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The Powder Hounds podcast is the original ski trivia game podcast. Host Jeff ”Shawman” Shaw will take listeners on a ski tour across North America to talk ski areas, ski news, ski passes and talk with ski industry professionals, volunteers and outdoor enthusiasts. Think snow sports fun on your way to or from the mountain!
Episodes
Friday Nov 01, 2024
Friday Nov 01, 2024
The Race to Open – Northeast edition – returns with a new format; brackets by each northeast state! That’s right, 48 ski areas are included in this year’s Race to Open Northeast Bracket Challenge. It is hard not to get excited about the upcoming season with multiple snow events in October [just don’t look at the early November forecast. Yuck!] Still, ski areas across the northeast are testing snow guns, selling discounted lift tickets and lodging, posting opening dates and of course, two even opened! And I thought the only back-to-back champions are the UConn Huskies?! [Nope says Ski Ward, MA]. I also offer my apologies to the two northeast ski areas that opened pretty darn early last year, but whose bubbles burst on inclusion in this year’s bracket. As a peace offering, a bonus trivia question is meant to highlight them. Okay Pow Hounds, let’s find out which lifts are likely to spin next.
Segment Time
3:51: Lightning Round: Regional Ski News
13:35: Race to Open
15:50: RiMaConn/Southern New England Bracket
18:25: Poconos Bracket
21:54: New York Bracket
24:16: Maine Bracket
26:43: Vermont Bracket
29:14: New Hampshire Bracket
31:33: Top 6
32:07: Trivia Question
Tuesday Oct 01, 2024
Tuesday Oct 01, 2024
The 5th Annual Northeast Ski Season Preview episode covers [hopefully] everything you need to maximize the upcoming winter season. We have opening dates, new lifts, terrain expansions, weather predictions, stoke, discount lift ticket promotions and more! Of course, it wouldn’t be a Powder Hounds Ski Trivia Podcast without some trivia questions. So I give you the Annual 8, for the 8 states that comprise our northeast region. Oh, and did you know it snowed in the northeast on September 8? Find out which ski area has the edge to open first this season! Have fun, Powder Hounds!
3:46 Introduction
5:27 Last Season
6:55 Stoke
10:12 Season Passes
16:33 Frequency Passes
27:48 Operational Changes of Note
34:59 Weather Predictions
36:41 Early Opening Date Predictions
38:11 Annual 8 Trivia Questions
Thursday Apr 25, 2024
Thursday Apr 25, 2024
The 4th Annual Mogul Madness Bracket Challenge episode is a good one – the Toughest Ski Trails of the East! I am joined by Pete Denato, Dave Jagich and Nolan Wheeler, absolute ballers on the slopes. These guys don’t just ski fast, they ski steep, deep, and gnarly terrain, while often logging 20 hour day trips just to find the goods in the woods. We talk favorite terrain, trails and ski areas; we touch on the back-to-back Nattys of our [Nolan and my] beloved UConn Huskies; we warm up with a couple old favorite games to wax up the bases for the Sweet 16 ski trail bracket challenge. This year's bracket challenge may also have coined a new meaning for BYOB [or not!]. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Powder Hounds Ski Trivia bracket challenge without a few surprise twists and turns along the way. The episode charges hard out of the gate, try to keep up! And stick with it, some audio gold awaits you at the end.
0:40: Welcome
3:50: Sources
4:25: Introductions
13:06: Back-to-Back Nattys – Go UConn!
15:26: Name That Ski Area
18:57: True or False
22:41: Sweet 16 Bracket Challenge: Toughest Trails of the East
51:20: Final Jeff-Pardy
58:09: Last Chair
Thursday Mar 21, 2024
Thursday Mar 21, 2024
Catamount Ski Area may be best described as a hidden gem in plain sight. After all, it has been operating since 1939. Its location, among the Taconic Range, perhaps not necessary thought of when planning ski trips. But the ski area delivers with fall lines, headwalls and trails snaking through the trees. It is affordable. Its season pass gives you unlimited access to two other nearby ski areas. The ski school is also 84 years old and the Mountain Cat program may be among the best kept secrets for 3-year-olds learning to ski and snowboard. This episode was inspired by a handful of years skiing Catamount regularly, plus my first born’s inaugural winter on sticks. We begin with regional ski news-passes, weather, terrain updates and spring events, pivot to the history of Catamount, continue to the present day mountain profile. A deep dive of recent changes under Jon Schaefer as well as a potential expansion are explored as well as an unanswered question about ski area trail names (Catamount and Stowe have an unusually large amount of trails named after people). Of course, the episode wraps with nine trivia questions for the nine decades of Catamount’s existence. Go buy a spring equinox pass to Catamount (and Berkshire East) before it's too late!
Segment time:
3:42 – Regional Ski News
7:26 – History of Catamount Ski Area
12:36 – Mountain Profile
15:14 – Recent Changes
18:16 – Episode Inspiration
22:07 – Catamount Trail Names
24:43 – Trivia Questions
Wednesday Feb 14, 2024
Wednesday Feb 14, 2024
While Camelback Resort, celebrating 60-years of operation, may be most well known for its gigantic indoor and outdoor waterparks, it should also get love for being home to the ‘long ski day in PA.’ A compliment! On weekends and holidays, lifts start spinning at 7:30am (First Tracks) and stop – 14 hours later – at 9:00pm. While night skiing is not unique at smaller ski areas, the sheer cluster of ski areas (7) within 88 miles of one another that offer night skiing with 100% of terrain open, makes the Poconos special. Also noteworthy, this is the first winter season that Camelback is a parter on the Ikon Pass (along with nearby Blue), offering 7 days without blackout dates for full Ikon; 5 days with holiday blackouts for Ikon base. The usual topics covered include, ski area history, mountain profile, prices while focusing on the benefits of night skiing. The episode wraps-up with an Elite Eight set of trivia questions. I also bring back an old starter segment, regional ski news, including headlines, weather forecasts, open terrain rankings and a notable event. This episode – and all episodes – have a little something for everyone. Happy February, Powder Hounds!
Segment time:
3:55 – Regional Ski News
8:55 – Episode Introduction
9:52 – Camelback History
14:12 – Mountain Profile
17:00 – Benefits of Night Skiing
19:56 – Night Skiing in Poconos
23:33 – Trivia Questions
Tuesday Jan 02, 2024
Tuesday Jan 02, 2024
Hot Dog...The Movie celebrates its 40th Anniversary on January 13, 2024. 40 years! Wow. While the cast, crew and fans have reunited every ten years to celebrate the movie’s legacy, I do not know where or when the 40th bash will be. Until those details surface, consider this episode a soft celebration. We kick things off with the briefest of overviews [if you’ve found this podcast, you’ve likely watched Hot Dog...The Movie]. For funsies, I read the Rat Pack’s IMDB for a little insight on what they did before/after this slopeside cult classic. The majority of the episode is trivia questions, with four categories: locations (green circles), competitions (blue squares), behind the scenes (black diamonds), and random (double black diamonds). A final Jeff-Pardy question closes us out. The movie soundtrack was all the music inspiration one would need, so enjoy the unusually long snippets. Happy 40th Hot Dog! Downhill, anyone?!
4:14: About Hot Dog...The Movie
7:38: Rat Pack IMDBs
13:44: Trivia Category: Locations
17:58: Trivia Category: Competitions
20:50: Trivia Category: Behind the Scenes
26:41: Trivia Category: Random
31:22: Final Jeff-Pardy Question
Thursday Dec 28, 2023
Thursday Dec 28, 2023
I kicked off my winter season at Windham Mountain Club in New York. Windham aka “The Club,” for this episode’s purposes at least, is undergoing a transformation to a semi-private model and I had to check it out before my Ikon Base Pass is no longer an accepted form of entry. Additionally, I have begun my season in the Catskills each of the past three seasons, so that’s a fun little tradition to keep. I really like diners apparently. This episode covers mountain stats, the not-quite-a-trend-but-close shift to semi-private models across ski county, the before and after the October 2023 rebrand and redevelopment announcement, with some ski puns, word play and laughter mixed in. Eight trivia questions bring us home, with an unanswered question, whether a terrain park should be considered a trail on a trail map. Ikon pass or not, ski “the Club” this season, Powder Hounds!
3:23: History of Windham
6:35: Mountain Profile
10:06: Why Windham
14:47: About Windham before October 2023
22:31: About Windham after October 2023
28:58: Trivia Questions
Thursday Nov 16, 2023
Thursday Nov 16, 2023
My guest is Sarah Wojcik, the founder and editor All Mountain Mamas, which seeks to share her – and her fella mamas - passion of skiing and snowboarding with families across North America. All Mountain Mamas will celebrate its 10th anniversary in January! [Be on the lookout for 10 free lift tickets, well, maybe] Sarah was previously the Director of Marketing and Communications for Ski Vermont and is currently the Associate Editor of SAM Magazine (Ski Area Management). Sarah talks a super interesting origin story, cutting her teeth ski patrolling in the Poconos, “majoring” in skiing in college, patrolling at Bolton Valley and Sugarbush as well as most sought-after content on All Mountain Mamas, the future of skiing in the northeast, the best deals in northeast skiing [FOURS], comeback kids, best food(s) in VT, a potential petition drive to resurrect a lost stoke-filled magazine and much more. Sarah even throws a curveball trivia question at me! My only regret, is not spending more time at Jay Peak, especially posing an important question; State side or Tram side?!
Segment Times:
4:01 - Lightning Round
13:45 - All Mountain Mamas
21:00 - Second Lightning Round
24:06 - Ski Vermont
30:39 - Ski Area Management (SAM)
32:10 - Pop Quiz – Sarah’s gem of a trivia question (& rough edit add)
36:16 – State of Skiing
43:01 - Trivia Questions
Wednesday Oct 25, 2023
Wednesday Oct 25, 2023
The 4th Annual Northeast Ski Season Preview episode covers hopefully everything you need to reset the stoke - opening dates, new lifts, terrain expansion, weather predictions, ski swaps, entertainment and discount lift ticket promotions and more! Also, my Race to Open bracket challenge adds a heck of a lot of optimism to the pre-season. Finally, 8 trivia questions were inspired from the 8 states in our re-loaded Northeast Region. Have fun, Powder Hounds!
Segments
5:23 Stage Setting
7:10 Weather Predictions
11:20 Entertainment & Gear
12:25 Passes (northeast applicable)
22:27 Promotional Lift Ticket Deals
24:33 Lift, Base Area and Terrain Expansions
41:26 Opening Dates
42:25 Race to Open Picks
48:52 Trivia Questions
56:49 Close
Friday Jun 30, 2023
Friday Jun 30, 2023
And then there were three, maybe 2, or possibly just 1…While a few ski areas are still open (Mammoth, Palisades Tahoe and maybe Beartooth Basin), the 2022-2023 winter season has effectively ended. Another record-breaking ski season in the books, with over 64 million+ skier visits according to NSAA. The Northeast also saw increases in season-over-season skier visits. This end of season reflection builds off a holiday shopping idea already engrained in most of our brains. Call it what you will, I call it Smaller Ski Area Saturday, while corny sure, could help smaller ski areas thrive amidst fierce competition (and limited marketing budgets) for customers, unpredictable weather, workforce challenges, and increasing costs. Smaller ski areas tend to be off-the-radar, passionately loved by the local community and ripe with character. We can help them by skiing there more often. And meeting up at a smaller ski area provides a great solution (affordable, not crowded, unique) for Ikon and Epic passholder friends who can finally ski together!? Either way, all the best this off-season, Powder Hounds!
:20 - Welcome
4:40 - Episode Intro
5:48 - Smaller Ski Area Saturday
17:20 - Close