TPM Episode 309: Adrian Ballinger, Pro Skier, Internationally Certified Mountain Guide, Entrepreneur
The Powell Movement
Mike Powell
4.9 • 860 Ratings
🗓️ 19 December 2022
⏱️ 87 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Adrian Ballinger is a machine for managing risk in the big mountains. Whether he's leading adventures with his Alpenglow Expeditions, summiting Everest or K2 without supplemental oxygen, or just living his rad Tahoe life, there never seems to be a chill moment in Adrian's life. On the podcast, we talk about the three critical mentors to his success in the mountains, performance-enhancing drugs in the mountains, what counts when you're climbing without oxygen, and much more. Adrian's Everest Base Camp manager, Emily Turner, asks Inappropriate Questions.
Adrian Ballinger Show Notes:
3:30: Does having a baby scare him, risk moving to the US and his first climbing/skiing mentor
12:00: Snow camping in HS, first injury in the mountains, books on climbing and performance-enhancing drugs in the mountains
21:00: Stanley: Get 30% off sitewide with the code drinkfast
Outdoor Research: The best outerwear ever built just got better get 25% off all OR
24:00: More drugs and questioning achievements, not being good enough at skiing, who he was in HS, his parents have a plan for him to be a Dr.
29:00: Going to Georgetown, meeting his second important mentor Chris Warner, and a free trip to Ecuador
35:00: Getting sick at 19K feet, guiding trips really young, and how the mob was involved in climbing
41:30: Peter Glenn Ski and Sports: Over 60 years of getting you out there
10 Barrel Brewery: Buy their beers; they support action sports more than anyone
Elan Skis: Over 75 years of innovation that makes you better
41:45: Trying to buy into Chris's business, the breakup, starting Alpenglow, and the importance of becoming a certified mountain guide
55:00: The challenge of getting local climbing permits, the hazard of being a ski guide in Colorado, moving to Tahoe, and getting a local permit
61:00: His 3rd important mentor, Russell Brice, experience on 8K meter peaks and the high-altitude gene,
70:00: The letdown of failing at Everest with no oxygen, succeeding the following year, climbing without supplemental oxygen, and being a different type of professional athlete and being an influencer to other professional athletes
80:00: Inappropriate Questions with Emily Turner
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Have a seat on your porcelain throne. |
| 0:02.3 | It's time to talk some shit on the Powell Movement. |
| 0:13.5 | Welcome to the Powell Movement. |
| 0:17.1 | I'm your host Mike Powell, and I finally made it up to the summit at Snow Kwame. |
| 0:21.0 | I was able to high-five Guy and Andy and Carter and thank them for all they do. |
| 0:26.1 | Then it was time to go ski and there was a ton of snow. |
| 0:29.1 | It felt like it was mid-season but we aren't even close to that yet. |
| 0:32.1 | I brought my award-winning Ripstick 96 Black Edition from Milan and I had a blast. But I really should have brought |
| 0:39.2 | my Ripstick 106s. They're also award winning and they would have been the better choice with all that |
| 0:44.0 | snow. But whatever, I'm done complaining about my award winning skis. While the skiing was fun, |
| 0:49.9 | we got home and the next day we came into some more bad news. My kid was sick and now he's part of the COVID club and he's quarantining. |
| 0:57.8 | So we've got him locked in a room and my wife and I continue to test negative. |
| 1:02.2 | So we've been going about our business, which has been working from home. |
| 1:05.7 | And I wish that's all we had going on in our lives, but it's not. |
| 1:08.6 | We've got a sickness as well. |
| 1:10.1 | It's cancer and it's time |
| 1:11.2 | for the weekly cancer update. So Anne's had her first chemo treatment and by the time she was |
| 1:15.9 | eight days out of that treatment, she began to feel great. She was walking the dog, |
| 1:20.1 | hanging out with friends. Everything kind of felt back to normal, but it definitely wasn't back |
| 1:24.2 | to normal. And while she was still feeling great, we still had to go back to the doctor for some blood work and a meeting with Dr. Diamond, our oncologist. So we get |
| 1:31.9 | home from that meeting, and you have to remember, this is cancer. It's a long game, and my wife |
| 1:36.6 | and I are still like any other married couple. We argue here and there, and it's mostly about stupid |
... |
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