Season 2: #20 2025-2026 Winter Recap with Mike and Ted

This week Mike and Ted took over the studio and rehashed the 2025-2026 winter and Season 2 at The Octagon Podcast. From powder days, epic travel stories and friendly bets between co-hosts this is a great episode to fire up as you reflect back on your winter!

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This episode of The Octagon is sponsored in part by Union Bank. 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, STO Land Trust, ski Vermont Viba and Richmond Mountain Trails, 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 Stove Vermont so legendary. Today we're doing something a little different. We got Mike and I sitting here in the studio. We've been sharing stories about what has been an amazing winter and wanted to do a winter recap of the 2025 2026 winter, as well as reflect back on season two here at the Octagon, which has been just an awesome season of guests, recordings, good stories, laughs, all that good stuff. Welcome, Mike. Yeah, welcome Ted. Yeah. Yeah. It's weird not to have a guest. I know. I know. Just me looking at you. I just have to stare at Mike and think about how many times I'm gonna beat him on the tennis court. We're moving on. I know. How many times have you played? I'm already warming up for the season. I've got that leg up. How many times? I've probably already played 15. This is not good. I haven't hit a ball since October. It takes three or four to, it does just get in the swing of it. I'll be back, I'll be grinding. Yeah. Tennis will be outside soon. Yeah. yeah. We'll be right back. Mike, we were thinking, just kick things off, we did it in the last winter recap. let's each give a grade ski season grade for the winter. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna let you kick that off. All right. This is tricky. This is tricky. I am gonna go with a B. I'm going with a B and here's why. Oh, you're laughing. you? Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm shocked. Okay. I'm shocked, but All right. here's why. Yes, absolutely. This was a long ski season. I was looking, I think we were talking, I was looking back at my phone. November 5th skiing chin clip. Yep. It's now April. Yeah. 16th, six months. Five months. Yeah, five months season. The first three months, I'd say November, December into mid-January. Yep. Unbelievable. Really? A plus. Best ever. A plus. Like snow stake, right? Yeah. Was that all time records? It was unbelievable. I feel like February, March, April. Disappointing. Yeah, I hear that didn't snow that much. We had some sunny days. not mean the last Did you tailgate once a few times, but it wasn't at, wasn't bluebird at Yeah. You know that Bluebird 55 Perfect snow. I don't, maybe we got one of those. Yeah. so early season A plus. Yeah. last two months. C minus. Yeah. So you're doing, and I'm averaging you're doing the average to a B. Okay. Okay. I stand behind that. That's fair. Cross country. Amazing banner season. skinning. I did get some backcountry in. That was really good when I did it early. I didn't get in the backcountry too much recently. but I'll rely on you for the uphill morning crowd. So yeah. What's your grade to be? Start with go with your grade. I was actually thinking about it, this morning as I was walking. Don't let me influence you. Oh no. Okay. You never do, a. Okay. A minus, and I'll tell you why. For me, November, December, January, were the best I've ever experienced in STO with just no thought freeze. The early season skinning? Yep. Just on repeat sleeper storms. I remember it hit January. I said winter could end now and I'd be, it'd be full. Yep. It'd be full. I do agree. February hit March in particular, was not very good. However, because it didn't get too warm until later in March, I was able to keep the Nordic going much later than usual. Which I really enjoyed. Yep. And for me, it was the best winter of Nordic skiing I've ever had. I went almost 30 times, which for me is a lot. Yep. I usually get around 10 or 15 at most. So the late season traps was able to nurse me to keep an A minus. and yeah, just a lot of good skin, morning skin. Oh, morning skin. So I'm at 98 days. How many crampon days? That's the other. Not many. Not a lot. Recently. Recently. Every day. But not before that. Not many crampon days. Yeah. I didn't get into backcountry that much. I did sky top. I saw you at Sky top. Yeah. We saw each other. That was a beautiful day. I just got in the rhythm. the hard O rhythm. Just going up, dive going back down that it was a great groom all season. I just got in the routine Yeah. And was loving it. It was just powder on groom day after day. yeah, just the early season was that sweet for me, that it tipped the whole scale that, that tip scales and a grown passion for Nordic skiing. Personally? Personally, yeah. Personally. Personally. And just great conditions. Yeah. And the Olympics this winter, that's a factor for me. Okay. In my grade. Alright. my holistic grade, I look at the whole winter, the whole experience. Cabo. yeah. Man, I'm saying a minus. Okay. it's, It was cold in January. A couple. Good point. Point. Some other factors she had. It was very cold. Very cold. I was away for a lot of it. Yep. It also didn't snow more than they had the one big storm. Yep. In January I was away. Other than that, steady add 7, 10, 12. Yep. Very few more than 12. Yep. Yeah, nothing huge, which for me is fine. it doesn't bring the crazy crowds in and Yeah. No, I agree. I agree. but no, the cold, the cold got thin the last few months. Thin. Thin. I agree. Yeah, I agree. Okay. Mar March can be traditionally a good month and it was not. All right, so we're gonna average us out. Yeah. A minus and a B or octagon score B plus. B plus. Not bad. Not bad. Curious what listeners think about the score. Yeah, we encourage all the listeners, come up with your grade. Yeah. We'll get this on our Instagram. Come up with the conversation going Good call. Yeah, get the analysis going. So yeah, we just did the grades and, we'll just jump in into a little more detail about the winter. I know, you did some traveling, Mike. This was my biggest ski. Yeah. Yeah. Let's talk about it. Travel winter. Yeah. Yeah. So I bought Epic and Icon this year 'cause I knew I was going to the Dolomites. Yep. Which is on Icon. Yep. so that led to, I gonna talk about our little bet. That was I was, when I heard Icon, I knew I was in trouble. Damnit. So when I bought Icon, I was convincing Ted what a good move it is. 'cause I was going to the Dolomites and that I was gonna go to Sugar Bush a bunch of times and Ted just looked at me and said, you're not going to Sugar Bush. Yeah. You're not gonna go. Yeah I am. No you're not. I haven't been there in 30 years. And sure enough that we came up with a bet. If I went once was a push. Yep. If I didn't go Ted wins and if I went twice, I won and I'll just jump in. The reason I had that stance is I've seen it happen my whole life. Yep. When people say, oh, I'm getting an icon, I'll be able go sugar bush. They never go. They never go. I've won the bet the other side. I've won two bets on the smugglers notch. Okay. Strategy. I dunno if you've heard this strategy. They're going to people who are gonna get the midweek smugglers pass. Go to sensation go up and over. Yep. and Hal Stevens Yep. was telling me he bought the senior midweek SMUGs Pass. And it also came with free use of the hot tub and he was gonna go over there and use the hot tub. So my bet with Hal was, you've gotta go twice to SMUGs and you gotta use the hot tub once. didn't do it neither. He didn't do either. can you picture him with a wet bathing suit coming up on the slow lift over at SMUGs back up and over. I was like, and then going across the frozen pond with your wet bathing suit. Wow. It's like you're not doing that. didn't use it. So that was a bunch of chicken wings for the Tuesday tennis crew. Wow. So anyway, I've won that, yeah. Okay. But yeah, back. Thanks for mentioning that, Mike. Appreciate that. So back to some of the travel, the epic. Premier trip was in January when I missed all that cold. We did a week in the Dolomites and a week in Saac. Yep. Which is part of the Epic full pass that's in Austria. And both Unbelievable. Dolomites is a kind of a bucket list. It looks amazing. It's not off piece. Yep. it is unbelievably meticulously groomed trails. Sunny. And the food and the views Epic best in the world. Yep. It looks like because it's mountains with the big rock. yeah. Outcrop Dr. Dramatic features. And then you're stopping at a mountain hut. And it's not chicken fingers, it's a served menu. Rib steak. And they bring you the wine list. And it's a book. Yeah. And you're sitting outside looking at all this, the food. Makes it like it's the whole experience in Europe. Yes. I feel like, yeah, totally. It's not just, let's go skiing and bring our own hot chocolate packets and eat PB and J's now it's the whole package. That's nice. Yeah. and then it's all back. It's a great mountain total party place if you're looking for a place to go. Opry ski, but beautiful views huge too. It was really warm. We were spring skiing at the end of January, so I got spring skiing actually. Any, big storms over there. Oh, it was really funny actually. The Dolemite, it doesn't snow that much there. They have a 98% snowmaking, so when they open December 15th, really they're just open and that it doesn't snow that much just traditionally in that climate. So we got there. It hadn't snowed in a month. Wow. It hadn't snowed at all. It snowed a foot before we got there, so everything was white. They said, oh, if you were here three days ago. Green grass. Yeah. And then it sort of foot while we were there and I was commenting to the hotel owner, you guys must be sighted. He's got a foot and he's shoveling and he's going, not sight Too much snow. Yeah, too much snow. We don't like it. They want it sunny. Yeah. Bluebird, do you happen to know what their average snowfall is? A hundred and. 50 inches. Not that much. 180. Wow. I didn't know that. They don't lose it, I don't think. Yeah. Doesn't, I don't get the sense that they lose it. It's up pretty high. I didn't know that. Yeah. Not a lot of snow. 'cause where it sits in the Alps Yeah. It's blocked by a lot of other mountains. Yeah. Yeah. but unbelievable place. Yeah. Sounds like it. Yeah. while I was gone You went to Maine? I did. I went up to Saddleback, which is in Rangely, Maine. And it was a couple years ago, I was driving down from Allagash doing some moose shed hunting, and I wanted to break the trip up. I'd never been to Rangeley and I stayed there just one night in the spring. I thought this place is really cool. And, I'd heard good things about Saddleback. at that point I said, I want to go back in the winter and do some skiing. And it was awesome trip. A cool little town, sto used to be before it got. A little bigger like it is now. right on the water. Sounds like a great summer location. And, Saddleback's just awesome mountain. The all day uphill route. So both mornings I was there. Did uphill go anytime during the day? Anytime during the day. Great. Uphill on a side trail. I'm just curious. It was basically like going up the long trail. Okay. Through the woods. Oh, through the woods. Through the woods, yeah. It's a different uphill scene. You can't be going down the mountain before eight 30. So it's a daytime activity. Yeah. Yeah. Because I got up there and I was like, Hey, if I start super early at six o'clock, they're like, no, that's not because they're still grooming. gave you some gratitude for the ow uphill. Policy, but that's just how it is there. not as big of an uphill scene. I went to mornings, I saw one person. Yeah, skinny. So just different. But, awesome mountain, awesome mountain. They have a lot of terrain that's actually above the tree line, like the chin that you can access from the lift long traverse. So that was super cool. High speed lift. Great lifts. 2000 vert or so. 2000 vert. yeah. Yeah. I would label it a hidden gem. Yeah. a lot of people don't make the trek there. It's about three and a half hours drive from Stowe, middle of nowhere. You're in the, the main wilderness. It's a really cool field, cool little mountain village, any kind of town. Rangely is the town. Okay. A couple bars. Yeah. up at the base hotel. Yeah. it's modest, but yeah, that's something that's what I'm looking for. Yeah. In my experience. And, super nice people just in town. And, yeah, I think one of the nights got, maybe four or five inches, so that was nice. But, it was in the cold stretch. west Maine can be cold, gets a little colder up there, but, it was a really nice getaway. Nice, cool town. I'll definitely be back. I'd highly recommend anybody that, just wants to drive somewhere different. Yeah. cool mountain. Not on any pass. Not on any pass. Not many crowds. Yeah. just, yeah. A hundred bucks to ski there or something. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just a cool little spot. Spot. Cool. Yeah. Great skiing. So that's great. Hope that was my trip. Got a big hiking trip coming up this summer to Scotland. I had to save some money this winter to, to get ready for that. So I know the West Highland way. That's right. I've done part of it. Yep. Yeah, I'm doing the whole thing. Yeah, I know. I'm quite jealous. I may meet you. Surprise you. Hey, I got lo in, so Yeah, do You're gonna love it. Octagon recording out there. yeah. Not a huge travel winter for me, but it was an awesome little getaway. So almost a hundred skins. You're, you'll get a hundred I at 98. What'd you get last year? 1 0 7. tracking. A little bit less, little more downhill this year, or no more. Cross country. I think I got maybe 10. Lift served days. 10 lift served. 10 lift serve around 30. Cross country Nordic. So yeah. Pretty good. Our numbers are always pretty similar. Yeah. So you know, that sugars out, yeah. About 150. Is that usually what we I'm maybe 65, 70 lift served. Yep. I'm probably 25 skins. Yep. You do a lot of Nordic and 40 or 50 Yeah. Cross countries. Yeah. So it's a good winter right? On track. It's a good, yeah, we just, we diversify the portfolios. We do. Diversify. It's good. So yeah, that was my trip. You did Dolomites, Austria, lake Tahoe, Mike, didn't you? Yeah, a few other trips. Quick trip to Lake Tahoe when they got some snow in January. Also cross country skied out there. That looked nice. My brother. Yeah, a couple places. Royal Gorge and Tahoe. Donner. Yep. Yep. so that was really good. Also got to Sugar Bush twice. And most recently, we got a little trip into Mount bla up north of, that's right Montreal. That's you and Lisa. It was awesome. I have never skied there. is that epic? It's icon. Oh, it's icon, yeah. Your favorite path. I was trying to get the monies worth out of it for sure. Oh, you got it. but that's a great mountain. it's got a contrived village. that looks like Quebec City, walking everywhere and great terrain, front side, backside, high speed lifts, couple thousand vert. Glades everything. Yeah. Really great mountain. Nice. Impressed. Yeah. you got after it? I did. I wondering. Good for you. I really got a lot of places, as I'm getting older, I'm realizing I gotta start getting outta stow. You're healthy. Go see to these places. You're healthy, you're fit. Yeah. trying to bang them out now. The biggest trip I took, yes, I was just looking at pictures there. notable. Notable, which I know the Hardos would go crazy for, but, friend Ken Marin 60th. Birthday. He wanted to really go to the chocks. Yeah. So the chocks is nine hours north of Stowe, five hours north of Quebec City in the gas bay peninsula. Raw wilderness. Raw wilderness. You're going by the St. Lawrence River. Cool. And then you just go inland and the chocks are 40 peaks, 3000 feet and higher. Wow. Yeah. With no people. Yeah. No people. That's the best part really to speak of. Yeah, I agree with that. So we did the, full on experience where they pick you up, take you to this beautiful lodge that's sitting up at 1800 feet, breakfast served, dinner served. Wow. Family style by a chef that was from Switzerland. Wow. packed lunch and then guided. Skinning ski tours. It's all skinning. Har parto approved. Oh, full day. Full day scan. You're doing four or five transitions? Yeah. unbelievable. Gladed, open Glade low angle. Yep. Everyone you're doing is fresh powder. Nice. And the skin track, you know their setting is fresh. Yep. A couple days they took us out on snowmobiles to a warming hot where we started skinning for the day. So that was cool. Unbelievable trip. Check chalk. Put it on the bucket. We went in late March. Good shout out. Which seemed to be great time. A little warmer still. Tons of snow. Much more snow there than we had here. And we had a lot. Yeah. Now this was only a few weeks ago, so Yeah. Yeah. three weeks ago. but yeah. Unbelievable trip. So that was really the. That was, yeah. Bucket list trip. Yeah. Along with Dolomites. I don't wanna take anything away from lift serve skiing to food and apre ski. Yeah. not minimizing that, that experience. Very cool. good travels. So are you travels, are you sad that winter is over? People in Stowe, there's people that get sad and there's people that are ready to move on. Are you sad? So my parents probably had me on skis when I was three or four. and I'm 44 now, so we'll just call it 40 years of skiing. I don't think once I've been sad really. Winters ended. Yeah. Yeah. I just, I embrace all the seasons. Yeah. And then, probably 12 years ago I got into looking for sheds in the springs. So it was always, it's always just a natural transition for me. Yeah. That kind of fills in that gap season and, No, I just, and good. And right now you can still go. it's not great conditions, but I enjoy the exercise and those mornings where I'm putting crampons on, I, I enjoy the challenge. Yeah. Beating the weather. Yeah, beating the weather. I feel like the mountain, I'm not sad. Yeah, I don't get sad. I am sad 'cause I really wanted some more spring skin ski days. That's what I'd be sad about. Blue sky. That would be the only thing I do feel like we just missed that. Yeah. Never happened. That's usually how I end the season. I'm with you instead. I feel like. I'm going up to the mountain. Yeah. And it's can be rippled ice. Some days you're almost just going up to go up. You're going up it, it's mush. Yeah. Or it's frozen. And the mountain is definitely telling me, oh yeah, I'm done. 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. So I'm curious, you talked about your big Nordic season. Do you think it was Olympics in CLA bow watching that mo absolutely. Extra motivated you? Absolutely. yeah, it just got me fired up and excited and, I improved a little bit conditioning and I just, I love the scene at Traps. There's no paid parking and it's out soup at the cabin, soup at the cabin. You're just out in the woods. It's great cardio workout. It's very peaceful. and I can get there from my house and eight minutes. yeah. so yeah. So it was, yeah, I loved it. Yeah, I loved it. I've been into it for five years now. Yeah. Yeah. You were ahead of the trend. It's just this best way to get nature workout. Yep. And fun. Yep. It's in an hour. Yeah. Hour and a half. Yeah. It's very time efficient. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was good. Yeah. Good. Good season of Nordic and oh, the derby. What about the derby? Because I did a boring derby where I just did classic. Yeah, you did the exciting derby. Yeah, so I did the fixed teal. I was motivated by past Octagon guest, Dustin Martin, who did it on downhill skis and yeah, I think I said it to you when I saw him. I go, I'm, I wanna do that. I do. You did say I, you're trying to get me to do it. Yeah. I couldn't get you to do it. And, yeah, the cohort grew this year. Dustin obviously did it. and Brian LaVoy and his girlfriends Andrew Rush did it. Mishy, yeah. And then, I think Zach Mooney another one. He wins a lot of the ski bum races. But Did you go with the skate crowd at the end, or, can't remember where I think you, you went. We did, yeah. Before the skate crowd. Before and then, they passed. They passed you halfway. Yeah. Yeah. but it was challenging as you could imagine. I had my light skinning set up, so it wasn't too bad. Little light bad. honestly, the first half was manageable. I just got in the zone. Work through the pain, but then you hit the rec path and, that much skating was super hard. I left with a crazy blister. Yeah. I remember it really bad. Blister your time. What was amazing to me is your time. Yeah, I know. That doesn't make sense to me that it's as fast, if not faster than I think I was. So my friend Brian LaVoy, he had a really light, skinny setup, like very light Dina Fit. Yeah. And he did it in 51 minutes. Incredible. Yeah. Yeah. Is the down that much faster though? Wasn't the course a little different? was it No. Done the year before? I don't think so. Yeah. I'm telling you though, you have your light skinning set up. Yeah. You can just, you can hammer it, you can hammer and then you make up all that time on the downs. Yeah. But I was shocked by my time. Yeah. But, yeah, you were wiped out for days. It took me two days. Yeah. I remember that. it took me a while, but, how was your experience at the Derby? I did the classic, just, I went off first, so this year. So you were just one of those classic skiers. I was just one of those, just one of those classic skiers. You didn't even wanna skate? Like what? you know what classic went off first this year. Okay. So the tracks Yeah. Are set. Yep. I've never done a derby with tracks 'cause classic always went second. yep. So I thought it would be great to do a derby with tracks. I forget, came in top 25% so there was still good tracks. Yeah. And it made going into town. A lot easier. Yep. So now I had a great derby. It was, I think it was a perfect day. It was pure powder, perfect day. It was 30 degrees. That was one of the nicest days we had. Perfect day. Perfect. That was a perfect day for it. Yeah. So next year. Fixed deal. no. I What? We've talked about this. Can you think about it? No, because when I go from my car at midway lot to the quad and I'm skating that I always think of you doing that for 10 miles. Yeah. But think what you might learn about yourself doing a challenge like that. I won't learn anything. I'll learn that I shouldn't have done it. Nice. I like hard things. Yeah. Yeah. I do like hard things. I know you do. That to me is a hard thing that, yeah. I won't get much out of tough. The Derby in and of itself is a hard thing. Hundred percent. Yeah. I don't know. We'll see what I do next year. See if I do the fixed te Yeah. they don't do, they didn't have the Derby Meister anymore. No. Yeah. No. They did have, what was that event? it was sponsored by Still Mont Rescue. Oh, the, yeah, let's talk about that. I don't remember seeing all that much. You went up the Bruce Trail? Yep. Start at the Adams camp. Up the Bruce Trail. That day they did it. You needed a cramp on. Yes. Yep. Or you boot pack. It was a freeze. I remember seeing some blue lines where you were allowed to do some of that. Up to the top Down. Nose. Dive down. Nose, dive up the notch. Up the notch skin, up the notch, skin up drilling pond, sling pond, hiking trail. Yep. And then go over and then down snuffy to smugglers. Yep. And then down into the village of Spruce Peak. How do you get back? Oh, shuttles. Oh, they stopped there. Yep. Got it. Got it. I thought they actually came back up and over. Yep. I'd like to do that next year. Yeah, that's big. Bruce Trail in and of itself is big. Yep. I've never done Sterling Pond. I haven't either. In the winter. Do you think it's like the long trail? I bet it's fine. I bet it's packed down. I know. It's so funny. The summer you look at those Yeah. And you can't, you think, how could we skin up this? Yeah. Snow just fills it in. I know. So Sterling Pond, that could be a fun Yep. Fun skin up. Yeah. I did the long trail a couple weeks ago and it was, the bottom was rugged, bottom was running outta juice, but once he got high it was fine. Yeah. But that was a couple weeks ago, yeah. Cool event. Probably do that next year. Yep. All right, Ted, any Hardo update? Yeah, so yet another great winner for the Hardos. The group stayed together. Group stayed together. there's been a little, we have a few guys, Carl Lipsky, Adam Mason. let me use their nicknames. That'd be Viking, Rocky, and Geraldo. they ramped it up with the speed, couple laps. Yeah. So we had I'd say as the winter went on, we had two heats of hardos. Wow. if it was a big powder day, those guys are, they're going big game hunting, they're doing minimum two laps, 5:00 AM start. Yep. going very fa you know, mid thirties, up the dive. Wow. so they crushed it. And then there's, second wave of myself, the commissioner. Cont tore warchild. bring it a little slower, but, I'd say that, that was a shift. Got it. But, were you going together? Would they come down and pair up with you or were they on their own to own plan? If it, but if it's a, big game hunting powder day, but, no, yet another. Great winter for the Hardos, especially those first few months we, we were getting after it. I remember. Yeah. Any fresh snow, we were having our way with it for sure. Yeah. And your early morning reports? Yeah. Invaluable. The field report. Yeah. You can check the webcam, you can check all the things you check when I get your text. Seven 30 at field report. Yep. Field reports. With a picture. With a picture. Oh, I'm gonna start charging. For that you could, yeah. you've changed my mind. I've been sitting here in my pajamas drinking coffee. Yeah. You never know. Up there, up the door. You never know up there. Yeah. Never know up there. But, but yeah, and shout out to all the snow reporters, Oh yeah. Snow reporters, Andre Scott, Matt can't live without 'em. Can't live without 'em, they're out there every day giving us intel. So yeah, shout out to those guys. And maybe that bridges us into, we had a lot of. Season two Stow Mountain Employees on in season two. Yeah. Let's talk a little bit about some of the episodes. Yeah, no, we thought this would be a good opportunity to, a little trip down memory lane of season two, which, all of our episodes have been great. But season two was a banger here at the Octagon. Yeah, let's start with the mountain theme. as you mentioned, we had, yeah, we had Mike Georgio on Yep. Gm. The gm. Got to know Mike A. Little bit here about Yep. His style, and I think we saw it again this year with the mountain. Just feeling good vibes, great vibe. Operationally, pretty good grooming, good snowmaking control, all aspects running very efficiently. Yeah, it sure feels that when, especially if you read the. News and you see some other resorts that their lifts are broke. just some operational challenges and they didn't make enough snow or couldn't make snow. Yep. I feel and yet again, I, the grooming quality was very high. Yep. yeah, no, it was great having Mike on. Cool. To just hear his story and all the good things he's doing up at the mountain. yeah, we did do well, Scott, one of the snow reporter Scott Brayton. Yep. Yeah. Getting the insight into the Mansfield weather. Always near and dear to my heart. I think you learned a few things. I did. I did. Yeah. No, that was, that was great having Scott on and just, I think not only a passion for weather, but just a passion for the Mountain and Stone Mount Resort and the town and that really bleeds through all of it he's talking about. So yeah. I think we're lucky to have him up there. Yep. Spitting all the weather. But, Karen Wagner. Yeah. Most recent ski patrol. Karen Wagner. Big job. That's a big job. Big job. And I think I walked away, it's a long day. Yeah. And the coordination that they need and not knowing how the day's gonna go. Yep. There's a lot, there's a lot going on about Manfield going on and I think all the training involved. Yeah. for all those patrollers, things can change on a dime. Yeah. Serious injuries and they all have the training and expertise to keep people safe. Yeah. And I think the other insight, they wanna get trails open. I think sometimes there's this feeling like, oh, they just want to keep the trails closed. No. Ski patrol wants to open trails, spread people out. Yep. they can only do it when it's safe. Yep. and you of course, you know what's safe, but you know what? They need to go get a sled down. Yep. All those things. I don't know. I, and they have to make decisions that, 'cause I do it too. I'm like, why isn't lift line open? it's their decision, Again, to keep people safe. Yeah. they're making a decision thinking, okay, there's x amount of skiers on here thinking about ability levels, and they just have to make that decision. What, what's going to work for the whole, that was good. Snow reporter round table. I know we did talk about sc we brought back on Andre. And Matt. Yep. No. Had 'em all on. That was super fun. Deep dive into deep dive snow plots and all the new stuff they're doing up there. Yeah. Working with, UVM, doing a little research. Yep. So that was super cool. I think that was it for Yep. Employees. Yep. Up there. we did have. Yeah. Other skiers. Mike Hayes. Mike Hayes. Who doesn't love Mike Hayes's. Instagrams. How many, did you see? A recent one where he, I think it was Riverbed. Yeah, I saw that. Yeah. He's a wild man. He's in water. Yeah. Yeah. He's always got some, and he always, always has his, standard sunrise. Oh, those are the best. Those are pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah. No, it was cool to have Mike on and just learn the ins and outs of GoPro footage, how he picks his lines. And I think my takeaway was. How hard he works in order to get those shots. Yeah. It doesn't just happen. He's up there every day, skinning, biking, staying in shape, and the knowledge visualizing lines. I think a lot of people don't realize, you know what, all for that 15 second shot. Yeah. How many times he gets up to the chin and it's sock in, or it's raining or Right. Whatever. So that was my takeaway, having my down there. Yeah. I don't, I haven't seen a lot from him recently. I'm guessing with the weather. The weather, just not, yep. Maybe that could be a factor in our grading. Yeah. To Mike Hay's post that, that could be good analytics and criteria. That could be, yeah. But early season he was firing a lot of videos. Oh yeah. tons of great sunrises, a lot of good sunrises. what are some other. some other favorites for you. We don't have to go through all these, all mean this was a different one. we had Joey Davis on talking about deer hunting. Yeah. Not something that opened people's eyes up Yeah. To the sport Yep. Of hunting versus what they might think of it. The athleticism, the passion. yeah, I think deer hunting in Vermont, it's, longstanding tradition that is definitely on the decline. it was cool to, just get him on and. Learn about his passion about it. Yeah. I really like Charles Safford, the town manager. That was a while ago now. Yep. But similar to head of ski patrol. Yeah. In the head of the town. A lot going on with STO and his calm demeanor to be able to deal with all the passion behind all, a lot of the decisions. There's a lot that happens in this town. I'm gonna listen to that one again. I really enjoyed that. I learned a lot. Yep. it was great having him on. Charles. Good dude. All right. One of your favorites. I know. The educator, Ted's been pushing on the octagon to get an educator on for two years, and I stand by that and he finally got, I finally won Educator. Yeah. Having, having Maura Wheeler on there was great. in, in my opinion, I think educators are the heartbeat of a community, Yep. No molding, molding the kids into, obviously I had many good experiences growing up in Stowe, I think you could have a really. Bad experience in the education system and that could sour you to thinking about moving back, which I did. Shout out to her. you could just tell the passion she has for kids. Oh yeah. great person for elementary school. STO principal. Yep. You can, you could sense it. Yep. had our educator. But, our first ever episode, was with Neil Van Dyke, head of STO Matter rescue, and we brought in Drew Kleer, what was your favorite part? Jessica, what did you learn? What you know? Recap. rescue stories are always interesting and exciting. And then he's also doing the search and rescue. Search and rescue for the state, Vermont State Police. What I walked away with when he walked in. His, remember his phone went off. We got a call live time. There was people up on the mountain that needed rescuing. Yeah. And we said, we go if you need to cancel, recording, get up there. He goes, no, let's do it. He goes, I'll keep an eye on it. Kept an eye on it. We did the episode, we were chatting with him, checked his phone. Everything looked like it was going smooth with the rescue. Yeah. And he goes, I think I'm gonna go up there just to help out. Just in case he loves it that much. So that was my takeaway. He loves it, lives for it. Loves it. I could tell he was being a good sport by doing the interview, but I was like, that guy, he wants to be up there. He wants to be there. That's who you want on rescue. that was near the Adam's apple. Pretty cold night too. Yeah, it was a cold night. Yep. Yeah. No, that was cool to have Drew on. we had a bunch of kind of business owners. yep. Steph STEM vibe. Yep. That was great. Sports recovery learn, I learned a lot. Yeah. Yeah. A lot about that. Jack Morris. Yeah, the art impressive young man, Frank Ford Gallery. You walked away, tell you, tell me you, I think you walked away pretty impressed. very, I think not super involved in the art world. And, I think more just impressed with him having a vision and just going for it, just believing in his passion and yeah, going for it and revamping this gallery that I've driven by my whole life. And it's oh, it's a cool spot. And, Yeah, no, I think it was cool to, to see what he is doing and he's really trying to, I think also build the art community in sto, so something I'm not super familiar with. Yep. That was great. Yep. For, I love seeing young people. Yep. Stay in STO or come back to Stowe. No reason you can start something. No reason you can't wanna be part of the community. Be involved. Yeah. Jen and John Mick. Yeah, the Alchemist impressive. Now this was one I did without you, Ted. I know, I know. Still I felt, I know I didn't get invited to that episode, but Pete Graves did. So Yeah. Yeah. This was a special episode with Pete Graves, whose favorite beer is Focal Banger who was moving away. and they're just awesome. And I think you went in there, you saw what's going on at The Alchemist. Oh yeah, it is. you talk about heartbeat of the community. Yeah. Alchemists, all that they do, it's a destination. You wanna talk about a business that brings interesting things to ow and people and diverse people. Yep. the Alchemist to me is it's a happy place when I go there, get a beer, just a happy place. And they do lot for the community. Oh, and it's all intentional, right? they're brewing their beers with intention. They're how they treat their employees, how they, all of that. The place, the, and welcoming the they do it right? Yeah. What else could you say? It's a great one. And then. We did have other liquor folks in Howie and Tim from Green Mountain Distillers. I'll just, for me that was just fun. Yeah. Run back through the shed days was just, that was just straight up fun for me. Yeah. And, and they're doing amazing stuff up there. Yeah. Yep. I saw they released their raspberry vibe. Oh yeah. That was the one, he kept a secret from us. she was. Yeah. He's being a little quiet on that. Yeah. quite on that. I think we hit 'em all the only other ones we had, Jackie Henderson and Carter Getty, just to get the high school perspective. Perspective. That was super cool. People appreciated that one. I had a bunch of people come around, come up to me and say, thanks for doing this. I was impressed by both of them. great kids. Yep. Great kids. And then, Dan Bradbury. Yeah. Business. you got a lot outta that. Yeah. Yeah. not really the world I came from. Yeah. Startup. Yeah. The startup world, business accelerator world. Yeah. And again, I think, the role he's playing in growing the economy really in the state of Vermont, that's fun. it's not just in Burlington or something. It's, I love that stuff. yeah, for me it was a natural for you, me, and there's such a need in Vermont. For people like that. Oh, for sure. Growing industry and then Brian Ek, like you were saying. I think that's the only one we haven't covered. Yeah. No, Brian Ek. That was great. A life of just coaching soccer. Soccer coaching. Yeah. My favorite passionate, my favorite story was he was growing a career in the hospitality industry and I think had gotten a pretty good job. and then he called his dad to tell him, Hey, I'm gonna quit this job and I'm just gonna coach soccer full time. His dad hung up and then he called again and his mom picked up and he goes, ah, is there bad phone services? Is there phone issues? My dad just hung up on me. Is that what happened? She goes, yeah, He hung up on you, but follow your passion. Yeah, I saw him two weeks ago. Oh, nice. And I said, ski season's coming to end. He goes, yeah, we gotta get the fields dry. Yeah. Oh yeah. Gotta get the fields dry. Yeah. So that's what was on his mind. Yeah. Yeah. He, that was great to have Brian on there. Yeah. and just talk about soccer and STO and obviously very successful. How many state titles did he won? eight? Yeah. State titles, something like that. Yeah. yeah. Great. Season two banner. Season two. very diverse. Banner ski season. Diverse. Season two. Yeah. Diverse season two, which is what we strive to do at the Octagon. bring a wide variety of guests. A wide variety of skiing. Yep. Skiing. Skiing. Cross country skiing. Yep. Trip. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Season two. Awesome. Winter season two. Great winner. Ready for, yeah. So what's next? Springtime comes, what does that mean? Tennis mountain bike hike. Got a few trips going to the national parks. When is that? mid-May coming up. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Another month. Yeah. that's the near term. Yeah. Yeah. I'm in the heart of, shed season. I went on Sunday. Too much snow. It's four feet of snow. Still too much snow. Four feet, five feet. I know that crazy. My friend was postal into his waist. Yeah. I was like, I'm gonna have to wait a couple weeks. But then down low, it's getting green, so it depends where I'm looking. Okay. down low. I'm almost running out of time, so it's crazy. But, yeah, that'll be the next few weeks for me. Yeah. And then I'll pick the tennis racket up. Yeah. Start playing with you and we'll get out there and gravel biking and, that can, that's probably starting. I see people out there. Oh yeah. Yeah, definitely. And the roads are pretty dry. Relatively dry. Yeah. Mud season doesn't seem crazy this year. No. Feels like that. I was on Elmore Mountain Road Sunday and some patches, but. nothing crazy. Yeah. Yeah. And then, I gotta get the e-bikes going too. Got to you got any big trips planned? I'm sure with the e-bikes. we'll do something up to Canada. Some, something. Yeah. Maybe. Yeah. So you're doing National Park? any other big summer trips? oh and yeah, going back to Europe. Slovenia, hiking and biking. Cool. And a little bit of Croatia. Yep. That's our big trip. That's a good one. Yeah. Yep. As I mentioned, gonna Scotland West Highland Way. I know early, early June. So psyched for that. for people that don't know, the West Highland Way is one of the epic Yep. Eight day hike. End to end-to-end style. But quiet like you're gonna not see people in big, long stretches. You're gonna go through varied landscape. Mountains, all of it. You're gonna love it. I'm psyched. And the older I get, I, I don't need to be doing much tenting. I don't need to be doing much tenting. No. A shepherd's pie. A warm shepherd's pie shower. A shower. Yeah. I'll hike 20 miles. Not afraid to do that. Yeah. But at the end of the day, a bed. Yes. yeah. transitioning outta that, but yeah, it was a great winter. Yep. Great. Winner. That's it. I'm ready. Ready to move on? Yeah. All right. I think that's a wrap on the episode on the winter. Great Winter. Great. Season two. Yeah. We'll see everybody around town. octagons gonna take a little break here for a few months. Yep. while we enjoy the outdoors. Rest rejuvenate. Exactly. And then we'll be hopping back in the studio. Yep. For season three. See you around town. I. 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.