Marcus Brown, John Travers, and Dave Winegardner
Summary
This episode of the Ski With Wade podcast brings four of skiing’s best bros together on a deck in Kirkland, Washington. Wade introduces three of his best friends in skiing, or “full-blown bromeos,” as he likes to call them: Marcus Brown, John Travers, and Dave Winegardner.
Together, the three talk through their individual, but interconnected, relationships to Wade—hitting on everything from their biggest wins and redesigning skis together to fatherhood and why relationships, not wins, will be what they remember most about their skiing careers. Looking for some high-level shop talk with a whole lot of fun thrown in? Don’t miss this episode!
Topics Covered
- A little bit about what’s up and who’s sponsoring the podcast.
- Wade introduces his good friend, Marcus, and they take a trip down memory lane, recounting Marcus’ biggest wins and his journey in skiing.
- John talks parental figures in skiing and being a ski dad.
- Dave and Wade chat about how they met and Dave’s role in creating the A1 ski.
Blog
This episode of the Ski With Wade podcast is probably one of my favorites to date. I got to hang out on my good friend Dave’s back deck in Kirkland, Washington, talking all things skiing with three of my best buddies in the business. Marcus, John, and Dave are truly some of the best guys out there when it comes to water skiing, and I think, just awesome guys in general. I couldn’t wait to talk to each of them about how they’d shaped my own life and career and go through their long list of accomplishments and ways they’ve changed the water-skiing world for the better.
First up was my buddy, Marcus. If it weren’t for Marcus, this podcast wouldn’t exist right now. This dude is legit. We’ve had a long and intimate relationship (though we’re not to the hand-holding stage just yet), and I’ve loved seeing Marcus’ career just absolutely take off. Marcus was a legend in west coast skiing, and one of his signature wins that really encapsulates his career happened at the US Open when I was out there sitting on the mic, announcing.
Marcus truly had some huge moments in his career, but, like the class-act he is, he made sure to talk about how those wins weren’t really the high-point of skiing for him. Instead, they were more like checkpoints—things that he remembers happily along the way, but not moments that filled him up for longer than 10 minutes. Marcus pointed out the relationships he built through skiing and how those are the things that will stay with him so much longer than a moment on a podium ever would.
At this point, I’m pretty much tearing up hanging out with these full-blown bromeos on the deck reliving our best moments, so I turn it over to John and start talking about how his dad, Jack, was like a father-figure to me when I was growing up skiing.
Quotes
“When my life changed a few years ago, I realized it was far more about the journey than the destination.”
“Everybody’s who’s been skiing, at one point has lived at my lake house.”
“People would ask me what kind of music I listen to, and I would tell them I listen to an eclectic mix, but honestly sometimes I would just spend eight hours in the car thinking about skiing. I’m like the biggest nerd in the world!”
“I knew that in waterskiing, we were sort of stuck with our knowledge base. There were a lot of things we were doing that I was like, ‘hey man, I’m getting really frustrated.”