Avalanche Terrain

0:03Conan O 'Brien needs a fan. Want to talk to Conan? Visit teamcoco.com slash call Conan. Okay, let's get started. Oh, here comes Tanner. Hey. Hey. Thanks for that introduction, Matt. That was terrific. Tanner, how are you? Good. How are you, Conan? This is sweet. I'm doing real well. Hey, man, it is sweet. And it's sweet talking to you. And I'm looking at you right now. I'm trying to figure out from your background where you've got that kind of stove that looks antique that goes up and into the wall with like a bunch of pipes. Is that a bong in the background? What is that? a lava lamp yeah was that a lava lamp that's a lava lamp okay well you know in my defense they can uh they can you can be dual purpose you can have a lava lamp that's also wrong figure out something yeah oh i i did no trust me that doesn't make sense so uh you're in where are you you look like you're in some kind of a cool rural situation what's happening yeah so i live in central idaho um in the mountains it's like kind of like 500 people it's uh two hours north of boise where is that in relation to Ketchum?

1:10Ketchum. So Ketchum would be kind of Eastern. Do you know Ketchum? You're pointing on a Zoom in a direction I don't know. We're on a podcast and you're pointing. But he gave you Boise and you decided Ketchum is all you mean? Boise is a capital. How do you not know Boise? I'm just sort of more interested in Ketchum. It's where Hemingway lived out his last days. Yep. And the celebrity types like to go to Ketchum, wear fur coats. I've never been there. I'm not enough of a celebrity. I think more about Hemingway spending his last days there in Ketchum. It's rather a poignant tale. But I think I got us off the trail here, Tanner.

1:49Tell us a little bit about yourself. What do you do when you're not smoking sweet J-bone out of a lava lamp? So I work as a ski patroller. That's my primary job here. Ski patroller. So not a ski instructor. You're a ski patroller, which I think no slamming of ski instructors here because I love skiing and I love ski instructors, but ski patrollers sound so much cooler. Yeah. You get to wear the fancy uniform and carry radio. Do you get a gun when you're a ski patroller? We should. At least a taser, I think. No, I think you should have a gun and you should be on your skis firing at someone who's fleeing.

2:26Yeah. Or a rabble. I think that'd be cool. Or I could just take them out. Oh, well, you know, first of all, I'm loving this whole thing. You're a ski patroller and you're in Donnelly, Idaho. Is that correct? That's correct. Okay. And very closer to Boise, I guess, than Ketchum. But listen, again, I'm getting us off the rails. Tell us, what does it entail when you're a ski patroller? Are you looking out for people's safety, their health? What are you doing? So it's kind of a mixture of rescue. You're also mitigating risk. So you're kind of marking hazards with bamboo. um then you're also doing avalanche mitigation and medical as well um so it's a mixture of kind of everything all right so you have had probably some calls where people fall and they broke their leg or something is that right yeah it's mainly the good rule of thumb is skiers it's usually leg injuries knees femurs and then snowboarders usually something upper body collarbones arms i i did try in the 2002 olympics which were in salt lake uh i we did we shot a segment where i I tried snowboarding and the physics of it for me, cause I'm very tall and I have a fat head.

3:37So I'm top heavy. I would go down. And when you go down on skis, it's one thing, but when you go down on a snowboard, you're going down like four times harder. Is that fair to say? Yeah, that's fair to say. Yeah. Especially you, you have like, so you learn in EMT school, like the different mechanisms of injuries and you're more based on what you say as a pediatric patient, cause they have bigger heads. So they fall on their heads. So what you're saying, Tanner is I'm like a large baby. Yeah. You're like a large baby. Yeah. Me too though.

4:07You might have to have your tonsils out while you're skiing. Is there, is there a code for man baby down on the mountain? Uh, we can make one. Yeah. You should make one. Uh, we've got a Conan. Just call it a Conan. A Conan's down on the mountain. Uh, okay. So a lot of those kinds of, uh, injuries. Do you ever have people that, um, I don't know, they say they need help and you get there and it's kind of clear they're not really in any jeopardy they're just sort of tired and making a fuss about something that's not that important 100 i would say about you're just making something up no i'm telling you yeah 80 of our calls are probably people who just can't make it on the hill um so we call it a taxi where we just give them a ride and toboggan down that would be me no but i can i can tell there's sometimes there are people that fall down they go oh i went boom jump called ski patrol.

4:59But it's so hard to get up after you fall. You're just, you have these giant things on your feet. Skis. Skis? Yeah. And you're just kind of like, come on. I have to get up now? If this is the way you feel, what got you there in the first place? Yeah. And you shouldn't be skiing. Pure pressure. You shouldn't be skiing. What do you mean I should? Everyone should ski. I don't know. It's not your culture. I just, I'm. You might be right. Actually, honestly, I don't know a lot of Armenians who ski. I took you to Armenia and I didn't see a lot of ski. there's not around there but if i was on the mountain and i fell do i just yell help me tanner and you just show up or how do you how do you know it depends so we do like one of our jobs so one day a week we're a dispatcher so we sit in the office the radio and the phone to answer phone calls oh um we get a lot of people who call just like this person needs help and we're like all right we'll go check it out but um that's one way or you just can scream help can you ever send one Are you one of those giant St.

5:56Bernard's with a barrel of brandy around its neck? Yeah, do they still exist? I was wondering when the St. Bernard would come in to play with you, too. Yeah. Or maybe, Tanner, you could just carry a lot of brandy with you. On a barrel around your neck. Yeah. Or, Conan, that's a good job for you because you have that big head to hold it up. Okay, Tanner, let's let that go. I think it's time. You could put it on your waist. Yeah, big head means there's a bigger space underneath the head. shades the rum nicely. It doesn't get overheated in the sun. Listen, Tanner, my question is, is the St. Bernard, is that something that just exists in cartoons now?

6:36Or did it ever really, would you guys ever use one? So we do have avalanche dogs in service on the mountain. We have three, four dogs on the mountain. We have a German Shepherd, two Labs, and then we have one kind of mixed breed. and they're trained for, but they're mainly trained for avalanche rescue so they can sniff out people buried. Let's talk about avalanches because I, as you can probably tell from my build, I'm an athlete and I do a lot of skiing. Maybe you just got to clean off the lens a little bit on your computer. There is a - I think from your build, you can tell you're a podcaster.

7:14Okay. Oh, that was such a good burn. I say that as a podcaster myself. Listen, I'm just saying you have to lean into the microphone because it's a directional mic, thanks to Eduardo here. And that means you have to build up the Scolatus multidennis. But listen, Tanner, let's talk about avalanches. I know it's a serious subject. They're more common than people think, right? Yeah, they are. Mostly they're, most avalanches are human-triggered avalanches. At the resort I work at, we do avalanche mitigation with explosives and also just kicking the cornice buildup. Um, so it's, it's fairly unlikely just due to mitigation, um, inside our ski area boundaries to, uh, experience an avalanche, but they are really common, especially in the back country.

8:04You get to set off explosives every day, which I think would be a dream job. I would love to do that. It's sweet. It's a little bit puckering, but it's fun. That's cool. Um, what, what, tell me, um, yeah, it's a little bit, like a butthole. Yeah. When you're dealing with high explosives, sometimes the asshole seals itself. Oh, I want to blow stuff up. And as an asshole, I can say that. Tanner, do you... So you set off these explosions, and you have to make sure... If you set off the explosion and it triggers an avalanche, you've got to get the hell out of there, right? Well, we try to be, and we are in a safe area.

8:43Okay. So we're usually above it. um most of our terrain is basically a ridge line and then we get cornice build up so we are on top of the cornice uh behind it and we throw an explosive tied to a rope so cool i think that sounds cool what kind of explosive it's just dynamite with a little uh cabin fuse yeah cabin fuse igniter or booster and then a little cardboard igniter that's basically a match you put on it and pull a string you're you're like wiley coyote i mean you're you're not that far away from uh it you know it doesn't sound as sophisticated as i thought it would be yeah you're still lighting a fuse and chucking something that's tied to a rope how much time do you have before it goes off what's um it's 90 seconds so a minute and a half uh so tell us and maybe this is one of those things that's going to save a life out there so we should be serious about it what if you're in a situation where you suspect, do people know when an avalanche is coming and they try to escape it?

9:44Or is it one of those things that overtakes you so quickly, you just have no idea? It depends. So they can go from all different degrees and sizes. I would say if you're thinking about traveling in avalanche terrain, and I think a lot of people don't have to worry about it at resorts. It does happen in resorts. But if you're traveling in backcountry avalanche terrain, the best thing you can do is just take a class on avalanche awareness and understand what to look out for. Other than that, like seeing at a resort, it's relatively pretty safe. Is there, have they built a mechanism or anything that you can, like gear that you can carry so that if you do get trapped under the snow, you can like pull a ripcord and something goes shooting up to indicate to people where you are?

10:23I'm serious. This isn't a James Bond movie. What do you mean? In The World Is Not Enough, he has a parka that turns into a giant ball that he can live inside of during an avalanche. Is that true? Yeah, it's true in the movie. Oh, well, okay. Thanks for interrupting the guy who does this for a living and mentioning, well, actually, R2-D2 handled this on Planet Glyph.

10:55Is there such a thing? Is there a tech that would save my life if I was, because you talk about people that go to resorts, but I'm not some resort guy. I'm a backcountry guy. what uh or big country uh i like that band from the 80s uh would you um what is there is there anything that someone can purchase so yeah um if you're traveling in backcountry situations you always carry an avalanche beacon which is basically a giant aluminum basically pole that uh you put together and it's made for finding victims you can poke and prod the snow and hit a body and that's through you know you found uh the buried victim oh i see but that's that's for the rescuer i'm talking about anything that i could have on my person so that if i get buried it you know like a long straw i can assemble under the snow that i stick out of the snow and then i can breathe through it yeah well there's a few things sorry it's called backcountry sorry go ahead maybe they're they don't they're laughing and stuff but you know what they they laughed at edison They laughed at Tesla.

11:59They laughed at Musk, and they should laugh at Musk. What do you think? What about my idea with the long straw? So there is an avi lung that's attached to your backpack you wear, and it's basically a little tube you can breathe in. The hard part about that is it's really hard to find when you're getting thrown around in an avalanche. There's also airbags that have a little CO2 cartilage on it that you pull. See, this is what I'm talking about. It will inflate in the back, and it will kind of keep you above the surface. That's good to know. Yeah. And it's pretty easy to avoid avalanche terrain.

12:32A lot of places have forecasters that go out and tell you what avalanche terrain will be. That's a danger. I'm going to avoid them. That's my strategy, just to not go to avalanche terrain. Is there a chance if they're – and do you have a nail clipper that you're holding, Tanner? Yeah, I was showing my nails. Okay, listen. Jesus. Tanner, I am an iconic figure in American cultural history. and I'm chatting with you and all of a sudden I see you're doing something and I see you've got a nail clipper. You're like, yeah, I'll kill two birds with one stone. Tanner, in your double tasking here, did you think I'll cut my nails while talking to Conan or going, I'll talk to Conan while I'm cutting my nails?

13:11Well, I was trimming him during the weight room thing and then I decided to just fidget with it. Yeah, okay. Listen, I didn't take it. I don't take it personally, I'm sure. We're interrupting his nail time. Yeah, let's see how they're looking. You ever think I'm a busy person, Conan? Oh, yeah. You know what? Good point. And by the way, Conan, you called him. He didn't even ask to do this. Okay. Well, I was just curious. I had some questions, and occasionally I'd like to check in on how things are going in Donnelly, Idaho. I would keep my nails long so I could claw out of the snow and ice. Oh, boy.

13:43I think you're taking a big risk cutting them short, you know? Oh, yeah. But you got to think about hypothermia. Oh, well, I never really do. I run so hot. Brain. Brain cooking. so many ideas. You mean you think so much that it warms your body that during an avalanche you won't freeze to death? Oh yeah, I think my resting body temperature is like 109 degrees. So the snow will just melt around you? There's a steam cloud that follows me wherever I go when I'm skiing.

14:12I love this. I love learning so much. And do you have a question for me, Tanner? I feel like I can't help you much. You seem like a very cool, calm, collected guy who's well-groomed. uh what what would you like to ask me so have you i know you've skied before but have you ever had to be rescued by ski patrol never and if not what do you think your injury would be okay well that's fun um i think well first of all i've never had to i you know what i have done uh i was skiing once and i saw a guy who was kind of out of control slam into somebody and the person uh who got who who got slammed, hit a tree pretty hard.

14:54So I was one of those people that like stopped and took my skis off and tried to make a barrier, you know, to keep other skiers away. And we waited for the ski patrol. That was the right thing to do, right? Make a little barrier with the skis. Someone told me maybe it's not a good idea because several people got impaled coming down the hill. You pointed them out? Yeah, I think I killed six people trying to protect the person who was lightly bruised by the tree. Are you a good skier? I'm a pretty good skier. I've been skiing. I skied as a kid. I started out skiing in Massachusetts, which, by the way, I love you, Massachusetts, but not ski country.

15:36The highest rise was like 45 feet above elevation. But then we started going up to New Hampshire, take a bus up there. And this was back in the day when you just skied in your jeans. And it was, I loved it. And then I thought that was skiing. And then finally, I would say sometime in the mid 90s, well into doing my late night show, I had a chance to host some events at an Aspen comedy festival. And I went to Aspen for the first time and I saw skiing out in the West and it opened my eyes. It was so fantastic. I just fell in love with it. So I love it there. Do you do pizza slice French fries? Pizza slice French fries?

16:16No, no. I got out of that a long time ago. Okay. That's my way. Yeah, well, I mean, you just you ski with pizza and french fries. She's a great skier, but she has a full complement of high carb food. So, no, I've never called ski patrol for help myself. What would my injury be? I mean, man, I don't know. I'm just going to have to say I'm probably it's going to be I'm mostly leg. I'm 95 percent leg. And I think it's going to be something with my legs. Unless somehow you could get an ego bruise on the slopes. I was wondering if you would be the guy that would go like, I can ski this double block and get halfway down and be like, nope, I can't do it.

16:57You know what? I would never, ever, I have too much shame. I would never call ski patrol to help me get down a mountain. I'm fairly confident unless it's a straight drop cliff, I can get down something. It's not going to look great, but I can get down it. I do not think I would call to say, help me get down. uh this uh this this mountain i would be too i would just rather die what yeah instead of asking for help you would just be like okay this is it for me yeah i would because i think i mean first of all think of the clicks if i'm found uh frozen on a mountain a lot of clicks but but i don't want to be the i don't want to be calling you tanner and saying help me help me i don't want to ski down the mountain i can't do it yeah i'm good at that i'd rather just hang out and ski and not do that.

17:46Yeah. So you're fine with me letting myself die. Yeah. And then you get to be the guy that found me. Yeah. Right. And I could like sell the, you're like petrified body to like. Oh, wait a minute. Wait a minute. What? That's true. How did you bypass, how did you bypass the coroner? Did you, how did you talk to my wife? My wife would be like, yeah, yeah, whatever you want. Yeah. I'm not using it. Yeah. I'm not. I am. We're good. This saves us a lot of money, Tanner. And then I'd be there frozen, completely solid in your backyard. You could hang Christmas lights on me. As long as you trimmed my nails occasionally, it would be good.

18:23Oh, he would. We need a new coat rack in my house. You'd eventually install a digital clock in my forehead. All right, well, Tanner, very cool talking to you. And I hope I get out there. I've never skied in Idaho in my life, and I'd like to check it out sometime. I think if you come, you need to come twice. becoming summer and winter. You know what? I love mountain biking. Is there a good mountain biking there? Yeah, I'm actually, uh, I work as a mountain bike patroller in the summer. Hey, I could join you and be your deputy for a day. Yeah, that'd be cool. Yeah. We'll, we'll give you a little back a little more enthusiastic Tanner.

18:58That's me being enthusiastic. I don't know what else. Okay. Wow. All right. Well, you need a heart scan. Um, all right. Well, Tanner, very nice to meet you and stay safe. And I'm glad to know you're out there taking care of people. Yeah, sweet. Thank you, Conan. All right, take care. Yeah, cool meeting you too. Bye-bye. Conan O 'Brien Needs a Friend with Conan O 'Brien, Sonam Ovsessian, and Matt Gourley. Produced by me, Matt Gourley. Executive produced by Adam Sachs, Nick Liao, and Jeff Ross at Team Coco and Colin Anderson and Cody Fisher at Earwolf. Theme song by The White Stripes. Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino.

19:36Take it away, Jimmy. Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair, and our associate talent producer is Jennifer Samples. Engineering by Eduardo Perez. Additional production support by Mars Melnick. Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista, and Britt Kahn. You can rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts, and you might find your review read on a future episode. Got a question for Conan? Call the Team Coco hotline at 669-587-2847 and leave a message. It, too, could be featured on a future episode. And if you haven't already, please subscribe to Conan O 'Brien Needs a Friend wherever fine podcasts are downloaded.

20:19This has been a Team Coco production in association with Earwolf.