Podcast

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A chat with Dean Sheppard or Deano. A long term Mount Hotham, Victoria, Australia, skier and coach, known for his work with adaptive skiing.

He started skiing at Mt Hotham in 1969 as a small child and has gone on to have a career in skiing. By 1989 he was a fully certified Australian Professional Snowsports Ski Instructor.

He was Head Coach of the Australian Paralympic Team for part of the 1990s. Deano shares stories about the Paralympic Games of 1992 in Albertville, France and Lillehammer, Norway in 1994. Where he coached Micheal Milton known as Australian most successful the one legged skier, to date. And; Michael Norton sit skier.

We also talk about the evolution of the sit-ski and the adaptive movement.

This episode was produced and recorded by Rouchelle Gilmore.

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A chat with Bill Barker, Head of Ski Patrol at Mt Hotham, Victoria, Australia.

Rouchelle and Bill chat what is is like to be a ski patroller at Hotham. They talk about how he ended up as a skier from being a surf-loving kid from NSW, sponsors over the years, friendships in the mountains and adventures in Kashmir, Australia, Europe and beyond.

This episode was produced and recorded by Rouchelle Gilmore.

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Kaela Glasbrenner and Rouchelle Gilmore have been ski friends and fellow ski instructors together for years. They sit down and have a chat about some of the realities of working as a ski instructor and have a few giggles while doing it.

They talk about Kaela’s journey as a skier and mountain girl, how the girls feel as females in the sport of skiing in Australia and the lack of representation by the reports and what friendships in the mountains can be like in such a seasonal place.

This podcast was recorded in July 2019 at Mt Hotham, Victoria, Australia.

Episode produced and recorded by Rouchelle Gilmore.

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A chat with long-term Mt Hotham, Victoria, Australia, skier and local Buff Farnell.

Rouchelle and Buff talk about how he became a skier and how he came to call Hotham his mountain home, his definition of a ski bum, the Australian backcountry, how he became sponsored by Quicksilver and his first Quicksilver ad, how shooting with Andrew Barns was the start of him becoming a photographed skier, some of his favourite trips and projects he has worked on as far as being in ski photos, learning how to ski as part of the Alpine ski racing club at Hotham in his 20s and where some of his skiing inspiration has come from.

He has been skiing Hotham for over 30 years and has skied all around the world. Enjoy this little get-to-know Buff conversation.

This episode was produced and recorded by Rouchelle Gilmore.

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Kennedy Lay and Rouchelle had a chat about life in the mountains. They talk about the differences between living in mountain towns in comparison to city life, how Kennedy became a skier, and then a ski instructor, the impact of moving to Australia at 13-years-old from China, how living in the mountains has shaped who he is as a person, about the time he climbed Mt Kilimanjaro, in Africa and a little bit about the winter in Jackson Hole in America that Rouchelle and Kennedy shared a few years ago.

This episode was produced and recorded by Rouchelle Gilmore.

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An interview with Jackson Hole Babe Force co-founder Crystal Wright. She is a ski racer turn big mountain skier who use to compete on the Freeskiing World Tour, owns a gym in Jackson hole and an all round a great role model for mountain women.

In the chat Crystal talks about growing up in Jackson Hole, being a racer turned big mountain skier, the impact of social media in mountain towns, coaching womens camps, injuries, and the start of the Jackson Hole Babe Force.

This episode was produced and recorded by Rouchelle Gilmore.

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A chat with Jackson Hole local and legend Benny Wilson from March 2019. He is a one of the founders of The Jackson Hole Airforce (JHAF) and was a huge influence on extreme skiing in North America and beyond.

In this chat Benny explains his definition of a ski bum, what a real Jackson local is in his opinion, a little about the starting the of the JHAF and what it was like. He also explains what getting a JHAF patch means after the opening of the gates into the backcountry. Which is the backcountry just beyond the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort boundary.

He answers the question, how did you end up ski instructing? As well as touching on what it was like to film skiing back in the day.

There is a movie about the JHAF called Swift. Silent. Deep. which explains their influence on the hardcore ski culture in the US.

The ski movie we talk about is Teton Gravity Researches, Far Out.

This episode was produced and recorded by Rouchelle Gilmore.

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This episode is a chat with Jessica Baker recoded in March 2019. She is a ski instructor in Jackson Hole, a mountain guide, heli ski guide, ex-Freeride World Tour competitor, guide for Exum, avalanche educator and mother.

We cover a lot of different topics in relation to the evolution of her ski career and life in the mountains, education in skiing, the influence of Doug and Emily Coombs’ into how she started SkiDivas. The list goes on.

Since the recording of this interview Jessica has finished the AMGA certification ski guide process.

The book mentioned was Tracking The Wild Coomba by Robert Cocuzzo.

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Why start a podcast about life in the mountains….

The mountains have a strong pull for many people. Everyone has there own story of how they come to live in the mountains or choose to escape to the mountains casually. Some people are born in the mountains and do not know any other way of life, others come from big cities, boring flat lands and everything in-between. There are some pretty awesome people out in these places.

The mission of The Mountain Cosmos is to share stories from a diverse range of people who have something to do with mountain life.

Some of you may wonder why I decided on the name The Mountain Cosmos… Well the mountain should explain itself. But the word cosmos is related to many things which are strongly related to life in the mountains.

I’ll go on..

Cosmos was originally a Greek word, meaning both ‘order’ and ‘world.’ The ancient Greeks thought the world was impeccably in order, perfect and harmonious.  Although these days it means, ‘all of creation.’ Among a few other things which are insatiably important to mountain people. Such as ‘nature’ and ‘system of thought’. Both completely important as we are in nature and looking after it, while system of thought is to do with how we approach the mountains.

This website is to complement the podcast and may venture into more blogs in time. I hope you enjoy the journey and be sure to subscribe to the podcast and this blog.