The Ski Podcast

We visit La Clusaz and find out about local freeride skier Candide Thovex’s new range of skis. We also go to Verbier to learn what it was like to become the first woman to work on their ski patrol.
We have snow reports from Flaine in France, Via Lattea in Italy and St Anton in Austria, news on the class action lawsuit going on in the States and there’s a Team GB update as well. 
Host Iain Martin was joined by Victoria Jamieson, the first woman to join the Verbier ski patrol, and Tony McWilliam, the founder of Faction Skis and designer of Candide Thovex’s new line of skis. 
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Tirol in Austria sponsors The Ski Podcast, which means this winter we’re are finding out more about some of the great destinations in Tirol, and how you can connect with the Austrian way of life: ‘Lebensgefühl’ – that you’ll find there.
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SHOW NOTES

Tony McWilliam is the founder of Faction Skis (2:00)
Listen to Iain’s interview with Tony about his story
Simon Burgess reports from Flaine (5:00)
James and Sinead from Sauze Online are in the Via Lattea (7:00)
Andy Butterworth from Kaluma Travel is in St Anton (8:30)
A class action lawsuit has been filed against Vail Resorts and Alterra (11:00)
Read the excellent analysis by Stuart Winchester from the Storm Skiing Podcast (11:15)
Kirsty Muir, Charlotte Bankes & Zoe Atkin won Crystal Globes in Ski Slopestyle, Snowboard Cross and Ski Halfpipe (12:00)
Jim Duncombe lives in La Clusaz and was co-founder of The Ski Podcast (12:30)
The new black run is named after home town hero Candide Thovex (16:20)
Check out Candide on YouTube… (16:30)
Candide has said that La Balme taught him everything and shaped his skiing (16:45)
Philippine Bories works for the La Clusaz tourist office (18:00)
Listen to Iain’s previous interview with Tony (22:30)
Tony first met Candide when he was 16 and signed him to Faction Skis later (23:30)
Faction supplied him with 27 sets of skis for his epic ‘Ski The World’  video (25:00)
Tony worked with Candide on his own range of skis (27:00)
The design of the top sheets are very minimalist (29:00)
Only 100 of the limited edition La Clusaz 101 were made (29:30)
The construction of the skis (30:00)
Tony now runs Forward Outdoor (32:30)
Angelika Kaufmann spoke about her job blasting avalanches in Lech in Episode 270 (33:00)
Victoria was the first woman to join the Verbier ski patrol in 2008 (34:00)
The exams or qualifications required (37:00)
Why blasting avalanches is so important (38:30)
Feedback
You can leave a comment on Spotify, Instagram or Facebook – our handle is @theskipodcast – or drop Iain an email to [email protected]. You can also follow us on our WhatsApp channel.
andrewdickson: "Great interview with Tim Wall (Episode 299). I love the Ski Lodge and all the bands that have played there over the years. We will be back for our 21st visit next year.” 

James Rice: "Just downloaded Episode 308 (about Chamonix). Really looking forward to it."

Sean Burton: “I just wanted to reiterate how much I enjoy the podcast.I discovered it after my first ski trip in January 2024 and have been listening avidly ever since.”

There are now 309 episodes of The Ski Podcast to catch up with. If you’d like to get some insight on a particular destination or the latest kit, just go to theskipodcast.com, have a search around the tags and categories and you’re bound to find something you’ll find something of interest.
If you enjoy the podcast, you can always buy Iain a coffee at buymeacoffee.com/theskipodcast

We go on a ski touring adventure in Chamonix, staying an unmanned refuge at 3000m, and also take a closer look at some of the most spectacular Alpine refuges in the world. Plus we find out about the ski resort synonymous with Robert Redford – Sundance in Utah.
We also learn of a post-Olympic spike in visitors to the UK’s snow centres, plus we have snow reports from Madesimo, Gausta and Les 2 Alpes, plus your feedback.
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 Tirol in Austria sponsors The Ski Podcast, which means this winter we’re are finding out more about some of the great destinations in Tirol, and how you can connect with the Austrian way of life: ‘Lebensgefühl’ – that you’ll find there.
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SHOW NOTES

Katja Gaskell was last on the show in Episode 242 when she reported on Saint Gervais (1:30)
Aaron Rolph is founder of the British Adventure Collective (1:45)
Aaron skied on the Dome de Miage (4:00)
Claire Harrison reported from Madesimo in Italy (5:30)
Mike Richards was in Gausta in Norway (6:45)
Alex Armand from Tip Top Ski Coaching is in Les 2 Alpes (9:00)
The new Entry/Exit System EES with the EU will scale up to 100% on 10 April (09:15)
Freddy Carrick Smith picked up the silver in the slalom at the Junior World Championships (9:30)
Ian Brown, MD of The Snow Centre, reports on a bump in traffic in both Hemel Hempstead & Manchester (10:00)
Iain was guided by Brad Carlson on a ski mountaineering 101 trip (14:30)
Iain stayed in the Bivouac de l'Envers des Dorées (17:30)
Brad was on the podcast in Episode 240 discussing the impact of global warming on the Mer de Glace (18:30)
The kit you need for ski mountaineering adventure (20:45)
Aaron’s bookis ‘Alpine Refuges: The Architecture and Culture of Mountain Shelters’ (25:45)
What is a bothy in Scotland? (26:45)
What is an Alpine refuge? (28:30)
Choosing the 30 refuges featured in the book (29:20)
The Bivacco Gervasutti is one of Aaron’s favourites (31:00)
The Hannibal Bivouac (32:00)
Aaron has visited around 60 refuges (34:00)
Aaron is the founder of the British Adventure Collective (34:30)
European refuges v. North America (35:30)
Sundance is famous for the film festival (38:00)
Films that launched at Sundance include Reservoir Dogs, The Blair Witch Project, Get Out and Memento (39:00)
Robert Redford bought it in 1968 (39:40)
There is a focus on conservation (41:00)
Redford felt it should be ‘“developed a little, preserved a lot” (41:30)
The skiing (42:00)
His ownership meant it developed as a hub for the arts (44:00)
Who is Sundance suitable for? (47:00)

Feedback
You can leave a comment on Spotify, Instagram or Facebook – our handle is @theskipodcast – or drop me an email to [email protected] 
You can also follow us on WhatsApp for exclusive material released ahead of the podcast. 
Martyn Crawshaw: “I'm currently skiing in Champery, Switzerland which can be reached by rail direct via a funicular from the mainline station at Aigle”
 
seanski: "It’s such a great podcast and look forward to it every week, I've been particularly inspired by your series on the Tirol, and as I write I'm en route by train to Landeck"

Linley Lewis: "Just wanted to drop you a line let you know I greatly enjoyed your Ste Foy episode. Ste Foy has become an annual pilgrimage for my family. It's an absolute gem and I think you summed up its joy perfectly."

Claire: "We have just returned from a week in Fugen in the Zillertal after listening to your feature in Episode 272. We were very impressed with the ski area: the efficiency of the transport, range of slopes, wonderful mountain "hutte" and friendly hospitality everywhere. We will be back for sure!"

Colin Tierney: “I love skiing in Austria: you could do a different resort every winter without ever having to repeat.”

There are now 308 episodes of The Ski Podcast to catch up with and 187 of those have been listened to in the last week, including interviews with Winter Olympians such as Andrew Musgrave, Eddie The Eagle, Dave Ryding, Graham Bell, both Izzy and Zoe Atkin, Chemmy Alcott, Bode Miller and Kirsty Muir. 
If you’d like to listen to an interview with an athlete, get some insight on a particular destination, or find out about the latest kit, just go to theskipodcast.com, have a search around the tags and categories and you’re bound to find something of interest to listen to. 
If you’d like to help the podcast, there are three things you can do:
   -          follow us, or subscribe, so you never miss an episode
   -          give us a review on Apple Podcasts or leave a comment on Spotify
   -          save yourself some money by using the code ‘SKIPODCAST’ when you book using this link

Today we cover three countries: in France, we find out about Sainte-Foy-Tarentaise; we hear about a ski safari across the Dolomites in Italy; and about a ‘ski touring for softies’ adventure in Austria.
Iain was joined in the studio by Ireland’s leading ski specialist, Catherine Murphy and freelance journalist, Simon Miller.
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Tirol in Austria sponsors The Ski Podcast, which means this winter we’re are finding out more about some of the great destinations in Tirol, and how you can connect with the Austrian way of life: ‘Lebensgefühl’ – that you’ll find there.
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SHOW NOTES

Simon spoke about Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis in Episode 291
We featured Deer Valley in the podcast in Episode 272 (2:20)
Iain reported on his stay in Brides-les-Bains in Episode 306 (3:30)
Betony Garner reported from St Gervais (5:45)
Jen Tsang runs the website ThatsLaPlagne.com (7:00)
Dave Burrows from SnoPros Ski School was in Lélex Crozet, France (8:50)
Floss Cockle from the YouTube channel FreeFloFloss reported from Tignes (11:10)
Neil Simpson has picked up Silver in the Men’s VI combined at the Paralympics (13:00)
Zak Carrick-Smith made his World Cup debut in the slalom in Kranjska Gora (13:15)
Iain visited Sainte-Foy-Tarentaise by train (14:00)
Iain is writing an article about backcountry skiing for Fall Line Magazine (14:15)
The British chalet company, Premiere Neige is a Sainte Foy specialist (14:40)
Fiona Harvey-Jordan is the founder of Premiere Neige (15:00)
Iain’s guide in Sainte-Foy was Nicholas Barel (24:00)
Rachel Pilkington is the owner of Llama Llama in Sainte Foy (24:20)
The backcountry in Sainte-Foy is amazing (27:15)
Catherine went on the Specialismo Ski Safari with Inspired Italy (27:45)
The route was Ortisei-Val Gardena-Passo San Pellegrino-Civetta-Lagazuoi-Alta Badia-Marmolada-Colfosco-Ortisei (29:00)
Italian Rifugio are very different from what some people might think of when they think of refuges (29:45)
The Dolomiti Superski pass is included in the Ikon Pass (31:30)
Who’s it suitable for? (34:15)
Simon was ski touring on the ‘Nockberge Trail’ in Carinthia, Austria (37:15)
Travel was in and out of Graz (37:45)
‘Ski touring as if it was designed by people who dream up aromatherapy marketing material’ (38:15)
Simon’s trip was organised by Trail Angels (38:45)
It could be described as ‘ski touring for softies’ (41:45)
Feedback (46:00)
You can leave a comment on Spotify, Instagram or Facebook – our handle is @theskipodcast – or drop me an email to [email protected]. You can also follow us on WhatsApp for exclusive material released ahead of the podcast.
Paul Bond: "Winter Olympics pods were great. Games were fantastic. Great stuff from Team GB with much future promise."
Poppy Porteus: "I really want to be an Olympic champ and love listening to your podcast"
Nicolas: “Loved your recent episode about cat skiing in Georgia. It brought back great memories of previous cat skiing adventures.”

There are now 307 episodes of The Ski Podcast to catch up with. If you’d like to get some insight on a particular destination, listen to an interview with an athlete or find out about the latest kit, just go to theskipodcast.com, have a search around the tags and categories and you’re bound to find something of interest to listen to. 
And don’t forget you can save yourself some money on ski hire if you use the code ‘SKIPODCAST’ when you when you book at intersportrent.com.

We find out about one of Austria’s most famous ski resorts, Kitzbühel, plus go cat skiing in Georgia and consider if Brides-Les-Bains is the way to ski in Les 3 Vallées without breaking the bank.
We also have snow reports from Courchevel, Les 2 Alpes and the Via Lattea and an Olympic catch up with Chemmy Alcott.
Iain was joined in the studio by Anna Nirkow from Kitzbühel Tourism and freelance journalist Mike ‘The Snow’ Richards.
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Tirol in Austria sponsors The Ski Podcast, which means this winter we’re are finding out more about some of the great destinations in Tirol, and how you can connect with the Austrian way of life: ‘Lebensgefühl’ – that you’ll find there.
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SHOW NOTES

Mike was last on the show in Episode 294, discussing skiing in Pra Loup (1:45)
Skiing on Hay Bluff in Wales (4:00)
Alex Armand from Tip Top Ski Coaching is in Les 2 Alpes (5:00)
Alex Irwin from YouTube’s ‘150 Days of Winter’ is in Courchevel (5:45)
James and Sinead from Sauze Online are in the Via Lattea (7:15)
This year was the 86th edition of the Hahnenkamm race in Kitzbühel (9:30)
Around 80,000 spectators attend across the three days of racing (10:30)
Every year there’s a slalom race as well (12:30)
Dave Ryding won in 2022 (13:30)
There’s a gondola in Kitzbühel with Ryding’s name on it (14:00)
You can visit the ‘starthaus’ at the top of the Streif (15:45)
The ski area has 233km across 90 pistes (16:45)
Bergbahn Kitzbühel is a regular winner of ‘World’s Best Ski Resort Company’ (17:00)
The KitzSkiWelt Tour offers 88km of skiing in the world’s longest ski safari (18:00)
Travel by train to Kitzbühel (20:00)
Cross country and ski touring options (20:45)
Anna’s favourite mountain huts include the Bärenbadalm, Melkalm, Rasmushof, Panorama Alm, Sonnenrast and BichlAlm (22:45)
And for apres ski try the Legendencafe and The Londoner (23:15)
Emily Sarsfield – Olympian & TNT Sport commentator – joined Iain for our Winter Olympic specials (25:00)
Guests included gold medal winners, Huw Nightingale and Charlotte Bankes, as well as Chemmy Alcott, Graham Bell, Ed Leigh, Eddie The Eagle
BBC presenter Chemmy Alcott shares her thoughts on the Games (25:30)
Zak, Luca and Freddy Carrick-Smith share their thoughts on the future (29:15)
An epic trip on a four-day Interrail from Rail Europe (31:00)
Iain stayed for the first time in Brides-Les-Bains, connected by the Olympe gondola directly to Meribel (32:00)
Mike talked about a trip to Guadari in Georgia in Episode 37 (33:30)
Mike booked with the Powder Project (36:00)
Bakhmaro is 1900m with cat served skiing up to 2750m (37:00)
Feedback
You can leave a comment on Spotify, Instagram or Facebook – our handle is @theskipodcast – or drop me an email to [email protected]. You can also follow us on WhatsApp for exclusive material released ahead of the podcast. 
Colin Tierney: “The joy of having to work is being able to record the Olympics and fast forward through the bits that don’t entertain me and Sweden (Episode303) sounds great.”

Richard Baker: “Listening to Episode 305 and I agree that Zoe Atkin may have deserved the silver” 
If you’d like to get some insight on a particular destination, listen to an interview with an athlete or find out about the latest kit, just go to theskipodcast.com, have a search around the tags and categories and you’re bound to find something of interest to listen to. 
Don’t forget you can save yourself some money on ski hire if you use the code ‘SKIPODCAST’ when you book at intersportrent.com

In our 10th and final Winter Olympics Special, Emily and Iain celebrate a bronze medal for Zoe Atkin in the Ski Halfpipe, discuss a photo-finish in the Men’s Skier Cross and look at the potential legacy from the Games for British snowsports.
We also pick our highlights from the Games, with contributions from Rachael Oakes-Ash, Betony Garner and Zak, Luca and Freddy Carrick Smith. 
SHOW NOTES

Zoe Atkin won Bronze in the Women’s Ski Half Pipe (1:00)
This is GB  Snowsports best ever return in a Winter Olympics (3:00)
Men's Ski Cross (4:15)
The photo finish for silver (7:30)
Team GB is one only three countries that don't pay for gold medals (9:30)
Ed Leigh and Tim Warwood on the legacy for GB snowsports (10:45)
The closing ceremony (13:45)
Olympic tattoos (15:00)
The highlights of the Games…
Rachael Oakes-Ash reported from Livigno for Snowsbest.com in Australia (17:00)
Betony Garner was working for Team GB (21:00)
Zak, Luca and Freddy Carrick-Smith (25:00)

Finally, many of the athletes will be going home now as Olympians and will have memories that will last forever. There’s something lese that will last forever – an Olympic rings Tattoo? I think I’m right in saying that you’ve got one Emily – now tell us, is this something they offer in the Olympic village?

Feedback
So if you enjoyed this episode I would love to know. Just leave us a on Spotify, Instagram or Facebook – our handle is @theskipodcast – or drop me an email to [email protected] 
And, if you’re booking ski hire this winter, don’t forget that you can get an additional discount if you use the code ‘SKIPODCAST’ when you book at intersportrent.com or simply take this link for your discount to be automatically applied