#26: 2025 Winter Recap with Ted and Mike

This week Ted and Mike give a recap on what was an epic 2025 winter here in Stowe. We explore the mountain scene, legendary Hyde Cup tales, a banner Nordic ski season and all the happenings and events in this unique mountain town. We also give listeners a behind the scenes snapshot of what goes into creating Octagon Podcast episodes.

Tune in and relive all of your favorite winter moments with us in this special edition winter 2025 recap!

Transcript

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This episode of the Octagon is sponsored in part by archery close. Hey, this is Chris and Taste from Archery Clothes, your go-to boutique. For men's and women's fashion, we carry a curated selection of clothing, footwear, and gifts from unique and emerging brands. We're proud to sponsor the Octagon and even prouder to be local business owners here in Stowe. We love how the Octagon captures the history and characters of this incredible town. After coming off the slopes or the trails, stop by archery close. Located at 1650 Mountain Road in Stowe. Open seven days a week, or always open online@archeryclose.com. Welcome listeners to the Octagon Podcast. I'm your host, Ted Thorndyke, joined by my co-host, Mike Carey. We're doing a special edition here of the Octagon Podcast, a winter recap of what has been. I know for me a pretty amazing winter here in Stowe. and how we're gonna kick things off is Mike and I are each gonna give it a grade, of our winter, various travels, skiing, Nordic skiing among other events. So Mike, I want you to give me a grade. For the winter. I know you're INow. I've been thinking about this. I'm gonna give it an A. Okay. Not an A plus, but an A. Okay. Tell me why. All right. I'm gonna give you my, deep thoughts here. Yeah. The season got a little late start. We didn't really get kicked off till first week of December, and then it was unbelievable. December, January, February, you could go up any day. Yep. And it was gonna be. Powder packed powder. Yep. Every day. Unbelievable. Yep. March. I feel like we had some hiccups. It was funky. Funky we had some warm, a brief tailgate season. Very brief. We had that one week where it was 60 degrees. It was beautiful, Bluebird. And we're all right, here we go. And then all of a sudden we turned around and went the other way. We got some rain, some March. To me was up and down. Yep. and then April's been really good. We've had some really good days out there. we did have some wind holds along the way. We didn't have any giant storms. A lot of 6, 3, 7. Yep. Eight. So to me, a solid. A solid. A strong. A strong. A strong a. And we're still going. It's funny you mentioned the wind holds. we might have to bring in Andre for some statistics. Yeah. Versus a normal year. Interesting to know.'cause it was remarkable. Yeah. Number of wind holds. Yeah, but not early. Early on it was none. It all kicked up later. So I give it a solid a, but I gotta turn it around to you and ask you, I, I gotta give it an a plus. And here's why. Yeah. We didn't have the thaw that we usually have, in January, February, no thaw. Yep. when you have that thaw, not only does it, reduce the snow pack. Begins this, thaw, freeze cycle. Yeah. Yeah. And as someone who skins a lot, then you got the crampons out for weeks. And I think this winter I had maybe five days Yeah. Of crampons. More late in the season. Not early, more late in the season. Yeah. Yep. More late in the season. so that was a bonus held the snow pack. another reason, a lot of sleeper storms. Midweek sleeper storms. Where I wasn't planning on going, I checked the camera and eight inches or like we saw, they might have reported four, five early on until they got out there and checked the official snow plot and then it was eight or nine. Yep. There was a lot of those. A lot of those where it might start really hard at 6:00 AM Yeah, no, and you turned me on to some of those now that I think to it. There was a couple mornings you were coming down at seven 30 and you said, Mike, you gotta get up here. Yeah. Gotta get up there. And I wasn't gonna go. And I went up there, I was holy crap. He's right. Yeah. And as far as, snow consistency, a lot of. Just blower days. Yeah. just that light six inches on top of a groom. So yeah. It was, powder was packed. Powder on powder. Unpack powder. Yep. Yep. Very little ice. Yep. To deal with. Up there at all. Yeah. So a or a plus is pretty good. No, it was good. it was one of the. The best winters I can remember for sure. yeah. And is this the latest? This is the latest that the lifts have been open, that I can remember. I believe so. Usually mid April, maybe the 20th. So on that note, let's give a shout out to Sto Mont Resort. I. Yeah. Staying open an extra week. Staying open an extra week. locals are loving. It's great for the families that have that stayed. Yeah. Here for April break and even the grooming I guess to groom in the spring is a real nuisance I've heard. Yeah.'cause the snow's so soft and they're taking their time and given those trails a nice groom. Yeah. Taking the time. And I know they're patching. Yeah. Moving snow, move snow around. big shout out to mountain ops and the groomers. Yeah. The grooming team did an excellent job. I know for me, I think nose dive this winter skied. It's phenomenal. Unbelievable. Phenomen. Phenomenal all year. Phenomenal. Smooth, unbelievable smooth. Totally true, smooth, I'm trying to think of standout trails. Yep. Nose dive for me. Nose dive. Hay ride. Hay Ride was great. Great winter on a hay ride. Yeah. Most recently bypass, I don't know if you've skied bypass recently. Yeah, I was doing some corn bumps in there. Yeah. Unbelievable. Yep. I feel like Perry Merrill as always. Yeah. shout out to the mountain ops team for Sure. Blades too. t. Trace Amigos. Trace Amigos. Every time I went in there I had a big smile on my face. Yep. Christie Glades. Just even the little ones. Yep. Just great year. how about star goat? Do you get those going? Look out? Of course. Yep. I always love those because no matter what they are, they create their own energy, whether it's like their own giant bumps. Yep. Powder, whatever it is. you're in for a ride on those. So I guess I give those trails a little more leeway. For sure. They don't have to be perfect, but when they're perfect, that's unbelievable. I like to play the winds on those, Yeah. Ski the left side. Left side look out. Yeah. it depends what the wind's doing. Yeah. You know what else is in play again, is goat woods. I dunno if you ever go in there, remember for years that blow down ruined it. It's settling in. Yeah. It's settled in. That's now available again. Yeah. Oh, and the bruise trail. Let's talk about the bruise trail. I did. How many run? How many runs? Ah, I'm gonna say a dozen. Yep. Bruce Trail. I'm amazed. That's it. I feel like, yeah, you know what? It could be 15, I'm guessing. 15. It could be 15. Probably could have done it more. I could have, but 15 Bruce Trails. That's great. In every one of'em. That's great. Was delicious. Do you think it was because of Brian Lider? And the history. Maybe you felt like you were going back in time. We were. Yeah. the gods were paying it back for us. So I regret to say I didn't go down at once. Oh, I skinned up at once. Yeah. during that sunny stretch. And it was beautiful. Yeah. That's a tough skin. I was thinking long skin. The legends back in the day. Yeah, more on a backcountry theme. A couple amazing runs down skytop. Yeah. Which I didn't do all year. Yep. had a couple great days there. Yeah. And it was one of those, storms where started at maybe 3:00 AM heavy, got up there at eight or nine and got first tracks down. So that, that was a magical run that was down proper steeple or steeple blades down. Proper steeple. Proper steeple. And that was the beauty. I was the first one down. Oh, that's Steve Park. Yeah. With Melissa, my girlfriends, yeah. On a snowboard. So we were slashing it. It was great. Nice. Yep. That was one of my father's favorite. Yeah. Places as well. The sign, he had a sign up there, so I was able to take the sign down. Rehab. It would burn it. Yeah. Kiss the sky, embrace the earth. So shout out, go buy it every time. Shout out to my dad. So yeah, for anybody that loves that sign and up in Sky talk to the sign has been rehab. It's back up. So nice. Anybody going up? Take a moment to give a shout out to my dad for sure. What about the vibe on the mountain? This year I feel like everything's settled into place. I'd have to agree. Yeah. I think it, there's been growing pains. Yeah. just with ownership changes and all that and parking that you talked about, but the vibe was good. I think so. And of course snow helps the vibe A lot. This town, when it snows in the winter, people love, it's a good vibe. Yeah. It's like Christmas every day. But, no, I think the vibe was good and, yeah. and it also feels the local ski community is coming together a little bit. Yeah. And a little more stoked. Yeah. On STO and shout out to the new gm. Yep. I feel like he's done a great job. Has, made the decision to keep the mountain open for a week. Yep. Pawn skiing. Pawn scam. Bringing a great event. how many people do you think were there, Mike? Oof. Thousands. Yeah. Thousands. Yeah. I was sold out of entries. A hundred entries and sold out. I was at the starting gate. it felt like a World Cup race. Yeah. No joke. Yeah. And it wasn't even a beautiful day. No. People were showing up. So that shows you that if we can get the mountain and keep these events going and they see they're successful. Yep. They'll keep doing it. It's great. I think we're trending in a good direction. Yep. No doubt about it. And did do have to have a shout out, to Neil Van Dyke for his 71st birthday. That's right. Little tailgate party that same day there. Yep. So that was a lot of fun. Yep. That was good. Chili dogs. What about the morning skinning? Yeah. I've only did it a few times. Yeah. I feel like it used to be. Very busy up there. I can remember going up nosedive and being a trail of people. Has that quieted down? It has quieted down. I think it really peaked during Covid. Yeah. a lot more people around, but, it's peered out a little bit. Honestly. Some of the biggest crowds I saw were. Some of the April storms, as you mentioned, March was funky. Yeah. And early April, probably two weeks there. Yeah. There was, the crowds of old where you come in at 5 45 and the top lot's full. I think the skinny scene is starting to level out a little bit. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, it was a big boom there. Yeah. And then people probably got tired of waking up at four 30. And even just the whole mountain, I feel is back to a regular flow. Where at midweek it's pretty quiet. Yep. Pretty easy to get a lot of runs in the morning and weekends. Hey, it's busy. It's always been busy, but not crazy. You're not stuck in traffic. The whole way down mountain road like you were maybe 2, 3, 4 years ago. Yeah, and I think too, additionally. You know the back country was firing for long periods of time. Yeah. Nebraska Valley gives you options, gives you other options, Dewey, all that stuff. So I think that can cut back on the crowds going up, nosedive and just in general. Yeah. Especially during the week. Yeah. And Nordic, let's shout out to Traps. Unbelievable. Yeah. I mean they basically nonstop December, early December. Through mid to late March. How many Nordic skis do you think you had? Oh boy. Quite a bit. I probably have 40 or 50. Come on. Yeah, I went a lot. Awesome. Remember, I'd go up to the cabin for my lunch break from work. Yeah, that's right. What's your favorite meal at the cabin? it's soup. Okay. It's soup of the day. Yeah. Phil's making it happen up there. Yeah. legit soups. Yeah. Yeah. I probably got about 15 Nordics in and I would say everyone was good, but you. All right. How many skins though? 106 at the moment. I'm at 1 0 6, so I'm gonna guess I'm 35 skins. Nice. Nice. 70 lift served. Wow. I hit 15 lifts serve That's good. So you got 105 plus 15, 120. Bad. We're probably the same days on snow. Yeah. Yeah. We just diversify the portfolios. Yeah, it was great. shout out to my. To my niece. I was able to ski with her on her, on her birthday. Nice. She's 13 as well as my nephew skied with him, little Ripper. So that was a fun day. Nice. Another highlight for me this year, I really took advantage of the Epic Pass. Okay. Yeah. So I have a college friend that's visited me here in Stowe for 20 years. He just bought a place in Breckenridge. Okay. And he's retired, so went with the family in January. Skied Vail, Keystone, Breckenridge. Wow. Then went back for my annual guys' weekend, all my college buddies in April. Yep. Revisited Vail. Keystone Breck. Yep. And also was in Europe at the new Epic resort that they just bought called Kronz Montag in Switzerland. So all the days you skied out there. Covered by all covered bypass. Wow. And then I also went to Verbier for some backcountry. Guided skiing. Yep. which next year Verbier Yeah. Is on Epic. Five days included. Amazing. Amazing. So you took Advantage. I took advantage and. I can hear Mike getting up to an A plus potentially in the winter. No, I like the honesty. Yeah. Strong A is damn good. Strong A let's talk about just general Stoke community, this winter events happenings. Obviously. We had the High Cup. Had the High Cup again, had Mike Priestley on here talk about some of the history. Yep. Heard it was a great high cup this year. He played in, it was, yeah. it was probably a 10 year hiatus for me. Yeah. And six year hiatus from being on skates. So yeah. it was cool to be back. Shout out to Brian Lamb, the commissioner, for Thehy Cup. A lot of work goes into that. Eight teams, all ability levels, party afterwards at Rim Rocks, so shout out to them for hosting that. And, yeah, just a great community event. Joanna Graves was the recipient of the Big Al Community Shaman Award. Yeah. Talked about that one of our guests. But yeah, just, a great community tradition. Good to keep that going. And it really appears to be thriving, oh yeah. People come back for that. People wanna play in that. that's a great one. Yeah. And the derby. Yep. Feel like a little bit of a resurgence of the derby. I think so. Some new energy. I think so. Yeah, I think so. People don't wanna see that die. They want that. To be part of Stowe. Yep. We had Cap Chen with on talk about some history there. Talked about the Derby. how was it for you? I know you did the Derby Meister. he convinced me to do the Derby Meister forced you too. in retrospect. I'm glad you did. yep. It was amazing, to do the Double race. Yeah. Yeah. I was feeling that felt great. I was feeling that. Yeah. No, that was a great race. Shout out to Dustin Martin, who completed it on Alpine skis. Yeah. I'm think I'm thinking of next year and now you're thinking of that next year, that whole new category. The Heavy metal club. Heavy metal club. Michelin lame as well. She did it. She did it on Doky, so yeah. Another podcast guest. Yeah. No. Wow. But yeah, Derby was a success and hopefully we can build on that success. Yeah. To get some more think participants. I think we can. I think people are energized to do it. Great conditions too. perfection. Yeah. Really good. Yeah. Shout out to Lisa, your wife. Crushed it. All right. What else is going on around town, Mike? what else happened around town this winter? I feel like the music up at Spruce. Yeah. I got up to a couple shows up there. Some big names. Yeah, they're bringing in. There was Big Head, Todd, the Revivalist. Guster, I know Glo played over at, APRE. Only over at Field Guide. Yep. Yeah, they've had some good names there. Yeah. nice to see. Some real named acts coming through, not just. Ballet and, not that there's anything wrong, not that there's anything wrong, but you know, popular music and making the effort, And I think, as far as other things around town, restaurants, we've seen a continual shakeout and new players trying to come in. Yeah, we, we covered it in the year end review. I. Couple closings, right? Yeah. Like nocturnal. Nocturnal, yeah. DDAs. Yep. I'm not sure what's going on with that space, but hopefully a business that's a marquee space and stuff. Something marquee good's Gotta get in there. Marquee. A penalty box. Penalty box. Yeah. That just recently closed box. Closed some new places. I went to G Wilker's. Okay. For breakfast. I've been driving by it. Which is where the Dutch pancake, gray Fox. Amazing breakfast. What'd you get? I got the omelet and it's a French style omelet. A four feet. I don't know what means, I dunno what that means. I think he should go in there. The sausage was amazing. worth a visit. 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Meg Kaufman and Land Vests are the team you want on your side. So this winter, I know you did Thehy Cup and the Derby and you gave some speeches. Yeah. Yeah. For your dad. Yep. Yeah, no. Can you talk a little bit about that? it was, yeah, it was an emotional winter, there's no doubt about that. With my father passing in November and he was just such a community icon. And he did just about everything, including water polo when that existed in assuming, I always like to tell that story. So if there's a water polo event Yeah. You're gonna have to do that. Yeah. He dragged me there once and that was just an awful experience. But, yeah, he was a pillar of the community. he was really big into the STO derby, so really felt apropos to. Do the Derby Meister. Yeah. For him, with you as well as Andrew Rush. Yeah. And, there's a lot of cool history for him involved as well with his father and grandfather. that it was special. And my mother was able to attend and take pictures. He used to do the Derby Meister, right? I think he did five. Five, yeah. Five. yeah, that was a cool experience. Was able to, give a speech after. Yeah. just to remember him. And then the Hy Cup. He was a big participant in that. And, I had a heist for many years and Brian Lamb nudged me a little bit and I was so glad I did. They really made an amazing effort to, to remember him. Yeah. Every single puck drop before every puck drop, they do a moment of silence for my dad. Wow. and as I mentioned, they created the Big Al Community Shaman Award. That was given to Joanna Graves. So that will be given out every year. Every year. Beautiful trophy. some folks at CLER Builders, handcrafted. Nice. Nice piece of wood. Yeah. are you surprised how much the community recognized Dad? I was your dad. I was and I knew your dad, dad was such a great guy but I feel like there's a, there's people really appreciated him. Yeah. Talking to my brother and my mother, we've been blown away. Yeah, we knew the impact he had on the community. Yeah. there's no doubt about that. But, it's been amazing how many people have reached out and like I said, just the effort that was made, we had a friend who made. Pins, iron out. Yeah. And we were handing them out at the derby. Yeah. Just, the effort with all those little things to, to remember him, it feels really good. Yeah. and then I think it's allowed me to pivot into a more of a celebration mindset for my dad. Obviously it's super difficult and grieving every day, but, celebrate the good times and just keep the traditions going. yeah. Yeah. It was, and appreciate what he stood for all these events. Yeah. He did all these events, did'em all, he was. Motivated. He got other people motivated. Yeah. He was a positive force. Yeah. For these events, no, he, In a friendly way, bullied a lot of people to do it, and they were so psyched. But that's the thing. Yeah. And that's what it takes to keep these events alive is I remember him shoveling snow at a derby 10 years ago. Yep. so Yeah. He was, you didn't just do it, he supported them. Yeah. It's one thing to do it, it's another of thing to promote it. Yeah. and he did both in a big way. So yeah. it was, a challenging, but very, a special winter. Yeah. And I think there's no doubt, he, he gave us some snow. Yeah, for sure. For sure. No doubt about it. Especially like your Skytop run. Yeah, that was amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Run of the year for me. it's spring now. Everyone seems pretty gung-ho getting their bikes out. I've been on the mountain bike already Nice. And we're those rides after skiing? Did you do the ski bike combo? Yes. Both times. Does it get better? I skied a goat Yeah. In the morning. Yep. And I mountain bike Katy Hill, down Florence. And I said to myself, I go, I don't think I've ever skied goat. Skied goat. Yeah. And mountain biked. Yeah. In a day. That's the snow pack. I don't think that's ever happened. Yeah, that's the snow pack right there. Yeah. I've been on my gravel bike once, went Monday night. I don't think I've done the dual. But for me, the dual sport looks a little different in the spring. A lot of times I'll ski and then look for shed antlers. Yeah. Talk about the shed antlers loose. You just found, I found one yesterday. Yeah. Really nice. Four point white tail shed. I can't say where, but, not in ow It was in ow. Oh, it was, yeah, it was in ow. But, yeah, it's become, a favorite activity of mine. in the springtime. It's a very short window because the snow needs to melt. Yeah. So you can see the antler and then before everything grows up and covers it additionally. Critters such as foxes, raccoons will chew the antler as a source of calcium. Ah, I didn't know that. So you're racing against the foxes, porcupines, raccoons. yeah. it's just a cool way to be out in the woods, away from people. no leaves on the trees, no bugs. Yeah. All the leaves are matted down. spent the first part of the week looking for moose sheds. Didn't find any. It was on Eden Standard looking around. and then yesterday I just hit a spot in Beautiful, white till shed that it shed probably a couple months ago. Yeah. Had been, it's pretty in immaculate shape. so what do you get another two weeks of that maybe, or It's elevation dependent? Yeah. in the lowland swamps that'll start growing up quick. Yeah. But above 2000 feet. I'd say, two to three weeks. So hoping to hit a spot tomorrow, higher elevation. And then it is back to work Monday. I've had the week off. I know. Spring. Spring in Vermont's a great time. Yeah. Are you sad when ski season ends? I. I'm not, I know some people are very sad on ski season. You know what? This winter, I don't think anyone should be sad because you can't leave wanting for more. Like it was all there, whether you were skinning or skiing, whatever you were doing. It was all there. some years when you feel like you didn't get enough. Yep. A little sad, but no. This winter, I'm ready. I'm in the same boat. Ready to move on. I know when I walked in, I saw. The tubs, the equipment, tubs the gear. Yeah. The switch over at my house is a very serious, undertaking by Lisa. Yeah. So once the gear goes in a bin that's labeled Mike ski stuff, okay. And it's cleaned and folded, it does not come back out, and it Almost happened last year. There was a tuckerman's trip that started, I was gonna last that was happening and my stuff was folded in the bin and tucked away. Yeah. And did you have to sneak down there, do you know, while she was asleep? The box it's under locking key with a padlock. I did sneak it out that time though. Once then you had to wash it? Yeah. Any trips to New Hampshire for you? Tux, anything like that? I haven't thought about tux. Yeah. I'm hearing it's still in play. I'm sure. Yeah. I'm hearing it still in play. You never know. I know Octagon guest, Carl Lipsky is, he's been there a bunch of times. Okay. He's just out there a couple days ago. I wonder how far you can ski to the bottom. Yeah. I'll have to ask him. Ski out. Yeah. Yeah, that's, yep. That's a factor. Yeah. Hike up, ski, hike back down. and then of course, E-bike season. how, how could you not get excited? How could you not get excited for that? Yeah. But we've got some great e-bike tours. Okay. Planned whereabouts? Eastern townships. Okay. Up in Quebec. Right over the border. That'll be nice. Great bike trails. Yep. Wineries, great food. Little villages. Yep. it's a great spot. No, I've heard it's nice. Yeah. Hour and a half away. You feel like you're in France. have you ever run out of battery juice on an e-bike ride? I have not. And what do you do then? You just pedal it like any other bike? Yeah, you just pedal like a regular bike. They gotta be heavy though, right? Oh, they're 62 pound bikes. Yeah, but no, it's never these, the batteries we have are super big. He could go 80, 90 miles. Yeah. My dad had an e-bike and it's in the garage and I've been walking by it and it's been like taunting me. To try and ride it. And I just keep walking by, so we're gonna go, I'm gonna take you out on it. And just to be clear, my mountain bike is a regular mountain bike.'cause I've seen some people around town that when they see me in Katy, he'll oh, are you on your e-bike? I heard about that on the po. I go, no, I still mountain bike on a regular mountain bike. That's, this is a different sport. That's that's probably partially my fault. You get attacked. You get attacked in this town. In all seriousness, that the eastern townships, that, that sounds like a really cool trip. Yeah. amazing place to go. Biking for anybody that's looking for a great. Short, trip getaway. It's awesome. And do you line up, bed and breakfast in Yeah. Or do you just do day trip out and back trips? you can do either on those trips. Yeah. They actually have a whole route that goes Montreal all the way to Sherbrook. It's a four day trip. I've never done it. but it's all mapped out and they, they'll move your luggage. Yeah. Yeah. From end to end. It's not rough in it. So I think, what could be fun is do some rapid fire questions. Yeah. Let's do it. As we're Wrapping up the winter. First question. These are for both of us by the way. Yes. We'll both be answering them. February morning, 6:00 AM skin up, nose dive on. Perfect. Groomer day or April afternoon. Skin up. Main Street and Bluebird. For me it's Bluebird April. That's my skin time. I'd have to say nose dive. Yeah. I figured I'd have to say nose dive. it's where my people are. Yeah. it's a cool community. Yeah. See a lot of folks there. All right. Quitting your day job and becoming a professional podcaster or professional tennis player. Oh, wow. Professional tennis player. Yeah, I'd say the same. Yeah. Or any professional podcasters. yeah. I'm amazed we put that question in. Favorite combination run on the mountains, stitching multiple trails woods together. All right. this, I know this for me. Okay. All right. So it's. take the quad up. Do bypass. Okay. To nose dive glads. Yep. Cut across nose dive To midway. Okay. Ski down midway. Take that left onto national Wow. Left side of national. To lower national. Wow. Wow. It's one of the best runs on the mountain. Yeah, you get it all woods. Yeah. A little bit of groomer on Midway. more bumps on national and then lower Nash where everybody feels like they're the best skier on the mountain, that low angle bumps. So that to me is the quintessential Yeah. hybrid run. Yeah. I probably don't ski as many bumps in woods as you. Yeah. But. I'd say, lookout, star patch. just weaving that, in and out of the different wood sections. Okay. maybe start on lookout, duck in the woods, cut over to some of star, back over. so then you're almost getting. Some trail skiing. Get in the woods. Yeah. Just different terrain features. All right. Ski destination on your travel bucket list? I would say. I'm gonna give two. sun Valley had a lot of people raving about that. Yeah. And Big Sky. Yep. Haven't been to either of those. Yep. Those are two I've never been to either. Yeah. Yep. I'm gonna go with Revel Stoke. Yep. Nice. Which I've heard a lot about. Same. Sounds like a great vibe. Same and heli skiing. I've never done a heli ski trip. Cat skiing. You ever done that? Never done cat skiing. Yeah. I did some cat skiing in Alaska. That was pretty cool. Yeah. I have a third one chilly in the summer. Oh, just something about packing your ski stuff up in August. Definitely. Yeah. To go down to the southern Hemisphere looks like a great time. Yeah. That was where Noah Dynes. Yeah. compiled a lot of his vertical feet and it looked amazing. Yeah, his pictures looked amazing. Yeah. Probably just a great vibe down there. Yep. regular destination on general travel bucket list. Japan? Yeah. Japan's been on. Yeah, our list for a while just seems like the food's amazing, the people, the culture's so different, the snow. Just some of the videos I've seen, no snow monkeys. There's some great hiking snow monkeys. Yeah, Hiking from town to town. Yeah, you can do that. It's got it all. So yeah, that's been on, that's on our list. we'll get there. But yeah, that's on our list. I'd say for me, European trip. You know that. I know you've spent some time out there. Yeah. Something like Switzerland, Austria. Yeah. The mountains just sounds hiking or skiing or both? Probably skiing. Yeah. But both. Yeah. I think it at some point, I've been to France once, but it just, it looks well, epic. Pass crown's, Montag and Ver. Yeah. Next winter be good. A lot of skinning at Verbier. Yeah. Yep. And Kranz, Montana. You can go right during the day. All right, last question. Would you rather be stuck on a gondola ride with a group of super annoying people, nonstop talking or stuck skiing on Cliff Trail? Unable to pass a herd of beginner skiers clogging up the trail. Oh, that's easy. Cliff Trail. I can get claustrophobic, Just being, you'd rather be on Cliff Trail. Just stuck behind the herd. I'm out. I'm outside at least, and there are some of those little offshoots, but those can be dangerous too. I've definitely almost hit people coming out of those, but Yep. I'd say Cliff, I think I'd rather be stuck on the gondola. Okay. I think I could tune them out. Okay. But when I'm going down Cliff Trail and I just can't get through. Yeah. It's tough and I'm stuck. It's tough. It's Every time you make a move, the person cuts left. Yeah. in front of you. Yeah. Then you cut, right? And then they cut, right? Yeah. And then someone else comes outta nowhere. Yeah. Yeah. And it's pretty narrow. It is narrow. That's There's no place to go, right? No place to go. These little kids coming outta the woods sometimes. Yeah. So if you're in the gondola, do you just go into this zen. Mental state when you're just crammed in there, yeah, that's exactly what I do. you sometimes you get in a gondola, you're in a jovial mood. You're like, oh, hey, true. Hey, who are you? Where are you from? Meet some cool people. And then, 30 seconds in, you realize you're in this super annoying gondola and you're just all right, seven minutes. Eight minutes. Do you get like the earbuds going? No. And earbud. I just look out the window. Yeah, look out the window and think, all right, good views. I got the wrong gondola this time. Better luck next time. I think looking back on not only the winter, but the fall as well, roughly six months of the Octagon podcast. Yeah. I started in October. We've had going here just some. stats to look back on. Mike and I were checking before the recording. Are we up to almost 9,000 downloads? 9,000 downloads? Yep. 9,000 downloads. Which is a lots. Yeah, that is a lot. It's a lot. I think the community, I know for me, I go around People love it. Yep. They love what we're doing. They have ideas for who we should have on. I think people have really taken to it, and I get asked a lot. How do you do the podcast? I think, there's a mystery to the podcast, how to start one. Yeah. How to do it, how to get it going, how to promote it, all of that. I thought we'd talk a little bit about what we just do, how we make this happen behind the scenes of the octagon. there's nuances right? To the podcast. I think that we've both realized we didn't know anything about podcasting when we started this. and we're continually working to improve. content, thinking about, how can we just find different guests, different topics Yeah, exactly. That are interesting to. a wide audience. that's been interesting, right? For both of us. Yep. to us, we'll do a recording, we're oh, I wonder what people will think of that. Mm-hmm. And some people will say that's the best one that we've ever done. And then other ones that we might be oh, the community's gonna love this. Some people skip over it. Yeah. So it is, there's a diverse audience looking for different things. Yeah. And I just think how people listen varies too. I'll talk to a lot of people where they haven't listened to many and then they'll have a long travel day and they'll listen to 10, pray through 10 episodes. Yeah. And then other people, the minute they come out, they listen to them. Yeah. So here's how we do it. I, me and Ted get together, put together a list of guests that we think would have a interesting story to tell. Yep. Try and get'em on the podcast. That's the first thing. That's a process. Not everybody wants to be on a podcast. Not everybody's thing. Yep. Not everybody's thing. So we have to have people wanting to do it. Getting them calendared. Yep. Yeah. Planning it and then. There's always a research phase. Yeah. we always wanna work hard in gathering information, not only from the guests, maybe other community members. Yeah. Yeah. What's the story we're trying to hopefully Get to what's the story that this person Can tell about their life Yep. In Stowe, what they've contributed. Unique things they've done. Who they are as a person. Yeah. and we roughly do our best to, split the episode into half about the person backstory. Yeah. Professional life, personal life, and then really tie in the connection to Stowe. we do have all the equipment. Yep. Specialized podcast equipment, headphones, microphone, podcast recording device. Record the whole episode. Yep. Not live. A lot of our guests are put at ease, when we tell them beforehand that, that it is not live. Yeah. And we do have an editing software. Yeah. Which is a big part of what we're doing now. Big part of the product. Yep. Yep. So the editing software's called script. And the first thing we do is suck out all of the filler words. Yep. So all the ums likes, you knows. Yep. Which is a lot. More than people would ever realize, more than you realize in everyday communication. We'd use these words quite a bit. All the time. All the time. And so the software sucks that out. And then just further editing to clean it up, make it crisp. And then we have a platform called Buzz Sprout. And that enables us to launch it to Spotify as well as Apple. and it keeps all of our statistics. We can Yeah. Get all the analytics. Tell us, where are listeners, where are they located? are they listening through Spotify, apple, total number of downloads. Total number of downloads per episode as well. Yeah. And location. where it was. Yeah. And Yep. That's kind of it. That's that's the deal. Yeah. Shout out to our sponsors. Yeah. Still living. Yeah. Alweiss Land vest. Land vest, archery close. Yeah. Yeah. Great. Shout out to them. Yeah. Shout out to our sponsors for. Believing in us. Believing in us, and wanting to be a part of it. What have you learned from doing the podcast? what's been eye-opening for you throughout the six months? I was talking to a friend of mine. I think the first thing for me. that I've learned, maybe about myself, is a lot of times we're all capable of more than we think we are. I think something like a podcast can seem like a fun idea, Hey, let's start a podcast. Then once you really get into the nitty gritty, like we just talked about it, it's a lot of work. it's a lot of learning and I think a year ago if somebody said, Hey, you will start a podcast in year, I'd say, yeah, I don't think so. Yeah. I just, I convinced myself, I didn't have the skill or the expertise. that's been a really cool awakening for me. And I think the second thing, I just feel like I've become closer with the community. Yeah. I've formed a lot of new connections, relationships. I've learned a lot more about Stowe. I grew up here. I've lived elsewhere, but it's been 43 years in and out of Stowe. And the amount of stuff I still dunno about the town that I'm learning is pretty awesome. what about you? what's the process? Yeah, similar, I'd say similar, starting the podcast. not knowing at all Yeah. How to do a podcast. So I think just that learning Yeah. Of really how to dial it in. That's been interesting. Yep. And exciting doing it with somebody doing it with you. Yep. Has been helpful and motivating. Definitely. if you do this yourself, could be lonely. Could be lonely. Yeah. so I think we push each other to try and do more and get this guest, we both come from different perspectives, backgrounds, you've had guests on and I have had no idea who they are and I had on and you have no, and then you leave and we're wow, what a great person. Yeah. Forming connections. I'm glad I met them. Forming connections. there's days where. we both work. And recording a podcast at five at night after a full day of work and maybe getting the skin in earlier in the day. Sometimes you're like, what am I doing? Why do I have to go do this? Yep. And then when you do it, it always leads to some new enlightenment. So like you said, doing more than you think you can. And then the third is, yeah, the community. I see people around town that we've had on the podcast and I say hi to them. Yeah. But I didn't know their stories. Yeah. there's been some people on that have been blown away Yeah. By what they've done and accomplished and That's been great to, to learn about, establish that connection to people. Yeah. No, it's been fun. looking ahead, octagon podcast, we are considering a few different. Mediums. Yeah. Keep doing what we're doing. Keep doing the high quality podcast. Keep pumping those out. exploring potential video. We are starting shorts, starting to explore video, explore that option. We got some good ideas for what some really interesting video content could look like. Yep. Don't wanna share those yet. No, not yet, but. Yep. So we're considering that, really thinking about implementing some live recordings. Yep. I saw one of those in Boston. Yeah, I was down in Boston for the marathon last week. For the marathon. Yeah. And I saw the podcaster set up on Got you fired up public garden. Got you fired up. Did get me fired up. Yeah. Took a picture of what the setup was. Yeah. No, and we think that could be cool just for our listeners to, to see what it's all live and, soak in some of that energy. So yeah. Yeah, we're exploring some options. Maybe at an event, a community event, So yeah, see where this takes us. See where it takes. So thanks all the listeners to all the support. Yeah. Thanks everybody. I think that's a wrap. Hope you enjoyed that episode of the Octagon Podcast. Remember to like us on Instagram and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. See you next time.