What's up everybody and welcome back to the Blister podcast. I'm Jonathan Ellsworth, the founder of Blister,

and you can check out everything we're doing and reviewing over at blisterreview.com.

So two episodes ago, that's Blister podcast episode number 150.

When Cody Townsend and I were having our reviewing the news conversation,

Cody mentioned a story about a snowcat operation that was, let's just say, at odds with a producer of backcountry guidebooks.

And I mentioned then in that conversation with Cody that I know said producer of backcountry guidebooks and was actually overdue in having him on

this very podcast. And so today is the day that we make good on that promised conversation.

Andy Sovic is the very interesting person behind Beacon Guidebooks, and in fact, he is so

interesting that, as you'll hear, I think Wes Anderson needs to make a movie about his life.

Andy also might have the coolest parents of all time, and he is a publisher of guidebooks

while also being someone who really dislikes the term guidebooks.

And in this conversation, he'll tell you why.

But what we know for sure these days is that sales of backcountry guidebooks are up and more and more people are heading out.

And so Andy and I talk about a lot of the relevant issues surrounding these two facts.

We discuss the question of whether or not backcountry guidebooks should even exist.

We talk about the responsibilities that come with publishing such books, and we talk about

the AITS system, which is an avalanche safety rating system that isn't nearly as well known

in the U.S. as it is in Canada and in parts of Europe.

But Andy is a champion of the Ath system, and in this conversation, he'll explain why.

Now, while you are listening to this conversation, I would very much encourage you to check out Beaconguidebooks.com

so that you will be able to see the various atlases and maps that we will be discussing here.

And now, just before we get going here, and since many of us are now already skiing again,

...