Some people look at a mountain and see a party. Ben Coombes used to be one of them: magnums of rosé at lunch, shots on the chairlift, and more near misses than he can count. Then he tried something nobody in a ski resort does. He did a sober season.

Now Ben runs Soberski, alcohol-free chalet weeks in Méribel in the French Alps, and he’s our newest Sober Curator contributor. Alysse and Tamar (a snowboarder, it turns out) talk with him about what happens when you keep the mountain and lose the après.

In this episode:

• Ski, work, or drink: pick two. Ben’s seasons driving guests for a luxury chalet company

• The sober season that became an Instagram page, then a business

• The first booking came from New Jersey, and Ben thought it was a scam

• Never skied? Ben’s guest who went from zero to flying around the mountain in about six hours of lessons

• Private chefs, cold plunges, daily yoga, and evening workshops

• The January 22 to 29, 2027 week in Méribel, and who it’s for (sober, sober curious, or just done with hangovers on holiday)

• Ben’s pick for your queue: “The Gentlemen” on Netflix

• Why Ben didn’t build a support group on a mountain. He built a room.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Cold open

01:29 You got sober. Now what?

04:06 Falling for the mountains at 21

05:13 Ski, work, or drink: pick two

06:36 The sober season experiment

08:43 Tamar’s 20-year-old snowboarder brain

09:36 Rosé at lunch, shots on the chairlift13:41 A word from our sponsor: Aura House

14:30 January 2027 in Méribel

15:34 North Americans welcome

18:06 Never skied? Start here

24:39 Watching strangers become friends

28:53 Pop culture pick: The Gentlemen

31:36 The Sober Swap, new in Backstage

35:13 Yoga, cold plunges, evening workshops

37:48 He didn’t build a support group. He built a room.

38:37 Where to find Soberski

Sober Shots:

“If I can not drink in a ski resort, then I can probably not drink anywhere.” (Ben Coombes)

“You are allowed to go somewhere ridiculous and beautiful to find him or her.” (Alysse Bryson)

Mentioned in this episode:

- Soberski | Instagram @s0berski

- Backstage with The Sober Curator: https://thesobercurator.com/backstage-with-the-sober-curator/

- The Sober Swap, our new October Backstage hang

- Krysty Krywko, “Skiing Sober: Rewriting Après-Ski Without Alcohol”

Getting sober matters. Staying sober matters more.

SEASON 2 MERCH: https://shopthesobercurator.com/

This episode is brought to you by Aura House. Save 10% with code TSC10: https://go.shopmy.us/p-64140200

SC RESOURCES: - Meet the Contributors - Alcohol + Substance Use Disorder Guide - Recovery Nonprofit Resource Guide - LGBTQ+ Recovery Resource Guide

CONNECT: www.thesobercurator.com | The Sober Sip newsletter: https://www.thesobercuratornewsletter.com/ | @thesobercurator on Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube + Pinterest

Love the show? Rate, review + follow. It takes 60 seconds and helps more people find us. Feedback + guest ideas: thesobercurator@gmail.com

Hosted by Alysse Bryson with co-host + producer Tamar Routly. For informational and entertainment purposes only; not a substitute for professional advice.

Music: TSC S2 theme “Sober Shots” created by Alysse Bryson using Suno AI, under Suno’s commercial license.

A Toronto mixologist spends years building other people’s nights out. COVID moves her cocktail classes onto Zoom, the kits sell, and she has never been less happy. So she books a one-way ticket to Mexico.

Amanda Chen went from Tulum to a 10-day silent meditation retreat on the Oaxacan coast, walked out with no desire to drink, white-knuckled it for two years, and then found her people on a stranger’s patio at her first meeting. Then she did the thing nobody does: she stayed in the world of drinks and built TOMONOTOMO, a non-alcoholic agave spirit distilled by hand on a copper still in Oaxaca City, with real Tobalá agave and no shortcuts. Alysse met her at the Sans Bar Academy Awards in Austin, where they both took home trophies.

In this episode:

• The one-way ticket, Tulum’s hedonism, and why she left at the top of her game

• Ten days of silence in Mazunte and the backpack she wasn’t ready to drop off the cliff

• Two years of avoiding every room with mezcal in it, which in Oaxaca is every room

• The first meeting: an emailed address, a doorbell, and a woman who described herself as “batshit sober”

• Why “do you want a drink?” used to feel like an attack, and the fiancée who called it

• Copper stills, palenques, and the day mezcaleros started asking to live like her

• What “tomo” and “no tomo” mean, and the Pride label with about 10 bottles left

• Carrie Bradshaw, cosmos, and why “Sex and the City” did not age well

• Watching “Ted Lasso” from midnight to 5 a.m. while the still does its work

Sober Shots:

“That’s not a pivot, friends. That is a plot twist, and I love a plot twist.” (Alysse Bryson)

“I’m ready to drop the ball, I’m not ready to drop the bag.” (Amanda Chen)

Mentioned in this episode:

• TOMONOTOMO or #ADDTOCART ON AMAZON

• Kim Parsley’s TOMONOTOMO Tobalá review on The Sober Curator

• Backstage with The Sober Curator

Getting sober matters. Staying sober matters more.

SEASON 2 MERCH: https://shopthesobercurator.com/

This episode is brought to you by Aura House. Save 10% with code TSC10: https://go.shopmy.us/p-64140200

SC RESOURCES:

• Meet the Contributors

• Alcohol + Substance Use Disorder Guide

• Recovery Nonprofit Resource Guide

• LGBTQ+ Recovery Resource Guide

CONNECT: www.thesobercurator.com | The Sober Sip newsletter | @thesobercurator on Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube + Pinterest

Love the show? Rate, review + follow. It takes 60 seconds and helps more people find us. Feedback + guest ideas: thesobercurator@gmail.com

Hosted by Alysse Bryson with co-host + producer Tamar Routly. For informational and entertainment purposes only; not a substitute for professional advice.

Music: TSC S2 theme “Sober Shots” created by Alysse Bryson using Suno AI, under Suno’s commercial license.