Season 2: #11 Mike Hayes: The Endless Pursuit of Filming the Mt. Mansfield Backcountry

This week we chatted with Mike Hayes who is one of the key figures in Stowe’s extreme skiing and ski-filming community. He’s someone who doesn’t just chase lines—he documents them and helps tell the story of what it really takes to ski big terrain on the East Coast. From epic powder days, dawn patrol missions to bluebird days when everything comes together, Mike has been behind the lens capturing some of the most compelling images and moments on Mt. Mansfield.

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This episode of the Octagon Podcast is brought to you in part by Archery Close and Union Bank. Hey, it's Taste and Chris from Archery Close your go-to Men's and Women's Boutique located here in Stowe. If you haven't stopped in yet, we'd love to see all of you Octagon listeners. We have a curated selection of emerging designers and brands you already know and love. From outerwear to footwear to party wear, we have it all to get you dressed in style this winter season. Stop in for yourself or to get started on your holiday shopping. Archery Close is open seven days a week at 1650 Mountain Road or always online@archeryclose.com. Since 1891, union Bank has made banking a little bit easier and more convenient for you by investing in the success of its local community. Your community headquartered in Mooresville Union Bank has 18 branches and three loan centers throughout Northern Vermont and New Hampshire. Union Bank is a proud supporter of the Octagon Podcast, as well as many fantastic community oriented endeavors such as the STO Trails Partnership, the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum, and the STO Land Trust to name a few of the over 200 nonprofits they work with. To learn more, go to ub local.com. Welcome listeners to the Octagon Podcast, where we explore the stories, people, and places that make STO Vermont so legendary. I'm your host, Ted Thorndyke, joined by my co-host Mike Carey. We are excited to introduce our guest today, Mike Hayes. Mike is one of the key figures in STOs, extreme skiing and ski filming community. He's someone who doesn't just chase lines. He documents them and helps tell the story of what it really takes to ski. Big train on the East coast from epic powder days, Dawn patrol missions to Bluebird days When everything comes together, Mike has been behind the lens capturing some of the most compelling images and moments on Mount Mansfield. Welcome Mike. Hi guys. Thanks for having me. Welcome on a nice powder day today. I know I can't wait to get out there tomorrow. what a month? Yeah. Unbelievable. let's just talk about November a little bit. yeah, I put in 20 plus days in November, I can't remember a season I know that began quite like this one, right? So I was talking to Mike before the episode and I'm I already feel like I've had half a ski season. Yeah, I'm what are we gonna ski next? I've skied a lot of lines already, so you wanna skied off the chin. they haven't even hit December here yet, so yeah. I'm excited to see what the season brings. Yeah, totally. No, we got snowfall right now, so tomorrow should be good. Today was great. Yeah. And, yeah. Awesome. Great to have you here. And we will just jump right in. Maybe take us back to the early days for you. where did you grow up? How did you first get into skiing? Yeah, so I grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts. Oh. yeah, Western Mass. Home of the big mountains. Yeah. Yeah. My uncle and aunt live in East Long Meadow. Okay. Yep. Yeah, so I did some Long Meadow, did some Springfield living and, Yeah, I skied my entire life. My parents had a house, in Oche for a long time. Oh, nice. and then we were weekend warriors driving up in my dad's SOB nine five. just rallying up to the mountains when we could. and then I got into ski racing. skied a lot of Berkshire East for a few. winters. before moving on to Mount snow, we had a house at Mount Snow and I was skiing during the week, for my high school team. And then on the weekends at Mount Snow, really just grew up in the racing, programs'cause Free skiing really wasn't a thing yet, which is weird to say nowadays. how big it is. but it's still really in the infancy, so it really came through a racing background. So you were racing, when did you start getting into back country woods, some of that type of stuff? Yeah, so I actually came up here to Stowe in the late, nineties, and stayed at the ski dorm, before that closed down. And I remember coming up here pretty vividly and seeing people hiking above the lifts. And I think that really opened my mind that there was, yeah, that country, another world like country skiing in the East coast, which are like you would see in the movies. But it was never really, I meathead films was seemed like. Yeah. And that was relatively early on, like before then, and just opened my mind that wow, you could do the things that they were doing in the movies here in the East Coast and. You didn't really have to just ski the trail. So I think that kind of opened my mind. to backcountry and side country skiing and really grew my kind of love for Vermont. And when I was looking for places to go to college, I only applied to UVM and St. Mike's'cause I knew I wanted to continue to ski and mountain bike. And, Yeah. And then, stopped racing as I entered college. And that's really when I got, fully focused on, freestyle and free skiing. Yep. So you went to St. Mike's? Yep. Went to St. Mike's. And you were skiing sto or Sto? Sugar Bush Big pass. I did'em all. I actually, I was, doing the Tuesday, Thursday afternoon class schedule, so I could see every day of the week. nice. No, true ski bum fashion and, Yeah, skied a lot at Stow. That first year. A lot of Jay had a Mad River Pass and really explored it, but through that whole college tenure really found my love for Mount Mansfield, just because of the variety of terrain that it offers. Yeah. So you mentioned, that time when you were staying at ski dorm and you saw some of the people going out into the back country. did that really start in college and maybe just. Take us through that process. did you have some mentors that were, maybe showing you some lines? Or was it just, Hey, I'm gonna get out there and check it out and explore? Yeah, I think definitely some mentors, but really I think, like you alluded to, meet head films Poor boys productions. There was a lot of kind of energy around free skiing at that time. X Games actually was down in Mount Snow at one point. Yeah. and so I think. Really the kind of sport was developing. And even when I came up here to stay at the ski dorm, I remember there was a halfpipe in front of Midway Lodge at that point, and they did night skiing and night skiing, and then theres fireworks. And it blew my mind. I was this is the greatest place on earth and I need to be here. So I think. all of that culminated into shaping kind of my skiing. and frankly, also, I wasn't a great ski racer. I was competing against people who went to Burke Mountain Academy. Yeah. And I just didn't have the chops to compete against them. free skiing, was really an outlet for me to explore my creativity too. Absolutely. And. It's really a combination of creativity, of performance, of weather. Your gear and conditions and When all of those things to come together. It's a really magical, almost experience and kind of through college, having those experiences just continue to grow my love for the sport. Yep. Now, were you filming back then or were you starting to film?'cause was GoPro even a thi I don't think GoPros were around, were they? just halfway through my college tenure. They started, coming out but really was doing some camcorder style, my friended one to his helmet. The Jack camcorder. Exactly. So I was really filming kind of other people and. Yeah, you'd work all season long and have a season edit. And you'd be stoked if you got 500 views on that. And so it's a very different, the kind of way you can distribute content now, obviously than it was Yeah. back then. and just the amount of content you put out and how fast that all goes now, where you're doing daily updates now Back there as the season updates. Yeah. And then it transitioned to monthly updates as. Things like YouTube were invented, which is really dating myself now. Or Facebook at that point was just for college students. yeah. it's really evolved not only the way we shoot footage with like you alluded to GoPro, but how you also distribute that, that footage. Yeah. So what were you using? and then maybe just run us through the evolution of the various devices you were using to start filming. Yeah. So in those kind of early days, there was really just camcorders. Yeah. And I was filming a lot of my friends. And then after college, I, a lot of kids went back to Massachusetts to work, kind of finance jobs and whatnot. And then I was okay, I'm. Here by myself. I need to film more, by myself and GoPro really fit that kind of nature. Okay. And when did GoPros first? Come on the scene. I think it was back in 2007. Okay. from what I recall and when I at least first got one. But you have to remember the stability of those cameras wasn't, what they are today. Yeah. And maybe not as durable today. not as durable and big cases. but really was an interesting perspective.'cause POB really hadn't come out on the market yet. Yet, unless you were scrapping the camcorder to your helmet, which is a great innovation. but really. GoPro was that first device that was used by a lot of people to film that POV angle. And they've gotten a lot better, obviously, throughout the years, and they continue to get better. And, the footage is frankly just more watchable now. Instead of watching it bounce around, it's totally, it's high quality. High quality, totally crisp. Exactly. Chris. Exactly. So you graduate college, you stick around in Vermont, you're I'm staying here. I love the mountains. You stay in Burlington? Yeah, I stayed in Burlington. I worked at, magic Hat in my college days. And then I continued to work there after college. So I worked there for three years and really was frankly at that point, more focused on my career than skiing. how disappointing. I know. I know everyone's gotta do it once in their life. So I'm almost the backward ski bum where I ski now, probably more than I did in those early years. post college. and then I had the opportunity to work at Ben and Jerry's, so worked there for, a dozen years. and really the way I was able to make skiing work is just skiing before work and at really dawn, it, wasn't anything more than just trying to fit in when I could ski in my schedule. And so I'd ski every weekend and ski a couple times during the week Before work and I was just trying to piece it all together. All right, so let's break that down. Yeah. You're living in Burlington. You're working in Burlington. You're trying to get some cool footage before work, WW when are you waking up? what's the routine there? Yeah, so it was really around three or four in the morning. I was getting up. that sounds like three. Yeah. and for a long time, as you might recall, Ted, I lived in the new North end that, so That's right. A farthest point away. So it was an hour or 10 from my doorstep to the mountain. white not playing on 89. No plows. No plows are out and. by the time you get to the midway parking lot you are jacked up. Yeah. You're ready to go. You've got the hard part behind you, honestly. yeah. That was more scary than my skiing. A lot of caffeine. Yeah, exactly. So we get there ready to go and. do my hike, do my ski and race back to Burlington and go right to the office, change out the office and, put in my days of work. Everyone's looking at you oh, I went to the gym this morning. yeah, I just, I was at the chin this morning. Or you got some people that are the roads are really bad. I'm not gonna drive in who live in Burlington. There is a lot of that, but I was really just focused on making it. Yeah, happen. you just did it'cause you enjoy it. Yeah. and I didn't really think too much about it and I didn't really try to talk about it a lot to my coworkers. Same. I really didn't want to detract from my job. I totally really was. I didn't want them to think I was. Taking away from my, from what I was trying to do with my career professionally. So hundred percent. I do the same. Yeah. Like work, hey, so guess what I was doing? just, yeah, I moved. It makes me happy, so that's why I do it. I moved here from Massachusetts 15 years ago and I left my phone number the same. Yeah. I never changed my LinkedIn. Exactly. no one needs to know exactly. Don't mix the two. No. all So how do you morph? So let's get into some of the filming. So you're starting to get into filming. I'm imagining it's all kind of converging, skinning filming a little bit Instagram and Instagram came out and I think it was a 2010. And at that point it was just a photography platform. And so I was just at that point. Focus more on photography, taking photos of ski. So not really much. You weren't really posting videos yet? I was doing one season edit a year. Okay. Yeah. And, doing photos. and then, for big storms I might post a video, and then some content networks and aggregators, started to pop up, unofficial networks. And TGR had platforms. So I began posting on YouTube and sharing my content through those channels. And it started to Get more and more, traction, but it really wasn't till, almost 2020 where Instagram started to have, reels, which is, dating myself. But, which was a new way of sharing content and that really sped up the entire kind of editing process to distribution. like I said before, I was getting previously 500 views. for a season edit. Then it started to really pick up in the, amount of views you would get and the traction of the content I was posting. So once you really started, amping up the videos, did you have, the, roughly the same kind of lines you were skiing at that time, or, wa was your knowledge pretty solidified of the mountain at that time? Or did you have go-tos that, that you'd filmed? Yeah, honestly, a lot of the stuff I'm skiing now is the same stuff I skied in, when I started skiing here, I was having a season pass in 2004. So obviously I'm, I've continued to grow my knowledge through the mountain and exploring and. I have a much better, obviously, understanding of the mountain than I used to. but really, yeah, it's a lot of the same stuff, that I used to do. Yeah. And now I've seen your, a lot of your stuff is sunrise. is that your kind of, your, marquee? I guess when you're thinking about uploading video, are you looking for the perfect. Images like sunrises. Are you looking for the perfect pow? what goes through your mind? all right, this is worthy of an upload. Not everything could, yeah, could be worthy of an upload. I can't believe. Anywhere. Yeah. Some of it's just utility, right? I just don't really love skiing in the dark. I skied in the dark today, but I just, it stumbled across it, right? Where. when I was driving here from Burlington, I was just trying to get up for sunrise'cause I wanted to ski in sunlight. It sounds dumb, but it really, and then I started posting more sunrise photos and I noticed that did really well and people were really into that. and then that's obviously progressed into kind of what my style of video is of really looking at interesting light and there is a lot of interesting kind of light. on the mountain, especially in the early morning. So that's something I'm always mindful of either looking for good snow or interesting light or interesting terrain. So really trying to capture that and capture the mountain as it goes through the season. and really almost tell that story of Mansfield. Yeah. Yeah. So every time you go up, do you have your gear with you, As far as filming stuff or is that, and then you're just oh, we'll figure it out. Or you just check in weather I think for the, yeah, I think I usually have a GoPro probably on me.'cause it's just easy to carry. It's easy. But there's a lot of days as Ted, that the aren't great might be raining, it might be windy, that you just are going out there for the physical activity and just to be your love for the mountain. A hundred percent. I'm usually thinking the week ahead of, what's gonna come in. Yep. based on the snow pack. what have I already skied for the season? I usually have a list of things that I wanna accomplish through the year, in, in terms of capturing. And I almost never get that full list. And that's what kind of keeps me, keeps you motivated here and wanting to, continue to explore the mountain and share. everything that makes Mansfield. but usually I have objective for the weak in mind. Yeah. But also you have to be dynamic, of you just, yeah. Because sometimes you never know. There's probably times where you've gone up and you have the goer on, you aren't planning on it, and you're oh, wow, I wasn't expecting that. Yeah, totally. You just don't know. Especially with, the could. Cool light that came in, or clouds that came in, or they're, someone might have skied your lines, so you, the line that you had in mind was already, skied so you're picking something else. So really, I typically have kind of a plan, but also being agile to what's going on. And as we know, just the weather up there, anything, that's what makes it awesome. No, totally. So is the, I'm just curious, your list, your checklist, is it okay, sunrise, profanity? Is it certain trails with certain aspects? A little bit, but I'm always trying to capture something different. obviously sunrise, profanity I gained a lot of followers through that and Right. Been there, done that though, right? Yeah. when I first did it, no one had really, I don't wanna say no one had really captured it quite like I had maybe captured it. So that definitely put me on a different level and in terms of the volume of views that those videos have gotten. But, yeah, I always look at different ways of capturing that, but a lot of that stuff is. You can't control the weather, right? Yeah. And, you can't control the snow. You can't control the wind. but if you go up there every day and you're just constantly focused on, yeah, if you're going up steam capturing go enough times. Yeah. You'll see some cool stuff. Yeah, you'll get it. so you're going up, you're headed to profanity and you're alright, it's too cloudy, it's not worth it today. Do you then say, oh, I'm gonna go do this other line that I think is gonna be better today? Sometimes, yeah. profanity is a good trail, so it's hard to give that, give that up. But yeah, I'm always looking at what's good. Yeah. What's gonna ski good. Yeah. especially if it's profanity, I usually check a few lines, hourglass, profanity. And that's me running around. At the, on top of the mountain at 5:00 AM trying to see what's good racing them, knowing that the sun's gonna come up in 10 minutes. I gotta make a decision. Yeah. And when you say someone took your line, mean people beating you up there, are there other people up there? There's a lot of lunatics out there. Yeah, there's up, there's other people up there. People out there. I think people always just say I'm the only one who's up there hiking. It's not that case at all. And I don't even think I skin the most I always try to pay respect to those people who go even more than I do. I'm up there a lot. Two winters ago, I started at five 15 with three of my buddies and they're all right, we're gonna ski hourglass. And there was Mike. Yeah. Top dropping in. busy up there. I was you missed it. Dropping in. That was an interesting morning, but you had some good footage going on. Halbrook once too, might have been sunrise ish. First tracks done that. Yeah. But that's. A cool vantage point. Yeah. Cool footage and hell, and it's just always a cool experience having that light. that's some of the best light of the day and the way it reflects off of the, it's magical, the snow and the way you can just sit up there and watch the sun come up over the valley. that's just that's spiritual, magical. I'm saying spiritual. Wow. that's probably the closest thing to spiritual. I get same. So same. but those are. Awesome moments, and usually I'm by myself and to really just experience that and absolutely to sit up there and wait for, to see what happens with the light. I've, there's times where I've been up on top of the mountain waiting half an hour for. The light to come in or the sun to come up. And those are really special moments. Yeah, absolutely. So the, we've got these, some other filmers, local filmers we had Matt Testa on. Yeah. Great friend. Yep. Jaff. Yep. Brooks Current. Yeah. these are other STO kind of people. They followed you guys trading notes. Are you bumping into each other up there? What's the is there a little culture there between you guys? No, we're always chatting and it's always interesting too, and Brooks and Matt and I ski together'cause we don't usually like to. Ski, tracked out terrain. So we kinda all split up and reconvene at the end of the day. but yeah, I always trying to share notes, especially if you know there's dangerous conditions. yeah. Or we've seen something. I typically try to share it with kind of others that I know might be in that terrain. Yeah. but that's. It's awesome to have that community, right? Yeah. That people are keeping an eye out for others safe. Even just safe. The Skinners in the morning. Yeah. everyone's keeping an eye on each other, which is really cool. Cool. Yeah. Remember Matt had his guy, a map that he barely would show us. He's protecting it the whole time. Mike tried to take a picture. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and I'm, up there early trying to relay back to him or maybe share with Scott and others what I've seen up there, first thing, if it's helpful to them. Great. Yeah. That's awesome. Jaffs has some good stuff for sure. No. Amazing. And it's also, I take a lot of inspiration from those guys of the way we all ski the same lines differently, so that's really interesting. Or capture with different angles. So I take a lot of inspiration from From all of those. So it's cool to, to see people capture things differently. Yeah. Any other, Vermont skiers on Insta that are worth following. Obviously we mentioned a few. Yeah. But didn't know if there was anybody else that our listeners should check out. I think that's the key figures, but I think there's always new, people coming into the sport capturing different things and I think that continues to push me in and really push my creativity to rethink. The lines that are possible or how you capture things or how you tell that story.'cause this is just one way of telling the story of Mansfield. Obviously you guys have a podcast. It's a different way of telling the story of Yeah. versus what the meatheads used to do with a kind of a, a a full length feature film. So I think that's always interesting and something I would love to explore at some point of putting all my footage together and. Making a real film. Just a different way of telling this story of the mountain. Yeah. Cool. Any specific unforgettable moments that you have? I remember one video that you posted where you skied, it was beautiful, the sunrise, and at the end you were you were so excited. You were I can't remember you shaking your hands, you're like, wow, that was sick. I dunno. Was there any Yeah, no, specific Wow. That was I'm never gonna top that. Yeah. there's been a few sunrise moments in particular that you finish the run and, that was really special. It's gonna, it's gonna be goods. It's not EI think people think it might be easier than it is to achieve, but there's been a few lines off of the summit that you know how special that experience was. Skiing's a very interesting thing. You don't do it in a stadium. There's typically no one watching you and. It's weird, at the end of the line, you're just around and it's silent and there's nothing, right? And, but you have so much adrenaline and excitement of what you just skied and sometimes you just inadvertently let that out. but yeah, those are just some of the best moments I've had up there. Yeah. But I think it's also a situation of, there's so many days you go up and you don't film. Because it's crappy conditions and it's the early wake up and it's all coming together. I don't think people, many different factors that's I'm sure what's rewarding a hundred percent. I don't think people realize how many times I'm up there and it's negative 50 with the wind chill and your eyelids are frozen and you're just trying to blink to get water into your eyes or, yeah. Or you've gone out, if you've waking up at four in the morning, you've hiked the mountain, you thought it was gonna be sunny and it wasn't sunny. So to really get those moments and. All the work and Yeah. And sacrifice to, to make that happen. Yeah. I don't think people, I, they were just watching the kind of the end product on Exactly. Instagram, not the full journey, which the grind even doesn't start at the beginning of C season. It's almost all the way, all the training you do all summer. Yep. event, more recently moving my family here, my wife and my kid, and now my parents live here, just That full kind of sacrifice everyone's had to do to make what I do possible. And I think, it's all of that kind of coming out, when you capture a really special moment like that, it's all the hard work, it's not all, it's not all easy. Yeah. And I wish that was more exciting to show. There's just a lot of. Days, you're just grinding up nose dive and you're just putting in that work or you're biking all summer long or you are waking up early That's the movie. Yeah, that the movie. Yeah. You almost gotta capture some of that, right? the struggle, the rough times, the struggle. Yeah, exactly. You get to the hourglass and the wind blew all the snow out there. Which honestly happens, especially profanity last feel like it happened all the time. Yeah. And you just don't know if you don't go right again. Did you see the Everest skier? Did you watch? Oh, that was, did you watch that Wild? I haven't watched it. Oh, you gotta watch it. It's 35 minutes of the guy skiing down Everest. It's cool and it's crazy. Yeah, no, that looks like some east coast terrain you navigating too? Get through the ice field. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's worth, it's on YouTube. Just look it up. Really good. Really good. Watch that. so I just saw a post, I think it was yesterday from STO Rescue. Yeah. Talking about how this year they're rescuing tons of people already. and they were saying oh, they're seeing these things on TikTok and Instagram. Any words of advice for people out there? Because I think, people see your videos I wanna do that. Yeah. And that's what people do, right? Yeah. But it's like you just said, it's not that easy. Yeah. And you know this mountain better than anybody and I don't know if words of advice No. I think just, have the right safety measures in place. Obviously I'm not, probably Mr. Safety on the mountain, and so I don't wanna pretend I, I am, but I do have a lot of knowledge and a lot of equipment with me to be as safe as possible. I have maps and I have a GPS radio and. I have other avalanche safety gear if I'm getting into steeper terrain. and I'm letting people know where I'm going. I sometimes have a live tracker on me, so my wife or my friends know where I am. That's good. Smart. So I think as much as, I smart am trying to be safe, but at the same time, people have been hiking this mountains since, the 1930s and before. So I think there's always a part of this that this is risky. Same thing with biking up on the mountain. It's risky. Yeah. And that's, that comes with the kind of the territory, but. Putting those measures in place to be as. Safe as you can be while still doing the thing that you love. Yeah. Yeah. No, I think that's great advice. majestic Mount Mansfield embodies the spirit of Stowe heritage. And we're proud to present the Octagon Podcast, a true reflection of our amazing community. Stowe Living is honored to sponsor this podcast. We're helping you live your best life daily with stunning furniture, unique design, kitchenwares, thoughtful gifts sourced from around the world. Thank you Stowe for your continued support of Stowe Living and the Octagon Podcast. When it comes to luxury real estate in Stowe Trust, Meg Kaufman of Land Vests, Christie's International Real Estate. Meg Kaufman knows the market inside and out. She's been a part of the Stowe community for over 20 years. Whether you're buying or selling, Meg Kaufman offers a concierge level of service. Taylor, just for you. Backed by the power of land vests and Christie's International. She brings proven success and local insight to every transaction, luxury real estate, local expertise. Meg Kaufman and Land Vests are the team you want on your side. Yeah. I see people all the time. You go to the resort, right? People start following somebody hiking up to the chin. I'm okay, this is not easy. to hike up to the chin and then get your way down and then navigate back, no, they're not gonna wait for you. Yeah. And even through the season it, the terrain changes I think a lot la like last year when we were over a hundred inches. Stuff that I even knew really well. I've been skiing for the last 20 years, looked very different. Yeah. And it can get very disorienting. Yeah. So I think making sure you have that kind of equipment that. you can get back to where you're, or where you want to go safely is really important. Yeah. Yeah. It's the being prepared, it's the equipment. Yeah. And it sounds basic with telling people where you're going. Yeah. some people don't do that. They're oh, that looks cool. I'm just gonna go. And, I think all the basics have the equipment with you, safety equipment goes a long way. A hundred percent. and ga do you use Gaia? Yep. Is that your, that's your go-to? Yeah, I used that. I use Strava, use all the kind of apps to help me navigate up on the mountain. Yep. And that's super helpful, especially if it's a whiteout or something, Yeah. And I don't think people fully understand the prepping. Sometimes I do for lines, as you can imagine, I have footage of almost every, most of the lines on the mountain. And sometimes. I'm reviewing footage before I'm going out and skiing it. mentally prepping for a line, just like a ski racer would. Yeah. imagining or visioning the course sometimes I know I need to do three turns before I'm gonna have to hop a branch to get down to this other thing, There is a lot of preparedness that kind of comes from just even skiing the line, the way I wanna ski it. It's not like I just randomly found a line and just went full throttle. I am really thinking and putting a lot of energy into that and that's part of that story that doesn't often get shared. Yeah, and I was actually gonna ask that, a lot of lines you ski is it muscle memory? you talk about the visualization, are you ever up there spring through fall, poking around? It's just we say trimming, maybe a little trimming. No, I, I probably should, but, I'm just too busy with bike season, honestly, to do that. But, I am doing a lot of visualization, but also being just muscle memory, knowing how to react. I've skied the woods for a long time now. and really trust my instincts, but also at the same time. A lot of the lines that I'm skiing, it's not my first time skiing them. Yeah. I know where there might be a down tree or a branch or where you might need to, maneuver a tight angle. And that just comes through having years of a experience of skiing these lines. Yeah. That you can still ski them, just probably a little bit slower than I typically would like to go, so That's cool. Nice. Let's talk about the gear a little bit. Yeah. So take us through your setup, GoPro version editing software. Take us through some of the gear. Yeah. Yeah. So I've, been filming with GoPro for, oh, I guess the last 10 plus years now. And I film with a GoPro Max two now. So it's a 360 camera, that really allows for. a lot of flexibility in what you'd call the post-production. So once you capture it, you can move the framing of, oh, wow, the footage. and get the angle quite right. and then honestly, I'm usually in a race to post something between, when I'm get done skiing and when I start work. a lot of times I'm just quickly, editing something through maybe the Instagram app or TikTok app. really just natively just on your phone. Just the phone, right on my phone. I am just getting, just sending it out and usually it's within 24 hours of me capturing it, it gets posted and. Honestly, the hardest part of it all is selecting the right music, and doing something that has broad appeal that kind of speaks to my audience. It's usually not the music I go home and listen to every single day. but I, I guess what I wanna do with my content is really inspire people and get people stoked and, get outdoors seeing and getting outside. Outside, right? And if that's, if I can play a small role in people doing that, that's really, meaningful to me. but a lot of that's the music that kind of comes with it, right? And that's sometimes the hardest thing to actually select and just getting the right song to fit the vibe of the line and where we are in the season. yeah. So at the beginning, first day, you want, you're just so excited, right? So you want music that kind of reflects that. And, or you might be raining and you've had no snow for a month. You wanna fit that, that vibe, and that just, huh. Part of the kind of storytelling and is it mounted on your helmet or where, yes. So I usually do, I heard mouth guard. I didn't know if that was a thing. Yeah, I usually do the mouth mount. I think to me that's a little bit more of an immersive, feeling than the helmet mount. But I sometimes keep your mouth open, Yeah, sometimes I do both. Smile, smile or something. Yeah. Yeah. I've already knocked my teeth out once through a skiing accident, I guess if I do it again, it's not that big of a deal, but yeah, again, probably not this. Safest thing to do. Yeah. But it is a good perspective, I think, from the mouth. Agreed. it's what you would see. You feel like you're there. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. and now just the, we talked about this before, but the stability of the footage, right? It's just Much more kind of just frankly, watchable than it was in those kind of early years when you almost, you saw every bump a skier took. Now it's almost Perfectly flowing with the skier, and it really I think to me, matches more of the experience that I actually feel when skiing than a lot of the jostling that you used to see in footage. This episode of the Octagon Podcast is supported by web sticker STOs, very own sticker experts for over 35 years. When we needed octagon stickers, we went straight to web sticker because they don't just print stickers. They partnered with us, they dialed in our logo, tighten the design, and even suggested adding where to listen and follow on the back for extra marketing power. Our stickers are screen printed on vinyl built for Vermont weather, and most importantly, made by real people who pick up the phone, care about their craft, and have a five star trust pilot rating to prove it. You've seen their work everywhere. The Alchemist, Jay Skis, ski Vermont, and countless other Vermont businesses. Grab an Octagon sticker around town or swing by web sticker and stows Lower Village, or check them out@websticker.com. Are most of your, subscribers or fans, local all over? Do you get any, you get, must get all the insights, how many people watch one of your videos and where they from? Yeah. I think for a long time it was, east coast skiers and then, I was fortunate enough to capture some amazing content that was featured by GoPro on their main account and. That really brought me, I think, to a new level and exposed me to a lot of skiers just around the world who just liked the footage I was putting out and just liked the skiing aspect of it and didn't really care as much about where it was. And I think that was really cool to Shared how special this place can be. It can have some of the best skiing in the world absolutely. on the right days at the right moment. Hundred percent. And that was really cool to get that level of exposure. So now I'd say it's definitely a lot of kind of East coast skiers or people who have moved to the West Coast who have East coast roots, but definitely interacting with people all over the world, which is really that's cool. Very cool. And do you have other sponsors too? is Red Bull? Yeah. So I've been able to work with amazing companies like Red Bull and GoPro Nice. And Arc TerraX and J Skis. Yep. throughout the years. Cool. And that's just been just awesome kind of relationships with them. And really helping them, helping me support what I want to do and really just allows me to focus on the skiing. And a lot of what I'm just trying to do is minimize all the distractions. So I can just focus on skiing. and so I don't. Really follow a lot of the, what's going on in Facebook and a of the group chats and that type of thing. I'm just, I know I'm gonna ski pretty much every single day. Yeah. I just wanna get out there and do my thing, So me, what they've enabled me to do is give me the resources I need to ski the way I wanna ski and put out the footage I want to put out. Yeah. Very cool. Is Instagram or TikTok more popular, I would imagine Instagram, but Yeah, I think, it's a good question. I, I've technically have more followers on TikTok Oh, wow. Nowadays, which is interesting. But I think my heart's always been on Instagram. It just feels more of a community to me and the relationships I've. Had there, I've really built and foster through the years. so that's my main platform. Yeah. and where I probably share the most, amount of content. Yep. So we talked about a lot of the filming gear. what about just the ski gear, extra layers at the top or, what's the kit? the boots, the skis. The pack, just what you saw that just to keep you warm up there and keep your performer at a high level. Great question. I am usually a two T-shirt type of guy. I know some on the uphill days, so I'm skiing up in one kind of, long. John and then swapping at the top.'cause I do get pretty sweat sweaty after racing up to the top. And that really keeps me warm. Warm. That's key. That's key to my success. Success. Dry day. Dry day slayer. Yeah. And I am, I'm a big believer in a redundancy. So I typically on big powder days, have two pairs of gloves, two pairs of goggles, two pairs of go pros. nice. So really bring all the kind of, things I need to have to have a good day. but yeah, in the warmer. Whether, I'm usually just wearing a vest in kind of a long sleeve t-shirt when I'm going uphill, and then I'll put on more layers in the top. if it's, windy or cold. I have a hooded, kit from our TerraX that I wear, yeah, really depends on the weather. Are you doing water at the top, electrolytes, a snack, or just. Send it. I do no snack, no electro used to do that. just get it going. I used to bring a big nail gene and cut weight, You know skinning is relatively new. I remember when I first would go and you'd just go right up gondola with the BCA inserts and the heaviest bindings and easy you could find. Yeah. Skiing. Skiing was not enjoyable. Not to say it's really ever enjoy enjoyable, but it was. I disagree. He's going to the chain of four. it, was means to an end. Means to an end. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. That technology has really come a long way. Oh, big time. The kind of the boots and the bindings, and it continues to innovate, which is really cool, to see and just allows you to take more laps. Yeah. And the skins, and making sure your skins are dry and keeping them, what do you have for bindings because, trying to find that sweet spot of, lightweight, but that can perform on the down. Yeah. What do you use for I usually am on the chef. Yeah. I've found a lot of success with them. I know, everyone has mixed opinions on things, but it's gonna get you good performance on the, you find, so that works and you stick with it and it's the sweet spot, I think. Yeah. And then I was able to work with Jay Skis a few years ago to come up with, a ski. we actually spent two years. designing a ski that was right for the East Coast. A lot of powder skis are kind of built for the west coast for sure. Which obviously has much, more wide open terrain than we do here in the east coast, just a little bit in the tight trees that we have. So I was really fortunate to work with them to build something that was lightweight and then had the playfulness. To really match the East coast, woods. So that was a really fun project and I've been skiing on those skis, ever since. huh, good setup. Is that a standard ski they sell? Yeah, so it's a escalator. So I had a kind of a pro model, pro design on when they first came out, but then, yeah, they've continued to have that model. That's cool. So yeah. Yes. Very cool. Rapid fire. Yeah. Let's do some rapid fire questions. You kick it off, Mike. All right. All you're in the hot seat. All right, here we go. Hourglass, halbrook or other of your choice? I think I'd have to say profanity prof. Profanity. I, to me it's just has a special place in my heart. I do live hourglass, but, Yeah, I think profanity and just the length of the run that, that you can actually have there Is one of the bigger, runs on the mountain in that style of terrain. So that's another reason I love it. Ridge line or Glades? Ooh. I think ridge line, there's just something special about being up there, especially at Sunrise filming when it's minus 15 in perfect Bluebird, or 32 degrees in puking snow. negative 15 in Bluebird.'cause I think you're usually one of the only, people out there. Perfect. Pow or perfect light? perfect light. I think I'm gonna go. That's a good one though. All right. craft beer and wings at the horn. Or PBR tallboy at the den for Opry. I'll go and go horn. Alright. Sunrise down profanity with a few fresh inches or overcast. Run down your secret line of choice with a foot of pal profanity. Hands down every time. All right. All right. Mount Mansfield in January, or Mansfield in April, January. We're gonna roll the dice. You gotta in April. You're rolling the dice too. Yeah. Orange, alpine glow, or deep purple. Pre Don Hayes. Ooh, wow. I'm gonna go with orange. I think orange is, but any real color, like that's a cool experience. Purple's cool. Yeah, purple's cool. Yeah, it is. Purple. Purple. Highlight. Yeah, I know. It's a difference. It is a different look. All right. You get back to the car after a full morning of skiing. Gatorade Coffee, beer. Or go get an egg sandwich. I'm usually finishing my coffee that I was drinking on the way mountain. To be honest, always good to have something in the car when you got there. Usually I'm not, I haven't finished it on the way, so I'm usually finishing it on the way home, so there you go. The Yeti keeps it hot, right? yeah. I'd love to be cool and just crack open a beer. Usually I'm editorial, actually have to go do things. yeah. watch your kid or something. wink. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. All right. You probably don't do this much, but favorite groomer run. I think lift line, I think, to me, okay. There's some nice challenging terrain on there. And if you get that first thing, it's, I do sunrise too. There's something special about doing a nice sunrise lap, but Absolutely. All right. Favorite lift served Woods Run. Oh, I guess Trace Amigos. Yep. That's a great one. Alright. Family movie Night at home. Warren Miller. Or Finding Nemo, I think more and more. Sesame Street. I'd like to squeeze in some Warren Miller too. Yeah. Classics. Yeah. All right. Epic Wipe out, left in the edit or deleted forever. For aesthetic integrity. It's usually deleted forever. Alright. Bike. 10 K vert in a day, or skin? 10 K vert in a day, probably more likely to bike it. Okay. All right. Last one here. October early snow on the ridge. Or May Corn above the nose with valley fog below you. Ooh, wow. I think October.'cause usually the energy is pretty high. Yeah, it is high. I'm pretty stoked at that point. And then, once I get to May, I am thinking about. Getting back on the bike already next season. It's true. Thinking about training for next season, so we did have one that we missed. oh. Best excuse you've ever used to miss work for Powder day. Yeah, no, it's a great question. To be honest, I don't usually get to miss work, too much. So I don't really have a good one there. Usually I'm having to call in from the parking lot if, if I'm trying to piece it together. Yeah. but yeah, now it's just, you're going super early. That's the benefit of it. Yeah. And usually I have to now get daycare drop off, so it's a whole thing. you can't call them sick. no, exactly. So moving to some STO life. so you live in Morrisville. how long have you lived locally now? Yeah, it's been, my, I guess three years now. Sorry, three years. Yeah. I had an apartment in sto, before, seasonally. Seasonally for, I had an office for two years, so I would drive here in the morning. I would ski. Work all day in the office and then drive home at night. And that was post COVID, how I was able to Oh wow. Piece together more skiing. And then we finally found an apartment that we could afford with our house in Burlington still. and so that was us dangling our feet in the water. And then my wife, got pregnant. And so then once we found out she was expecting, we quickly tried to find a house here. more.'cause I knew if I wanted to continue to ski, I needed to be pretty close, to the mountains. Yeah. so you've been skiing here a long time, but now you're here, how do you think STO has changed in those years? Yeah. I mean it's, in some ways it's changed a lot and then in some ways it's the same mountain, right? I, I still remember, staying at the ski dorm, right? And those kind of fond memories or the halfpipe in the midway parking lot or Spruce when spruce was a huge parking lot for years and the years. yeah. So then that way the kind of community around the mountain has continued to develop, But the things that I fell in love with was not really any of those things. It's with the mountain. And that's always stayed the same. Yeah. and a lot of this train that, I still ski now, I skied back then. So in, in some ways, Yeah. Yeah. My love for the mountain has stayed the same because those things haven't gone away. yeah. No, we've talked about that before where we have all this other stuff, but you're right, the core is there. Yeah. And the enthusiasts, like you said before, the community. Yeah. that's still there, Yeah. There's a lot of other stuff, but that core stuff hasn't changed. Yeah, absolutely. And I think the cool thing to me, especially, the kind of community I have and where even you kind of park at the mountain has stayed the same and the excitement that you feel every day Of pulling in the lot and it's people from all different kind of backgrounds who have all different kind of jobs and Occupations that are. Trying to make this work, right? They love skiing and they're trying to piece it together, and they found their little way of making that happen. And that's really cool. And I think that's to me is the community and what all or is remember about the community and how everyone. Has tweaked their life to, to make this a reality. it's hard to be, you can't be a ski bum anymore. A true ski bum in stuff. No. That's just too expensive. But just like you said, there's other ways to live the dream. Yeah. And a lot of people think that I'm just all I ski. Ski. Yeah. They're oh, it must be nice to not have a job and ski all day. And it's I don't really, that's not, it's early wake up, it's early wake up time. What I do. yeah. But that's how I've made it happen. Yeah, and we've had some other guests say the same thing that, most people here have had to be creative or they want to be here and are finding a way to make it happen. if you have, that large group of people that, that just want to be here and are excited to be here and I agree it, it is cool just to hear people's stories about. How are you making it happen? Yeah, and I think a lot of it's are you making it happen sacrifices in other aspects of your life? And you might not even view them as sacrifices, but I've. Had the opportunity have been offered other career opportunities Yeah. That I've turned down to stay here.'cause you realize, what is important to you in life. And to me, that's my happiness and skiing and biking and being outside brings me happiness. So I've turned down those opportunities to, to stay here. But staying here is. It's hard to piece together. It's not, it can be. Yeah. It definitely can be. And it's almost always nerve wracking. I work remotely now for Krispy Kreme, donuts. And, I love working there, but it is always risky that I am a remote worker and that rug could always be pulled out from underneath me. But I think that also fuels me of This could be the last day, the last season, and I wanna make the most of it. That's good. I hope it never, of course, I hope that doesn't happen, but you just don't know. And especially now as you mature in your life and it's, you're not only just taking care of yourself but your family. that's so really something to be mindful of. Yeah, that's a great point. we've talked a lot about the mountain, when you think about the town of Stowe, what would you say is your hope for Stowe in the next five to 10 years? Yeah, I think, continuing to focus on that community and the diversity within the community. And I know a lot of people have said this, but affordable housing is really a challenge. But I don't think that's a ow problem. That's a problem. All around the world, Of these mountain towns and how to have a kind of a true community around that, or how that community is gonna shift into communities in the surrounding town. I would love to live in Stowe, and it's, I feel like I have a pretty good job. My wife has a pretty good job. I love the mountain, but I couldn't make it work in Stow. So that's. That's sad to me that I, couldn't piece that together. I think that's just something for the town and the people living in the town to be aware of and how that's shaping what the community is going to be. But at this kind of, the side effect of that is you see communities blossoming around this, like Waterbury in Morrisville where I live. Is continuing to blossom because of what's going on in, in sto. So it'll be interesting to, to see what comes from all of that. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. We've had other guests that say we should look at it as the broad area, how do we make this broader area work for everybody? Agreed. Agreed. good point. All right. We wrap up all of our episodes with one question. If Stowe slash Morrisville did not exist. Where else in the world would you be living? I'm very curious to hear this. Yeah. I honestly don't know if STO didn't exist, if I would even be skiing, because I, and in Vermont, because I got that itch from visiting and at an early age, and that really changed my life and my trajectory of my life. But, since then I have had the opportunity to travel and I think the place that. I've loved the most is, Switzerland and Zurich, just'cause the proximity to the mountains, but also having a real vibrant city, and the ability to do sports year round. So if I had to pick yeah. Choice. It's obviously, it's your choice. It's not an easy place to move, just, pick to move towards, but that to me really represents. more of, of my lifestyle. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. No, this amazing. Someone's amazing because you're down in the valley Yeah. And it's 50 degrees and sunny. Yeah. And you go up to the mountain by the public transport there is amazing, right? Yeah. You can get anywhere from there. Yeah. Good choice. Yeah, it's a great choice. stay tuned. There might be a video tomorrow. Yeah, Mike. So high probability. But, thank you so much, Mike. Thanks Mike. That was great. Yeah. Thank you guys. See that. Great. See hill. See you out there. 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.