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Season 6, Episode 105 Our guest today is Olivier Fremond, the head of Operations & Development at Les 3 Vallées, the world's largest ski resort. When we say large, we're not talking big. We're talking absurdly massive. Les 3 Vallées spans over 600km of pistes, roughly 25,000 acres of skiable terrain, more than 160 lifts, and it connects the legendary ski destinations of Courchevel, Meribel, and Val Thorens in one single ski area. This is a place where you can ski all day, rack up thousands of vertical feet, ski multiple valleys, and still not even come close to seeing it all. Today, we are diving deep into the numbers, the infrastructure, the logistics, and what it actually takes to operate the biggest ski resort in the world. Follow The SnowBrains Podcast: On FacebookOn InstagramOn ThreadsOn SnowBrains.com This episode was edited by Liam Abbott. Hosted by Miles Clark.

Season 6, Episode 104Our guest today is Alex Ferreira, one of the most accomplished and unique athletes in freeskiing. Alex is an Olympic gold, silver, and bronze medalist across three different games, but what makes Alex really interesting isn't just the results; it's how he gets them.In this discussion, we talk about affirmation, visualization, and the psychological effects of the music he listens to. It was really interesting to hear from Alex about the psychology and strategies he uses to create the results that he does. We talk about what it takes to win Olympic gold, what was on his mind during that final run in Italy, the variations of those final runs in the Olympics, his training, his mindset, sobriety, identity, and how the character of Hot Dog Hans might actually help him perform at a higher level. This is a deep one. Follow The SnowBrains Podcast: On FacebookOn InstagramOn ThreadsOn SnowBrains.comThis episode was edited by Liam Abbott.Hosted by Miles Clark.

Season 6, Episode 103 Our guest today is Dave Searle – mountain guide, deep mountain thinker, and someone who has built his life around moving through wild places with purpose. Dave has spent years guiding in serious terrain, helping people travel safely and confidently in the mountains while also developing a thoughtful approach to risk, decision making, and what it really means to operate in consequential environments. He also has an amazing YouTube channel that helps people so much in learning about navigating the mountains, including his massive project that he is pushing right now called "The Grand Ski Tour." All of this stuff, about Dave, who he is, and what he creates and produces, is absolutely incredible, and we are honored to have him. This episode is brought to you by onX Backcountry.Whether you’re planning to drop into a technical couloir or accomplish a high-vert spring volcano tour, make sure you have the app onX Backcountry downloaded ahead of time. With LiDAR-based topo technology, offline 3D maps, and recent imagery, you get an unmatched view of the terrain, even when you don’t have cell service. For a limited time, you can use the code snowbrains60 at onXmaps.com to get sixty percent off your annual membership and start planning your trips in the backcountry with confidence. Follow The SnowBrains Podcast: On FacebookOn InstagramOn ThreadsOn SnowBrains.comThis episode was edited by Liam Abbott. Hosted by Miles Clark.

Season 6, Episode 102Our guest today is Paul Raymore, Marketing & Communications Manager at Diamond Peak Ski Area, Lake Tahoe's local favorite mountain for big views, uncrowded slopes, and a seriously strong community vibe. Paul has a deep background in mountain operations and marketing, and he is here to talk about what makes Diamond Peak such a hidden gem in the Tahoe ski scene. Follow The SnowBrains Podcast: On FacebookOn InstagramOn ThreadsOn SnowBrains.comThis episode was edited by Liam Abbott.Hosted by Miles Clark.

Season 6, Episode 101Dr. Fawad Mian is a board-certified neurologist and the founder of Advocare Wellness MD. Dr. Mian is trained in traditional neurology and sleep medicine, treating everything from headaches and concussions to dizziness and chronic pain. He's seen a ton of head and other injuries from the snowsports world. Over time, he saw the limits of symptom-based care and shifted towards a more root-cause approach, blending neurology and regenerative and functional medicine. Today, he works with patients who want to stay active, avoid surgery, and keep doing the things they love as they age. We'll talk about brain health, injury recovery, concussions, traumatic brain injuries, and especially helmets in the snowsports space.This episode is sponsored by Diamond Peak.Untracked powder and perfect corduroy. These are the things that skiers and riders live for. But finding either at the big-name resorts in the Lake Tahoe area can be almost impossible.That’s why Tahoe locals have gravitated to Diamond Peak Ski Resort when they’re looking to get away from the crowds and find a bit of space.Diamond Peak offers 1,840 vertical feet of steep north-facing groomers, hidden powder stashes, and incredible views of Lake Tahoe from the slopes.Visit www.diamondpeak.com for more info and special deals. Follow The SnowBrains Podcast: On FacebookOn InstagramOn ThreadsOn SnowBrains.comThis episode was edited by Liam Abbott.Hosted by Miles Clark.

Season 6, Episode 100 Will Sladek is the General Manager of onX Backcountry. Will helps lead one of the most influential tools in modern backcountry travel. onX Backcountry has changed how skiers, snowboarders, and mountain travelers plan routes, manage risks, and understand terrain. From mapping and land ownership to avalanche forecasting, weather, and now high-resolution satellite imagery, onX has become a go-to platform for people who spend real time in the mountains. Today, we get into the nuts and bolts – how onX Backcountry actually works, how big their team is, how many people are using it, what problems they are trying to solve, and why their user experience stands out in an increasingly crowded space. We also talk about decision-making in the backcountry, spring ski mountaineering, satellite imagery, and how technology is shaping the way we move through wild places. Follow The SnowBrains Podcast: On FacebookOn InstagramOn ThreadsOn SnowBrains.comThis episode was edited by Liam Abbott.Hosted by Miles Clark.

Season 6, Episode 99Sophie Goldschmidt is the President and CEO of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team, leading the organization responsible for the future of ski racing and snowboarding in the United States from grassroots development to Olympic podiums. Before stepping into this role, she built a career at the highest level of global sports and media, including senior leadership positions at the NBA, the World Surf League, and major international sporting events. At U.S. Ski & Snowboard, she oversees everything from athlete funding and high-performance programs to sponsorship, governance, and long-term health of the sport in a rapidly changing landscape. Her job sits at the intersections of athletes, fans, brands, and the future of skiing and snowboarding in America. In this conversation, we talk about her path leading to the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team, what it actually takes to support elite athletes behind the scenes, the challenges facing competitive skiing today, and where she sees the sport headed next. This episode of The SnowBrains Podcast is sponsored by Les 3 Vallées.Dreaming of the ultimate European ski trip? Les 3 Vallées—the world’s largest ski area—is now easier than ever for North Americans to visit, thanks to the new Les 3 Vallées Travel online agency. This one-stop booking platform connects you directly to seven legendary French Alps resorts, including Courchevel, Méribel, and Val Thorens. Build your perfect ski week with lodging, lift tickets, lessons, rentals, airport transfers, and more. Everything in one simple spot.Plan your bucket-list winter or year-round mountain getaway at bookings.les3vallees.com.Follow The SnowBrains Podcast: On FacebookOn InstagramOn ThreadsOn SnowBrains.comThis episode was edited by Liam Abbott.Hosted by Miles Clark.

Season 6, Episode 98Caroline Gleich is a professional ski mountaineer, filmmaker, author, and one of the most visible climate advocates in the outdoor world. She's climbed and skied some of the biggest lines on the planet, including multiple 8,000m peaks, while using her platform to push hard for outdoor conservation. In 2024, Caroline ran for the US Senate in Utah, bringing climate policy, public lands, and outdoor access directly into the political arena. It was one of the most high-profile campaigns ever launched by a professional athlete in the outdoors space, and it changed long-standing assumptions about who gets to run for office and whose voices belong there. Follow The SnowBrains Podcast: On FacebookOn InstagramOn ThreadsOn SnowBrains.comThis episode was edited by Liam Abbott.Hosted by Miles Clark.

Season 6, Episode 97 Vasu Sojitra is one of the most influential skiers in the world, a professional skier, filmmaker, and activist. He lost his leg to cancer at just 9 months old, long before he ever clipped into skis. What he's done since has redefined what's possible in the mountains. Vasu is known for his big mountain skiing, backcountry expeditions, and powerful storytelling, that challenges how we think about ability, access, and inclusion in outdoor spaces. Through his skiing films and advocacy, he has helped change the conversation around adaptive sports and who the mountains are really for. This episode is sponsored by Smugglers Notch. If you want a winter getaway that does everything, Smugglers’ Notch is the place. Stay right in our mountainside village with cozy lodging just steps from dining, shopping, and a massive lineup of activities. We’re talking indoor pools, hot tubs, the FunZone, family adventures, nighttime excitement, and so much more—all in one unbeatable location. Park once, play all week, and let the good times roll. Visit Smuggs.com. Follow The SnowBrains Podcast: On FacebookOn InstagramOn ThreadsOn SnowBrains.comThis episode was edited by Liam Abbott.Hosted by Miles Clark.

Season 6, Episode 96 Kelly Brush is a former collegiate ski racer whose life changed in an instant after a ski racing accident left her paralyzed while competing for Middlebury College. Instead of stepping away from the sport, Kelly helped build one of the most impactful non-profits in the outdoor world. The Kelly Brush Foundation supports people with spinal cord injuries through adaptive sports grants and by funding cutting-edge research aimed at curing paralysis. But the foundation also works on the prevention side, providing grants to ski clubs across the country for safety equipment like b-nets and padding to help reduce the risk of catastrophic racing injuries before they happen. Since its founding, the Kelly Brush Foundation has helped thousands of individuals get back outside and has raised millions of dollars for research and community support.This episode of The SnowBrains Podcast is brought to you by Slopes.Take your snow days to the next level with Slopes: Ski and Snowboard, the all-in-one app for your ski adventures. With Slopes, you get detailed stats and performance insights, never lose track of friends, and have resort information all at your fingertips.Download the app now or visit getslopes.com to learn more.Follow The SnowBrains Podcast: On FacebookOn InstagramOn ThreadsOn SnowBrains.comThis episode was edited by Liam Abbott.Hosted by Miles Clark.

Season 6, Episode 95Curtis Herbet is the Founder of Slopes. Slopes is one of the most popular ski and snowboard apps in the world, used by millions of skiers and riders around the world to track vertical feet, runs, speed, days on snow, and long-term season stats. What started as a side project has now become the default logbook for resort skiers and riders. Curtis is a former Apple engineer who took a product-first approach to skiing data, obsessing over accuracy, design, and user experience. He built Slopes to solve a simple problem: give skiers and riders clean, reliable data, without the clutter. Follow The SnowBrains Podcast: On FacebookOn InstagramOn ThreadsOn SnowBrains.comThis episode was edited by Liam Abbott. Hosted by Miles Clark.

Season 6, Episode 94Dr. Kevin Stone has become a real friend of the show, now making his third appearance on the podcast. He is one of the world's leading orthopedic surgeons and the founder of the Stone Clinic in San Francisco. He's a pioneer in biological knee restoration, a surgeon trusted by Olympic athletes and everyday skiers alike. He's a voice who's been pushing sports medicine for decades. Every time Dr. Stone comes on, we walk away smarter and usually a little more hopeful about the future of knees. Today, we're diving into the newest advances in joint repair, what he's seeing on the cutting edge, and all of us mountain athletes should know if we want our bodies to last. This episode of the SnowBrains podcast is brought to you by AirFlare. Imagine significantly cutting search times when locating guests lost or injured—even in areas with limited cell service. AirFlare Search Tools 'text-out location-back' technology allows ski patrol teams to quickly pinpoint a guest’s phone, respond immediately, and guide them to safety. Already in use at over 30 resorts, AirFlare’s platform works from dispatch to responder, locating subjects with real-time search coordination. It’s easy to deploy, simple to use, and built for patrol. Learn more at airflare.com.Follow The SnowBrains Podcast:On FacebookOn InstagramOn ThreadsOn SnowBrains.comThis episode was edited by Liam Abbott.Hosted by Miles Clark.

Season 6, Episode 93 Denis Lee is a Co-Founder of AirFlare, a company built around a simple idea with lifesaving potential – turning the smartphone people already carry in their pockets every single day into a powerful search and rescue tool, and a powerful tool to help ski patrol save time and energy. He left his traditional corporate career to pursue his passions in the outdoors, motivated in part by the passing of a friend who went missing during a winter trip in Washington state. That experience sparked a desire to rethink how technology could help rescuers locate people faster and more accurately. Working with his co-founder, Lee developed AirFlare into an accessible safety platform that allows adventures to share their location with friends and family and give ski patrols and search and rescue teams new tools that work even without cell service. His mission is to make mountain safety easier, more modern, and available to everyone, not just those with specialized equipment.Follow The SnowBrains Podcast: On FacebookOn InstagramOn Threads On SnowBrains.comThis episode was edited by Liam Abbott. Hosted by Miles Clark.

Season 6, Episode 92 Sasha Berkovich grew up in the Soviet Union at a time when nothing came easy, and nothing in skiing was handed to you. If you wanted gear, you had to barter for it. If you wanted to ride a rope tow, you had to build it, you had to scrap together old engines, scavenged parts, and whatever rope you could find. Sometimes the only currency that worked was vodka. Skiing wasn't a hobby for Sasha back then; it was something you earned piece by piece in a world where there was never enough of anything. Sasha chased skiing anyway. He built lifts out of scraps, traded bottles of vodka to get bindings, he found a way. And then, in 1988, he did something even harder – Sasha, his wife, and their two young children escaped the Soviet Union to make a life for themselves in the United States. No guarantees, no safety net, just a belief that freedom and skiing were worth risking everything for. Today, we get to hear what he did, what skiing meant to him during those years, and how his story unfolded once he reached America. And I'm grateful to Sasha because one of his young children, whom he brought from the Soviet Union, is my very best ski buddy, Greggy, with whom I just spent 10 weeks in Patagonia ski mountaineering. Follow The SnowBrains Podcast:On FacebookOn InstagramOn ThreadsOn SnowBrains.comThis episode was edited by Liam Abbott.Hosted by Miles Clark.

Season 6, Episode 91 Brian Lazar is the Deputy Director of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. He's been studying snow and avalanches for more than two decades, working as a forecaster, guide, educator, and researcher across Colorado, Alaska, all of the mountain west, all over South America, including Patagonia. At the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, he's one of the people responsible for the avalanche forecasts we all rely on throughout the winter. Brian's background spans snow science, hazard mitigation, backcountry travel, and the human factor side of avalanche accidents. He's taught with AIARE and has helped shape how we understand risk in the mountains. Follow The SnowBrains Podcast: On FacebookOn InstagramOn ThreadsOn SnowBrains.com This episode was edited by Liam Abbott. Hosted by Miles Clark.