TPM Episode 323: Rachael Burks, Pro Skier
The Powell Movement
Mike Powell
4.9 • 860 Ratings
🗓️ 27 March 2023
⏱️ 82 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Rachael Burks may be the most stoked skier on the planet, and that stoke is contagious. Whether she's sending the biggest cliffs, picking the most technical lines, or doing what she can to promote women and women's skiing, Rachael is the person everyone wants to be around in the mountains. On the podcast, we talk about how she ended up in Texas, finding a ski career in her 20s, Billy Poole, TGR, paying to play, Going Greenland, mentoring women, and a lot more. Legendary airman Julian Carr asks the Inappropriate Questions.
Rachael Burks Show Notes:
5:00: Going Greenland, growing up in Utah, and being recruited to the church
12:00: Team sports, skiing, mountain biking early on, risk-taking, SMU, and depression
21:00: Best Day Brewing: All of the flavor of your favorite IPA or Kolsch, without the alcohol, the calories, and sugar.
Elan Skis: Over 75 years of innovation that makes you better
23:00: Dropping out of school and landing a job at Snowbird, shop-life, contests, and the Crested Butte comp
32:00: Finishing school in Oxford, competing on the European Tour with $350 in the bank, one speed in skiing, and getting a sponsor through crashing in Verbier
38:00: Who was Billy Poole, going on shoots uninvited
43:00: Stanley: Get 30% off sitewide with the code drinkfast
Peter Glenn Ski and Sports: Over 60 years of getting you out there
45:00: Getting on the Levitation Project, not knowing how to film on an all-time trip, Powder Awards, sponsorship, and money
49:00: Julian Carr sized cliffs, losing Billy, TGR, paying to play, Angel, Red Bull Cold Rush, McConkey PMS, and mentoring women
72:00: Inappropriate Questions with Julian Carr
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. |
| 0:13.6 | Welcome to the Powell Movement. |
| 0:17.0 | I'm your host, Mike Powell, and last week, one of the stranger things and one of the most awesome things I've ever experienced happened to me at a dinner. |
| 0:24.8 | So I'm at Mission in West Seattle. |
| 0:26.9 | It's my favorite Seattle Mexican restaurant. |
| 0:29.4 | It's got a really cool vibe, the food is great, and I know the owner a little bit. |
| 0:33.1 | But that's not why I'm telling you this story. So I'm sitting at a bar table and I'm talking to my wife, Ange, and in a split second, out |
| 0:39.7 | of the corner of my eye, I see something that pretty much lands in my hand. |
| 0:44.0 | And before I knew it, I was holding something, and it was like someone meant to throw whatever |
| 0:48.3 | I was holding right into my hand. |
| 0:50.4 | And it's a good thing it landed where it did, because when I look at it, it's a sealed glass |
| 0:54.4 | container from the weed store with a joint in it. |
| 0:57.2 | If I didn't catch it, it would have exploded all over the ground and created a big scene |
| 1:01.0 | in this restaurant. |
| 1:02.2 | But the way this thing landed, it couldn't have been an accident. |
| 1:05.2 | There had to have been someone at the restaurant that I knew, so I get up, I walk around |
| 1:09.4 | the bar, and no one I know is there. So I'm |
| 1:12.0 | totally confused. I look up and I notice that there's some tables upstairs. So I deduct that the |
| 1:17.3 | glass-in-case joint had to have fallen out of someone's pocket and landed directly in my hand, |
| 1:22.4 | like a sign from God. It was so crazy. And since I don't put any smoke in my lungs these days, |
| 1:28.3 | I was like, Ange, I'm going to go return this joint to them. So I'm about to walk upstairs and deliver the now |
... |
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