Hi. The pod is my fault. My name's Alex Kaufman and some people refer to me as AK.
I grew up skiing in Northern Vermont until I was 12. Then moved to Boulder followed by the Vail Valley. I dropped out of high school when I was 16 in Vail, got legally emancipated and ski bummed as a teenage "adult" from 16-19 living in my truck, storage unit, tent, etc.
Bussed tables.
Delivered pizza.
Bagged groceries.
Tuned skis.
Made lattes.
Tried to meet tourist girls.
Had a pager.
Showered in hotel spas.
Tried to keep up with olympic mogul skiers.
Learned to snowboard the year I had no skis.
Caddied for the rich and famous including President Gerald Ford.
Yes, I got to give advice to a President for 6 hours after sleeping in my truck nearby. Claim!
A scholarship I earned from my extremely high score on the GED (an oxymoron I grasp) sent me to Colorado Mountain College (Steamboat) in 1998.
I eventually graduated from MCLA in North Adams, MA, dropped my pro skier quest, and began a decade of running the PR and/or marketing at four different ski resorts in three different ownership groups.
At the outset of that period I was also attending graduate school for meteorology via dial up internet, but ended up bagging it to focus on the resort biz. Yes the Wintry Mix podcast is hosted by a meteorology graduate school dropout. Seems fitting. Crackpot weather knowledge I posses.
(I also skied on these. Notice the mis-matched bindings.)
Killington (ASC)
Attitash (ASC) - the final year I was still going big
Sunday River (ASC then Boyne)
Mt Bachelor (Powdr)
Then 5 years helping the Ski The East wolf pack migrate from Meathead Films to retail juggernaut as a side job.
Since then I've been pulled into the family business (apartment complexes) while keeping Wintry Mix going as a side hobby so my previous 20 years don't just go down the tubes.
We own/run a bunch of these all over the country.
Things you'll notice about Wintry Mix...
Industry people open up and tell me extra things. They know I'll keep it in the proper context when I share with my listeners since I've been in their shoes quite a bit and my relationships are key to pod success. I also write for numerous snow industry publications and resort magazines and have been a contributor to the SAM best/worst in marketing issue since 2014.
I have a cool dog. He's 12 though. So we all need to be ready for what's coming. It sucks. I'm sad now.
The pod was previously a partnership with Vermont Public Radio in season 1-3. We mutually decided to split at that point because I wanted to experiment with the new format that would allow me to keep the pod going with less time investment on my part, which was required due to the real job. And now we can swear.
I do two kinds of skiing now as I push 40 years old. Powder skiing, sometimes human powered, or teaching my kids skiing. I do not go out to rip groomers.
Here's some other articles in case you really want more, which is a little weird.
There's more, but man that should be enough.
Just follow on social and subscribe on Apple Podcasts.
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