Chair 2 Backcountry Snowboard Podcast

This weeks show features probably our biggest guest to date, we have 2014 Womens Halfpipe Olympic Gold Medalist Kaitlyn Farrington! Not only is she a halfpipe badass, being the first woman to land a BS 1080, but she has racked up Xgames medals and Dew tours wins as well as a European Xgames gold medal as well as tour wins and more. After a minor fall lead to discovering a potentially very dangerous condition, she was told by doctors to completly stop snowboarding. Compromising with her doctors to be as she puts it a "grounded snowboarder" now Kaitlyn is shredding pow around the world! We talk with her about competitive snowboarding, the switch to the backcountry and guiding, her amazing volcano tour where she did 24 volcano tours in just 5 weeks, and we talk a bit about what goes into designing your own snowboard. The companies that stand behind Kaitlyn: GNU Snowboards [https://www.gnu.com/] Monstery Energy [https://www.monsterenergy.com/] Zeal Optics [https://www.zealoptics.com/] The House Boardshop [https://www.the-house.com/] Protect Our Winters [https://protectourwinters.org/] SASS Global Travel - Go ride with Kaitlyn!! [http://www.sassglobaltravel.com/]

Today we are super stoked to bring you Neil Provo! Based in Utah, and growing up on the East Coast, Neil started exploring via his local resorts around Salt Lake City. From there he started experimenting with pow surfing as well as racking up some sweet lines on his splitboard. We chat about moving from the icy east coast to Utah during the rise of the urban and jibbing scene, how he got onto a splitboard, his progression through different types of powder surfers, as well as get into some good discussion on what makes a good splitboard and how his custom built split pow surfer works. This was a fun one for me as I am a huge fan of Neils, and it was great to catch up and hear what he has planned for the coming winter. NeilProvo.com [http://www.neilprovo.com/] Check out and support Neils Sponsors! Outdoor Research [https://www.outdoorresearch.com/us/en/country] Smith Optics [https://www.smithoptics.com/us/] Goal Zero [https://www.goalzero.com/] Hyperlite Mountain Gear [https://www.hyperlitemountaingear.com/] Spot LLC [https://www.findmespot.com/en/] Black Diamond Equipment [http://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en_US/homepage] Backcountry.com [https://www.backcountry.com/]

This has to be one of our biggest guests to date! We are super happy to bring you one of our favorite snowboarders, Blair Habenicht!! We wanted to get Blair on to hear what got him into snowboarding, ask his opinion on the current state of splitboard gear and equipment, and to just generally BS about the sport we love. Turns out, Blair has a lot in common with us, including being kicked of the ski hill on a few occasions only to find refuge at a hidden gem in the PNW. We really enjoyed this interview, and we hope you guys do too! Check out some of the companies that support Blair: Lib Tech [https://www.lib-tech.com/] Smartwool [https://www.smartwool.com/] KM4K Outerwear [https://www.facebook.com/KM4Kishere/] Also you have got to see this movie! KamiKazu [https://snowboarding.transworld.net/videos/kamikazu-now-available-itunes/]

In this weeks episode we break down the basics of splitboarding. The idea with this podcast is to bridge the gap between wanting to know more about splitboarding and having all the info you need to get started. We start with the very basics on what a splitboard is and how it works, then get a little deeper into the equipment and gear you need for a first tour. This is just the first of our basics series, we plan to dive in deeper and get more technical about gear and techniques in future episodes. As always, if you have any questions just hit us up on our social channels (Chair 2 Podcast) or shoot us an email chair2podcast@gmail.com [chair2podcast@gmail.com] BCA Beacon Training Parks [https://backcountryaccess.com/services/beacon-training-parks/] The Mountaineers Books - Winter Sports Books [https://www.mountaineers.org/books/books#b_start=0&c8=mtneers.book&c4=Winter+Sports]

We have Jeff Hambelton from NWAC (Northwest Avalanche Association) to talk about his roll as the Snowmobile Education Coordinator, what the avalanche association does for Northwest backcountry users, getting caught in an avalanche at Mt. Baker and where you can go to find avalanche education and rescue training. We briefly preview what Jeff talks about in his avalanche awareness course and we also get into some gear discussion and where he likes to snowboard when off the clock. You can find links for the websites mentioned here: NWAC.US [https://www.nwac.us/] NWAC Education Calendar [https://www.nwac.us/education/nwac-classes/class-calendar/] American Avalanche Association [https://www.americanavalancheassociation.org/] Avalanche.org [https://avalanche.org/]