The 10 Shredmandments | E37
In Episode 37, the boys catch up after a very special Cinco de Mayo, blessed with a late season snowstorm that dumped some of the best winter pow of the year. Pow Bot shares his manifesto of the backcountry, The 10 Shredmandments – 10 rules of etiquette that every traveler in the backcountry should abide to minimize impact and be a responsible pow-shredding human. Banter and ASS (Angry Singlespeeder) rants are copious in this episode, covering a variety of topics like the love and hate for wind, the overwhelming hate of horse poop on trails, 10 things Europeans hate about American ski resorts, the dangers of traveling to Baja, the travails of the post office and listener shout outs (thanks @terrainadvco for the rad swag!). And thanks to everyone who’s been leaving positive rating and reviews. Please support the cause, press pause, and leave us a rating and review to help get Mind the Track in the ears of more core lords like yourself.
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!
4th of July in Lake Tahoe | Downieville Classic Recap | E15
After a wild couple of weeks in Lake Tahoe, @pow_bot and @trail_whisperer catch up on their adventures of riding the new Capital to Tahoe trail linking Tahoe Rim Trail to Carson City, a recap of all the festivities and shenanigans of the @downievilleclassic and celebrating the Fourth of July weekend in Lake Tahoe, which also included some unfortunate national media attention around the public trashing of beaches at Zephyr Cove. Trail Whisperer continues to search for a volcanologist to explain the Hunga Tonga eruption and its link to weather, Pow Bot dives deeper into the issues with Palisades Tahoe charging for parking, the lack of public transportation in #laketahoe and #truckee and the need for a shitshow traffic forecaster much like a snow forecaster so people know when the mobs of skiers will be coming to Lake Tahoe. Rate, review and subscribe to #mindthetrackpodcast on Apple and Spotify. Supported by @sendy_app.
Summer Arrives in Lake Tahoe | E13
Recorded right after the Summer solstice, @pow_bot and @trail_whisperer catch up mano y mano for the first time since episode 1. Tom and Kurt cover a cornucopia of topics including a recap the best Spring ever in Lake Tahoe, riding electric dirt bikes in South Lake Tahoe, volcanic eruptions and their effect on weather, Kurt’s new job with the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship, the Toiyabe Crest Trail in central Nevada, Palisades Tahoe charging for parking, worker shortages and their effect on business in Truckee, ebike to ski missions in the eastern Sierra, getting caught out in severe thunderstorms, quickly melting out snow levels in Tahoe and the return of the Downieville Classic.