Next Level Skiing

Next Level Skiing is a podcast about skiing. Your skiing. Longtime ski journalist Jason Blevins talks to the sport’s luminaries and behind-the-scenes bosses about strategies and hacks for stepping your skiing up a notch. Sure, the key to getting better at skiing is to go skiing. A lot. If it was only that easy. This podcast will offer some shortcuts to becoming the skier you want to be, without having to quit your job and move to a ski town. Subscribe where ever you get your podcasts by searching for “Next Level Skiing.” Learn more at wagnerskis.com/nextlevel.

A Ski For Every Skier with Pete Wagner 04/21/2025

A Ski For Every Skier with Pete Wagner Pete Wagner was building proprietary software to customize golf clubs when he bought a pair of skis in the early 2000s. The mechanical engineer and computer scientist wrestled those skis for a season before realizing he had purchased the wrong skis for his style. Why wasn’t anyone designing skis like he was designing golf clubs or like boot fitters adjusted ski boots? In 2006, the expert skier launched Wagner Custom Skis with an exploratory questionnaire that helps skier identify their dream skis and software that guides a warehouse full of machines in building those skis. Nearly 20 years later, Wagner’s team of 15 ski builders in Telluride are crafting skis built precisely for individuals taking their skiing to the next level. Tune in to hear Pete's riff on ski design and the manufacturing process, trends in ski designs, and how a customized ski - like a custom-fit ski boot — can improve your every minute on snow. Topics: 1:00 - A background in material science and design software for golf 6:00 - Buying the wrong skis. How come no one is focusing on fit like in golf and cycling? 7:10 - 2006 launch of Wagner Skis with “rapid prototyping” software 8:00 - How custom ski boot fitters inspired the Wagner business plan 13::40 - Building a database of ski designs 16:00 - Customization for beginner and intermediate skiers 18:00 - Optimizing ski design with 2,500 different material combinations 19:00 - Versatility for beginners 23:00 - Ski design trends in the mid-2000s to now 25:00 - Adding rocker to the tip and tail with camber underfoot 27:10 - Matching individuals to skis 28:20 - Manufacturing without molds 36:00 - Repeat customers and changing designs as skiers refine their demands Quotes: “A ski that has the right flex pattern and stiffness, the benefit of that is that it will be stiff enough to give you good stability if you’re going fast.” - Pete Wagner “The business model of the big companies is not about customization or agility. Their business model is that they go out in the late winter and spring, get people to try their next year’s models, collect orders, mass produce stuff throughout the spring and summer, and then deliver them to the shop in the fall.” - Pete Wagner “What we realized is that you can keep things simple.” - Pete Wagner “Skiing has a lot to offer people. There are different things you can focus on and that’s what makes it such a great activity and way to spend your time. And that’s our goal.” - Pete Wagner Resources: /episode/index/show/wagnerskis/id/36063585

The perfect turn is the next turn, with Willie Volckhausen 04/14/2025

The perfect turn is the next turn, with Willie Volckhausen Welcome back to the Next Level Skiing podcast, brought to you by Wagner Skis. Willie Volckhausen started skiing when he was 2 and raced with Sunlight's local ski club for over a decade. He spent 18 years coaching young skiers with the Aspen Valley Ski Club, developing not just ripping racers but athletes with a lifelong passion for skiing. And now he’s a ski instructor with the Aspen Ski School who spends his summers working his family’s farm near Paonia. Over his decades of being coached and coaching, Willie’s picked up more than a few techniques for improving our turns. Listen in and hear Willie talk about critical drills, his description of the best coach in the world, how farming has informed his skiing and when to find the perfect turn. Topics: 1:00: 18 years skiing with the Bad News Bears of ski racing at Ski Sunlight 3:10: Transitioning to alpine racing coach for U12s for the Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club 6:20: Balancing performance and victory with sustaining a passion for skiing 7:00: The best year for winning at Aspen Valley Ski Club wasn’t about the podiums 10:10: No pedestals for elite skiers 12:10: What coaching and young racers taught him about skiing 16:00: “Skiing is the easy part” about being a ski instructor 17:00: Standing on the outside ski 19:40: The up and over drill 20:20: The best coach in the world “should be totally deaf and totally mute.” 26:00: How learning patience through farming helps with skiing 30:50: How can you identify the perfect turn? Wait. Quotes: “Ski racing is an individual sport that is dominated by teams.” - Willie Volckhausen “It’s not all about that one person. Only one person’s gonna win and there’s ten of us. So what are the other nine kids supposed to do the day that so-and-so wins the race? That’s what we focused on a lot.” - Willie Volckhausen “Coaches and mentors have that opportunity every day to not put their elite athletes on a pedestal. The kids who win know they’re good. They know they’re going to win again. They know they’re expected to win. I think that’s some of the worst pressure we could possibly put on junior athletes.” - Willie Volckhausen “If you tuck and roll, get your feet back below you, and you stand up without ever stopping, technically that's not a crash; that’s a ground trick.” - Willie Volckhausen Resources: /episode/index/show/wagnerskis/id/36004580

Staying balanced with Brody Leven 04/07/2025

Staying balanced with Brody Leven Welcome back to the Next Level Skiing podcast, brought to you by Wagner Skis. Brody Leven doesn’t dabble. He’s an all-in type of skier. When he decided he was done with park skiing, he moved from 100 days of high-flying park time every season to 100 days of climbing and skiing mountains. And now it’s been 10 years since the Fischer Ski-sponsored athlete has ridden a chairlift. He’s never eaten meat. During the pandemic, he started exercising outside every day. Now he’s more than four years in without missing a single day. He’s a lifelong vegetarian, a vehement climate advocate, and, as he says, “obsessed with ideas and doing things that are hard.” Tune in and hear Brody talk about growing up skiing in Ohio, his pursuit of untracked sno,w and his evolution into one of the world’s top ski mountaineers who considers his skiing outside the traditional definitions used by both pro skiers and ski mountaineers. Topics: 1:10: An after-school ski program in Ohio. 4:00: Moving to Salt Lake City in 2005 for the skiing 12:10: Going from 100 days in the park to 100 days in the backcountry. 14:20: Ten years without riding lifts. 15:40: Principled skiing. 24:00: Perfecting turns without ever skiing on a groomer. 28:30: Climbing and skiing peaks in Uganda, Romania and Georgia. 30:10: The “thief of credibility” in the culture of ski mountaineering. 36:00: The light and fast ethos in ski mountaineering. 41:00: Jumping into exercising outside every day 49:00: Tackling climate change is like coming to a mountain with lots of little steps. Quotes: “When you're back there, you're listening to what the mountains are telling you and what your intuition is telling you and the frequency with which you do it, you know, getting out there so regularly and, you know, kind of higher risk terrain, you develop that fluency, right? And you push yourself to a spot where you have an intuitive fluency.” Jason Blevins “I'm not like a woo-woo person, I'm very logical. And so when I say the essence of skiing, I do not mean that in any sort of woo-woo way. I mean, literally, it's how you move around the mountain on skis.” Brody Leven “There's this culture of doing cool things and being quiet about it but secretly hoping other people hype you up in the parking lots. And like that's, it's just so weird for me. It's uncomfortable for me. I don't know. So I hype it up myself because I get back and I'm proud of it that part of my job is letting people know what I've done.” Brody Leven “In hindsight, I didn't know it at the time, but I think in hindsight, finding that consistency was some way of having control over such an otherwise out-of-our-control situation. And so much of my life seems to lack that control.” Brody Leven Resources: /episode/index/show/wagnerskis/id/35790530

Staying Aggressive in the Sharky and Spicy with Rob Dickinson 03/31/2025

Staying Aggressive in the Sharky and Spicy with Rob Dickinson Welcome back to the Next Level Skiing podcast, brought to you by Wagner Skis. Unless you live in Crested Butte, you likely haven’t heard about Rob Dickinson. He’s a former big mountain competitor who moves like a ninja through the Butte’s scary steps. You really only catch glimpses of Rob … a flash in the trees, a splash of snow on a rocky face, a blur beneath impeccable tracks. He’s coming up on 20 years skiing Crested Butte and is one of the mountain’s handful of inspirational soul skiers. Rob doesn’t have a sponsor. He runs his own painting business. But he’s got skills and style for miles. Tune in and hear the 45-year-old Rob riff on how CBMR has honed his skiing, how to ride the clutch in technical terrain, and why you should never drop your uphill hand in gnarly steeps. Topics: 2:20: From upstate New York to New Hampshire to Steamboat 4:15: Crested Butte keeps you honest 7:10: Ride the clutch to stay fluid in technical terrain 11:10: Competing in big mountain comps from 2009 through 2014 with a CB shred posse 18:30: Injuries, replacing body parts, and shifting your mindset 24:15: How steep creek kayaking hones ski skills, risk assessment 26:10: Taking vanity out of the equation. 28:00: Check in with yourself 31:00: Finding happiness in healthy, sustainable places 33:00: Gear adjustments and added protection for steep skiing 36:30: Don’t change anything on race day 37:30: Play, don’t work, in the ski industry Photo credit: Garrett Grove Quotes: “All I did was chase skiing and kind of got the feeling that maybe I was chasing skiing from too far away.” - Rob Dickinson “Trying to get better and trying to pull better results at, at freeskiing competitions, like, you just learn how to, I always say, ride the clutch, learn how to instead of like jamming on the brakes to see what's coming next.” - Rob Dickinson “Crosstraining is really, really valuable.” - Rob Dickinson “You have to steel your mind and you have to make yourself present and you have to check in with yourself.” - Rob Dickinson Resources: /episode/index/show/wagnerskis/id/35726060

Lou Dawson is Our Skintrack Artist 03/24/2025

Lou Dawson is Our Skintrack Artist Welcome back to the Next Level Skiing podcast, brought to you by Wagner Skis. Lou Dawson is a ski pioneer who has been setting the skintrack for countless skiers for decades. Since he arrived in the Roaring Fork Valley as a teenager in the mid-1960s, Dawson has helped shape backcountry skiing. From being the first person to ski all of Colorado’s 14ers — finishing in the early 1990s — to meticulously documenting nearly every technological advancement in ski gear, Dawson has shepherded backcountry skiing from its nascent roots in the 1970s to today’s global juggernaut. His recent memoir, , traces his life from a hard-charging skier to a thoughtful father, husband, and alpinist. Tune in to hear Lou talk about his first ski tour, the 1982 avalanche that nearly killed him, leaning on his spirituality, penning more than 3,000 posts at his site, the evolution of touring gear, and the art of setting a skintrack. Topics: 2:30: Life in Aspen in the 60s as a teenager with hippie parents. 7:40: First-ever touring up to Conundrum Hot Springs at age 16. 9:40: The “radical sensibility” of progressive adventurers in Colorado 10:50: The 1982 avalanche in Aspen Highlands Bowl. 13:40: The Peter Pan Syndrome challenges many ski town men. 16:10: The spiritual awakening after the avalanche. 19:00: Finishing all the Colorado 14ers in 1991. 20:40: Writing posts for Wild Snow, tinkering and modifying backcountry gear. 24:50: The role of alpine tech bindings in ski mountaineering. 26:40: How gear and improved education have helped protect backcountry skiers. 35:40: North American versus European skin tracks. 36:40: “A beautiful combination of technology and athletic ability and a mystical awareness of the environments and the mountains.” 40:40: The fun of low-angle touring Photo credit: Lou Dawson skis Long's Peak in 1990. Photo by Glenn Randall Quotes: “I started on wooden Bonna skis without edges and I literally would take those up and go powder skiing on those things back behind Aspen Mountain and places like that.” - Lou Dawson “The difference between the 60-something millimeter skis we were skiing back in the 1970s and 80s with these with say an 80-millimeter ski or a 90-millimeter ski is like night and day.” - Lou Dawson “In a lot of ski posses, people would look at you and think, ‘Well, I wish he or she had taken an avalanche course.’ And, you know, the avalanche course might not serve you to be able to predict whether a slope is safe or not, but it just makes you more aware of the danger.” - Lou Dawson “I've always applied my craft to just anything I do. And I think one of the crafts of ski touring is the skin track. It's how you create it.” - Lou Dawson Resources: /episode/index/show/wagnerskis/id/35654490

Skiing Every Aspect with Mike Hattrup 03/17/2025

Skiing Every Aspect with Mike Hattrup Welcome back to the Next Level Skiing podcast, brought to you by Wagner Skis. Mike Hattrup has moved from bump skiing boss, to ski movie star to gear designer, covering smooch ground on snow that his work has touched just about every skier in the sport. From chasing his four siblings on the slopes of Alpental to winning mogul medals to hanging with Stump, Schmidt, and Blake in the seminal “” to building backcountry skis and gear for top ski shops, Hattrup’s career has covered a lot of ground. Today, he’s the director of skiing for Eleven Experience, helping folks plunder powder in Alaska, British Columbia, Chile, Colorado, France, and Iceland. Listen in as Mike traces his extraordinary career from pro skier to guide to gear builder. Topics: 3:05: Growing up skiing during the freestyle rage of the 1970s 4:00: Athleticism of mogul skiing 6:30: Training for mogul competitions 10:00 Filming with Greg Stump in “Time Waits for Snowman” in 1985 11:20: Filming “Blizzard of Aahhh’s” in Europe 14:00: Why “Blizzard” resonated so deeply with skiers 16:00: Moving over to K2, helping the company transition from race 22:50: The emergence of the transformative K2 Four 26:00: Moving into telemark ski design, flexible ski boots, and backcountry gear 34:00: Working at Kastle, Fisher, Black Diamond, Marmot 40:30: AMGA guiding on Mount Rainier 46:00: Improving through technique as we age Quotes: “I never thought that skiing was a career. Not like now, I mean, you can go be a film skier, right? But back then it really wasn't an option.” - Maike Hattrup “We'll for sure look back on that era from early to mid-90s to the mid-2000s as the golden era of ski design.” - Maike Hattrup “I learned to tele purely from a touring standpoint.” - Maike Hattrup “In terms of fitness, that certainly becomes more of a challenge as you get older and I think you just gotta find a way to, I mean, find a way to keep training and make it fun.” - Maike Hattrup Resources: /episode/index/show/wagnerskis/id/35660295

The joy and ineffable awesomeness of skiing with Amie Engerbretson 03/10/2025

The joy and ineffable awesomeness of skiing with Amie Engerbretson Welcome back to the Next Level Skiing podcast, brought to you by Wagner Skis. Amie Engerbretson grew up ripping Palisades Tahoe, the daughter of a pro skier and filmmaker. She has starred in dozens of ski movies, highlighting a grace and flow honed from years of training as a dancer. Now she’s making her own movies, advocating for climate action, and helping women hone confidence on and off snow. Tune in and hear Amie about how dancing influences her skiing, how films can reveal the emotional challenges and rewards of skiing, and how to foster confidence for improving our time on snow. Topics: 1:20: Pro skiing is the family business. 6:10: Grace, rhythm, and flow. 7:20: Years of competitive dance influencing skiing. 10:00: Dance, skiing, and filmmaking as performance art 11:00: “Hypocrite” and “Blue Hour” ski films revealing “the full gamut of emotions in the human experience.” 12:20: The changing business of ski films as storytelling. 13:10: Advocacy work with Protect Our Winters. 14:20: “Knowing it’s OK to be scared and do something anyway because it’s important.” 17:00: Life happens in the in-between; savoring the moment of transition between turns. 19:40: How skiing changes as we grow. 21:30: Being mindful of the choices you make as an individual. 23:00: The wisdom of Roy Kent in “Ted Lasso.” 26:10: The power of the ski community. 29:30: The importance of recovery days in training regimens. 30:00: Ski camps for women at Palisades Tahoe 31:00: Growing confidence through mind-body connections Quotes: “I was super into dance and ballet also when I was younger and both ski racing and ballet became quite serious and intensive to the point where they kind of have to become your only thing at some point.” - Amie Engerbretson “What I'm doing is telling stories, trying to somehow communicate the joy and the ineffable awesomeness of skiing to people through a screen or through a photo or something like that. That's my job is, in a way, it is like a performance, like a ski performance, like a film strip is performing, I think.” - Amie Engerbretson “What I do as an individual absolutely matters, but the most important thing I can do as an individual is be part of a collective. To change the system so that then all of us as individuals can make better choices in that system.” - Amie Engerbretson “What I've learned as an athlete is to understand my fear, understand when it's rational, irrational, all those things, but also know that it's okay to be scared and do something way because it's important and you want it.” - Amie Engerbretson Resources: /episode/index/show/wagnerskis/id/35576140

Building a relationship with fear with Kristen Ulmer 03/03/2025

Building a relationship with fear with Kristen Ulmer Welcome back to the Next Level Skiing podcast, brought to you by Wagner Skis. Today’s guest is Kristen Ulmer, who is one of the most accomplished big mountain skiers ever. She is now a fear and anxiety expert, helping her clients overcome disabling confusion or chaos. After studying Zen concepts for more than a decade, she authored “” as a guidebook for improved mindfulness. Her three-day Fear Ski Camps at Alta are renowned for helping skiers improve their athletic performance and bury the fear and anxiety that can hinder, not just skiing, but living. Take her on her website. Her decades-long reign as one of the top female skiers in the world has transferred over to expertise in helping people foster stronger mindsets, find flow states, and improve their health and happiness. Topics: 2:00: First full season skiing in Little Cottonwood Canyon after growing up in New Hampshire 4:00: Skiing all day, working in banquets at the Cliff Lodge, competing in moguls comps 5:00: Transitioning from moguls to big-mountain in the early 90s 6:20: “No girls were doing that back then.” 7:50: Studying the Eastern approach to fear and readjusting relationships with fear 09:45: Finding flow state through fear. “We are stronger together than apart” 11:50: Interviews with top action sports athletes 16:00: The problem with resisting fear 18:25: Intimacy with fear manifests as focus 21:30: Performance-enhancing relationships with fear 27:40: Ski camps at Alta 34:50: Three themes in why we love skiing Quotes: “I was just trying to hang out with friends and have a good time with friends and go on the trips with them. And I really didn’t have any goals in skiing, but the next thing you know, I wound up on the US ski team for moguls.” - Kristen Ulmer “We probably should define that [extreme sports] mean that the consequences of failure are death or injury. That’s what makes something extreme.” - Kristen Ulmer “What he has is, he has a willingness to feel fear. He’s young, hungry, and talented. He’s stepping 4% out of his comfort zone every day, connecting the dots. This is how y ou become better at anything.” - Kristen Ulmer Resources: /episode/index/show/wagnerskis/id/35485180

Keep it Fun With Your Hands up with Kim Beekman 03/04/2024

This is My Purpose with Aaron Blunck 02/26/2024

Reggie Crist is The Stoke Broker 02/20/2024

Master The Smooth with Scot Schmidt 02/13/2024

Feel It All with Drew Petersen 02/07/2024

Feel It All with Drew Petersen There are a lot of great ski movies out there. But only one ranks as the most important. In a year when U.S. suicides reached record highs and many mountain towns are reporting the highest suicide rates in the country, Drew Peterson’s “Ups + Downs” exposes the professional skier’s anguished struggle with suicidal thoughts. Mental health is at a critical crossroads in mountain valleys and Peterson’s willingness to step up and reveal his own battles with overwhelming darkness is one of the most consequential moves in the history of ski movies. Skiing is awesome. It can help people learn how to be mindful and present. It can recharge weary souls. But it cannot heal mental illness. Drew’s turn toward therapy and the hard work required to deflect demons is a guiding light for people who can’t escape the darkness. Drew’s upcoming movie details his turn toward 100-mile ultramarathons as he continues his journey. This is a special Next Level Skiing podcast where Colorado-born Drew shares how skiing is only one tool for rebuilding a life. If you or anyone you know is in need of immediate help, call 988 to reach trained crisis workers at the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or text HOME to 741741. Topics: 2:00 - The 20-year overnight success story 6:40 - Ski the Wild West 11:00 - Raw expose with “Ups + Downs” 12:30 - The falling rock that “changed the track of my life.” 18:00 - Skiing can’t be the only thing 20:40 - Let skiing just be skiing and find childhood joy 21:40 - The destination fallacy 24:45 - Finding mindfulness and presence on skis 28:05 - Shining the light in a darker corner of mountain culture 33:35 - Ski and enjoy Resources: If you or anyone you know is in need of immediate help, call 988 to reach trained crisis workers at the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or text HOME to 741741. /episode/index/show/wagnerskis/id/29841918