The Tough Mudder obstacle course events have become very popular in a relatively short period of time, and they are attracting a wide variety of participants who strive to test themselves in a military style course designed by the British Special Forces.

"But Tough Mudder is more than an event, it’s a way of thinking," explains the event's website. "By running a Tough Mudder challenge, you’ll unlock a true sense of accomplishment, have a great time, and discover a camaraderie with your fellow participants that’s experienced all too rarely these days."

Edging the Xtreme recently caught up with Kelly Ross a mother of two, who holds down a full time job and firmly believes that when you're in your mid-40s, it's never to late to be a "Tough Mudder." She completed the event at Gunstock, NH.

Listen to me chat with Kelly, on Edging the Xtreme:

Boasting over 700,000 participants world-wide, Tough Mudder raises money for the "Wounded Worrier Project" and promotes team work, as the course is nearly impossible to do alone and requires teams to complete many of the obstacles. These events also follow the recent fitness craze beyond aerobics, yoga, weight training and Triathlons. These events promote attitude, fun, and total body fitness – they are not competitions.

The next up-coming Tough Mudder is at Mount Snow Resort in Vermont August 1and 2.

For more, follow Dan Egan on Twitter at @SkiClinics and Like SkiClinics on Facebook.

Joseph Campbell famously once said, “The best things in life can not be described, the second best thing in life are the things we attempt to describe and the third best things in life are the ones we talk about.”

One thing is for sure: sailing the open ocean at night can’t be described, and in the spirit of Joseph Campbell, I will not attempt to do so here.

Listen to my most recent Edging the Xtreme update:

But what I can tell you is that Marion, Mattapoisett and Padanaram, Massachusetts are towns where sailing reigns. Located in those towns are some of the most respected boat yards, boat wrights, and sailors in the world.

The annual Marion to Bermuda Race is a rite of passage in this part of New England, and the scene at the dock with generations of families ranging in age from four months to 80 plus years old, wishing us luck is equally hard to describe.

On the boat I sailed on, ages ranged from 18 year-olds to seasoned sailors, many of whom had done this race as many as 13 times. The largest boat in the race, Shindig, had a father-son team on board. Mark Riley and his son kept a blog with that is very moving and both the father and son are sailing the boat back later this week.

Listen to me talk to Adam 12 on my way into Bermuda:

The crew of August West cruising across the finish line.

I sailed on the boat August West. We had an amazing start, only to blow out the spinnaker three miles into the race. We eventually sewed it back and referred to it as Frankenkite, but by then the leaders were too far out in front to catch. This photo was taken by Hew Russell of our kite ripping away from the boat.

Racing these sailboats is a mix of mental endurance and physical grind, with three-hour watches at night and four hour watches during the day. The hardest part of sailing in general is staying focused on making the boat go fast and in a 650 mile race like this, that often can be a tall order. We had eight crew members to motivate each other, and the winner of the race (on the boat Alibi) was a double-handed entry. I can only imagine that their challenges during sail changes and rough seas were greater than ours.

Our crew consisted of boat owner and skipper Jamey Shachoy, Ed VanKeuen (who spent five years sailing around the world), Jon Pope (who has raced to Bermuda 13 times), Will Godfrey (who sails for Hobart College), Sam Schafer (who had sailed the Trans Atlantic leg of the 1997 BT Global Challenge around the world race in 1997), Barrett Levenson (a sailing whizz kid), sailing industry professional Dan Cooney (who is a life-long sailor and did his first Marion to Bermuda race as a teenager), and myself.

The Bermuda one-two race is also currently going on. In this race sailboats are single handed on the way down and double handed on the way back. These boats leave today and will start returning to Newport RI over the weekend.

The following quote by Joseph Campbell sums up my not only my overall experience of this race but also of life: “The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure ”

Thanks to my sailing partners who made this trip possible, Sperry Top-Sider, Gowire Insurance, Atlantis Weather Gear, Lake Winnipesaukee Sailing Association, Uncle Jon's Coffee and Buzzards Bay Yacht Services

For more, follow Dan Egan on Twitter at @SkiClinics and Like SkiClinics on Facebook.

Well, the ski bum is going to sea!

That's right: I’m sailing to Bermuda this weekend in the Marion-Bermuda Cruising Yacht Race. Since 1977, the Marion-Bermuda Race has been a premier 645-mile ocean race and sailing event that appeals to a broad range of cruising and racing enthusiasts.

The Marion Bermuda Race is organized and run entirely by hundreds of volunteering members of The Beverly Yacht Club (BYC), The Blue Water Sailing Club (BWSC) and The Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club (RHADC) for the Marion Bermuda Cruising Yacht Race Association.

I’ll be sailing on a J 122 sailboat named August West, and you can track us and all the boats on the Marion to Bermuda website. Here is a great video on what a J 122 looks like:

Thanks to my sailing friends at Sperry Top-Sider, Atlantis and Gowire Insurance, as well as the Lake Winnispaukee Sailing Association.

I'll be sending updates from the trip via satellite phone. Tune into RadioBDC and Boston.com on Edging the Xtreme for video, images and updates with Adam 12 and I all weekend.

Here are some more pictures, to keep you on your toes:

The best mountain bike freeriders in the world are gathering this weekend for the annual "Spring Training" at Highland Mountain Bike Park in Northfield, New Hampshire. The pros come from all over the world to train in the one-of-a-kind indoor facility that includes both foam pits and rubber ramps, as well as outside airbags to jump into.

This is the time and the place riders experiment with new tricks before the start of the Freeride Mountain Bike World Tour. The highlight of the weekend will be the "Best Trick" event on Saturday.

Highland Mountain Bike Park was the dream of Mark Hayes, who built a world-class mountain bike park at a ski area that closed in the mid 1990's.

Hayes, a mountain bike enthusiast, tells Edging the Xtreme how he built one of the best know mountain bike parks in the world from the humble beginnings of a run-down ski mountain.

Listen here:

For more, follow Dan Egan on Twitter at @SkiClinics and Like SkiClinics on Facebook.

It's a weekend full of mountain biking madness at the 12th annual Pat's Peak Mountain Bike Festival in New Hampshire. The list of competitions alone is covers every aspect of the sport; there are 24 hour, 12 hour and 6 hour competitions for all levels of endurance athletes.

Over the years, Greg Jancaitis has posted some amazing results in this race. Starting in 2009, he finished third in the men's solo 24 hour, and he was the 2010 and 2011 overall winner in the men's 24 hour solo. Then in 2012, he was the winner in the men's 6 hour solo. He also holds the course record at 29:00 in last year's race.

Here is a video interview with Jancaitis from the Shenandoah 100:

Specializing in long distance mountain bike races, Jancaitis has been able to carve out a living riding miles and miles for hours and hours. Click here for his fitness blog.

Listen to the entire interview with Greg Jancaitis on Edging the Xtreme:

Plus, learn about the entire Mountain Bike Festival at Pat's Peak, which includes the Eastern States Cup (ESC) USA Cycling Regional Championship Downhill Mountain Bike Race Series.

The Series is in its fourth year and includes nine venues with eleven series races, plus the state finals and the series finals. Check out a listing of the ESC schedule, rules and more information.

The X-Country Challenge on Sunday is part of the Northeast Root 66 XC Race Series, a series of cross-country mountain bike races held at different venues throughout New England.

And that is just the beginning of the fun: there's a single speed cycle cross event, plus camping, music and activities at the mountain all weekend.

For more, follow Dan Egan on Twitter at @SkiClinics and Like SkiClinics on Facebook.

In 1851 a radical-looking schooner named “America” won a prestigious race off the coast of England. The race represented the shift of maritime power from the “old world” to the “new world,” and the America’s race was born.

Now some 163 year later radical-looking boats are still competing for this great trophy and honor between nations. The boats racing today have revolutionized sailing in countless ways, they travel faster than the wind and have wings for sails.

Great Britain is the most successful nation in Olympic sailing history, with more gold medals won than any other nation. Team GB’s sailors have topped the medal table at the last three Olympic Games. In general, the Olympics are the breeding ground for sailors with the technique and fitness to handle these new catamarans. So it was a sad day when one of these Olympic Sailors, Andrew Simpson, died a few weeks ago when the boat he was training on broke apart.

The America’s is pushing the limits in speed and design and also has a new Red Bull Youth Series.

Listen to the Dan Egan’s recent interview with Sailing World senior editor Stuart Steuli about the race, the recent tragedy and the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup.

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What's crazy to some is controlled chaos to others. Alex Polli,a wingsuit flyer and base jumper, isn't afraid of the kinds of daredevil stunts most people would be terrified of.

According to Polli, the scariest thing is not jumping because that "would not be living."

He flies all over, including through a 2013 banner to ring in the new year with his friends, and he once jumped out of a helicopter and flew through an arc cave on the side of a mountain – at over 250 miles per hour.

In a recent interview on Edging the Xtreme, Alex Polli talks about his life, his need to fly, and the what it takes to b calm under extreme conditions.

Follow Dan Egan on Twitter at @SkiClinics and Like SkiClinics on Facebook.

At just 12 years old, Alana Smith became the youngest X Games medalist in history. Smith won the silver medal in the women's skateboard park contest as the X Games kicked off in Barcelona over the past weekend.

Fellow american Mitchie Brusco, who first competed when he was just 14, landed the first 1080 in X Games history on the "MegaRamp." It was only the third time the trick had ever been landed, ever, in all of skateboarding history.

This weekend also belonged to veterans like as Garrett Reynolds, who won his sixth straight BMX Street title, and Bob Burnquist, who made it to four straight Skateboard Big Air victories. Pedro Barros won his third consecutive Skateboard Park gold and Zack Warden defended his BMX Big Air title from Brazil.

Check out all the video highlights at xgames.espn.go.com. The next stop for the X Games is Munich, Germany June 27 to 30. Then the world tour wraps up in Los Angeles during the first week of August.

Stay tuned here, because we'll be bringing continued coverage of the summer's most extreme global competition.

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I met Vasu Sojitra last Friday while he was hiking up to ski Tuckerman Ravine. He was celebrating the end of his college career at UVM with a pack of friends, a typical thing to do on a beautiful spring day in May. Except Vasu only has one leg!

At nine months, Sojitra had his leg amputated, but he's never looked back. He climbs mountains, hikes and skies, and isn't deterred, although he does say he needs to eat more than your average person.

Listen to the most recent installment of Edging the Xtreme to hear more about the amazing backcountry accomplishments of this extraordinary young man.

Follow Dan Egan on Twitter at @SkiClinics and Like SkiClinics on Facebook.

This week, I spent a day observing and speaking with people at the site of the 1996 Olympic bombing in the Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia. The day was inspired by thoughts of what happens years later after a tragic bombing event.

What touched me was that the park paid tribute to Barron Pierre de Coubertin, a man considered the founder of the modern day Olympic movement. He once said, "Holding an Olympic Games means evoking history." The 1996 Olympic bombing claimed one life and injured 111 people.

It was a pipe bomb with nails and screws and the event transformed an evening of celebration into a foreshadowing of modern life. You can see the imprint of a nail left in one of the monuments below.

Barron Pierre de Coubertin

"The important thing in life is not to triumph but to compete." - Pierre de Coubertin

"Sport is part of every man and woman's heritage and its absence can never be compensated for." - Pierre de Coubertin

In mountain biking it takes a rare breed to rise to the top. Last summer at the London Summer Olympics, USA's Georgia Gould had the worst start in her career. Yet when the day was done, she was standing on the podium with a Olympic Bronze Medal.

As a sponsored rider on LUNA Women's Mountain Bike Team, Gould has plenty of motivation to continue to compete on the world stage. As the 2013 World Cup Season kicks off in Germany later in the month, Gould hopes to build on her past success and capture the elusive World Cup Victory, as well as defend her National Title.

In the fall, she’ll turn her attention to racing cyclocross with the aim of defending her 2012 USGP series championship. Georgia lives in Fort Collins, Colorado with her husband Dusty, their 28 bicycles, five chickens, a hive of bees and a garden full of vegetables.

Listen to the entire Georgia Gould interview with Dan Egan on Edging the Xtreme on RadioBDC, above.

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A new Swedish helmet, complete with airbags and fashionable enough to be a scarf, is a radical departure from familiar, bulky biking helmets on the market today.

But research shows that innovations in cycling gear could be very trendy in the near future. The inflatable Hovding Helmet, which is worn around the neck and is specifically designed for the cycling commuter, is already selling in Europe and is coming soon to North America.

Invented by two Swedish students, Hovding is covered by a removable shell that can be changed to match an outfit, and new designs will be launching all the time. Hövding is a practical accessory that's easy to carry around, it's got a great-looking, yet subtle, design – plus, it might save your life.

Sensors around the rider's neck can sense a quick or unusual movement and will trigger the helmet to inflate. The sensors read body movements 200 times per second, and when it senses danger, the Hovding helmet inflates like a hood.

There are some draw backs, however, as consumers can not repack the “air bag” once it is deployed.

The company that manufactures Hovding was recently honored at the Tribeca Film Festival, in partnership with the GE Focus Forward Film Series, which highlights innovative ideas, such as the ergonomic, practical, and subtle Hovding.

There are plenty of stats that tell us that wearing a helmet while cycling is a good idea. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2011 there were 38,000 cicyclist injuries, and 91 percent of bicyclists killed in 2009 reportedly weren't wearing helmets.

The US Department of Transportation conducted a survey in 2011 which found that the biggest area of accidents on bikes was in traffic. So even though only 5 percnet of the people surveyed were commuters, they were at the greatest risk. The Hovding helmet was designed specifically for commuters, and in test after test, the inflatable helmet rated higher in safety than traditional helmets, when it came to head injuries.

Airbag technology has been revolutionary in other sports as well, such as skiing and snowboarding, where avalanche airbags have a 90 percent survival rate when deployed in avalanches. The inventors of the Hovding helmets are already getting requests from other helmet-wearing sports, such as skate boarders, equine riders and winter riders.

If you just look at the traffic safety data from airbags in cars you can see that this company is onto something big.

It's hard to argue against innovation especially around safety.

Listen to the entire interview with Anna Haupt, inventor and co-founder of the Hovding Helmet on RadioBDC:

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The famous Mount Washington “American Inferno” race started in 1933. It was a top-to-bottom race from the peak to the valley floor. Toni Matt won the race in 1939 when he “schussed,” or skied head-on, the head wall by accident. It was a foggy spring afternoon and Matt won the 8 mile race in a record time of 6 minutes 29.2 seconds, with an estimated top speed of over 85 miles per hour.

The 2013 race showed just how tough this competition can be, with freezing temps and high winds the competitors battled it out the entire way up and down the mountain, through Tuckerman Ravine.

Years later, Matt said that when he reached the floor of the headwall, at the transition from steep to relatively flat, he felt lucky to be "nineteen, stupid, and have strong legs."

Charlie Proctor and John Carleton were the first men to ski the steep head wall in 1931. “We skied it out of necessity, simple as that," said Proctor in an interview with me back in 1992. He said he “just wanted to get home.”

Proctor and Carleton's first tracks down the steep, icy face gave birth to a New England tradition and Matt’s record breaking run not only earned him a place in skiing history, but more importantly created international folk lore that exists to this day.

Friends of Tuckerman Ravine is an organization with a mission to “seek and preserve the historic recreational use of the Tuckerman Ravine and Mount Washington.” And it is in this light they still hold the Tuckerman Inferno pentathlon each year.

The race is open both to teams of five (one of whom must be of the opposite sex) and to solo TuckerMen and TuckerWomen competitors.

The Tuckerman Inferno pentathlon consists of an 8.3 mile run, a 6 mile kayak race down the Saco River, an 18 mile bike race north through Pinkham Notch, a 3 mile run/hike up the Tuckerman Trail to Mount Washington's Tuckerman Ravine and a 1 mile ski/hike giant slalom to the floor of the ravine.

This is an amazingly hard event, as hard as it was skiing the head wall on wooden skis and leather boots back in 1931.

For the full results of this year's race, check Facebook.

Listen to the interview on the race and on activities on the Saco River on Edging the Xtreme on RadioBDC:

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Avalanches are serious business. Even a moderate one can knock down trees, destroy houses, and virtually clean out anything in its path. The misconception is that they only happen in the back country. However, last year an avalanche in France wiped out a moving chairlift with 41 people on it.

Here in New England, New Hampshire’s Presidential Range are the most avalanche-prone mountains east of the Rockies. The website for Mount Washington states, “Since 1954 there have been 10 avalanche fatalities and many other avalanche accidents in the Presidential Range. Historical data indicate that avalanche accidents have increased in the past decade, mirroring the national trend in recreation related avalanche accidents in the United States.”

When it comes to avalanche training and information, most of it can be very technical and sometimes hard to understand, but in the last few years, there has been a trend to focus more of the information toward the growing number of recreational and advanced skiers that are venturing off into the backcountry.

Henry Schniewind has been on the forefront of this movement since the late 1980s, after he graduated from Montana State University with a degree in Snow Science.

Armed with a passion for skiing and his degree, Schniewind moved to Val D'Isere, France, where we carved out a niche for himself by creating awareness for vacationers from around the world on the dangers of avalanches.

What started out as an afternoon presentation at a popular bar in Val D'Isere has grown into a full fledged company that does presentations around the Alps and the United Kingdom. What makes Schniewind's avalanche program so different is his focus on providing useable information for the everyday skier that saves lives from the Alps to New England.

His company motto is “Ride Hard, Ride Safe." On his website, where his main theme is “Safety is Freedom," skiers and riders can find information on weather, conditions around the Alps, access his blog and watch videos all designed to keep skiers and snowboarders on vacation safe.

Schniewind is originally from Newton, Mass. and has a teenager's race at Green Mountain Valley School and at Blue Hills. Once an employee of the former Ski Market retail chain, Schniewind has been recognized as a world-wide leader in avalanche safety. He has given over 750 talks and courses in the last 20 years, including presenting at international snow science conferences. He has published many papers and articles, and is motivated by the fact that that nine out of 10 victims of avalanches trigger the avalanche themselves and their injuries could have been avoided.

In the Alps each winter there are an average of 100 deaths per year. And when you add up that figure to the deaths in North America and beyond, it's clear that avalanches present real danger. Henry’s Avalanche Talks (HAT) is an easy-to-understand voice amongst the technical and often complicated snow science information that tends to be distributed by avalanche sites and experts.

Schniewind has been a long-time friend and ski partner of mine for over 30 years and I featured him on my long-running television series Wild World of Winter.

Hear the entire RadioBDC interview with Henry Schniewind on Edging the Xtreme with Dan Egan:

Follow Dan Egan on Twitter at @SkiClinics and Like SkiClinics on Facebook.

Garrett McNamara, who also goes by ‘GMAC,’ is an American professional big wave surfer, and extreme waterman, known for breaking the world record for largest wave ever surfed around the world. He has been a passionate surfer since his family moved from Pittsfield, Mass. to the beaches of Hawaii and he has never looked back. McNamara's professional career spans over two decades around the pacific and beyond.

Don’t let McNamara’s laid-back, surfer persona fool you: as an professional athlete in his mid-forties, an age at which most are thinking of stepping to the sideline, he's ramping it up a notch. His recent world record wave ride in Portugal was on a wave ranging from 90-100 feet in height, and for him it was just another day at work.

That day that was six-plus years in the making. McNamara was tipped off to the wave by an email sent from a small village on the coast of Portugal. A local that wanted to know if the wave, a geographic phenomenon off the coast of Portugal called the North Canyon, was worth riding.

Living with the constant quest of riding the “barrel” or “tube” of the wave, McNamara's adventures include surfing in Alaska on a wave caused by the falling ice of a glacier into the frozen arctic waters. McNamara admits it was "a little crazy, but worth the risk, because the falling ice creates perfect waves."

He credits his survival to planning and fitness along, with his ability to hold his breath. McNamara is currently taking classes so he can surpass his personal best of 4.5 minutes under water.

“You have to survive the beating the wave hands out,” said McNamara, “and sometimes the bottom is a bit rough, like a coral reef, so you really just take a series of breaths whenever you can.”

Over the past 10 years, McNamara has been on a mission to catch the biggest, best waves on the planet, and he has succeeded. He is arguably the most committed ocean explorer in the world. You can put him in any situation in the water and GMAC is not only ready to go, but go hard!

At 17 years old, McNamara entered and placed in the prestigious Hawaiian Triple Crown Series. Along with his brother Liam, McNamara began to attract the attention of major sponsors and signed deals with a number of prominent brands in Japan. The brothers spent the next 10 years on the competition circuit, traveling and becoming fluent in Japanese. It was the realization of a dream come true for both brothers.

McNamara continued to push the limits of pro surfing, and soon he started to get towed into waves on Personal Water Craft or Jet Skis, which enable surfers to chase down and catch giant waves that were thought to be impossible, beyond the reach of surfers paddling with their bare hands.

Predictably, McNamara couldn't leave well enough alone. He is still on a mission to explore the world’s oceans for the best and biggest waves Mother Nature has to offer.

Listen to the complete Garrett McNamara interview on Edging the Xtreme on Radio BDC with Dan Egan. GMAC talks about surviving the white water of his world record ride and compares it to riding on a moving avalanche of snow.

Follow Dan Egan on Twitter at @SkiClinics and Like SkiClinics on Facebook.

“The past is history and the future is a mystery” says Mr. Fitness, Tony Horton. “Feel good now, work out now and make it a habit.”

More from RadioBDC: Listen to Part 1 of Dan Egan's interview with Tony Horton

Horton, the founder of fitness regimen P90X, takes no excuses for delaying fitness and preaches both nutrition and activity. One of his main themes is “clean up the diet and get off the sugar, the fats, salts and chemicals, processed foods that come from boxes and bags.” If you go to www.beachbody.com and check out his orginal program, titled Power 90,you can see Horton's recipe for weight loss and nutrition.

His new program, 10 Minute Trainer,sounds too good to be true, but as he explains in the second part of the Radio BDC interview, it's just to get people started in forming good habits – so 10 minutes turns into 20 minutes, and it grows from there.

After the success of his first two books, Bring It and Crush It, he is launching his third, out this summer. There seems no end in sight for his fitness empire expansion, which includes a video game, food line, clothing line and sunglasses.

Tony Horton is a motivator and he has built his success on making getting fit both fun and effective. His approach is sometimes corny, and often over-the-top, but the bottom line is: his programs work.

So if you're looking to break free of the winter and looking towards a spring and summer of fun in the sun and feeling better about yourself, start any one of his programs and stick with it.

Just check out his web page www.tonyhortonsworld.com. You’ll be glad you did.

Listen to the part two of the Tony Horton interview on Edging the Xtreme only on RadioBDC:

Follow Dan Egan on Twitter at @SkiClinics and Like SkiClinics on Facebook.

Tony Horton has risen to heights rarely found by fitness trainers. This kid from Rhode Island, who describes himself as a “high school weakling,” has created a fitness empire that has produced the top fitness program of all time.

In almost any circle, if you mention Tony Horton, P90X, or the" fitness guy on TV," people will know the program, or, more than likely, have done it themselves.

More: Listen to Part Two of Dan Egan's interview with Tony Horton

The P90X regimen appeals to people for many reasons. Tony explains, “Its fun, fast-moving, and you don’t need fancy equipment or a gym. But more importantly, it works.”

The results do speak for themselves. After doing the P90X program, I have to admit that as hard as it was, the hour work outs went by quickly. The mix of Horton’s simple slapstick humor and encouragement keeps your mind off of the task at hand, and before you know it, you have done some crazy move on one leg with your arms touching the ground and reaching for the sky.

Add to that the Beach Body website, where there are resources like coaches, an online directory of exercises, fitness products and a community of friends that are helping you stay true to eating right, working out and having fun. And this mass access to fitness has taken away the mystery of staying fit and looking good.

Tony says he works out 22 days a month and that most people can achieve 18-22 days a month and should not be discouraged by the amount of time of each work out. He preaches routine and has a gospel of remaining young and beating back the hands of time through a mix of yoga, nutrition, balance and core strength.

His products range from the “10 minute work out” to the new P90X2.

The fact that amazes me is I have known Horton from his humble beginnings when he first started coming to my ski camps out west and in South America. And to watch him build his fitness following has been inspiring. I have witnessed people driving over nine hours just to shake his hand and thank him for changing and transforming their lives. His programs have not only been inspirational, but his commitment to helping people change their paradigm about themselves and the world around them is the underlining power of his success.

We caught up with Tony Horton just as he returned from a heli skiing trip in Canada for a special Edging the Xreme Radio BDC two-part series on fitness.

Listen to part one of our interview, as Tony talks about his early days, his books and more, and check out Tony's site.

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Chris Davenport, a New England native who ski raced his early years in the Mount Washington Valley, has gone on to be one of the most regonized skiers and mountaineers in recent times. His ambition and passion has led him to ski from the South Pole to the biggest peaks in Europe and beyond.

His exploits include skiing all 54 mountain peaks over 14,000 feet elevation in Colorado within one year, and skiing the biggest peaks in Europe including the Eger, Mount Blanc, the Matterhorn and the Monte Rosa.

He has skied in countless Warren Miller films, including a segment on Mount Washington, and is a two-time Big Mountain World Freeride Champion. Davenport's business exploits are equally as impressive, as he has his own clothing line with Spider Clothing Company, his own ski line with the Kastle Ski Company and he is a sponsored Red Bull athlete.

As an X Games bronze medalist and television announcer, Davenport spoke to Edging the Xtreme, sharing his insights on the future of the X Games in light of the recent death of an athlete this past winter. Davenport also spoke of pursuing his career as a professional mountaineer, knowing the full reality of lost friends and the pressure of having a family waiting for him back home.

Davenport attended Holderness Prep School in New Hampshire, to which he credits his focus for peak performance and setting and reaching personal goals.

Every summer, Davenport runs a ski camp in Portillo Chile in mid-August. So if you are looking to escape the hot summer sun, you can book a trip with him and his film star friends to one of the most beautiful ski resorts in the world.

Listen to the entire Chris Davenport Interview with Dan Egan on Radio BDC.

The Swatch World Freeride Tour (WFT) rolled into Kirkwood California recently and competitors found hard, fast and firm snow covering the rocks, cliffs and gullies that made up the event venue.

The conditions were so questionable the WFT organizers allowed the competitors up on the ridge for a pre-event terrain inspection. Usually the visual inspection happens from down below only.

With the challenging terrain covered in old snow that ranged from blue ice to spring snow, it no wonder the East coast born-and-bread competitors found their way to the podium on this only stop for the tour in the United States.

Winning the men’s ski division was Lars Chickering-Ayers of Mad River Glen, Vermont, who is skiing on the tour with his brother Silas. Jaclyn Paaso, who attended Gould Academy in Maine and now lives in Squaw Valley Calif., won the women’s ski division. In third place was Ashley Maxfield of Jay Peak, Vermont.

Maxfield knows first hand about the dangers of skiing on the World Freeride Tour. She was friends with Vermont native Ryan Hawks, who died during a competition back in 2011 at Kirkwood – in the same zone as this year's competition is being held. Maxfield said, “I thought of him the entire time I was there, he was such a strong spirit and good friend.”

Hawks’ memory lives on via the Flying Ryan Foundation, which supports and educates young athletes through the mantra, “Expose, Inspire, Teach.” The foundation was represented at the Swatch World Freeride Tour by Hawks’ father Peter, who spoke to competitors and encouraged them to live life to its fullest and “rather than conquering the mountain, try and cooperate with it.” Find out more at flyingryanhawks.org

Maxfield, who is currently ranked fourth on the tour, is heading to Europe for the final two competitions of the season. She seems to be have solid confidence in herself and a sense of her Vermont roots. As a girls' high school soccer coach, she is committed to sharing her knowledge with others.

The WFT selects the top women in the world to compete and only 12 women are selected, three of which are from North America.

Maxfield talked about her life on the road as a pro skier, her memories of Ryan Hawks and traveling on the Swatch World Freeride Tour in an interview on Radio BDC and Edging the Xtreme with Dan Egan.

Listen to the entire interview here.

When it comes to winter action sports in New England, there is only one video company that brings it to life on a regional, national and worldwide level: Meat Head Films.

Started 12 years ago by a college student at the University of Vermont, this home-grown, East Coast gang has carved out a niche all their own and they are dedicated to highlighting the talent and terrain of the east coast.

Meat Head Films' newest release won a Powder Award for Best Powder Segment of the Year for their segment on Jay Peak, a massive accomplishment considering last year was not the snowiest and here in the East, we're not generally known for our deep powder turns.

The annual Powder Awards, sponsored by Powder Magazine and handed out in Park City, Utah the first night of the Sundance Film Festival, typically honors films made in the West and exotic locations around the world.

Meat Head Films has been nominated in recent years for the “Best Jib” category, but to be nominated (and win) the “Best Powder Segment” is a real landmark moment.

Chris James, co-owner and senior photographer at Meat Head, knows well the struggles of being a dedicated East Coast action sports video company and Edging the Xtreme caught up with him recently to talk about his many projects, including Ski the East, Meat Heads newest release, “No Matter What,” and the Ski the East Freeride Tour, which had its first event of the season at Mad River Glenn last weekend.

The Ski the East Freeride Tour filled a void in the East Coast for competitors who did not want to race or compete in moguls or half pipe events.

All the events on the tour were pre-existing and started by the host resorts to highlight their terrain and the spirit of the resorts. Competitors of all ages compete and the demand was so large at the junior level that the juniors had to pre-qualify through a separate series of events.

Last weekend, the first stop of the tour was held at Mad River Glen and with the resort's slogan, “Ski it if you can” as famous as the mountain itself, this event is a real test. The southern Vermont event is held at Magic Mountain , the resort I first ski bummed at back in 1983. Then the tour moves to Sugarbush and on the famed Castle Rock lift line, where you can find my brother John hiding out from his office job. His son, Johnny, is a regular competitor on the tour and finished 20th last weekend at Mad River.

The finals is a two day event at Jay Peak on the rugged terrain under the Tram at the summit.

Check out meatheadfilms.com for news and DVDs, and skitheeast.net for complete results and to follow the tour.

Listen to the entire Chris James interview here on Edging the Xtreme and RadioBDC.

Three-time Olympian Kelly Clark is widely considered one the greatest female snowboarders ever. She has won every major event in the history of the sport, including the Olympics, the U.S. Open, and Winter X Games, among others. She just got back from winning the Olympic Test event in Sochi Russia and she shared some experiences and some insight to the culture of snowboarding and what it takes to stay on top for over a decade.

Regarded as the best female boarder in halfpipe history, Clark won her third consecutive Gold medal at the Winter X Games last month. She was the first woman ever to do so! Last week, she won the World Cup in Sochi, Russia and she is gearing up for the US Open next week in Vail, CO.

She attended Mount Snow Academy and joined the US Snowboard team as a teenager. Since then, Clark has claimed an astounding 23 podium wins, including a Vans Triple Crown win, a Junior World Championship title, and an overall Grand Prix title. Only a year after graduating high school, she competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, winning a Gold medal in Women’s Halfpipe. She later participated in both the 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympics, landing a bronze medal in Vancouver in 2010.

Aside from her competitive efforts in snowboarding, Clark founded The Kelly Clark Foundation in 2010 to foster youth snowboarding. Since its establishment, the Foundation has awarded $42,000 worth of scholarships to young athletes with financial need.

The Foundation also provides a Snowboard Passport Program, which partners The Kelly Clark Foundation with nonprofit charities to fund daytrips for inner city disadvantaged youth to "get them out on the hill."

The Foundation realizes that the key to success starts with the opportunity to follow your dreams and they aim to give every child the opportunity to make his or her dream a reality.

Listen to the entire interview with Kelly Clark at the link below.

Ted Ligety is the fifth man in history to win three or more gold medals at one world championships and the first to do it in 45 years, since Jean-Claude Killy (FRA) won four in 1968. And he is the first non-European man to achieve this feat.

Here is the video:

Plus, Ligety is the first skier in world championships history, in either gender, to win the Super G, the giant slalom and the (super) combined at one world championships. As if that wasn’t enough, Ligety's SG and SC wins at Schladming 2013 have come in disciplines in which he has never won on the World Cup tour.

All 15 of his World Cup wins have come in giant slalom.

Well it doesn’t stop there: Ted is the first USA skier, in either gender, to win the giant slalom gold medal twice at the world championship.

Ligety is the first American skier, in either gender, to win three gold medals at one world championships and his fourth career individual world championship gold ties Bode Miller's USA record and joins the ranks of the USA record held by Miller, Vonn and Julia Mancuso with five World Championships medals.

Follow Dan Egan on Twitter at @SkiClinics and Like SkiClinics on Facebook.

With the World Championships in full swing, Ted Ligety is on the verge of making history, and two-time Olympian and World Champion Bronze medal winner Doug Lewis has the the story - listen to his interview below and watch Ted's impeccable run.

Lindsey Vonn had her knee surgery last Sunday in Vail, and with the Olympics now just under a year away, she has vowed to be back. Doctors report that the surgery was successful and anticipate that Vonn will make a "full recovery."

Julia Mancuso is attempting to win her sixth World Championship medal this week in the giant slalom.

Hannah Carney won both the individual moguls and the duel moguls events at Deer Vally in Utah last week.

With President’s week upon us, there are many great events. The legendary Wayne Wong will be at Nashoba Valley this coming weekend. Don’t miss your chance to see and ski with a living legend.

On Main Street in Bethel, Maine a jumping competition called Rail Jam will be held in the middle of the street, to showcase tricks from the area's best skiers and boarders. The annual Rail Wars event will be held on Feb. 23.

And if you want to ski with me, come to Killington Feb. 17 and 18 for one of my advance Skiclinics. Go to Skiclinics.com for more information.

Listen to my full report at the link below.

Doug Lewis competed in two Olympics and won a bronze medal at the World Championships in Bormio Italy back in 1985.

Today, he is a television sports analyst for Universal Sports Network.

There are few people on the planet as passionate for ski racing as Doug Lewis, and he was nice enough to give Edging the Xtreme an up-close-and-personal interview about Ted Ligety’s gold medals in both the Super Combined and the Super Giant Slalom at the World Championships this week in Austria.

Also, here's a bonus with some insight to the Lindsey Vonn crash and her surgery this week in Vail Colorado.

The World Ski Championships have started in Austria and after just one day, I have good news and bad news.

The good news first: Julia Mancoso, who won silver in the 2011 World Championships in Garmish Gemany, captured the bronze medal in Austria. Julia always steps it up for big events, and this is her fifth career World Championships Medal.

And Ted Ligety won gold in the Super G.

The bad news: Lindsey Vonn blew her knee out and had to be airlifted off the mountain. This is a devastating blow to the best Women Skier in in US Ski Team history, especially with the Olympics just a year away.

The US Disabled Ski team is also off to the World Championships in Spain and Tyler Walker is ranked number one in the world,

You can read and listen to the entire Tyler Walker interview here.

This is the spot from RadioBDC on this week's news: