TPM Episode 484: Ben Fresco, Elan Skis
The Powell Movement
Mike Powell
4.9 • 860 Ratings
🗓️ 11 May 2026
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ben Fresco has done every job in the ski industry's hardgoods side on his way to his current role as Global Head of Product at Elan Skis. From moving his life from the East Coast to Tahoe and back to the East Coast and now, on a plane traveling the world, Ben's been chasing the perfect turn. And starting out at the legendary Village Ski House, he did over a decade of, not so much ski bumming, learning. Starting in rentals and working his way to the sales floor, to store managing, and really, running the show. Then it was back East to a buyer's role before finding his forever home in Elan. It's a fun episode with one of my podcast's biggest supporters. Colorado sales rep Clem Smith asks the Inappropriate Questions.
Ben Fresco Show Notes:
4:00: Intro stories, NH, Attitash, College, Tahoe, and Baseball Golden Ticket
22:00: Elan Skis: Over 75 years of innovation that makes you better.
23:00: More baseball, death, Village Ski Loft manager, perks of buying, moving back east, and Elan
39:00: Outdoor Research: The best is built and tested in the brital conditions of the PNW and beyond
40:00: Building a following in the US, the factory, and going global
49:00: Inappropriate Questions with Clem Smith
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. |
| 0:13.3 | Welcome to the Powell Movement. |
| 0:16.9 | I'm your host, Mike Powell, and this week has been a sad one in my world, but I did it to myself. |
| 0:21.6 | I recorded three hours of audio with my now dead wife, Ange, and this last week I edited it all together. |
| 0:28.6 | Talk about tears. I mean, it was crazy to hear her voice all over again. It was like she was here. |
| 0:34.6 | And those conversations, there were so many things I forgot about, so it was |
| 0:38.8 | so nice to hear about him. But the shitty thing is that when I finished, I realized that there's |
| 0:43.7 | never going to be any new audio of me to hear of Ange. Man, I miss her so much. And Keaton and I are |
| 0:50.2 | going to go out for Mother's Day and we're going to eat spaghetti in her honor. And then after that, we'll have done every holiday without her this year. And while I accept that she's gone now, it's still so unreal and my life is always going to be empty. You know, there's that song you don't know what you've got until it's gone and I always thought it was so cheesy, but it's so true. I mean, I had a great partner and I totally |
| 1:11.0 | took it for granted, and now that's gone. And one day I'll be able to think back to our memories |
| 1:15.6 | and I'll be able to smile. But now, whenever I think back to An's, I still think back to the past |
| 1:20.2 | three years and all the terrible shit she went through in her cancer battle. And it just makes me sick |
| 1:24.5 | to my stomach and so upset to think that she had to live like that. |
| 1:27.9 | But she was so strong and unfortunately she's not with us anymore and I'm not going to bore you |
| 1:33.2 | or make you sad with more details about my wife's death because my wife isn't here anymore. |
| 1:37.8 | But anyways, that's the update on where I am mentally. |
| 1:40.8 | And I could go on with another big rant about what's going on in my hometown, that's |
| 1:44.8 | Washington, D.C., but fuck politics. All it is these days is rich people getting other rich people |
| 1:50.6 | richer and a bunch of middle class sheep following those clowns. And then there's the whole |
| 1:54.9 | presidential fitness thing. Like that's going to help kids from being fat. Get a fucking clue. That |
| 2:00.2 | shit was a joke in high school. There was only one part of that whole deal that was cool and that happened at my high school because I went to a super privileged high school, Langley High School. It was where all the government's kids went. The get parts went there. The quails went there. We had a Texas delay as a teacher. All kinds of people that were very important and the government went to my high school, |
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