Meet the Potato Boys
From the Winter 2027 Issue
Six North Idaho friends who turned local backcountry exploration into a viral skiing sensation
Blake Bowerman was captured pillowskiing on a trip to Haines, Alaska, in the spring of 2026. Photo by Brooks Curran.
When a reporter asked George Mallory in the 1920s why he wanted to climb Mount Everest, the mountaineer famously replied: “Because it’s there.”
A full century later, North Idaho’s very own Potato Boys channel Mallory’s “because it’s there” spirit. But they don’t need to travel halfway around the world to tap into the joy of discovery, exploration and adventure. For members and avid skiers Essex Prescott, Blake Bowerman, Stephen Matkin, Kyle Vandever, Cameron Hotchkiss and (joining later) Brooks Curran, they find it in their regional backyard. While there’s nothing wrong with the groomed, controlled environments of ski resorts, there’s a special magic in finding the powdery terrain where most fear to shred.
“I think that’s what keeps us coming back,” Bowerman said. “We love skiing, but man, the adventure is like something that is hard to put into words.”
So who are these winter sports enthusiasts? To the North Idaho community, they are friends, neighbors, digital media specialists and fixtures on the Inland Northwest slopes. But to the rest of the world they are the Potato Boys, a group of adventure seekers known for their slickly produced viral ski films. In December, 2021, the group uploaded their first viral video: the 15-minute ski film “Famous Potatoes” that stands at just under 200,000 views on YouTube. Then came “Famous Potatoes 2.0.” And in November 2025, they uploaded “CAUTION: TERRAIN,” a 23-minute video with over 288,000 views.
clockwise from top left: Brooks Curran, Essex Prescott, Stephen Matkin, Blake Bowerman and friend Joe Cavallaro taking in the Schweitzer views. Photo by Bob Legasa.
According to Bowerman and Matkin, the Potato Boys project is a natural extension of the personalities that comprise it. The friends have always shared a mutual enthusiasm for exploring the wild places just around the corner. But during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when so much of society screeched to a halt, they decided to take that curiosity a step further. The result was “Famous Potatoes,” and suddenly, the Potato Boys were connecting with outdoor enthusiasts all over the world.
“It just kept snowballing into something bigger,” said Matkin. “Originally, it was just a part of our lives, and now it’s probably the biggest part of our lives outside of work.”
According to Matkin and Bowerman, it was Prescott who suggested they tap into their collective knowledge of the region and his own experience as a pro skier carving up the backcountry of Whistler. He figured: Why not do the same thing at home?
clockwise from top left: Brooks Curran, Essex Prescott, Stephen Matkin, Blake Bowerman and friend Joe Cavallaro taking in the Schweitzer views. Photo by Bob Legasa.
“We all grew up skiing at Schweitzer, and if you look across the valley to the east, you can see some of the most beautiful mountains that you’ve ever seen,” Bowerman said. “But it always seemed like it was this faraway land that was unattainable for us.”
As the group threw themselves into accessing and skiing these remote locations, however, they learned how wrong that assumption was. When working on a project, the filmmakers piece it together through multiple outings, finding the narrative as they experience it. And, as it turns out, those are narratives that resonate with outdoor lovers by the thousands—some of them among the most respected names in winter sports. The team has been featured in major outdoor publications, and many of their personal heroes are familiar with their work.
“We were up in Haines, Alaska, heli-skiing this year, and I could name ten different pro skiers … I’ve been watching since I was a little kid and looked up to,” said Bowerman. “They knew who we were, knew our names and knew what we were about.”
Blake Bowerman headed into some great skiing in Alaska. Potato Boys photo.
But just because the Potato Boys echo Mallory’s “because it’s there” attitude doesn’t mean they want to end up like him; he perished on the slopes of Everest, and it is still unknown whether he reached its peak decades before Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay’s documented summit in 1953. While exploring the backcountry, the Potato Boys take every precaution to ensure they come home safe. The first step is exhaustive planning, shaping their expeditions through scouting excursions, Google Earth research and even aviation. Their snowmobiles, gear, survival knowledge and avalanche training are another part of that equation. And the final element is their own instincts and trust in each other.
“It’s why you won’t see a lot of people coming out with us,” said Matkin. “It’s taken us five years to develop trust in each other and know exactly how each of us might react in a situation.”
It’s a calculated risk, one they believe is worth the experiences to be gained. And that spirit of adventure permeates every aspect of the Potato Boys’ work. According to Bowerman, they purposefully refrain from naming the mountains they feature in their videos. Those who want to replicate their experiences have to do the legwork themselves.
“People ask us, ‘Where was that line you guys skied at this time stamp?’ And we always tell them, ‘Hey man, you just gotta figure it out.’ Just like us,” Bowerman said.
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