Last Chair: The Ski Utah Podcast

Cohen grew up in the east, hopping around small New York ski hills like Stony Point and Silver Mine. His father took him on trips to Vermont, skiing Stratton, Stowe, Killington, Mt. Snow and more. Mondays were a day off for his father, who owned a bakery, so it wasn’t unusual for young Lee to play hooky and head off to Hunter Mountain or other day destinations.Along the way, he started thinking about skiing out west. A friend brought back a trail map from Aspen Highlands. Then in eighth grade, he went with a friend’s family to Austria, skiing from village to village in Kitzbühel and experiencing his first powder day at Kaprun. A few years later, it was off to the Rockies, poaching slopeside lodging in tents and snow caves as he and buddies traveled around the west, eventually visiting Utah. He was hooked.In the early 1980s, Cohen got a camera and just started shooting his buddies. They traveled the west chasing powder. He still recalls vividly the record-setting winter of 1983-84. Photography was different then. There were no iPhones, digital cameras or autofocus lenses. It was all film, so you never really knew what you had until the film was processed. But he worked hard at it, figuring out his formulaic system. Soon, editors soon took notice.Photography was fun. It was an art form. And he was getting good at it. In December 1985, he made his first commercial sale, an image of a local skier who played hooky from school to ski High Rustler after a 42-inch storm. Soon his images were adorning the covers of SKI, Powder, Freeze and more.The next decades saw his work burgeon. His 2012 book Alta Magic captures the real spirit of the Wasatch in a magical collection of images and essays. Today, he still enjoys returning to old haunts - both in-bounds and in the backcountry - with willing ski models, including son Sam, and always looking for that new combination of sun, sky and snow to produce exhilarating images.While both photography and skiing have evolved greatly in his 40 years in the Wasatch, Cohen still has the touch. In the Alta marketing office, he proudly shows off his recent cover of SKI. Here’s a sampling of our conversation with photographer Lee Cohen’s. Listen in to the full  episode of Last Chair, the Ski Utah podcast, to learn more. <LINK TO PODCAST>As you drive up Little Cottonwood Canyon, what are some of your landmarks?I enjoy the whole ride. I like seeing the ridge of Monte Cristo and Superior when I first start getting above White Pine. That's unbelievable to me. Then it's Snowbird on the right and then there's Alta. High Rustler is one of the all time runs to be looking at from the bottom of any ski area.Do you recall your first trip to Utah?I don't even remember how I first heard about Alta, but I had this whole magical powder thing like it was fully in my head even before I'd seen the place. And then we got to ski here and I was sold by. We were here for about 10 days, and by the time we left, I knew I was coming back for good as soon as I could.<<PULL QUOTE>>“I always think I can get a better one, even in a spot that I've gone to before that. I'm always thinking I can get the best one ever today.”You really mapped out the perfect career for yourself, didn’t you?I got into ski photography because I loved powder skiing. That was perfect since, here I am, at Alta - the bastion of powder skiing. But at some point along the way, I feel like I get pigeonholed as the deep powder photographer.How do you make locations look different each time you shoot there?I find that you can always make a place look different. You shoot it with a different millimeter lens or from a different spot. If you shift your location even just a few feet, you're making it look different. And change lenses - it's way different. Just try to change your approach and make the same old thing look different.Any simple tips for recreational photographers?Concentrate on following your subject. Try to set up your shots to make the odds be in your favor and and have the light working in your favor, either being side lit, front lit, backlit. If you're shooting in the storm, go out when there's a lot of snowflakes falling.“Ski with style  - form is everything.”What are some secrets to great powder shots?The biggest thing that I would say to my skiers skiing powder is, don't lay it over because you want to. In Utah, it's deep enough. You don't have to fake it. Just try to ski with form and style. Don't bring your hands too high. Don't make your hands too low, no higher than like a little below your shoulders and alternating pole plants in the powder. Ski with style  - form is everything.Nikon or Canon??I think they're all great. I've been a Nikon person my whole life. I love my Nikon equipment. It's burly. It can take a beating. Like, I'm not like the most careful person, so I'm a little abusive of the equipment and it's done me well.Do you ever get nostalgic for the old days of film?Some of the best times of my life as a ski photographer, and for my skiers, were the old days. We would be over the light table at my house, just foaming at the mouth, like we crazed out of our minds. Oh, my God, I knew that one was going to be like that. Yeah, that was a very exciting time in photography for me.Learn more about Lee Cohen's career as Utah's ski photographer in this episode of Last Chair, the Ski Utah podcast. 

“I'm so thankful for the people in town who founded the Youth Sports Alliance after the 2002 games,” said Fisher. “It was a community effort to get all of the youth from Summit and Wasatch counties out using these amazing Olympic venues and getting as many kids out and active in our community playground. The legacy absolutely still lives on.”And it has worked. Some, like nordic combined skier Jared Shumate and cross country skier Rosie Brennan grew up in [service name="park-city-mountain"]Park City Mountain[/service]. Others, like freeskiers Izzy and Zoe Atkin, moved to Park City because of the great sport opportunities. Some, like Olympic gold medalist aerials skiers Ashley Caldwell, Chris Lillis and Justin Schonenfeld, were brought together by the world-acclaimed freestyle training facility at the [service name="utah-olympic-park"]Utah Olympic Park[/service] that opened in 1993.But while Utah takes great pride in its Olympians in Beijing, Fisher is quick to point out the broader value of sport. These athletes are phenomenal PR stories for us, she said. “But for me, it's really about the 1,500 kids that we get out and get active every year. It's really important for every kid. A lot of their parents work in the service industry and they don't have the opportunity to use these amazing Olympic venues, to get out, to learn how to ski, learn how to snowboard. The most important legacy of our program is that these kids can grow up and feel part of the community because they participate in things that are so important to the community.”Jared ShumateNow a nordic combined Olympian, Jared Shumate grew up in Park City and tried a myriad sports through the Youth Sports Alliance’s Get Out and Play program. “Growing up in Park City, every day on my way to school, just looking out the windows, I could see the Utah Olympic Park not knowing when I was three years old that I'd be going to the Olympics for that sport. So who knows, maybe it's been in me since I was a little kid.”Rosie BrennanRosie Brennan did just about every outdoor winter sport before her mom made her choose. They had had a great time watching cross country skiing during the Olympics at Soldier Hollow during the 2002 Olympics, so that’s what she chose. Today, she’s one of the top-ranked skiers in the world and competing at her second Olympics.“Sport has brought me, honestly, just about everything. I am so thankful for the opportunities that I've had. It's putting a challenge out there and working hard towards it. Oftentimes you come up short and have to learn how to take that shortcoming, process it, figure out what went well, what didn't go well and then work up the courage to take what you learned and apply it again.”Brendan NewbyHalfpipe skier Brendan Newby was born in Ireland but grew up in Orem. When he was four, his father took him to Brighton. Young Bubba, as he is known to friends today, was hooked. He made his first Olympic team for Ireland in 2018 and is back again, along with countryman and fellow Irish snowboarder Seamus O’Connor, another Utah transplant.“Utah is probably one of the most fun places to grow up. I'm a mountain biker and dirt biker as well, and I can basically go 20 minutes in any direction and have insanely good stuff to ride. If you want to be a winter sport Olympian, Utah is kind of the place to do it for literally any sport because of the 2002 Games and because the [service name="utah-olympic-legacy-foundation"]Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation[/service] has kept up all of the facilities so well.”Izzy and Zoe AtkinThe young Atkin sisters, Izzy and Zoe, were passionate about winter sport. So a family move to Park City when they were young gave a dream playground and a strong club program to build their skills. Skiing for their mother’s homeland of Great Britain, in 2018 Izzy won Olympic bronze in slopestyle skiing. This time, she’s bring along younger sister Zoe who competes in halfpipe skiing.“It's just a really great place to be because everyone loves just to be outside and to do what they love to do like skiing and snowboarding, being outdoors. A lot of people have that athlete mindset. I went to the Winter Sports School - a whole school of winter sports athletes. It was great to be in that community. We all pushed each other. Everyone just kind of has that drive to be outside and have fun, but also to push themselves in sport.” - Zoe Atkin“Yeah, (PyeongChang 2018) was incredible. It was the first experience I'd ever had like that -  to have all those incredibly driven athletic people in one bubble and getting to know other people's stories, how they got to where they are today. That mindset in the village is super motivating. It was just an amazing experience for me to even go there.” - Izzy Atkin Nick PageStill a teen, Nick Page grew up in Park City skiing moguls with Wasatch Freestyle. In Beijing, he led Team USA finishing fifth as his family watched from home. He and friends like Olympic teammate Cole McDonald are the future of freestyle skiing - just fun-loving young athletes who love ripping around the mountain.“I think a big part of (the Utah sport culture) comes from the Salt Lake Olympics, and all the infrastructure that's been left in place for us to keep using. At [service name="deer-valley"]Deer Valley Resort[/service], we ski on Champion, the Olympic run. We train at the Utah Olympic Park. I know the Oval down in Salt Lake gets so much action. We're able to repurpose all that from 2002 and put it all back into the community to build these current level athletes, which is really special. I don't think that's something that always happens once a city has an Olympics.”Check out this episode of Last Chair to hear from Utah’s own Team USA athletes, and learn more about how sport is positively impacting kids in the state.Park City Nation As the home of the most concentrated collection of Olympic venues in the state, the Park City Nation boasts 54 Olympians in Beijing from a half-dozen nations. Since the 2002 Olympics and Paralympics, the Youth Sports Alliance has introduced thousands of boys and girls to sport through its Get Out and Play and other programs. While every four years it gives locals a source of Olympic pride, what’s even more beneficial is the positive impact that sport has in providing life skills to kids of all ages and backgrounds.Youth Sports AllianceFormed following the 2002 Olympic Games, the Youth Sports Alliance introduces kids to sports and inspires them to keep moving throughout their lives. It provides a wide range of after-school programming to keep kids active through Get Out and Play and other programs, while also serving as a pipeline to winter sport clubs and competitions. One of its most valuable assets is the Stein Eriksen YSA Opportunity Endowment, a $2-million need-based scholarship fund for competitive athletes.

The 2002 Olympics transformed Salt Lake City and its neighboring venue communities into a stage that welcomed the world. For 17 days, the Games captivated spectators and television viewers as athletes dazzled fans and shed tears of joy. The Games also brought a richness to Utah communities that is very much still alive today.When now Utah Senator Mitt Romney, who headed the 2002 organizing committee, needed a right hand man, he tabbed his colleague Fraser Bullock for the job. It was a crazy adventure managing thousands of staff, tens of thousands of volunteers and global entourages of teams across more than a dozen sports.In this episode of Last Chair, we reminisce on 2002 memories and look into the future with Salt Lake City-Utah already America’s Choice.Before we get into the Olympics, let’s talk skiing.My favorite sport is being on top of a mountain, looking at the beautiful views and just letting it fly down the slope. Doesn't get any better than that.What was the key to assembling a strong team to run the 2002 Games?When I first started, the team was 225 people and there were some really, really capable people that were there already. But we needed to grow to 50,000 at Games time, including volunteers and contractors. One of the things that I have realized during my career, it's all about the team. You have to have incredible capability. You have to have a team orientation of working well together. You have to have unity.You went on the torch relay not that long after 9-11. What did that mean to you?I went just a few days before Christmas and I was able to go to Philadelphia, and this was right after 9-11, and Washington, DC and then New York. All very significantly impacted by 911. And we would go down the streets and see thousands of people gathering and cheering us on, and we'd pass by a firefighter station and and and just thank them for their service. But then going to the White House and being there with President Bush. And then up to New York and having the torch run through Manhattan with tens of thousands of people is something I'll never forget.Many say one of the keys to the success of the 2002 Games was the people of Utah.Yeah, it really is. Our secret sauce of how our games became seen as so special is because of the people we have here, the welcoming attitude, the friendliness, the hard work. It is a state of volunteerism in helping and we just tapped into that potential and magnified it and showed it to the world.The legacy of 2002 is still felt today. A full third of Team USA in Beijing makes Utah home!Its legacy at its best - because the athletes are the heart of the Games. They're the top priority and we kind of live a little bit vicariously through them. But this legacy continues forward because now this next generation that is competing in Beijing. It's so exciting to read about their stories that they're the kid that grew up down the block. That's amazing. But then it also lays the foundation into a potential future Games and can we continue that legacy or even better, expand that legacy?Where do we stand on a future Games in Utah?We're in the midst of putting a plan together for a future Games. A lot of it's done. But we are the choice of the USOPC for a future Games. Now we just need the IOC to select us. Ideally, 2030, if we can make all the pieces come together to work for that. But regardless of which year will be pushing hard? Very much this year, and we think the second half of the year will have a lot of interesting activity.What other international cities are you watching?I have the philosophy of cheering on any city that's willing to step forward in this important Olympic movement. So when I hear their names, I'm saying, good for you and we wish you the very best. We want the IOC to make the best selection, and we think that we are a marvelous selection. 

The legend of Alf Engen goes back to the 1920s when Alf brought his brothers to America from Norway. In the midwest and later out in the mountains, they found a home in America as skiers. Alf became a great ski jumping champion and world record holder at Ecker Hill, near Park City. He spent time at Sun Valley but ultimately settled in Utah. In the 1930s, he was hired by the U.S. Forest Service to scout potential ski areas as the sport was booming. That led him to the mining town of Alta in Little Cottonwood Canyon.Years later, Alf Engen would become intimately connected with Alta as its director of skiing. He became a figurehead for the sport and a friendly face who floated through powder on the flanks of High Rustler. He introduced thousands to the sport through his engagement with the Alta and Deseret News ski schools. He would later turn the reins over to son Alan, who succeeded him in the role.Father and son both became iconic figures in Utah ski history, both inducted into the Intermountain and U.S. Halls of Fame. Alan became an instrumental figure in archiving the history of skiing in Utah with his books, the 1998 For the Love of Skiing, and 2002 First Tracks."As I was growing up, I saw my father and uncles as living day representatives of winter legends of Norse mythology. I imagined all of the Engen brothers with their great physical strength, competitive drive and love of winter as evolving into skiing icons. And in truth, they actually have." - Alan EngenThis episode of Last Chair offers fascinating insights into the legend of Alf Engen and the lore of skiing in Utah. Here are a few snippets of the interview with Alan Engen. Listen in to Last Chair to learn more. <add direct link to podcast when you have it posted>Alan, as the son of Alf Engen I suspect you began skiing at an early age in Utah?I'll tell you a little story that comes from my mother, not me. But my mother was always fond of telling how I came into this world. The doctor who delivered me put tongue depressors on the bottom of my feet and then proudly handed me over to my father. So, that being the case, I've added a little extra to the story by saying I came pretty close to being born on skis.Growing up in Utah in the ‘40s and ‘50s, how did you see skiing grow?I knew that skiing was growing. I was going up to Alta just about every chance that I had to ski and I could watch the traffic and I could see more and more cars coming up to Alta all the time. So I knew the sport was on the map, but I didn't know exactly how it was going to grow. And I think my father played a big role in helping to develop that growth through the Deseret News Ski School. Because it was a free ski school, it was a community outreach. And that brought in virtually thousands of people that got their first start of skiing through the Deseret Ski School.Your father was a competitive athlete and later an instructor. How did that influence you?I taught, but I taught as an amateur, not as a professional. And I grew up in competition. Dad told me at a very early age, he said, ‘Alan, you don't have to follow me in competition if you don't want to. But, I'll give you one piece of advice. If you want to be an instructor, be an instructor. If you want to be a champion skier and in athletic competition, do that. But don't try to do them both at the same time because the temperament isn't the same.How did your father Alf Engen get connected with what was to become Alta?Dad was hired by the Forest Service in the mid-1930s to go up and start taking a look at potential ski areas. One of the first that he talked about was Alta, because it had been around for a lot of years as a mining town. They knew it had plenty of good snow, but they wanted to see whether it would actually be good for a ski area. And dad skied up over Catherine's pass from Brighton into Alta. And stayed with a couple of miners by the name of the Jacobsen brothers. That was the only way dad could get into Alta at that time. He did it in the middle of the winter, so he had to hike in. That was a powerful skier. He had strong legs so he could go through that deep snow all the way over Catherine's Pass. He dropped into the Albion Basin. It was a great place for a ski area, but the miners had denuded all of the tree coverage that held back the avalanches and dad. He went back to the Forest Service and said, ‘You know, yes, let's go ahead and develop the area. But for gosh sakes, we've got to put new trees in there, so it'll hold back the avalanches.How did Alta’s signature run, High Rustler, come to be attached to your father?In the early days of Alta, in the 1940s, the run itself, the mountainside, was actually used and skiers would come up and they would hike up. They even put a little tow in there. But it eventually developed into a place that was very prominent at Alta. People would see it firsthand when they would come in. And in the 1980s, as a tribute to my father because it was such a prominent run, they renamed it Alf's High Rustler.Did you take a lot of pride in following in his footsteps?Well, I don't think anybody really follows in my dad's footsteps. He said some pretty deep tracks for me to follow, but I always had him as my idol. I truly felt that of all of the athletes I had the privilege of knowing in my lifetime, I thought my father was the one that I'd like to most closely emulate.Alf Engen Ski MuseumToday’s Alf Engen Ski Museum, located at the Utah Olympic Park just off I-80 in Park City, is considered one of the finest ski museums in the world. In addition to showcasing Alf’s hundreds of trophies, it features an in-depth history of the sport, especially in the Intermountain West. The museum is free and features a host of interactive exhibits that are especially fun for kids. “When we were talking to dad a little bit about having a ski museum, he says. ‘you gotta make it interesting for the kids,’” said Alan Engen. “He said, ‘build it around the kids so the kids have an interest and they can see what is happening with the ski sport and they will want to become a part of it.’”

What do ski lifts mean to skiers? Ask Doppelmayr USA President Katharina Schmitz and she’ll tell you ‘freedom.’ In this episode, Last Chair host Tom Kelly chats with the leader of Utah-based Doppelmayr USA to explore the evolution of ski lifts and future trends, not only at resorts but as a vital form of mountain and urban transportation.Doppelmayr, which is located not far from the Salt Lake City International Airport, has a  history in Utah going back to the 1970s. One of its predecessor companies, CTEC, was founded here. It later morphed into Garaventa, and then became a part of Doppelmayr, an Austrian company with a history going back 125 years.Utah is a big customer itself for the company, with over a hundred lifts in the state including the Garaventa-built Snowbird tram, now over 50 years old and still one of the most iconic ski lifts in the world, and the brand new Outlaw Express high-speed quad that opened at Sundance just before Christmas.In many ways, the future of lift technology is already here with products like Doppelmayr’s revamped detachable technology in D Line lifts, which are soon to come to Utah. Its tri-cable 3S line, featuring high-capacity, long span gondolas like the new Eiger Express in Switzerland and Whistler/Blackcomb’s Peak-to-Peak Gondola, may also find a future home in the state.A passionate skier herself, Katharina Schmitz grew up in Austria, coming to America with her engineering degree to forge a career in the automotive and aerospace industries, before landing in Utah with Doppelmayr in 2018. It’s a fascinating interview that will explain current trends in uphill transportation, showcase future innovations and even take a look into the proposed Little Cottonwood Canyon gondola and how Doppelmayr’s triple-cable 3S technology could make a difference. She even speaks to the growing importance of WiFi in lift cabins!Katharina, tell us more about Doppelmayr.We have around 3,500 employees, about half of those are in Austria. The rest of us are scattered throughout the world across about 50 subsidiaries. The North American market is a key part of that, so we typically make up around 15 percent of the group's revenue. In really strong years, we were a little bit closer to 20 percent, so we certainly have a lot of attention from our group's headquarters and a lot of support as well.Why is Utah a good home for a lift company like Doppelmayr?Having a very business friendly environment certainly is a factor now. In addition to that, having several world class resorts right in our backyard is a real benefit. It helps us to collaborate closely with customers, not only in Utah but throughout the West. And having a Delta hub here is really nice to visit the rest of our customers throughout the country.The history of aerial tramways in Utah goes back to hauling mining ore in the 1800s. How has the ski lift industry evolved from there?Yes, it started with material transport and Doppelmayr still has a material transportation segment. But the core market for us is transporting people. We have seen a lot of evolution from the first surface lift in, I think, 1937, that Doppelmayr built in Austria that really started the company's ropeway business. Then if you look from there and how fast we came to the first detachable around 1970 or so, the innovation since then has just been mind blowing. So I think it shifted the profile as to what ropeways are used for or used in.What’s the coolest lift installation you’ve seen in the world?I have a personal favorite, which is the Stoosbahn in Switzerland. It is a funicular and it has barrel shaped compartments that have a leveling floor, so you always stay horizontal. It's the steepest funicular in the world and it is the most unique ride. You're going up this amazing incline and then through a little tunnel and come out on the other side. It serves as public transport, as well as access to a smaller ski area that's car free. And it's just an amazing installation, a really fun ride.In your three seasons here in Utah, any favorite runs?Well, I'm not as territorial since I'm not native Utahn, but I very much enjoy long runs. So I really do like some of the runs up at Snowbasin - off John Paul or Needles - that are just making for a good, long, fast run.With the move from quads to six-packs and now to eight-packs, what are the important factors?Terrain and alignment certainly are the big and obvious ones. Capacity is a big topic these days. And how many people do you want to move up the mountain per hour comes with a few different factors. Lift speed is certainly a factor, but also how many carriers you have. While you typically want to go up the mountain fast, you want to be really slow going through the terminal. And so we found in recent years that having slower carriers through the stations, having longer loading intervals really helps with keeping the lift running and not having any misloads as you go. So that also explains a little bit why you see lifts with, let's say, six or eight seater chairs so you can have fewer carriers, longer loading intervals, and you would still have the same capacity doing that.So it’s not just about capacity?In essence, with an eight seater, you would have a higher ultimate capacity. Most resorts don't strive for that per se. They're trying to get a certain capacity. And then it's a question on how comfortable you want your load interval to be. Increasing the load interval is a big topic and it ties into one of these other big factors - the level of skier that really uses that lift. If you have a beginner area, that's maybe one of the most important factors is making sure you can load them. If you have, you know, an alignment where it's all expert skiers, that's probably not your concern and you'll be looking for some other factors.I recall the old Park City gondola being a great place to develop a relationship with a 25-minute ride. Modern lift technology has really changed that, hasn’t it?<laughing> Yes, you have to be efficient about your conversation, that's for sure.

A New Hampshire native, Ulmer discovered skiing as a young girl, skipping school to hit the slopes at lunch time. Friends told her about skiing in Utah. Her mom found a $40 one-way airline ticket. And she headed west, making Salt Lake City her home. She spent every waking moment skiing the bumps at Snowbird.Her breakthrough came after an all-day drive out I-80 to California, sleeping overnight freezing in her car in a ski area parking lot, then hucking herself off a huge cliff doing a trick she had never attempted. She didn’t know it at the time, but she had found fear, embraced it and danced with fear to become one of the world’s most well known big mountain skiers and film stars, with her image beaming from the covers of ski magazines.Today, Ulmer is a thought leader, high performance facilitator, and fear/anxiety expert who draws from her tenure as the best woman extreme skier in the world, studying Zen and from facilitating thousands of clients.What is it about fear that oftentimes defines what we do, or don’t do? What does it take to become fearless (Ulmer says it isn’t possible, so don’t try). And how can we improve our lives, and our skiing, if we simply embrace fear?Ulmer still lives in the Salt Lake City foothills and channels her energy into helping others. Her book, The Art of Fear, is a fascinating look into how you, as a business leader, skier or everyday human, can embrace fear. Her on-snow camps (which, by the way, sell out) counsel skiers and riders on how they, too, can embrace fear to improve their skiing.She’s worked with the likes of free solo climber Alex Hannawald to big wave surfer Laird Hamilton. But she also loves working with everyday skiers and riders - just like you and I!Kristen Ulmer is one of the truly fascinating figures in the landscape of Utah skiing. This episode of Last Chair is a fascinating insight into a Hall of Fame skier whose understanding of embracing fear has shaped her life and the lives of those around her.How did you get into skiing?I grew up in New Hampshire in a small town - Pat's Peak ski area, 700 vertical feet. I grew up in a house that was built in 1786 and it hadn't been remodeled. Now think about that for a sec. I just went skiing with my girlfriends because that's what they did. And then right around age 15, 16, I became really into skiing and I would skip out of school to go skiing during lunch breaks. And then I finally got caught my senior year. I almost didn't get to graduate because I had so many detentions from skipping school to go skiing. But I skied in jeans until I was 20 years old.What motivated you to get into skiing as a career?I had absolutely no goals whatsoever, and this is probably one of the strangest things about my ski career. I also was like the last person to be chosen for elementary and high school, not just soccer, but sports teams - like I was not athletic at all, and I just was obsessed with skiing when I moved to Snowbird in Utah. I started hanging out with a bunch of people that were competing in moguls, and I just wanted to hang out with them and go on road trips. So that's why I started competing.What does it mean to be fearless?People misunderstand people they admire who do incredibly scary things, whether it be skiing or people who run the world or, you know, businessmen and women - people that take incredible risks in any way, shape or form. We have this perception and this ideology that these people are fearless and that is not the case. Nobody's fearless. When I first became a fear expert, I Googled it and I realized that there's no other people out there that are willing to call themselves fear experts because we assume that people that are fear experts, A, are fearless and B, can teach other people how to be fearless. And I am neither of those. Nobody's fearless. It's not only impossible, but it's undesirable.Did you feel fear when you hucked that first cliff in front of the cameras?Well, you'd think that fear would be going through somebody's mind. It never even occurred to me to be afraid that day. And you know, it's a pretty big cliff - your first cliff. And to do a back scratcher, which you've never done, mind you, in front of a whole bunch of very famous skiers that were in all the magazines and, you know, film stars like, you'd think that I would have been a little bit afraid, but I wasn't.Learn more about how you can embrace fear. Check out more with Kristen Ulmer on Last Chair: The Ski Utah Podcast presented by High West Distillery on your favorite podcast platform. Subscribe to get first access to every episode.

Cruising through knee deep powder in the peace and solitude of the Utah backcountry is  pure joy. It’s alluring. It can also be dangerous if you are not well prepared. Journalist Tony Gill grew up skiing on 300-foot ski hills in the midwest. Today, you’ll find him on his telemark skis in the Utah backcountry. He’ll talk us through the joy of having a powder slope to yourself, as well as how to best prepare.

We’ve all fantasized about our trips to the mountain by poring over detailed trail maps, plotting out each run of our ski vacation. The man behind those maps, James Niehues, has become somewhat of a cult hero in the sport after three decades documenting hundreds of resorts worldwide, painting each and every tree and showcasing perspective to make mountains bigger than life. Last Chair caught up with him at his art studio to learn more about his fascinating career and new book, Man Behind the Maps.As a graphical designer in the ‘90s, Niehues was looking for a change in direction. He had grown up in western Colorado, not really as a skier but someone who appreciated the sport. He had left an advertising business in Grand Junction and moved to Denver. He had followed the work of Hal Shelton and, more currently, Bill Brown and the captivating trail maps they developed. So he tracked down Brown, got a test assignment and ultimately took over as the ski map painter of the time. As he neared retirement a few years ago, friends urged him to document his life in a book. A fundraising campaign got the project off the ground. And the result is a keepsake every skier is going to want to have.Last Chair caught up with Niehues in his studio, finishing up on projects and trying to keep up with the fan mail his book Man Behind the Maps has generated. In the interview he details his life as an artist and walks through the dramatically detailed process of creating a trail map painting from aerial photography to projecting onto canvas, airbrushing shading and painting in every tree - starting with the shadows!It’s a fascinating look into an unlikely sport hero who has brought so much joy to tens of millions of skiers worldwide in his career.

From wild game chili to Stein Burgers and Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes, Chef Zane Holmquist has served it all. The Stein Eriksen Lodge VP of food and beverage, who grew up in Utah, oversees one of the most highly acclaimed dining rooms in skiing, but is just as much at home on his mountain bike, skis or in triathlons around the world.

Growing up on Cape Cod, it may seem unusual that young Jeremy Jones gravitated towards sliding on snow. But family ski outings led to his passion for snowboarding. Today, Jones is one of the world’s most well known names in big mountain snowboarding. But as he saw his season shortened and glaciers receding, he decided to fight back. He started Protect Our Winters in 2007, uniting skiers and snowboarders in the fight against climate change. Today, POW has become a driving force for systemic change.While Jones finds his true home in the mountains, he has become comfortable in Washington, speaking to Congress and advocating for legislation. His background in storytelling and film has led him to pushing his message out in features like the 2020 release of Purple Mountains.Here’s a sample of what you’ll learn in this episode of Last Chair with Jeremy Jones.Jeremy you’re one of the planet’s most well-known big mountain riders. How did it all begin?My parents fell in love with the mountains later in life, and they basically started dragging my brothers and I. We grew up on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. We would go up to Vermont, where my grandfather had a house (Stowe). I think that it's probably just the creativity of it and that connection with nature and it's always changing, you know, just overtook my life and still has to this day.What first triggered your awareness of climate change?As a teen, I remember that we always had a newspaper at the table in the morning. I saw global warming in the paper and I was like, ‘I don't like the sounds of that.’ At that point I was snowboarding the golf courses on Cape Cod, and I'm like, ‘why doesn't it snow anymore? It always piqued my interest because I never liked the sounds of global warming.How is Protect Our Winters making a difference?At Protect Our Winters we only have so much energy, so we have to focus on the big levers. Large scale CO2 reduction needs to happen through policy. We're not going to recycle our way out of this climate mess is the reality. And that's why we focus our attention at Protect Our Winters on policy. It’s understanding who your elected officials are, what their stance is on climate.Check out more with Jeremy Jones on Last Chair: The Ski Utah Podcast presented by High West Distillery on your favorite podcast platform. Subscribe to get first access to every episode.