Scott: You’ve had a connection to DCSki most of your life through your father, Robbie, who has written the Going Further Afield series for over 22 years. You’ve even been credited with some of the photos in his stories. How did growing up around his love for off-the-beaten-path ski areas influence your own sense of adventure?
Spencer: My dad got me on a pair of skis as early as I can remember. I first learned to ski at a hill in Iowa during a family visit to my grandparents for the holidays. My grandparents don’t live in Iowa, but a multiple-hour cross-state drive never stopped my dad from getting on the slopes.
As I got older, this molded into driving from Kentucky to Indiana, Virginia to Pennsylvania, California to Colorado, etc. Despite having skied the major resorts, my dad always liked going off the beaten path. He’d rather go to Ski Cooper than Vail or to June Mountain than Mammoth. This allowed me to be able to appreciate the hidden gems - ski resorts that often came with shorter lift lines, local charm, and cheaper chicken tenders.
Scott: What are some of your earliest memories of skiing with your dad, and how did those experiences shape the skier — and traveler — you’ve become?
Spencer: I remember getting woken up early by my dad in elementary school to hop in the car and ride from our old house in Louisville, Kentucky, to our home “mountain” at the time - Paoli Peaks, Indiana.
Despite not growing up in a particularly ski-friendly part of the country, my dad made it a goal of his to get my brother and me in hand-me-down Columbia jackets and on a pair of rental skis as often as possible, even if it was to slide down the hills of Indiana.
I remember being frustrated at the process of getting the gear on, but I don’t ever remember not liking the feeling of rushing down the mountain. I loved the sense of adventure, the adrenaline spikes, and the exploration potential skiing brought with it from the very first turns I made.
My dad and I would make up games to play on the ski lifts and would make it a goal to get as many laps in as possible to “explore the map.” I would keep ski maps from each resort that we went to and would mark out with a highlighter which runs I went down. My goal was always the same: to color the entire map yellow.
The sense of exploration that skiing brought me as a kid never left as I grew up. Now with a larger budget, I love to do the same thing today, explore and highlight as much as I can all around the globe, both on the slopes and off.
Scott: You and your dad have skied together all over. Is there a particular father-son ski day or trip that stands out as especially meaningful?
Spencer: I will always remember the ski trip that my dad and I took together to Hokkaido, Japan a few years back. My parents were living in the northern part the Honshu island, and I was finally able to visit after over a year of them being stationed there. COVID had completely shut Japan down, and the country had just opened its borders to military dependents (me at the time). A mandatory 7-day lockdown period and a negative COVID test later, I was able to travel outside of the Misawa military base.
My dad and I put the snow tires on the right-hand drive ‘99 RAV4 to the test as we drove up north to the Niseko ski resort without any foreign tourists. This was my first time skiing outside of the United States, and I was excited to see what Japan had to offer.
We enjoyed Niseko without any lift lines over the course of a couple of days. Highlights included skiing through knee-deep powder, eating Ramen, staying in a typical Japanese hotel, and riding past ski lifts buried in snow.
Scott: You’ve now started your own YouTube channel, and have posted some extraordinary travel videos. I thought your recent “Van Life in the Alps” video was especially great - perhaps because lots of the areas you visited are on the bucket lists of many DCSki readers. What made you decide to build a 16-day van trip specifically around the Alps?
Spencer: As an American skier, the Alps had always been high on my list, but they were always too far away and too tough to reach without ample time/money.
In January, 2024, I made a trip with two of my friends to Zermatt, Switzerland, and Chamonix, France, and it was one of the best ski trips of my life. The Valle Blanche backcountry route we skied in Chamonix was probably the best ski run I’ve ever done at the time, simply based on the views alone.
Despite not having the snow totals to keep up with Japan or North America, the pure size and views in the Alps are what make them my favorite place to ski. I love using my skis to explore, and there’s no better place in the world to do so. You can ski not only from town to town but in some cases from country to country.
From that first trip, I knew I had to go back to the region for longer. When I travel, I try to stay on a budget, and living out of a van seemed like the best way to do this. I would be able to both go wherever I wanted and stay wherever I wanted for just the cost of the van rental and gas.
The itinerary itself was loosely planned around the Ikon Pass resorts in the region, but audibles were made based on weather and timing. I would love to go back to see what the rest of the Alps have to offer. European resorts high on my list that I haven’t been to include Les 3 Vallées, Val-d’Isère, Ischgl, and Verbier.
Scott: You skied several iconic mountains: the Dolomites, St. Moritz, St. Anton, Kitzbühel. Which one surprised you the most, and why?
Spencer: St. Anton (Ski Arlberg) surprised me in a good way since, in my opinion, it had all the elements that a good ski resort should have. The place itself is a massive interconnected ski area with impressive lift infrastructure and terrain to satisfy skiers and riders of all levels. The potential for off-piste is incredible here, as it seems like everywhere you look, you can find a new line.
Arlberg is known for its après scene, which was much better than anywhere else I had been in the Alps. At the end of the day, you can ski down a run with multiple different bars on either side of the trail playing live music. All and all, I was impressed with both the vibe and terrain here.
St. Moritz was the most disappointing to me when it comes to Alps standards. There are two major resorts, but they are only connected by a bus, and the individual resorts themselves were definitely large, but not anything crazy compared to other European mega resorts.
The town felt like an overly corporate area full of designer stores without charm, though this is probably what I should have expected, being a place so famous with the ultra-wealthy.
The weather and conditions weren’t great when I went, which may contribute to my opinion. I can see the potential for good skiing if the conditions were better, but regardless, I would look elsewhere if I were planning an Alps ski trip.
Scott: Your day skiing the Sella Ronda looked incredible. What made that circuit one of your “most unforgettable days of all time”?
Spencer: The Sella Ronda is a ski route at Dolomiti Superski in the Dolomites that combines multiple ski resorts through multiple mountain passes around the central Sella Group of mountains. The loop itself, in its simplest form, is around 25 miles, but I put in almost 100 on the day, skiing as much as I possibly could around the region.
Despite the snow not being the best, my day here was absolutely incredible. The Dolomites are built exactly how I like to ski, a massive playground ready to be explored. A place where one map doesn’t even cover the entire region that you can access. On top of this, the weather was perfectly sunny, and the views were incredible.
Even without the skiing, the Dolomites are one of my favorite places in the world based on beauty alone. I skied bell to bell, and to my surprise, unlike most places I’ve been, the last chair didn’t stop turning until 5 p.m., which gave me ample time for exploring. The lift infrastructure here was also incredible, which seems typical of the premier resorts in the Alps. Large cable cars, 8-pack bubble chairlifts with heated seats and moving carpets, and a lack of major traverses.
Off-piste terrain was not as great as other resorts that I’ve been to in the Alps, but I did find some nice steeps off the Punta Rocca cable car. This area is much more extreme than the rest of what I came across in the region, but being solo at the time and without proper backcountry gear, I wasn’t able to ride it to its full potential.
Scott: Beyond the Alps, you’ve shot adventures everywhere from Everest Base Camp to Mauritania, Australia, Japan, Thailand, Norway, the Middle East, and Morocco. How do you decide where to go next?
Spencer: I like to always say yes when it comes to planning trips. There are few places out there I wouldn’t go, so if it’s somewhere new or offers a new experience, I am never opposed.
That being said, I prioritize places that have incredible nature and potential for outdoor activities. I also tend to find myself in places with colder mountain climates over a tropical beach. Despite living in California, I’m definitely a mountain over beach guy. Places high on my list include Chile, Iceland, Guatemala, China, Kashmir, and Central Asia.
Scott: Do you choose destinations based on story potential, personal curiosity, or simply whatever adventure feels most compelling at the moment?Spencer: I usually look for places that have what I’m looking for at the time and go from there. Whether this is bucket list ski resorts, mountain treks, or really anything that looks unique and different from what I’m used to.
I found myself skiing in central Turkey earlier this year, which before doing research, I didn’t even know was possible. If I see something that looks cool online, I’ll add it to my list. It’s that simple.
Scott: What has been the most logistically challenging trip you’ve been on so far, and what made it difficult?
Spencer: Riding the iron ore train and traveling through Mauritania was definitely one of the more logistically challenging trips I’ve been on. I joined a WhatsApp group chat and coordinated with a fellow traveler who was much more experienced than me, which helped a lot.
Despite being such a popular thing to do online, there wasn’t ample information on the details. Luckily, we got in with a local who arranged our accommodation, transportation across the desert, and even a personal driver for a day when back in the capital.
Scott: The editing of your YouTube videos has a whimsical rhythm: quick cuts, repeated punchlines, and well-timed humor. How much of that is planned versus discovered in the edit?
Spencer: I wish I were able to plan shots better on the go, but 90% of the feel of the video is created in the editing process. I usually go through a trip taking videos of everything I find interesting and then try to find the best way to match it up and tell a story in the end when I’m behind the computer.
That being said, the more videos I make, the easier it is to realize what clips I will need or what would make an interesting edit. I’m still working on it though.
Scott: Music plays a huge role in your pacing — I’d almost describe your videos as a travel music video. How do you select songs and build your edits around it?
Spencer: I have been getting better at talking into the camera recently, but my videos typically have very little dialogue, as you’ve noticed. Just enough to tell the storyline and then cut into a music montage of video clips from that experience.
I think I started editing like this because 1) I enjoy watching music montages myself, and 2) I never take as many narration clips as I should. I’ve realized it is definitely more labor-intensive to edit in this way than cutting from narration to narration clips, so we’ll see if this continues in the future.
The music I select usually has something to do with the trip. Whether it is a song that my friends and I listened to while we were on that respective trip, a song that I find synonymous with the country I’m in, or just whatever I’m listening to at the time that I think would match the vibe well. Finding the right song is definitely one of the hardest parts of making my videos, as I am pretty picky.
Scott: What gear do you usually bring on big trips, and how do you strike the balance between portability and cinematic quality? Once you’ve captured the video, what tools do you use to edit it?
Spencer: I shoot all of my videos on just my iPhone and Insta360 camera. iPhone for the majority of content and the 360 for skiing/action sports. I traveled the world for 8 months with just two backpacks that I could take carry-on on airplanes.
In this day and age, it really doesn’t take much to shoot high-quality video. I have edited some videos from the CapCut app on my phone while I was on the go, but I prefer to edit on my Apple MacBook for more functionality and ease of use. I use Davinci Resolve to edit all my videos, which comes in a completely free version and has more functionality than I could ever even try to learn.
Scott: You have a modest audience right now. Do you have any interest in growing the channel, or are you intentionally keeping it low-key and passion-driven?Spencer: The audience is small. I haven’t gone out of my way to grow the channel; I have just been uploading and seeing the number grow slowly. It would be cool to see the views grow more and more, but at the end of the day, it’s not the primary goal.
Scott: If your channel suddenly took off, would that change your approach to filming and travel, or would you aim to keep the same style and spirit?
Spencer: I created the channel to document the places I am fortunate enough to go to so I’d be able to look back on my experiences in the future. Taking pictures does one thing, but having a 10-minute video documenting a trip really encapsulates the experience. It is also a great way to show my family and friends what I am up to in a much better way than I could explain in words.
I’m motivated to continue making videos as I travel to keep an active log of my experiences. If the channel somehow gained traction, I wouldn’t change the approach. The goal is to simply capture my life (admittedly, the highlights) on film for all who want to see.
Scott: Looking ahead, what kinds of trips — or videos — do you hope to create in the coming months and years?
Spencer: I have a couple of videos in the backlog still from my travels earlier this year. These include skiing on the power plant in Copenhagen, roadtripping around the Scottish Highlands, and a recent family trip completing the Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu in Peru.
I like to set goals for myself in my travels that I can try to reach. Last year, I set a goal to ski every month of the year, which I accomplished and eventually turned into a 19-month streak. A large goal of mine is to ski on every continent. A ski trip to South America next summer may be in store to tick off continent number 5.
I also want to visit and ski in as many countries as I can. So far, I’ve been to 44 countries and have skied in 11 of them.
At the end of the day, I’m really just the same kid with a highlighter looking to color in the map.
Scott: Thanks, Spencer, for taking the time to talk about your adventures. And to all DCSki readers, be sure to check out Spencer’s excellent videos on his YouTube channel!
M. Scott Smith is the founder and Editor of DCSki. Scott loves outdoor activities such as camping, hiking, kayaking, skiing, and mountain biking. He is an avid photographer and writer.
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