Mike Rogge got his start on Newschoolers as a blogger and journalist.
He created The Ski Show, a weekly two-hour live radio show on WBKM.org.
On May 1, he announced via his blog he was leaving Powder to “pursue other projects.”
Rogge currently lives in Truckee, California, where he writes extensively for Powder, ESPN, and MtnAdvisor.com.
He is preparing a cross country road trip back to the East Coast.
Telling the stories of those skiers in those obscure places is something I greatly enjoy.
If I only go one place next winter, I want to go to North Carolina with Charlie Owens.
At least I’ll have something."
That was my second favorite letter.
He didn’t particularly enjoy the Cam profile.
I like writing for that guy too.
Do you write to educate the public on what is going on in skiing?
Do you write to share articles that push skiing in the direction you want it to go?
Do you write the stories that pay you the most money?
Of course, that’s just silly.
I had that perspective too.
We have a deep, rich well of characters.
Not one of them fits into a neatly packaged character like “the rasta guy.”
I’m fortunate to meet these people and it’s my job to introduce them accurately to readers.
I’m not arrogant enough to think I can push skiing in one direction or another.
I want skiing to move forward, or backward, but keep moving.
Every edit doesn’t need to be a statement, unless it’s a Totally Trevor edit.
That kid is hilarious.
I hope he adds more cats back into his edits.
We’ve been trying to get together for an interview soon.
BroBomb is the best and MtnAdvisor.com is the bridge that skiing and snowboarding need.
And yes, I go where I can see the world.
I’m going to Chile for Eye of the Condor in two weeks.
That’s as good as it gets.
This might offend some older establishment at the magazine, but Powder has never been better.
But I believe it.
Stifter lead us to three Maggies in one year, including best publication.
We were up against Nat Geo and mags like that.
The best part about it is we never once said, “Let’s go win a Maggie.”
That was an incredible environment to work in.
It might be the best job I ever have and I’m only 27.
But I don’t see it that way.
After three years, San Clemente started to change me and I greatly missed the mountains.
Orange County isn’t for everyone and it wasn’t for me.
I wanted to see what else was out there and I like the view so far.
The world is big, media is changing, and I want to be apart of it all.
How often do you get to ski each season?-geist
As much as I can.
Maybe 25-30 times though.
Powder Week in Jackson was the most I got to ski consecutively for three winters.
If you want to ski, move to a ski town.
If you want people to think you ski all the time, get in the ski industry.
There’s something incredible about it.
I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed skiing more.
What was your favourite “The Outsiders” interview that you’ve done?-Mousseau
All of them.
That series was so much fun to put together.
My conversation with Warren Miller is a recording I’ll keep forever.
He really gets it.
He has the talent.
Suz is more calculated than people give her credit for.
That’s an important lesson to understand.
Les Anthony is incredible.
It should be required to spend a weekend following Les around so that become a ski journalist.
His book “White Planet” is one everyone should read.
Riley Poor is an old buddy.
Riley is something else.
I’d like to hang out with him again soon.
As for Doug, he was the inspiration behind the whole series.
There is only one Doug Bishop.
Who out of all of the people you’ve come in contact with “gets it” the most.
Benny Wilson is number one.
He’s the founder of the Jackson Hole Airforce.
No one loves skiing more than Benny.
Hans Ludwig, the guy that writes the Jaded Local column, gets it.
He knows what’s up, or as he would write it What’s Up.
He doesn’t bother with the pro-centric bullshit that clouds the industry.
David Reddick is the purest soul I’ve ever met.
He’s Powder’s Director of Photography, been doing it for 20 years.
Try and find anyone anywhere doing anything for 20 years at a high level.
There’s an idea floating around that I helped Reddick pick urban and park photos for the magazines.
I’m happy to say that’s not true.
I did offer my opinions, sometimes to a fault and exhaustion.
The great part about Dave is he recognizes moments.
And Reddick, he rips at skiing.
Getting it is pretty simple, though.
Don’t get caught up on comparing yourself to others.
Do your own thing, be the best student of the game, and keep your focus.
The return is moving at a snail’s pace.
Taylor Brown is working on a new intro track in Montana as I bang out this.
The “I Need The Dollar” intro would be hard to secure rights for.
I want it to be a podcast.
I don’t want to host it on Google Hangout or UStream or whatever and have it suck.
If anyone has any great information on mobile sound recording, hit me up.
I want to know about it.
Here’s what I can tell you.
The Ski Show is moving forward.
I’m a judge at Eye of the Condor in two weeks in La Parva.
I’ve helped a little bit on an upcoming C.R.
Johnson film project 4FRNT is producing.
Now it’s out there.
Technology is stubborn and doesn’t always hit deadlines like, say, a print magazine has to.
We’re excited about it, which is why we don’t talk to everyone about it.
I like staying busy.
I helped Kyle Decker write the synopsis for The Wallisch Project.
Josh Berman color corrected.
So that’s the biggest collab I’ve ever done.
That’s all Kyle and Tom.
I’d like to work on a massive project with Kyle and Erik Seo.
I like their work.
Maybe have Taylor Brown and AllStar do original music.
I want to do everything.
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/628415/The-Way-Things-Are-Going-
When you started college what was your goal to use your degree for?
At 27, I could’ve been one of your teachers.
My life was planned out.
But who really wants that kind of planned-out life?
I want those things, but not necessarily in that order.
So it evolved, as did my original plan.
Skiing is getting lighter and simpler, and more thought is going into technology and weight than ever before.
Bindings and boots have room for improvement.
It’s great to see what the Chickering-Ayers brothers are doing with CAST.
At Powder Week, everyone there had an amazing ski.
That wasn’t always the case a few years ago.
The best part is it’s all for the benefit of actually skiing.
Who got the most hammered in studio?
Why didn’t you ever have strippers on the show or at the very least, Jen Hudak?
What is the most hilarious/fucked up story you have from being in Burlington and doing the radio show?
Have you seen Champ?-skiierman
The 4bi9 show was one of the wildest.
Then the show started.
Who got the most hammered?
All of you, listening.
Man, I miss those days.
I didn’t have strippers because they’re just sad to me.
I guarantee you the rappers that rap about going to strip clubs don’t actually go.
And Jen Hudak might’ve appeared on the show.
I don’t remember.
She’s always been nice to me.
Talk about two different worlds.
We always had fun with those guys though.
The most fucked up thing was the first night.
I was super nervous.
He went to turn onto South Winooski, but was carrying way too much speed.
He slammed into the sidewalk and flew through the air and into the bushes.
I thought he was dead.
For the next hour and 40 minutes, I couldn’t concentrate.
I just waited for him to get up out of the bushes.
He didn’t, or at least I didn’t see him again.
He might’ve died.
He might still be there.
He grew up there.
If anyone has seen Champ, it’s L.J.
What is your single biggest criticism of ski media today?-Mr.Bishop
It’s fine.
It should be great, but almost everyone measures themselves to one another.
If they’re not, they’ll be quiet or create threads on NS about how your product sucks.
That’s why 100,000 million kids wear Level 1 shirts.
That’s a public endorsement saying, “I like what these people make.”
I miss the old NS news system.
If one person finds one cool story, that’s only one up vote.
An editor is needed in that situation to properly place that article in a place it’lls be seen.
Or better yet, write for Ryan Dunfee at BroBomb.
Just send those people an email.
We need more of us.
Come put me out of a job.
It’ll only make journalism in skiing better.
The other one, (sorry, I’m going on and on) is sort of industry wide.
I strongly dislike when skiing is compared to snowboarding in the way that we should be more like them.
And I support snowboarding.
But they have their own problems.
Our history is deeper than any other sport out there.
Learn some of it.
Tanner and the Inspired crew are on this game now.
Tanner is a student of the game.
He’s watched every Dick Barrymore film and then some.
No one wants to talk to Tanner about that stuff though.
They’re too caught up in what he tweeted, or whatever.
That’s a positive criticism.
What is it like to date a pro skier girl completely out of your league?
She’s a better skier than I am, something I’m completely comfortable with.
It’s more Heaven is a Place on Earth, but only because I really like that song.
I wish a ski area would use it as a song in the best marketing video ever.
Thanks for making great boots at Atomic, Matt.
Dan is the best ski photographer that shoots weddings.
Thanks for the comment.
Matt Hansen at Powder is the best at reviews, among other things.
I encourage people to read the BarCode section in Powder from the last few years.
There are amazing nuggets of humor in there.
I’m all about making myself laugh.
I rock DPS Wailer 99s with Dynafit TLT Radical binding and the Dynafit Vulcans as a touring set up.
It weighs less than a pound (not really, but close).
I love my Armada Pipe Cleaners.
It’s probably the most fun park ski ever made for the halfpipe.
I ski just like Torin on them.
At Powder Week, I love trying out everything, and hearing the way it was put together.
He’s a lot smarter than people give him credit for because of the edits and whatnot.
I have a Flylow outerwear kit coming soon that’ll I wear in Chile.
Anyone who doesn’t, won’t be making gear for long.
For outerwear, I’ve always been a fan of Trew and more recently Arc’teryx and Patagonia.
I like what Saga does.
I like what Armada does a lot.
Armada is quietly building an empire.
goggle is refreshingly awesome because it’s so easy to switch lenses.
I wear an Arcade Belt and Cody put me on their team.
If you’ve ever bought a product because it was endorsed by a ski writer, yo comment below.
That would make me laugh and justify Cody’s out-of-the-box decision.
And a new thing is I wear a helmet now.
Maybe that’s apart of getting older.
I really enjoy the randomness of who I get to meet now.
It’d be great to meet Mets Pitcher Matt Harvey.
I’d like to interview him.
Favorite piece is the High Fives profile in the November issue of Powder from 2012.
