Backcountry Skiing California’s Eastern Sierra | Nate Greenberg | E36
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.
The Darkest White | Eric Blehm | E35
“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.
The Concept of Play | Kacy Roeder | E34
“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.
Puke and Rally | Aurel Baker | E33
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.
Snow Science | Nick Bliss | E32
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 Bliss Wilderness and avalanche forecaster at the Bridgeport Avalanche Center. They discuss 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, Cody Townsend’s The Fifty episode about Split Couloir, KT-22 at Palisades Tahoe, the dangerous early season snowpack and what this big incoming storm will do to that snowpack. We talk about Nick’s escape from Tahoe to Sonora Junction and off-grid living.
Felonies, Fake News and the Return of JaPowBot | E31
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.
Avalanches and the Frog Lake Huts | E30
Fresh off a return from a two-night ski adventure at the Frog Lake Huts, right before PowBot’s departure for Japan, the boys do a catch up, recapping the of the most dangerous periods of avalanche conditions ever in the Sierra Nevada. The boys discuss the unfortunate inbounds fatality on KT-22 opening day at Palisades Tahoe and PowBot recounts the only time he’s ever been fully buried in an avalanche – inbounds at Sugar Bowl – and a second recovery he was involved in immediately after being unburied by a partner. The boys also chat about the inherent dangers of skiing inbounds on a storm day, terrain management, proper recovery gear, the dangers of group think and the expert halo, the risks of traveling in the backcountry and methods employed to stay safe even on considerable and high avalanche danger days, and why PowBot thinks avalanche education and safety is better in Canada and Europe than the U.S. The last third of the show recaps the boys’ trip to the Frog Lake Huts (where Mind the Track was born a year ago) and successfully negotiating avalanche terrain in dangerous conditions en route. They also discuss why there are so many no-shows at Frog Lake despite sold-out reservation status.
Sh*t Happens | E29
Welcoming 2024 with a bang, as soon as the New Year hit, winter finally arrived in Lake Tahoe with multiple cold storms dropping a couple feet of blower pow and massive crowds. PowBot and Trail Whisperer go into Season 2 of Mind the Track talking on a variety of topics including riding the South Yuba River Trail, the history of Malakoff Diggins and what tree blazes are, skiing pow on Mount Shasta for New Years, attempting to Nordic ski on Christmas, the importance of keeping all your printed maps, CDs and DVDs in an increasingly unstable digital world, the sketchy state of the snowpack in North America and Snoop Pow Dogg’s Snowsizzle My Dizzle Powderiffic Snow Report. Trail Whisperer goes off on two ASS (Angry Singlespeeder) rants about ebike haters and the looming chaos that Artificial Intelligence will bring to our lives, and he also shares an embarrassing and hilarious story of the time he pooped his pants while skiing at Heavenly. A question for listeners: what’s your preferred episode length – An hour or less or 90 minutes plus? Let us know!
Truckee to Bellingham by Mountain Bike | Jake Mann | E28
We first interviewed @notjakemann in Episode 11 right before he embarked on a two-month bikepacking journey from Truckee to Bellingham, Washington. In Episode 28, the boys catch up with Jake and hear all the good times, scary times, wet times and confusing times he had, including harrowing encounters with skunks and toothless rednecks, abundant cats, and friendly folks happy to accommodate a stinky mountain biker who raised nearly $8,000 for World Bicycle Relief, funding nearly 50 bikes for people in third world countries. The boys also give some listener shout outs, reflect on the first season of Mind the Track, chat about more bear encounters in Sierra County, Reno’s shrinking homeless population, Truckee’s increasing cost of living woes, more Hunga Tonga theories and Snoop Dogg’s Snow Sizzle My Dizzle Powderrific Snow Report.
Make Downieville Gold Again | E27
After a radical Thanksgiving on two wheels, the boys escape to Downieville to sample some late fall hero dirt on the ebikes and catch up on a variety of topics including the struggles of trying to survive in rural California amidst draconian laws and policies designed for big cities, the outlawing of gas-powered everything in California and the problems with electric battery powered replacements, living with constant power outages, the unregulated bear population that’s been wreaking havoc in peoples’ homes and in their cars, abandoned vehicles deep in the forest, the meaning of “Make Downieville Gold Again” and the much anticipated reopening of The Lure Resort, now known as The Yubaverse. Snoop Dogg weighs in with his Snow Sizzle My Dizzle Powderiffic Snow Report, shout outs to listeners and a PowBot photo makes Jerry of the Day. Also, go see PowBot present about Canadian Hut Life at Donner Creek Brewing in Truckee on Wednesday December 6.
Mountain State | Josh Daiek and Hazen Woolson | E26
If you’ve ever watched Josh Daiek’s POV ski footage, you’ve probably been more gripped staring at your phone than he is straight-lining a couloir at Mach Chicken. So when Josh and his filmmaking adventure partner Hazen Woolson set out to make a new ski film for their sponsor Salomon, they wanted to do something different and unexpected to blow peoples’ minds. Mountain State and Mountain State 2.0 were the result; two films exploring the rugged and seldom skied wilds of Nevada and the Great Basin, the latter of which recently took home “Best Backcountry Segment” from the IF3 Film Festival. In Episode 26, the boys sit down with Josh and Hazen at Gear Lab in South Lake Tahoe to chat all about the making of the films, from the highs of scoring in last year’s record-breaking winter to the lows of getting skunked the two previous winters and Josh’s terrifying skirt with certain peril skiing the East Humboldt Range. Also, Pow Bot introduces Mind the Track’s newest correspondent, the one and only Snoop Dogg with his Snowsizzle My Dizzle Powderiffic Snow Report.
All about Weather with Bryan Allegretto aka “BA” of OpenSnow | E25
When it comes to skiing, there may be no other person in the Lake Tahoe region with more influence than Bryan Allegretto, known to many powder hounds as “BA”. With one word – Snowpocalypse – BA can send the entire region into a frenzy. As the lead Tahoe region snow forecaster and co-founder of OpenSnow.com, BA consistently outperforms the most advanced and complex snowfall computer weather modeling data through 20+ years of observational forecasting, studying other forecasters and the experience that comes from seeing thousands and thousands of model runs day after day in the Sierra Nevada. In Episode 25, the boys let their meteorologist alter egos fly free, nerding out on all things weather, including the origins of OpenSnow, the challenges of accurately predicting exactly how much it will snow and where, El Nino vs La Nina, Atmospheric Rivers, and if BA thinks volcanoes like Hunga Tonga have an effect on weather. BA also answers the burning question every powder hound is asking – will Tahoe have another big winter?
Cairn Kickers, Early Season Skiing and an Eclipse Wedding | E24
On the heels of Halloween, the boys catch up on a cornucopia of topics including the Hunter’s Moon, a recap of Trail Whisperer’s annular eclipse wedding in the Ruby Mountains that Pow Bot officiated, taking the “Florida Man Challenge”, feeling out of place when traveling to a flat part of the country, Pow Bot’s sailboat racing adventure with John Morrison, Trail Whisperer’s weekend of granite slab riding in the annual Giro di StaMMina and a SENDY Send of the Week (Year?) shout out to Cam Zink for winning the 2023 Red Bull Rampage, along with his winning build crew and Mind the Track guests Henry Wilkins and Damon Iwanaga (Episode 10). The boys also debate whether or not you should kick over rock cairns, whether or not you are an early season skier on the “white ribbon of death” and whether or not getting rid of Daylight Savings Time will have an effect on ski resort operations.
She Rides | Alenka Vrecek | E23
At age 54, Alenka Vrecek decided it was never too late for an adventure by bike, rolling out her front door in Tahoe City, aiming 2,500 miles south to her other door at the tip of Baja Mexico. For nearly two months Alenka rode alone, giving her ample time to think about life, struggle, love, loss, family and the meaning of home through the eyes of a Slovenian immigrant. A cancer survivor dealing with her husband’s recent diagnosis with Parkinson’s disease, Alenka made the tough decision to temporarily leave her family behind, achieving a lifelong desire to adventure before she couldn’t any more. Alenka’s book, She Rides – Chasing Dreams Across California and Mexico is an exceptionally well-written account of the adventure, channeling the great alpinist authors Reinhold Messner and Nejc Zaplotnik, her literary heroes. Our discussion with Alenka is more than just about the bike or the book; it’s about self-discovery, finding strength within yourself and mustering the courage to persevere against all odds.
Singletrack Radness | Truckee Dirt Union | E22
If you’ve ever piloted your mountain bike on the trails of Jackass Ridge (now called Donkey Town) and Yogi Bear, and finished with an ear to ear grin, you can thank the @truckeedirtunion . Formed in April of 2020, the TDU is the only trail organization in Truckee specifically focused on enhancing and expanding rad trail experiences for mountain bikers. In its short 3 years of existence, TDU has already amassed a volunteer trail force 550 people strong, supporting a crew of #corelord community builders who’ve been digging in the forest for 30 years, putting Truckee on the map as one of the best towns in the American west for mountain biking. In episode 22, we sit down with TDU founders Matt Chappell (@chappawitz), Skye Allsop (@tahoemtbiker) and Greg Forsythe (@cyclepathsmtb) and talk all about the past, present and future of mountain biking and trails in Truckee, where TDU fits into this quickly changing town and how you can help get involved with the #singletrackradness movement. Get on the dumb end of that shovel, kick some rocks and put some love, sweat and tears back into the trails you enjoy every day by joining TDU on their next volunteer trail day.
Fall Arrival and a Super El Niño? | E21
In line with Episode 21 and its Fall theme, @pow_bot and @trail_whisperer chat (rant?) about a cornucopia of topics ranging from the possible arrival of a Super El Nino in Tahoe, looking back on summer’s favorite rides and new trails, the etiquette of riding illegal trails, Strava and social media, the season pass conundrum, Palisades Tahoe announcing parking pass reservations and overcrowding due to Ikon and Epic Pass sales, a 15 mph speed limit on trails in Truckee, a gang of Truckee kids on ebikes throwing apples at people and evading the law, Reno’s ranking by Outside as “happiest place to live in America”, remembering the legend of Robb Gaffney and more. Like most one-on-one episodes with the boys, this one gets a little ranty, channeling a bit of the Angry Singlespeeder (aka The ASS) in Kurt. The boys also ask listeners – what do you prefer to wear when riding, a hip pack or a backpack? Let us know your preference!
Pedal For Positivity | Harrison Biehl | E20
In 2020, Harrison Biehl bought his first mountain bike and immediately put his mind in the track, progressively doing bigger and bigger rides. In summer 2022, he successfully completed his first “Everesting” mission - repeating the same climb until reaching 29,032 feet of elevation gain. As a fundraiser for TAMBA, Harrison tackled Stanford Rock trail on the West Shore of Lake Tahoe and completed the mission in under 24 hours. In the afterglow, tragedy struck when his close friend Joe Fazzio took his own life a week before Christmas. To honor Joe’s life and bring awareness to mental health, Harrison partnered with High Fives Foundation and launched the Pedal for Positivity. His new mission; “Trench to Everest” - climbing 65,099 feet - the elevation difference between the lowest point on earth, the Marianas Trench, to the highest, Mount Everest. Harrison did the ride on Old Highway 40 from Donner Lake to Historic Donner Summit on September 8-9 with a group of friends who rode by his side, completing nearly 60 laps in 29 hours. Recorded on Donner Summit at the site of the event, this is a heavy story of friendship, community, commitment, struggle and loss.
40 Years of Marlette Flume Trail | Max Jones | E19
In Summer 1983, Max Jones jumped on a strange new contraption called a #mountainbike and went looking for trails to ride around #laketahoe. There wasn’t really any singletrack until he discovered an abandoned flume line running high above the east shore of the lake. After a few failed attempts, Max finally uncovered the overgrown track, taking five hours to “ride” only four miles, fighting through brush and hundreds of downed trees. For the rest that summer, Max cleared the trail with nothing more than hand tools and dogged determination. 40 years later, thanks to Max’s efforts, the Marlette Flume Trail has become the most scenic trail in the world and a gem of recreation in Lake Tahoe. Max and his wife Patti have built a life and career around the Flume Trail, promoting the Great Flume Race for more than a decade, starting Flume Trail Bikes to shuttle visitors and opening Tunnel Creek Café to feed them at the end of the adventure. This is the story of Max Jones, a Mountain Bike Hall of Fame inductee, the resurrector of the Flume Trail and an early pioneer of ecotourism in Lake Tahoe.
Hunga Tonga, Crazy Weather and Midsummer Hero Dirt | E18
After the best winter and spring ever, the best summer in Tahoe ever continues its run with a return of rain and mind-blowing hero dirt. @pow_bot and @trail_whisperer go mano a mano and catch up on a variety of topics including crazy weather and its relation to the Hunga Tonga volcanic eruption, nature’s signs of a big upcoming winter and the chances of an El Niño season, the “Amish bike” versus the Rumspringa (e-bike), an epidemic of bears getting hit by cars in Lake Tahoe, the migration of a wolfpack into the southern Sierra Nevada, preparing for 150 miles of new singletrack north of Truckee and an audience poll: do you wash your bike after every ride or do you just ride it dirty?
History and Future of Sky Tavern | Yale Spina and Steve Wentz | E17
Generations of Reno kids learned to ski at the local ski hill, Sky Tavern, including our guest Yale Spina, a legendary ski aerialist and stunt man who is now the Board Chair of Sky Tavern. First formed in the 1940s through the efforts of Marce Herz gathering up children in her station wagon and driving them up the shoulder of Mount Rose, Sky Tavern has become an institution for local youth ski development. Our discussion with Spina about the past and future of Sky Tavern and his trajectory in life is both fascinating and inspiring. Steve Wentz of Momentum Trail Concepts, who Spina regards as a Picasso of trail building, also joins us to talk about all the exciting developments at the new Sky Tavern Bike Park. We cover a wide range of topics including family lineage, youth development, leadership, commitment to community, adaptive cycles, making rad trails, night skiing and leaving a legacy.