258: Reece Bell, Team GB Slalom Skier, plus 'Ski Lifts Without Cables'

Today we meet Reece Bell - one of the rising talents in British alpine ski racing - plus we find out about Armana, a new company that see a future where ski lifts are autonomous vehicles and have no cables.

Host Iain Martin was joined in the studio by Reece Bell and Dennis Hettema, and down the line by Rachael Oakes-Ash in Australia and Guy Beatson in New Zealand.
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Tirol in Austria sponsors The Ski Podcast, which means that this winter we’ll be able to find out more about some of the great destinations in Tirol, and how you can connect with the wonderful ‘feeling of life’ there.
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SHOW NOTES

Miss SnowItAll, Rachael Oakes-Ash runs the Snowsbest.com website (5:30)
Guy Beatson, who finished off his season with a week at Whakapapa in NZ (6:30)
Listen to our ‘Best Skis of 2026’ episode (7:30)
You can also watch this episode on YouTube (7:45)
The London Snow Show is at Olympia on 18-19 October (8:00)
See the full agenda for the show here
Use the code ‘TSPSSLMTN25’ for free tickets to the London Snow Show (8:30)
Martin Bell recorded the best ever GB Olympic alpine ski result (8th at Calgary 88)(8:45)
Ski Sunday’s Graham Bell took part in 5 Winter Olympics (9:00)
Reece finished 20th at the 2025 World Championships in Saalbach (10:00)
Find out about Big Sky resort (11:00)
Listen to Iain’s interview with Zoe Atkin (12:00)
Dealing with ACL injuries (12:30)
Cardio and Conditioning training (14:00)
Coaches (15:30)
Reece is sponsored by APEX 2100 in Tignes (16:00)
Dave Ryding acts as a mentor to Reece (17:00)
How to break through into the top 30 (19:00)
Take a look at this photo of the proposed Armana prototype (22:30)
Find out more about Armana
The Armana timeline (23:30)
Robert Redford starred in ‘Downhill Racer’ in 1969

Feedback (32:30)

Please do let us know your feedback on the podcast. You can leave a comment on Spotify, Instagram or Facebook – our handle is @theskipodcast – or drop me an email to theskipodcast@gmail.com.

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Mark Thomasson: “I enjoyed Episode 256 and was ski touring in Tromsø in June. Great snow, amazing views.”

James Rice: “I really enjoyed Episode 257, as always. I was glad to hear you mention Robert Redford’s recent death and his role in Downhill Racer. However, Redford’s influence on American skiing extends beyond that film…He bought Sundance ski resort and set up the film festival there. I’ve had the chance to stay and ski at Sundance, and it truly is a distinctive and special place.”

John: “Loved the Innsbruck in Tirol episode”

Mary Frazer: “I enjoyed listening to Episode 257 this morning, particularly the sections on Innsbruck (thank you for reminding me how much I enjoyed the series The Jump!)”

There are now 275 episodes of The Ski Podcast to catch up with. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, then why not go to theskipodcast.com, have a search around the tags and categories and you’re bound to find plenty more to listen to.

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- And, if you’re booking ski hire this winter, don’t forget that you save money on your ski hire with an additional discount by using the code ‘SKIPODCAST’ when you book at intersportrent.com. Simply take this link for your discount to be automatically applied.