As a BroBomb reader, you likely harbor an inner-nerd. If not, you would be too busy working on your trampoline triple-cork to bother with something like reading. In celebration of the nerds that grow up and create all the interesting stuff that makes up our little subculture, I present to you: Literate Skiers the Mike Rogge Edition. Mike has recently graduated from running Ski The East to being the new Associate Editor at Powder Magazine and California’s newest resident. We hear the Ski Show will be back in business shortly, but in the meantime enjoy his reflections on winter reading.

To say "hella" or not to say "hella" that is the question.

BroBomb: Have you ever read on the ski lift?

Rogge: A long time ago I looked up to a guy named TJ Burke. He was the coolest. He was also a fictional character in a movie called “Aspen Extreme.” As boys of 8 do, I emulated my idols and mine were my Dad and TJ, so the skiing part was a given and the writing/reading combo followed shortly thereafter. I recall TJ saying to Bryce, after a night of in-pool play, that he only reads paperbacks “because they’re the only thing that fits in my ski parka.” I liked the idea and from then on I was reading my school-assigned books on solo missions to West Mountain.

This season I spent time at Stowe with Jack Kerouac’s “Big Sur.” It’s about Kerouac coming to terms with the people he loved traveling with in “On The Road,” and trying to grip the harsh realization that: 1) We all have to grow old and 2) He’s a raging-mad alcoholic. It’s a nice piece of prose to read in the backdrop of Mt Mansfield. There’s also some personal irony seeing as Big Sur’s setting is California and I now live in SoCal, bro (California State Law deems I am lawfully required to insert, “bro” following the term, “SoCal”).

What do you usually do on the chairlift (other than read)?

I’m a big fan of reading the New York Times on my iPhone or listening to music, but my all time favorite chairlift activity is talking with other skiers. If it’s true that everyone has a story, then skiers have about a dozen of them. Those are the stories I like hearing and writing about.

Rogge often calls me emo, but he chose this picture to highlight his brooding nature.

Do you think we’ll see people with iPads on the lift next year?

I don’t know. I think the functionality and size of that device don’t really warrant reading with it on the lifts. Plus Steve Jobs hasn’t figured out how to implement mitten-friendly touch screens. That being said, I’m not proud of my addiction to my iPhone. Sometimes it’s nice to turn it off, take it all in, and meet a new friend.

If you had to be stuck on a lift and could only bring one piece of reading material, what would it be?

That’s easy. I’d bring “A River Runs Through It and Other Stories” by Norman Maclean. I’ve read that book a few times. He’s the most precise writer I’ve ever read. Every word carries tremendous meaning. Plus, he writes about fighting, drinking, fishing, and carousing with women. I like to think those four subjects are hobbies of mine.

It’s summer, so give us a Top 5 books/comics/magazines list for reading next to the backyard PVC setup:

My advice is to find what you like to read and then dive in. If Dan Brown (the author, not the former Vermont Teddy Bear employee/ski photographer) is your jam, then join Robert Langdon on his next symbology adventure. My Top 5 suggestions go something like this:
1) The Last of the Mohicans – James Fenimore Cooper – I’m from the Southern Adirondacks and when I’m homesick, I hope this will bring me back to a place where pine trees, beautiful scenery, and the brutalization of an entire race were as prevalent as the Jersey tourists and 3-day benders that occupy my homeland today. Long live Lake George!
2) Bright Lights, Big City – Jay McInerny – I’m obsessed with different points-of-view in writing. McInerny writes in the second person, quite literally putting “you” in the story. It’s about living and breathing in New York City, working on Wall Street, and “you” are trying to grasp onto a sense of morality while everyone else is pouring another stiff drink, snorting another line, and making their next million.
3) A River Runs Through It and other stories – Norman Maclean – Again, a nice source of inspiration and something to aspire to.
4) The Rum Diary – Hunter S. Thompson – I’ve been meaning to read this one. If you’re not familiar with Hunter’s work, go read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (don’t rent the movie) and have your life changed.
5) The Elements of Style – Strunk and White (William Strunk Jr and E.B. White) – This book is by my side at all times. For my forum and comment posting friends, this book will give you all of the tools to effectively win any internet argument ever! Oh, and you’ll be literate and capable of producing a proper sentence. You win twice.

Bonus: As an East Coast abandoner and complete sell out, I absolutely recommend you pick up Powder Magazine and for an added bonus, check out thepowderintros.com. It’s former Powder Editor Steve Casimiro’s intro for the magazine from 1987 to 1998. That site has me appreciating the sheer history and legacy of my new employer more and more each day. Powder to the people!