Episode #6
TJ Balon: Conquering Alaska — It’s a Long Story | Only Friends on a Pow Day
From learning on a snow-covered garbage dump to riding Alaska’s Pontoon and filming for Warren Miller, TJ Balon shares a lifetime spent chasing snow. He learned to ski on a snow-covered garbage dump in Manitoba. Decades later, TJ Balon was dropping into Pontoon in Alaska, flying drones for Warren Miller and helping run one of the most legendary heli-ski operations in the Chugach. In this episode of Only Friends on a Pow Day, Austin sits down with Canadian-born snowboarder, photographer and lifelong snow tragic TJ Balon for one hell of a campfire story. TJ traces the journey from minus-40 Manitoba winters and finding his people in Banff to learning to snowboard for a girl, working multiple jobs to fund back-to-back winters, leading early powder trips through Japan and eventually testing himself in Alaska. Then it gets properly wild: long weather holds, remote heli operations, a destroyed drone with a miraculously intact memory card, an unexpected invitation to ride Pontoon, and aerial footage that made it into Warren Miller’s Face of Winter . This is a story about much more than big lines. It is about belonging, obsession, risk, family, burnout, the people who pull you back to the mountains and recognising that you are allowed to be proud of the life you built. In this episode: Learning to ski on a snow-covered garbage dump in Manitoba Moving to Banff with a few hundred dollars and finding his people Learning to snowboard to keep up with Mon Back-to-back winters across Canada and Australia Leading early Japan powder trips before the boom Entering the world of Alaska heli-skiing in Valdez and Cordova The weather, waiting and culture behind a heli operation Becoming part of the Points North Heli family Losing a drone, saving the footage and being invited to ride Pontoon Filming Alaska aerials for Warren Miller’s Face of Winter Life in Revelstoke and working with CMH Family, burnout and knowing when one chapter is complete TJ’s new chapter representing Heli Guest: TJ Balon Points North Heli-Adventures: @pointsnorthheli Heli: @heli | heli.life Follow Only Friends on a Pow Day for more raw stories from the people who live for snow. Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4f3LRobtvyCKkoWAlDBb8Y Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/only-friends-on-a-pow-day/id1804878609 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@OnlyFriendsonaPowDay Website: https://www.onlyfriendsonapowday.com.au Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onlyfriendsonapowday/ #OnlyFriendsOnAPowDay #TJBalon #AlaskaHeliSkiing #Snowboarding #BigMountainSnowboarding Thanks for listening. Stay frothy and have fun! Support the show Thanks for listening, stay frothy and have fun!
