#17: Matt Testa and the Art of Back Country Ski Filming

This week we had the pleasure of sitting down with Matt Testa aka “Mansfield Matty”. When not pumping out daily snow reports Matt can be found charging hidden lines deep in the Mansfield back country. Matt has become proficient in filming his ski adventures and providing viewers with enjoyable shots of fresh powder lines and the beauty of the Green Mountain Wilderness. Matt is considered a new age ski bum here in Stowe and logs over 130 days on the hill every season.  Matt's passion for all things Stowe is infectious. This episode will get you more excited than ever to head up to the hill!

Transcript

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Welcome listeners to the Octagon podcast, where we explore the stories, people and places that make Stowe, Vermont so legendary. I'm your host, Ted Thorndike, joined by my cohost, Mike Carey. We are delighted to introduce our guest today, Matt Testa, also known as Mansfield Matty. When not pumping out daily snow reports, Matt can be found charging backcountry lines deep in the Mansfield backcountry. Matt has become proficient in filming his ski lines and providing viewers with enjoyable shots of fresh powder lines in the beauty of the Green Mountain wilderness. Matt is considered a new age ski bum here in Stowe and logs over a hundred days on the hill every season. Yeah, thanks, Ted and Mike for having me. I think, everything you guys are doing with the podcast is awesome. I've listened to many of them and I think it's really cool that you're preserving the, a lot of these stories of, stow people that have amazing stories to tell. Awesome. Thanks. Appreciate that. Thanks for that. Did you go skiing today? I'm assuming yes, but I figured I'd ask. yeah, this, this morning I did the snow report and then I, got out at eight o'clock, for a couple hours, took a couple laps on the gondola and, yeah, and it was a good morning. It was nice. I was out there this morning. But yeah, the pack powder right now, I keep calling it world class. I keep telling everybody, it doesn't get any better than we have right now. It doesn't anywhere in the world, right? the corduroy, the stripes coming down gondolier this morning, it was perfect. Yeah, totally. It doesn't get skied out. Oh, yeah, no, it's, we're really lucky this season with the conditions that we've had. And the mountain is in fantastic shape and. There's a lot of lines that are starting to come into play that, honestly, I've never seen here before. every time I look up at the mountain, I'm like, is that something? On those, those packed, uh, packed powder days, it's like, wow, that made me feel like a much better skier than I actually am. So you got to love those conditions. All right. So Matt, would you say you consider yourself a modern day ski bum? I would say I've tried to set my life up to ski as much as possible, but also, have success and be able to do, the other real world things beyond skiing that I, want to do. you go to Maine in the summer. Is that correct? maybe when you're making the money. Yeah. So during the, the summer I spend, my times there, I'm a real estate agent, I do property management. I'm also, Oh, cool. rep for lift foils. I dunno if you guys are familiar with the E foil. Oh yeah, yeah. Uh, so we do lessons demo sales. and my work really ramps up probably tenfold during the summer compared to the winter. a lot of late nights, a lot of work on the weekends. Yeah. my time during the summer allows me to do what I wanna do during the winter. Yeah, that's awesome time. Got it. And where in Maine is that? we're in York, Maine. Oh, cool. So I really sell real estate from Kittery to the Kenny Bunks is really my niche there. Yeah, that's great So you get a over a hundred days a year last year? I got 135 what's the max you can get it's a great question There's I think there's some guys at Stowe that are almost in the 150s or higher. there's a lot of guys that ski a lot at Stowe. so we were trying to figure out modern day ski bum and what makes you a modern day ski bum, right? So you're getting a hundred 30 days a year. I get 60 to 70 days a year. Ted, I know you skinned. Yeah. Skinning is 90 days a year. I did one 28. One night. I'm still feeling it. How many lip serve days do you have? I have five this year and 60. But, spring's coming. I'll be logging some more left time. You're yeah, I've heard that one. Yeah, exactly. So I would consider us all modern day ski bums in some way, right? a lot of my days are are not full days Oh totally Yeah, a lot of the time I go out I try to get first chair as much as possible and then I'll ski till 1030 And then I'll go home and work and if work allows I'll try to come back out at the end of the day Maybe at two or three a couple end of the day laps. Yeah especially on those storm days. Yeah. when you ski 135 days, there's definitely a lot of days in there that are one or two runs. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. but you always got to go to see, cause sometimes you go and you expect it to be one or two and you're Oh, it's pretty good. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. so on that note, what is your typical day look I know you do the ski report some days. you got to work in there but what is your typical day look in the winter? Yeah. I'll walk you through a typical day that I'm doing the snow report. on the snow report days, I get up at four o'clock, head up to the mountain. I'm usually there around, four 30 clock in. do the whole Snow Report thing, and then usually at 7. 30, I am, I'm putting on my boots, moving my car over the Midway lot, and then getting in line for first chair. and then the whole first chair thing at Stowe is pretty funny. It's, you look around and it's the same familiar faces every day. if it's a midweek day at Stowe, majority of people know each other, and it's the same folks in line for first chair every day. and then really it just depends on, the snow and what the situation is, do I have powder panic, am I trying to, go get a certain line, or Is it perfect groom and I'm gonna, head over to Perry Merrill or did they groom? Hey ride, so a lot of that is, just what's running through my mind in the morning. a lot of the times, when you're skiing as much as I do, a lot of the times I'm by myself a lot of the time. So that also will dictate what I'm skiing, maybe I'll play it a little bit easier. so that's The day to day and then if I do have friends that are somebody that I can ski with, then we'll probably, Ramp it up a little bit, go into the notch or something that. Yeah, so I mean we've just met for the first time. but your Instagram feed pops up for me As a ski ambassador. So how do you fit that into the day? Is that just, hey, I'm gonna go out exploring and if I see something Tell us about that whole aspect of your day. Yeah, so I never really have intentions when I go out of a particular shot. I'd like to think, at least for my story posts when I take a photo of a sweet line A lot of that I feel I Have an eye for, is the sun shining on this perfect patch of snow, So i'll take a photo of that or is it perfect corduroy? and then for when it's more filming something filming a reel or Whatever a lot of it just comes naturally I'm on the hunt for untracked snow. if I'm at the top of a line that I know is a cool line, then that's a, probably a good indication that maybe I'll pull out the GoPro. but I usually honestly won't pull out the GoPro if the light isn't good or the line is tracked or the line has to be, interesting that I think people will want to see for that I think will be worth it to film. Otherwise I go home and I just have. Unlimited, shots that are annoying to do. did you set out to say, Hey, I want to share some of this with The world, because Mansfield is such an awesome place, or? it honestly was never a conscious thought to start filming my clips, or really even sharing them. when I was at UVM, it was just started as me and my friends taking ski videos of each other on iPhones. And a lot of my friends are, very good skiers, very good photographers. it just kinda naturally progressed, and as I started posting fun videos of my friends and I. I started to realize that was what was getting the engagement and then now fast forward a few years to even to now if I post anything that's not skiing related, I know that my followers do not want to see that. Yeah. Nobody wants to see that. What are you doing? Are you okay? Yeah, exactly. So yeah, it's funny. During the summer, I'll mix in a couple surfing clips or something sailing or whatever, but I know people don't really want to see that. Yeah. Could you give us a round on of just the evolution of your ski filming? did it start with a GoPro and, just get into some of the finer points of that? Yeah. So I, my first GoPro ever was a GoPro hero three. and then I had the GoPro hero seven. Now I shoot with the GoPro max. as Instagram developed, we went from, a lot of. landscape videos, and now everything, is portrait, vertical, so when I first started, really getting into it, that was probably around the GoPro 7 era, and I actually. Once I realized, I was alright, I have to figure out how to make the videos vertical. So I literally duct taped my own mount to get it, to flip the camera to be horizontal. and actually I guess it's important to note that my mount of choice is the mouth mount. I don't know if you guys have ever seen a mouth mount. So it's literally a mouth guard, basically that's molded to my teeth that's what I use. So is that Mike Hayes tool of trade? Mike uses that. I think he also mixes in, a helmet mount and he has a couple other tricks to his trade. Mike's going to be getting one of those. That's cool. but so that, but that was for the Hero 7, so I would have to mount it vertically now with the GoPro Max. You can't, it's a 360 camera, so you can't mix the shot, so afterwards you can go back and you frame it to either be vertical, horizontal, square, however, whatever shot you're looking for. so that's the progression of it. I would say a couple of things that I really look for when I'm going to go out and film. Always has to be fresh snow. I'm always looking for good light. if it's a sunny day, I will try to go, in the morning, there's certain areas that get sun. The afternoon, there's areas, that get a better, get better afternoon light. and then looking for, cool terrain features. is there a really big, rock wall on the side, or whatever, Icefall, maybe. Yeah, exactly. More ice. The more ice and the more rock, the better. I love watching just the wide open, Birchfields totally sun, coming down the notch. Just those are super cool. Cause you look at that and you say, that's an out West experience here, in my backyard. Yeah. Especially people always love the stuff in the Alpine when you're up top and if you can get, an inversion, that's the best, you're on the inversion and you're up top and you look out and it just looks it's endless, Does it even look like Vermont? those are always, people always love that. So did you chat with John Stafford and Mike Hayes and stuff? You guys got your different spots. yeah, Mike is actually one of my really good friends. me and him are. this morning I was thinking about going up and I literally texted him at five o'clock when I was sitting at my chair doing the snow report. I was Hey, did you go up top yet? And he's yeah, I'm up here now. profanity has no snow. I'm about to hit hourglass. So it's It's pretty cool to, chat with all these different people who are out there, Mike and I are constantly feeding each other beta all day long. So he literally saved me a hike up to the top, right? This morning, I saw Mike in the parking lot and I was Where'd you go? And then he gave me the same report. He's I don't know why I got up at four o'clock this morning. I'm but it's worth getting out, exercise, fresh air. So I know a lot of my friends, I'm sure just with you, you can just by being in the midway lot at, 8 AM, you can get a pretty good idea of where people have already been and, make your plan from there and gather. I think that's one of the things that's so cool about, Being in, in Stowe, especially in our groups, is there's so much collective knowledge about the mountain and, where the snow is, what's good, and, talking to people about that saves you so much time, knowing where to go. Are you ever doing GPS maps to try and keep track of where all this stuff is? Yeah, so I have, I don't want to call it my manifesto, but I've, I've actually been tracking lines for, or at least my lines for over eight years on Mansfield. I use this app called Gaia and, so it basically, I have here and we zoom out a little bit here. But I have all my lines and then I have wow, we're looking at his map right now Mike just took a photo of it. Yeah, so but then you know, i'll take photos of really cool landmarks So I can literally be on the mountain and i'll be all right, I have you know I know there's a hallway over here. I know there's a cliff over here. So having This is something, maybe it wasn't eight years, I would say maybe it's probably closer to five years, but having the GPS in your pocket makes a world of a difference. there's been times where I'm exploring new zones, me and one of my buddies, we were up, up near Jay recently and we were up, it was later in the day and I'm all right, we're head back. And I look at my GPS Oh, nope, we're going the wrong way. right away, I knew we were going the wrong way, sent us right back to the trail. So having the G the GPS has been a real game changer for me, especially, I think when you're out on the mountain, especially on the upper mountain, whiteout can come in at two seconds. I've been standing at the top of profanity and, It was a sunny day. And next thing you're where am I? and I always carry a backup battery in my pocket. another good backcountry safety shout out. Yeah. Yeah. So I think, I would encourage people to use online maps and. even if you find something cool, mark it down. You, we have all this technology in our pocket. Utilize it. So that's Gaia G a I a yep. And this is all stuff that I have tracked myself. You don't share that. no. I wouldn't. That's not a good idea. Mike took a picture of it. I'm just saying now. No, I have an app, Onyx Hunt. I use that. Oh yeah, I use Onyx too. I do a lot of springtime more Look out for, moose sheds and stuff. Yeah. And yeah, I'll hike all day and then, I'll have a pin where my truck is. Yeah. Go compass mode and Totally. Don't need a trail. it's saved me many times. Yeah, there's just Especially in, on Mount Mansfield, you could be five feet away in dense forest and you are right off the line. So being able, especially now, when there's so much snow, everything looks so different. Being able to just be Oh, we got to go this way makes, my life a lot easier. And there's even things on there where I'll be At night, I'll just be I'm not good at watching movies or things that. Shows. Shows you're not a show guy. Shows, honestly, I'm such a nerd. I'll literally just stare at maps. Yeah. this is really nerdy, the Find My Friends map. I dunno if you guys ever looked to find my Friends Map. The satellite photo I think was taken probably in late May so you can see where all the traverses are on Mount Mansfield just from you can see where the or where the snow blows in just from looking at maps in the spring. all right, this is a gully that fills in with a lot of snow just by looking, A map from that time. You ever see ski tracks going somewhere and you're Oh, that person should not have gone there. Oh, often. All the time. Actually, I was just walking up the Mansfield, or the Toll Road the other day, And I saw a track. I have a good idea of the line that these people were trying to find. And then I keep walking and I see their bootpacks coming out and, yeah, no, it's yeah. Do not follow tracks. there's been many times you, I know I wouldn't even want to follow my own track. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. No, it's good. Good to get that GPS shout out. Good tools of the trade. Yeah. Definitely. It's a good tool. So you had mentioned earlier about doing the snow report. We had Andre on a few episodes ago, which was a blast. Would you say you guys have different styles and whether it's routines or just your style in creating and giving out the snow report to it's to the listeners? Yeah. Yeah. So I think me, Scott and Andre have our own styles. being this is my second year at Stowe. I did a year at Bolton back in, 2019, 2020. I don't have the weather guru background that Scott does, so nobody does. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't try to pretend that I do. I honestly try to be in the middle of Scott and Andre. I really look up to both those guys. Scott knows the weather on this mountain and this little ecosystem that we have here in Stowe better than anybody else. and Andre is Dr. Stowe, the Stowe master. The godfather. yeah, just being honestly, yeah, being able to report snow with those two guys at Stowe is an honor. Awesome. so I try to, absorb as much as I can from both of them and try to, Yeah. I bet you've learned a lot from those guys. Oh, if people have listened to the, podcast with Andre, we have a group text that we are nerding out literally 24 seven talking about snow. Yeah. And that, that probably helps having Scott, all the information he's giving you okay, I think I know what line I'm going to do tomorrow now. There's levels to this, Scott can be Hey, there's a Northwest wind or, and once you start to figure out what winds put the snow where then, it really changes the game that it takes a lot of guessing out of it. Which is pretty cool. Do you guys ever gamble on snow? I have a friend Xander, a lot of people playing those Xander and we always throw out a line. On a storm and one of us picks the amount the other person gets to go over or under Yeah, we don't actually gamble but not actually Literally last night. I shot them attacks. I'm under over 100 inches at the stake this week I think scott might have take the under andre's it's happening tomorrow. So you know, it's It's a lot of fun talking snow with those guys We try to be so calculated. we have receipts for every inch that fall on that mountain. we don't if is it, 1. 8 inches or is it two? we're literally looking that closely, and high road at. 3, 000 feet is the gospel, whatever falls there and is on that board is what's reported. We don't report snow that fell and blew away. It's whatever's there is the number. Yeah. Yeah. This, what do you think of this week? How are you thinking? Cause this week looks tricky. I looked at the weather. Mike's nervous. Everything's melting at my house. I didn't like that, but. Yeah. No. I think, tomorrow. we Upper Mountain will stay Snow Lower Mountain. We might have a little bit of a Mansfield medley, and then later in the week, might be a little bit questionable, but I don't know, we're due for it. We've had such a good run here that if, yeah, it's been amazing. If it goes to 40, it's, yeah. We'll give me a solid boot pack later in the weeks Yeah. And then it gets cold again. Yeah. Then it'll get cold again. So the boot pack has been almost impossible recently.'cause the, yeah. it's just bottomless right now. let's talk about Mansfield a little bit. So I see your Instagram and I see some of your lines and I'm sure everybody we're all trying to figure out where those lines are. Where do you typically head? Do you favor, off the gondola heading towards the notch? Do you favor on the quad side? What's your, or you, or is it depend on? Yeah, honestly, it really depends on the weather. and. At this point in the season, it all depends on what I've skied so far. I've hit a lot of stuff off the gondola at this point. So now I'm really trying to get into some of the stuff on spruce that I haven't really gotten into yet because the snow wasn't there. So that kind of plays a big part is what haven't I skied yet? There's these seasons where I don't get to, every line in my book, there I'm all I'm trying to get over here. I'm trying to You know, go all across the mountain. So I think really it depends on the snow and, where the wind puts it. And there's so many factors, that play into what lines are going to be good one. Yeah. And as far as, exploring around Mansfield, you went to UVM is that when you really started to get out in the back country, explore, maybe you're still finding lines what was that whole process about, really. Getting to know the mountain on a deep level. Yeah, so I give a lot of credit to, my time at UVM on the free ski team. when I was an underclassman, I spent a lot of time chasing around the older kids who were much better skiers than I was, who, a lot of them grew up in Vermont, and they knew the mountain much better than I did. so that really started my time on Mount Mansfield, and Yeah, I know for me just All right, just being deep in the woods. It just gives me a different feeling just getting away from people and I don't know if that's the same for you. But, yeah, it's just peaceful and just, it gives you a different feel for sure. Yeah, no, it's, there, there's no place like Mount Mansfield and I think that we're so lucky to be here in Stowe and with the amount of snow we get, how steep our mountain is and just, there's a lifetime of exploring. I'm still finding new lines and. There's a lot of lines that I know about, but haven't been to yet that I'm looking for, some of my other local friends that know them to, show me the way and, but I think that's another big part about, lines at Stowe is a lot of these lines are. Yeah. passed down, especially some of the more challenging lines that aren't as straightforward to get through or have, a challenging ice bulge in the middle that you have to know, is it ready basically just because there's 80 inches at the summit stake, doesn't paint the full picture about a lot of these more challenging lines. And I'm just, I'm glad you're sharing that for all our listeners. Backcountry safety, you know that sometimes people might see videos. Oh, I want to go do that And I think you know, you're making it clear that there's a lot that goes into it and the analysis and the safety And so I think that's just a really good message, too Yeah, I think that this Mansfield summit stake only paints You know a very small picture. Yep. You have to look at what's going on at Barnes camp and that's actually one of the reasons that I think this winter has been so good is because we have a top to bottom snow pack where a lot of seasons, we've had so much snow up top, at the base there might be 15 inches. So as we get close to a hundred inches, I've always read about the hundred inch chutes. Yeah. Are those already in play? I gotta believe they're close. I know of a couple people that have been down them this season. I personally have not. that is one that I have been thinking about that, I guess if it hits a hundred inches, we you have to do it Yep. And that's on the ridge line, way up above kitchen wall. Oh yeah. Have you ever skied it? I have not. Yeah. I've never skied it. I skied it once in, when I was at UVM with some of the free ski kids and I have not been back since, Okay. that's another one that's, if ever a winter. now's the time. we're just talking about Mansfield and you know how magical of a place it is. you're so passionate about skiing. Why Stowe? Why not go out to Jackson Hole Why not live out west? Yeah, after I came to Stowe, I just fell in love with, just the mountains here and how much snow there is. I think that the accessibility here is not something to take for granted. you can be at, on the coast of Maine and a few hours, all my family's here on the East coast, and Stowe just has a special place in my heart. And I I love the seasons here in new England. I think I would get bored if I, I don't want to say I get bored in Jackson Hole, I think that having the ocean, having my family and it's about as good as it gets here on the East Coast. So this is the place to be. What else? other than skiing, are you skinning a lot? Are you Nordic skiing? What are the other activities you're doing in the winter? I skin. W to get around Mansfield. I'm not side country skid. Yeah. Not a side country. I'm not Ted going crazy but yeah, it's an issue. Yeah. I generally, am skidding when, I have to get from one place to another to access lines. I've recently been doing a lot of POW surfing'cause the snow has been so good for that. but really my main focus is on skiing and. on Mansfield, it's generally a mix of, for me at least, just as much boot packing as there is skinning. The boot packing right now is hard because of how deep it is. But a lot of the time, it's walking up the road or, if I can get to the summit and there's a lot off the summit from there. it also depends on what ski I'm going to bring. So that also will determine my setup for the day. Yeah. So on the topic of skis, I understand you're sponsored by Renown. Yep. Yeah. I've been with, around for eight years now, which is crazy. How did that all come to be? Yeah. So I, when I was an officer for the UVM ski and snowboard club, one of the upperclassmen there was doing marketing for Renown as they were a budding company. And he knew that I was super passionate. a lot and he's Hey, I think you'd be a great ambassador for the company. We're just starting out. and I was all right, free pair of skis. That sounds great to me. That's all. And, now Renown has come a really long way and I'm really excited about everything that they're doing. for listeners who do not know, Renown has a non Newtonian polymer in their skis, which at when you're going higher speeds, it hardens up so you can carve better. And at lower speeds, it is a more flexible, pliable material. I did not know that. Wow. It adapts to what you're skiing. Swiss army knife. Yeah, it's really is. And I fully believe in it. And the skis are awesome. you guys should both try them. I'd be happy to set that up. I'd love to try them. I need to do pair of skis. Yeah, I know they're trash too. Yeah. All right. we'll talk after this, but you guys go and they're awesome. That's awesome. You have other sponsors. Yeah. So I, this is my third season on Nerona. For outerwear. And, this is actually my first season with, Auclair Sports and they do gloves and hats and outerwear, other types of outerwear too. Got it. but yeah, shout out to those guys. They take really good care of me. And, part of the reason that I'm able to do what I do is through their support. yeah. what's that relationship like? You're creating videos, what's the sort of expectation on your side and their side? How does it all work? Because I think a lot of people out there are always Oh, I'd love to be an ambassador for a brand. Totally. So my relationship with each one of those brands is different. My relationship with Renown is really, steadfast. they hooked me up with a lot of skis, they helped me travel, and they take really good care of me. but with that, I helped them prototype new skis. we were just out in Utah a few weeks ago, Deer Valley at the Talisker club, demoing for their members, whatever they may need, I'm ha I'm happy to run into Burlington and help them out. That's a relationship that has grown for quite a while. and that's awesome. And then with, Neurona and Auclair, they both helped me out with gear. And I trade them content and if they need help in any other way, they know where to find me. So we've talked about, Mansfield a lot. Any other backcountry zones you to hit outside of Stowe, up north at all? Yeah, so I, I generally will go over to Nebraska Valley, especially on the crazier, busier days when, Stowe is, a madhouse or a lot of the lines have been tracked. it's a fun place. I to take the dog over there and skin. so I'd say really, between Nebraska and. Across Smugglers Notch, Mt. Mansfield are my two main zones. Next to zone. I'll go down to Killington sometimes and I'll go up to Jay, but really, it's hard to leave. Yeah. It's so hard to leave. My friends always yell at me. They're dude, you need to come to Waterbury. You haven't left still in a month. Right. The bubble. Yeah. It's easy to get trapped in the stone bubble. It is. I grew up here, so I'm still here. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's. We're so lucky to be here. there are weeks that me and Lise, my wife Lise, were we gotta go to Burlington and just go somewhere else. Yeah, you just need to get out of the bubble. We went to the movies in Montpelier last weekend. I was wow, you went all the way to Montpelier for to watch a movie? Yeah, no, it's easy to get trapped. And I think a lot of other people. In town feel the same way. Oh yeah. this past week I actually had to go back to Maine for a couple days and I'm so in tune with the mountain. Especially doing the snow report and talking to Scott and Andre 24 7. I can't leave. Yeah, I left for just a few days and I'm What happened while I was gone? I had to try to Everybody was right where I left him. I pull into the parking lot. Everybody's there, but it's funny how you Snowmo. Yeah, for real. Snowmo is real. What are some of your favorite mountains around the country that you've traveled to? Yeah, so Whistler is my real favorite. it's the Disneyland for skiers. But the only thing about Whistler is you're scared the whole time you're there. We were out there for one of my friend's bachelor parties last winter and A couple Vermonters now live there and they were taking us around into the back country and they were Oh, it's mellow. It'll be fine. you're mellow and are mellow or two different things. And visibility can be challenging there. It depends where you go, right? It's flat light. Yeah, no. When you're up in the Alpine and you don't have any trees to give you perception, you can lose your way pretty quick. Yeah, that's a sick place. Any others? Yeah. Jackson Hole is also another one of my favorites. I was at Red Mountain in BC. we had powder, we went to a powder mag ski test with Renown there, a few years ago now. And that place was it's the Mad River Glen of BC. And it was just a bunch of slow lifts, but the terrain is phenomenal. Yeah. so that's another one of my favorite spots. Just taking things back. When did you start skiing? What was this a family thing or how did it all begin and develop for you? We heard about UVM, but yeah, so I, originally started skiing at a small 200 foot hill in Massachusetts called Ski Bradford. it was 10 minutes from my parents house and I joined the ski. I actually was on the ski race team there. Probably when I was, seven years old from seven years old. to my senior year of high school. I was race, racing there, pretty much there, every day after school. Oh, okay. That's a good foundation. Yeah, so that was, I give a lot of credit to Ski Bradford for helping get my roots. Shout out. I know Ski Bradford. My kids went there too. We used to live in Massachusetts. Oh, okay. And I would go there and snowboard while they were doing ski lessons. We never knew that. No. The deep, dark secrets are coming out. And they had really good pizza. Oh yeah. Their pizza and mozzarella sticks. You can't beat those. Nice. You did some racing and then where did it go from there? Yeah. I, was the captain of my high school race team. In North Andover, Mass. Okay. And then once I came to UVM, I was all right, I'm done with racing. I'm ready to for the real mountains. And, I had some friends who came to UVM and they were on the free ski team. And when I had came up to UVM to visit, I, had stayed with them, had went out on the mountain with them and party with them a little bit. And I was all right, these are the kids I want to hang out with, this is where I want to be. back then the UVM free skiing team went to Stowe twice a day, every day. We had our own vans that fit 14 people. So we generally would have a morning van and then a noon van. So I would structure my class schedule around, being able to ski as much as possible. And, those were the glory days, just 14 kids in a bus going to Stowe So just to loop back a little bit on the new age ski bum Do you feel the ski bum lifestyle is dead or is it just simply evolved? Yeah, the Old moniker of a ski bum is not so much what it is anymore, at least here in Stowe. the cost of living is so high and I think that now Stowe has, we, we're a town full of high class ski bums, there's a lot of people here who are still are skiing a hundred days a year, but they have good jobs and are making a living for themselves. And I think it's just changed a bit. Yeah, so what advice would you have for anybody that wants to be a new age modern day ski bum? for people who are trying to get into it, I think that it's definitely doable. A lot of my friends who are. Who are doing it, they have finance jobs, they're there, they work in tech and they, they come up to the mountain and they ski from eight to 10 and they're still getting a hundred days a year. Most of the time they're out there for the powder in the morning. So I think, having a job that allows you the flexibility to ski as much as you want and also be able to do anything else you want to do in life. having that work life balance is really important. and another kind of tip I would say is any way that you can keep your foot into the industry a little bit, if that's being able to get a pro form or getting a season pass from the mountain, I rode the Lyft with some guy today who works for the state and he, scans tickets, so he, just being able to keep your foot in the door, keeps a close connection to the mountain and then you get the perks that go along with it. Yeah. Yeah, I think also just being highly organized You know, really knowing your day and what you can get done and accomplish, right? You're doing a lot in a day. You're doing the snow report. You're skiing. You're working. You're going back out maybe but yeah Gotta be on top of your schedule early wake ups. Yeah, the winter is almost a little bit of whiplash, it's I even today I'm I can't believe that I was up at 4am and now I'm doing this, I'll go home and, hang out for a few hours and then do it again tomorrow. So when you usually call it a season in Stowe, I know you live in Maine in the summer and when do you make that transition? Yeah. So really after the mountain closes, that's when I Start to have to go back and forth a little bit more and even in April, I'm probably pushing it a little bit with how how busy work is ramping up. but I will come back up and if, even if I'll be looking at the webcams, even through may, if there's snow on lift, there's snow on lift line. I'm all right, I gotta get back up there. I gotta go back up and ski. I'll go down to a sugar bush in may and I have been trying to go to, Killington late into May, or even in June, so E even after still closes, I'm still thinking about it. I, yeah. until there's no snow on the ground, I'm still thinking about it. You're I can finally stop checking the webcam, Yeah, exactly. It is, and sometimes it is a bit of a relief you get to the end of the season. Totally. And you know the only left. I'm not the only one. yeah. No. The only thing left is skinning. Yeah. And that's a peaceful time. Go at noon. It's all go in time. It's actually better to go later. Let it turn. Yeah. Yeah. No. After the season's over, it is all right, I can relax, I don't have to put ski boots on every day. Yeah. I know my fiance is certainly happy. Once the lift stops spinning, does she ski? Oh yeah. Yeah. shout out to Soph. She's a phenomenal skier. so we get to go on a lot of cool adventures together and we ski together all the time. That's awesome. she's a ripper cause that can, I can make or break some relationships that, she's a, it's funny because just as crazy as I am about skiing, she is about surfing. and I'm a good surfer, but not quite as good as her. we trade seasons during the winter, I'm kicking her in the morning. I'm all right, we got to go. when we're back in Maine, she's dragging me around. Sorry. it's a good balance. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What about, Ski the East. I know Ski the East has a lot of videos and movies. Have they ever done ski movies and you've been in them, or? Yeah, so the last three or maybe even four seasons now, I've shot with them. Generally, we'll get a couple days and they'll mix in a bunch of different segments. But, yeah, I've been fortunate enough to mark my legacy in ski with them and, Yeah, no, it's a lot of fun. And there, I think that they're putting out some of the best content, here in Stowe and on the East. And they've been around for a while. Yeah, that's, I actually give a lot of credit to them. I grew up watching the meathead films, the ski, the East guys. And, Yeah, no, they're they put out some of the best stuff. So it's definitely brought out. I think just some energy for Skiing on the East Coast and that definitely a lot of everybody thinks okay I got to go out west or to Europe for amazing skiing and a lot is right in our backyard if you're willing to Work for it and make sure you're going on the good days. Yeah, they definitely put East Coast skiing on the map Yeah a lot of people on the West, don't even know that Stowe has above tree line skiing. They don't know how much powder we get here in Vermont. and when it's good, it's as good as it is anywhere. That's what we always say, right? it has been this winter. Yeah. Where else would you want to be? Totally. I was in Utah and I can tell you now they were having more of an East Coast winter than, we're having. So I was happy to get back and. Yeah. Back into the snow. Yeah. the East Coast, it all gets lumped together. People lump. Totally. New Hampshire, Maine. Yep. Ski Bradford. It all gets lumped into one. And Northern Vermont. yeah. Is a whole different thing. Totally. Yeah. From, the Northern Greens from, Mad River Gren and Sugarbush up to Jay Peak is, 3X the snow. Totally. Of most other mounds. The snow capital of the east here. Yeah. so it's, we live in a good place if you like snow. Yeah, exactly. Alright, we're gonna kick off some rapid fire questions. Okay. Steeps or trees? Steeps. Powday, solo mission or crew ride? Crew. Steep and Deep or Low Angle Powsurf? Oh, Steep and Deep. Nice. Warm Gloves or Good Goggles? Good Goggles. Definitely. Yeah, you gotta see where you're going. Visibility is key. Bruce Trail or Angel Food? Bruce. Summer or Winter? Ah, that's easy. Yeah, we know that one. We can skip that one. Profanity or Hourglass? Hourglass. Favorite Opry restaurant and what would you order? I go to the Matterhorn and probably get some, buffalo tenders or the barbecue burger. Those are my two go tos there. The wings. Oh yeah, the wings are good. Or the sushi. Honestly, their sushi is really good too. It is. Yeah. Pizza's good too. Do you have a mug there? I do have a mug. Nice. Nice. So we're going to get a little more granular, just, about, about your life in stow. Maybe even a little outside of skiing, if such a thing exists. I know you went to UVM and all that, and that kind of brought you to stow, 2014. Yeah. I understand that was. Yeah. So since that time in 2014, how have you seen stow change as a town, as a mountain? Yeah. So I think that there is a lot more people getting after it. It seems these days. Obviously, we had the Vale Transition, which I think was a little rocky at first, but now the, the mountain right now wouldn't change a thing. I think that the mountain is It's operating really well. The grooming is good. The snowmaking this year, the legion of groom. Yeah. The legion of groom shout out legion of group. The snowmaking, this year was fun. They made more snow this year. the trails are so built. yeah, everything about, the mountain this year, I feel is flowing really good. they've done a great job. Yeah. there's definitely more people coming to stow. but. the midweek days, I feel, haven't really changed much, at least since I've been here. I think that, Stowe is, it's definitely changing, Real estate prices are going up, and there's a lot, of more external factors, but the reason that I came here in the first place was my love for that mountain, and the snow, and the terrain. All that, none of that's changing, Totally, yeah. It's going to, I don't know what it's going to take to get me out of here, but so far I'm sticking around. And so do you rent a place when you come up here for the winter? Yeah, so I've been renting a, a place from the same guy that I have for the last, I think now five years I've been renting from the same guy. Nice. he's a super nice guy and he, huge fan of the Snow Report and so he's stoked to help me secure housing. Yeah. Awesome. He gets the inside track and gets a little cut on the rent. Totally. yeah, no, he, yeah, he texts me in the morning. He'll be Hey, are the lifts coming off wind hole? Then I'll be I don't know, maybe. He's best tenant ever. Yeah, exactly. No, he's a cool guy. You talked about some of the UVM, people that you looked up to. Any other? Legends or people that you look up to and the ski industry. Yeah. I think here, Justin Stowe, I don't know if you guys know Bruce and Bob, but they're a couple of guys that if I ever have any questions about Stowe, I'll be Hey, Bob, what's the vertical record on the forerunner quad for, All time or Hey, I ski this little trail. what's the proper name. there's a lot of these older guys that have been here for their entire lives that, I have a lot of respect for them and they, I think I've gained their respect over the years. So now they'll key me in on some of those things. That, they might not tell everybody, but I'll be Hey, how do I ski this line or, things like that. So there, those are a couple of guys that I look up to, and just honestly seeing the mountain operations from the inside, I think people. are quick to, make assumptions on, the mountain operations. But that mountain, everything that they do, they have a reason for, and they are really dialed in. I feel they're good at what they do. So just seeing the inside. how everything works, it's impressive to get those lifts off the ground every day and a lot of moving parts. Yeah. And get all those trails groomed and there's just, I don't know, seeing the inside operations. I have a lot of respect for those guys and all the patrollers and ski instructors and support staff. Yeah, no, it's amazing that. they're able to do what they do every day so consistent and offer a really great product Yeah, who do you follow for ski movies or ski? Filming yeah, who are your kind of go tos that you look up to or emulate? I would say I don't know, do you guys follow Candide Thovex? Oh yeah. Yeah, he skis through the middle of towns and stuff, right? there's another, actually, I would say he's my favorite skier right now, he doesn't even know it, um, Hazen Abbott, he's 14 years old, over at Smuggler's Notch, he's actually one of my old professor at UVM's kid, and he's throwing the biggest backflips you've ever seen on Madonna lift line. yeah, it's incredible watching the new wave of kids come up. There's a lot of, over, I feel especially over at Mad River Glen and at Smugs, there's a lot of these younger kids coming up through the ranks that are probably going to be on the free ride world tour. Wow. so I, it's funny, even there's, Luke Mealy. I shout out to him. I got to ski with him for one of the ski, the East films last year when we were out filming and just watching some of these younger kids throw down. I'm I can't keep up with you, it's cool to see what do you think stone needs to do to preserve its ski culture in the face of big money influence? I think, maintaining accessibility is really important. I don't see housing values going down anytime soon, but challenge, especially for younger people who want to live here. I think that's a really big challenge. a lot of my friends, they're at least looking, In Waterbury or Morrisville or the surrounding areas, I think that's probably one of the biggest challenges for, people who aren't as established or who are growing up is really being able to afford to live here. and I think on the mountain side of things, I would like to see the mountain, this year they're actually, which I'm really excited about, they're doing a pond skim in April and just bring some Mike. We got it. we have to do it. You guys are have to do it. The pond ski I forced him. He talked me into the derby. Him do the derby. That's awesome. Now you're talking me into pond skimming. Oh, I wouldn't say I'm talking you into it. I think you should do it. We have to right? Oh yeah. You're doing it. We're all doing it, yeah. Okay. Nice. All right. I'll do it. Awesome. Do we know, we don't know when it is yet because it's, I, don't hold me to it. Okay. But I've heard April 12th floating around. They posted, yeah, it post. It was that weekend in April one, the last weekends. Got to do it. in costume. Having events like that, that kind of keep the stoke alive and get people excited, I think is, that's important. Yeah. Even the Stowe Derby, those unique Stowe events. Totally. The Stowe Derby is such a classic, such a great event. And the fact that it's still going on and this year we were able to go all the way into town, you know It's that's the important cool stuff that gives a town ski culture and so here's the deal We will do pond skimming if you do the Stowe Derby next year. All right, we're doing it together Yeah, dude. All right, let's do it. Yeah. I actually don't even own cross country skis. So you will. So I have to, I did consider it this year. I'm all right, maybe my first time ever on cross country skis shouldn't be the Derby. I had a friend do it. He had never crossed country and he did the Stowe Derby. He fell 40 times. Yeah. So shout out to Dustin Martin who did the Stowe Derby on Alpine skis in an hour and 10 minutes. Wow. That's pretty good. Let's see. So that's an option too. Yeah. Do it in Alpine skis. All right. That's an option. I feel like I have to, I just, I got to break out the cross country skis for that. Pasca, I mean, I'm, I'm, for that shout out. I didn't want to get hurt. I was like, if I get hurt doing the Derby, I'm like It'll be the Yeah. That's fair. That's fair. What, uh, when you look at Stowe, what's your hope for Stowe in the next five to ten years? What kind of things would you like to see it improve on? Any vision for Stowe? Yeah. I think I'd to, back to what we're talking about is bring as much ski culture as possible. There's so many passionate skiers here in Stowe that, a lot of us are bringing the culture ourselves, tailgating in the parking lot. And I know so many passionate people, but I think if the mountain kind of gives us an avenue to funnel some of our passion, there's a lot of great things that will come from that. I, I said before, the mountain and the snow isn't changing, right? And I think, keep just having things the eight o'clock lift, right? It's so important, you know, huge for all the people you know that get out before work and You know that basically is what allows a lot of my friends who have real jobs, to get a hundred days Yeah, so that, you know just making sure that they keep in mind that there's a lot of people Live here, for those types of things, for the eight o'clock lift and, it's the stuff that makes so unique. Totally. Totally. I'm with you. Yeah. the people are here now. We just got to embrace it. Exactly. And there's, the people who are here and they are excited about skiing. So any way to bring them together You know, bring all these different, because there's so many different crews in stow, I know you guys have your crew and my, I have my heart, the heart goes, yeah, the heart goes, I think it would be, it's cool, to get everybody together, and there's a lot of passionate people and everybody's so stoked. Bring them all together. Yeah, absolutely. I know Mike's pushing for, Some apre action. Oh yeah. On European style. Trying push European for one great apre place on the mountain. Oh. So you can, totally finish skiing at two 30 or three. And Apre ski. Yeah. if Midway had a beer garden Exactly. They dj. Especially for the the spring because that's where the sun is. Yeah. no, I think that would be cool. I think you make up a good point. Just, a few little tweaks Yeah. Can go a long way. Totally. Yeah. and just, your thing is bringing people together, right? Yeah. At the end of the day, that's totally, that's what it's all about building community. Yeah. I think that bringing as many people together, I I haven't made any plans for this, but I think in the spring, it'd be really cool to have. A massive potluck, you know in one of the parking lots You guys all come bring your friends everybody who's got a good attitude and is stoked on skiing, you know is welcome to come Yeah, look at the weather a week out and be all right, let's go for it on friday and there's so many people, you know that especially that we probably see every single day that you maybe haven't I had a good conversation with him. You see him in the lift line, his gear, but take over that lower midway lot, the poutine lot, right? Do you guys park there? Of course. Yeah. That's right. Park every day. Yeah. I parked there. Yeah. Yeah. No, I think it's, that's the character a lot. So we ask all of our guests, this one question. If Stowe didn't exist, where would you live? I probably would live in Killington. that's where I grew up skiing. Okay. I think that, the mountain there has so much terrain. Their operations are awesome. They make a ton of snow. They open early. They close late. they have the nightlife. And the new village is going to be really cool. Yeah, I think Killington would be my Good choice. Good choice. Cool. if anybody wants to check you out on Instagram, what is your handle? you can check me out at M testa, seven, four, two, five. or you probably just look me up, Matt testa. And, you can find me there. Yeah. Check him out. got some really cool footage that I know you'll enjoy. So so much, Matt. Yeah. I appreciate you joining us. Thank you guys so much for having me. Absolutely. A lot of fun. Cool, man. We'll see you on the Hill. All right. Sounds good. I'll see you out there. Hope you all enjoyed that episode with Matt Testa. Check out Matt's Instagram at mtesta7425 and remember to subscribe to the Octagon on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. See you next time.