as a pioneer in being one of the first snowboard guides in Canada, pursuing the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides certification.

48:00 – Early splitboarding, Eric got a splitboard and infiltrated ski resorts that didn’t allow snowboarding, riding the lift in split, then assembling it and snowboarding down as ‘The Chameleon”.

1:01:10 – The Durrand Glacier avalanche on La Traviata, the human factor and group dynamics.

1:10:30 – Ruedi Beglinger as a lead guide at Selkirk Mountain Experience, a strong character and the changes in the guiding industry and backcountry culture after the avalanche.

1:16:30 – Hubris and its role in the avalanche incident.

1:23:00 – Craig Kelly wanted to educate the younger generation on snow safety and the dangers of the backcountry.

1:28:30 – If Eric could ask Craig one question, what would it be?

1:35:15 – The Darkest White – where did the name come from?

1:39:30 – What does Mind the Track mean to you?

1:40:30 – Go to ericblehm.com or @ericblehmofficial on Instagram

“Everybody in Tahoe is the kid who doesn’t want to come in from recess”, said PowBot in Episode 34 with our guest Kacy Roeder. The concept of play is not just for kids, playing is an essential part of being an adult. Nobody knows this better than Kacy, a licensed landscape architect who designs playgrounds and sends it on her mountain bike and her splitboard. We learn about Kacy’s unique career, growing up on the East Coast and finding her way to Lake Tahoe, her love of being outside adventuring and why she built her world around playing as much as possible. Kacy also talks about her involvement with the Rocker Memorial Skate Park and the Rally for Rocker fundraiser on April 27, and how splitboarding has rekindled her love of snowboarding.

1:45 – POWBOT is back! Rest and a knee brace are helping.
3:20 – Introducing Kacy Roeder and her hens – farm life
7:20 – You Are What You Eat Documentary – industrial food complex and diet
9:00 – Trail Whisperer scored pow in the Toiyabe Range of Nevada. Tonopah Low and the Inside Slider storm.
10:45 – Kacy scored pow on Mount Rose after hitting Frog Lake Huts and West Shore
14:00 – Listener shout outs – Sebastian Johnson - Diamond Peak closes uphill ski access due to people breaking rules and coming within striking distance of a loaded winch cable.
19:20 – Ski Magazine announces ski injuries due to GoPros and weed gummies. But what about alcohol consumption while skiing?
21:00 – PowBot shouts out all listeners who helped him with his knee issues.
23:00 – April Fools posts, Zak Mills – snowboarding downhill with ski poles in hand.
25:49 – Brian Sullivan – funny video about podcasters.
28:20 – All about Kacy Roeder – Landscape Architect – Designing Playgrounds
34:00 – Growing up on the East Coast and the path to finding “play” as a profession.
36:00 – Moving to Lake Tahoe after graduating from University of Vermont.
39:30 – Trail Whisperer’s first encounter with Kacy – Riding MTB in Reno.
43:30 – The concept of men teaching women to mountain bike.
50:20 – Parallels between work and play. Play as an essential element of being an adult.
55:00 – Building playgrounds for kids and adults alike.
57:00 – Adventure Journal – Steve Casimiro – observing animals playing. The importance of humans playing.
1:02:00 – Rally for Rocker – Saturday April 27. Donner Ski Ranch on Donner Summit. Fundraiser for Rocker Memorial Skate Park in Truckee.
1:14:30 – Kacy’s youth and growing up as an active outdoor family, going to school in Vermont, snowboarding at her home mountains, Okemo Mountain, Stowe and Jay Peak.
1:17:00 – Spending time in Florida, New York accents, the competitiveness of the East Coast
1:27:30 – Learning to balance play and education in college.
1:30:30 – Kacy’s transition from snowboarding to splitboarding and backcountry skiing, and the concept of “Nature Bathing”.
1:39:40 – What does Mind the Track mean to you?
1:44:30 – Snoop Pow Dogg Snowsizzle My Dizzle Corn Dog and Powderrific Snow Report

In the wake of The Crippler – one of the biggest snowstorms to hit Tahoe in the last 5 years – the boys sit down with Reno-native core lord @aurelbaker, a Pediatric ER nurse who crushes it skiing as an ambassador athlete for @atomicski @rab.equipment and @lebent_ . Always the adventurer, Aurel covers a variety of topics including her “puke and rally” sailboat to ski adventure in British Columbia, her path to becoming a nurse, enduring as a nurse through the pandemic, her five different knee and ankle surgeries over the years and the psychological struggles associated with being an injured athlete. We recap the 10 feet of snow that shut down Lake Tahoe for three days, talk about skiing pow in Reno, Snoop gives the Snowsizzle My Dizzle Powderiffic Snow Report and shout outs to listeners.

1:30 – Introducing Aurel Baker – Pediatric ER Nurse, Skier, Mountain Biker, Fly Fishing, Climber.

6:30 – All about fly fishing.

10:00 – The challenges of surfing.

12:15 – Shout Outs – Michael George – Lebron James and JJ Reddick starting a new podcast called Mind the Game. Jed Ritchey – Washington Post story about record ocean temps and Hunga Tonga.

17:00 – Jonathan Irwin – wondering how to gain real backcountry experience not living full time in the mountains.

23:00 – Sendy Send of the Week - Zak Mills and Nick Russel ski Banner and Ritter Mountain in the same day.

24:10 – THE CRIPPLER – The aftermath of the March 1 snowstorm. Interstate 80 closed for three days. Hundreds of cars stranded on Donner Summit. A three day blizzard warning. Palisades Tahoe closed for three days.

31:30 – Backyard pow slashing in the wake of the storm. Skiing pow in Reno and Virginia City on Mount Davidson.

34:00 – Winter of 23-24 in a word: awkward. Seeming like a light winter, yet we are almost at season average for snowpack. Months of dangerous snowpack.

39:00 – Skiing Peavine Mountain in Reno.

40:25 – The Snoop Pow Dogg Snowsizzle My Dizzle Powderrrific Snow Report

43:00 – Spring Equinox – Mind the Track has made it a full four seasons!

47:00 – Aurel traveling to Sitka, Alaska for a sail to ski trip. Looking back on last year’s sail to ski trip in British Columbia. Learning the concept of Puke and Rally.

55:00 – Aurel has had five orthopedic surgeries on her knees and ankles over the years. Struggling with injury and recovery. The bicycle is the best tool for physical therapy.

1:02:00 – Dealing with loss of identity when the thing you love most you can’t do because of being injured.

1:05:00 – PowBot is dealing with early osteoarthritis in his knee.

1:10:30 – Delux Landscape in Lake Tahoe – PowBot’s new job as a project manager.

1:15:10 – Aurel grew up in Reno, and learned to ski and snowboard at Mount Rose. Going to University of Nevada, Reno and becoming a nurse.

1:19:10 – Enduring through the COVID pandemic as a nurse in a hospital.

1:27:30 – Leaving Reno, but coming back to Reno because of how good the access is to so much adventure.

1:32:00 – What was the closest call Aurel has ever had with avalanches?

1:37:00 – PowBot almost drowns in a creek crossing on the Sierra Buttes.

1:38:45 – Random historical tidbit: Sierra City compared to Downieville.

1:40:45 – What does Mind the Track mean to you?

Recorded just as the biggest snowstorm of the winter wallops Lake Tahoe with up to 10 feet of snow, the boys chat with Nick Bliss of blisswilderness.com and avalanche forecaster at the Bridgeport Avalanche Center. At just under 2 hours, this is the longest Mind the Track episode to date, but the discussion covers a lot of topics from snow safety, snowpack and avalanches to the dangers of following social media to find big ski lines, the responsibility professional winter sports athletes have when posting their adventures, apps like OnX Backcountry and Cody Townsend’s The Fifty episode about Split Couloir. The boys discuss the recent inbounds avalanche on KT-22 at Palisades Tahoe, the dangerous early season snowpack and what this big incoming storm will do to that snowpack. We also dive into Nick’s escape from Lake Tahoe, moving down near Sonora Junction and the challenges of off-grid living. Whether you swallow this episode whole or listen to it in a few different sittings, Nick shares a lot of knowledge about snow science and being smart about traveling safely in the backcountry. Consider donating at bridgeportavalanchecenter.org and follow BAC’s forecasts at @bridgeportavalanchecenter.

2:00 – Miracle March comes in like a lion. 10 feet of snow in 72 hours!
8:30 – Swan John and Trail Whisperer road trip to Idaho to ski Grand Targhee and Sun Valley.
12:15 – PowBot returns to Frog Lake Huts and rode with Jason Smith of Blackbird Guides.
17:00 – SnoopPowDogg Snow Sizzle My Dizzle Powderiffic Snow Report
21:00 – Introducing Nick Bliss of Bliss Wilderness
23:00 – Nick’s work as avalanche forecaster for the Bridgeport Avalanche Center, teaching the Marine Corps Mountain Training Warfare Center in Pickel Meadows near Sonora Pass.
24:50 – Bridgeport Winter Recreation Area – 7,000 acres of snowmobile motorized access.
26:30 – Being more mindful of each other at trailheads, better snow etiquette.
28:00 – The concept of ethos, gatekeeping, maintaining the culture of a sport and putting in the time to be more experienced.
32:00 – Nick’s dog Owen and skiing in the backcountry with a dog.
34:30 – The problem of putting ski lines on social media with no context for danger.
36:00 – OnX Backcountry putting dangerous ski lines in the Eastern Sierra on their app.
38:00 – The difference between a guide book and an app on a phone.
40:45 – Cody Townsend, The Fifty project and the Split Couloir episode.
53:45 – Transitioning from living in Lake Tahoe to moving south to Sonora Junction and living off-grid.
1:05:30 – Hantavirus and the brain-eating amoeba in hot springs – dangers of frontier life.
1:10:45 – The Bridgeport Avalanche Center (bridgeportavalanchecenter.org) – one of the four avalanche centers in California.
1:18:00 – The process of writing an avalanche forecast.
1:23:45 – January 2024 – the persistent weak layer and dangerous snowpack in the Sierra Nevada.
1:25:30 – The importance of snow water equivalent (SWE) in the snowpack and lack of snow load.
1:27:40 – The Palisades Tahoe avalanche on KT-22, the details around it and riding inbounds with your shovel, probe and beacon.
1:37:50 – The unionization of Palisades Tahoe Ski Patrol, and the life of a ski patroller.
1:41:00 – The incoming storm and the dangers of 10 feet of new snow in 72 hours, cornice failure danger and PowBot’s story of falling off a cornice.
1:48:30 – The concept of storms coming in right side up versus upside down, atmospheric rivers and the pineapple express.
1:54:00 – What does Mind the Track mean to you?
1:56:45 - @bridgeportavalanchecenter @blisswilderness and blisswilderness.com – donate at bridgeportavalanchecenter.org

After a three week adventure overseas, JaPowBot makes his return from Japan just as winter turns back on in Lake Tahoe. The boys discuss Tom’s trip as well as a potpourri of shenanigans that happened in Tahoe while he was gone, including shootings at Palisades Tahoe and Homewood, grant theft and assault at Boreal and a woman getting stranded overnight in the Heavenly gondola. Trail Whisperer rants about UnofficialNetworks and their false AI generated news headlines, PowBot calls out Palisades Tahoe for complaining about work on their blog, presidential candidates make campaign promises for the votes of Tahoe core lords, Snoop Pow Dogg gives his Snowsizzle My Dizzle Powderiffic Snow Report and Arapahoe Basin loses its identity and goes corporate after being bought out by Alterra/IKON Pass.  

1:45 – POWBOT Returns from Japan with the Hakuba Hack.

4:30 – Winter finally shows up in Tahoe.

6:45 – Riding Sonora Pass and Leavitt Lake in the Bridgeport Winter Recreation Area with Nick Bliss. @bridgeportavalanchecenter

9:20 – Backcountry skiing in Japan – filling out forms to get permits for the Japanese Alps.

11:45 – Shout Outs to listeners, Incline Spirits and Cigars, Bestfit Boots and Start Haus Truckee, Josh at Boot Solutions in Hakuba.

25:45 – Eating weird Asian foods.

29:00 – While Tom was gone….presidential campaigning in Reno/Tahoe region. Thanks Chad Peters - @takeoffyourpnts on Insta.

32:30 – Woman gets stranded overnight on Heavenly gondola, shooting at Squaw Village, shooting near Homewood at a restaurant, grand theft and assault at Boreal.

35:30 – Kurt’s ASS Rant for the Week – UnofficialNetworks using AI to write news headlines.

38:45 – Palisades Tahoe Blog and the complaining they love to do about their jobs.

40:20 – The Headwall chairlift debacle – Scott Gaffney writes an Ode to Headwall poem.

44:30 – Arapahoe Basin in Colorado gets purchased by Alterra/Ikon Pass.

51:30 – Snoop Pow Dogg’s Snowsizzle My Dizzle Powderiific Snow Report

54:00 – We are definitely in an El Nino winter – no snow in the Pacific NW and Montana

56:00 – Gettin’ older and feelin’ older. Coping with injury and getting older. Do more cross training. Throttle back. Stretch more.

1:02:15 – Recap of PowBot’s trip to Hakuba, Japan. Happo-One.

1:14:00 – Trail Whisperer and Swan John’s upcoming road trip to Idaho and Wyoming.

1:20:30 – Sharing information about avalanches and Avalanche Canada’s new avalanche reporting system built by the government for the public to use and share.