Glen Plake

I know you're not into the hype, but I look around and see a lot of friends, a lot of passionate skiers, who are now able to make a living around the sport, which you couldn't do before those Stump movies.
Skiers are strong. I think we've taken a lot of bull, been pushed to the side, and we've had to fight to do our thing. I think we're tougher than the surf/skate thing, we didn't get what we have because marketers thought it was cool. I don't want to say we're trying to prove a point, we're just doing what we do. But we were beat on for no good reason. I don't mean to hold a grudge, and I don't, but we were beat on. We didn't ask for that.

Are you talking about the conflict with snowboarding?
No. That's all bull. I'm talking about the total exclusion of skiing from "action sports"; we were excluded 100 percent. There was nine X Games before skiing was ever allowed. And let's face it: do they want us there? No. They don't really want us there. And the reason they don't like us is that our industry isn't strong enough to compete with them. We don't have the infrastructure to support [Dalbello athlete] Tanner Hall the way he should be supported, or support our stars, the way they should be supported. I know the skateboard culture very well. I'm friends with X Games motocross racers, and, unfortunately, our industry doesn't work that way.

So what you're saying is that Armada etc can't pay Tanner enough?
No, it's just doesn't align with the whole surf and skate thing. Our business structure is set up differently. And skiing, whether you're in Wisconsin or the Alps, is a dumbass hick country sport that takes place in the middle of the winter on a mountain at the end of a dirt road. It's not a metro sport. Snowboarding has become one, like skating and surfing. Which wasn't always the case. I remember watching Palmer and Terry Kidwell hitting the quarterpipe they'd built in the back of the (Tahoe) North Shore Safeway. At the time that was it—some guys hanging out behind Safeway. You know, "Snowboarding." And now Jeremy Jones is saying he ain't ever gonna ride a lift again or whatever. So the old-school snowboarding, which looks a whole lot like skiing, is coming back, and the metro version is going out of business. The skate/surf thing… we're always gonna be outsiders.

We came up in the no jumping era, when skiing and the ski industry in America was really risk-averse. That restrictiveness was a theme running through the Stump movies. Now anything goes—you've got freeski contests on gnarly terrain, 16-year-old "pros" hitting huge tow-in gaps, armageddon runs in AK, supercross-style jumps in front of Main Lodge... it's almost like the reverse of the ‘80s. You got what you wanted, but it's pretty crazy out there.
It's the complete reverse of the ‘80s. But is it what the skier's want? I'm not sure anyone really ever wanted those gigantic jumps. I was at Big Sky this year, and they had this jump, I kid you not, this mound of snow forty feet high. And I was like "What the hell's that?" And they were like 'It's a jump!" And I was like "Who wanted that?" And they were like "We don't even know."

Well, those things get built for photo shoots and…
Stop. That's it. That's all you need to know. (laughter)

So, you've been at this game a long time. Seth Morrison is maybe another good example of a skier with a long career. We have to package it up as a youth sport now, but there's all these guys in their thirties and forties that are really getting after it.
Yeah, but jeez, when I open up a surf magazine, come on, half of the guys in that surfin' magazine ain't spring chickens. How old is Kelly Slater now?

But when you look at snowboarding, 25 is old. When I was a kid, the best skiers were blown out and washed up in their 20s, but now there's all these rad older skiers, and the industry is trying to sell youth…

Well yeah, I mean, Oakley started it a long time ago "We're investing in the future." Fine, go ahead and pay the brightest white light you see and then watch it flash. One of every two thousand of them are gonna keep shinin'. Go ahead.
What happened to exclusivity? It all comes down to volume. Sell as much as you can, not sell the best that you can.

There's a bunch of people though, people that have the ability, that are doin' stuff, but you don't hear about it. I give [Brad] Holmes a lot of shit, but, hell, he just called me to meet up with him in Chile, he's down there skiin'. And not to just mention my crew or whatever, but Darren Johnson always has been there. And in Cham you've got guys like Bruno Compagnet, you know. There's a lot of people. It's not like it's just me that's doing this.

Do you think freeski competitions are a legit genre of the sport, or do you wish they were doing it differently?
I go back and forth with it. I think it's extremely difficult to do. The organizing body… it's unbelievable what they go through to put those contests on. I mean, it's just unfrickinbelievable what happens, whether it's the weather, or slope-related, or security, all this stuff, it's mind-boggling compared to "Let's stick some poles in the snow and have a bump contest." (laughs) And then it's the heli-lift… the problem that sport faces is defining the venues. The have Bec Des Rosses in Verbier, that's a designated track, you know, they have… it's like stock car racing: they have Daytona, Talladega, Indianapolis. The Indy 500, you have all these famous tracks, and everybody knows what they get when there's racing there. And I think that sport (freeskiing) needs to define it's tracks. Just like downhill racing, and unfortunately something that we’ve lost in our sport… nobody knows what the Hahnenkamm is anymore. Nobody knows what the Lauberhorn really is. They may know the name, but they don't know what it is. If we were to take the time to explain to everyone the history and whatever, then may be the next time they saw a downhill race on TV, they'd go "Wooo, we should watch this," you know? The freeride series needs to define these slopes, and then ski on them again and again and again. I think that would help. But as an overall opinion, in my opinion? It's too far away. You can't see it.

It's a tough thing to package.
Which comes back to, Bec des Rosses? Yeah, it's like watching ants, but at least you see it, you know?

From the Himalaya to rinky-dink resorts, you've probably skied at as many places as anyone. What experiences from the world of skiing are your top recommendations?
You just have to take it as it comes. The sport is so vast and diverse. No one part is better or worse, and you have to appreciate and be inspired by every faction of the sport, from being a jumper, to a racer, when people are hittin' 100-foot kickers and spinnin' around three times in the process. You need to be inspired by the fact that I'll walk 35 days for one run. I just can't stand this division that we've allowed to take place within the sport. We're all feeding off each other one way or the other. Just go out and enjoy the snow on a pair of skis, explore new stuff. When you see people doing something different out there, ask 'em about it.
I think the magazines and the industry need to change too. I don't think they expose all the different stuff skiers are dedicating their lives to.

It's hard now--the ad revenue is dropping so Powder is smaller, and now we want to do all that stuff and the advertisers need us to focus on the regular deal…
And the advertisers are basing it all off frickin web hits or whatever, instead of basing it on a handshake. At the same time, they just don't want to talk about the things that are going on…

The entire ski industry is crapping its pants right now about the end of the bubble era and the aging of the baby boomers (which means they're going to lose 25-30 percent of their business over a few years). We've been talking about the future of skiing and what's going to happen to the sport and the industry—maybe it's a good thing to get it back to the roots, or maybe we're all hosed. What's your take? What's The Future Of Skiing?
Yes, it will get us back to our roots. Skiing's just a parasite on the resort industry. It always has been. And within the customers, you're going to have enthusiasts, and enthusiasts very rarely have a bad winter. They don't really complain about conditions… I think that the resorts are going to have to cater to, or make some adjustments to get a clientele that isn't vacation related, they're gonna have to get the enthusiasts in there. It could be good for us, because the enthusiasts might be getting a little more attention than the one-week-a-year skiers. The ski-weekers are going to be a big part of the business, but the rest of the year is going to be more important. I was at Big Sky on closing day and they had lowered their prices, done some special promotions to get some more local clientele, extended that welcome a little more as opposed to being the Exclusive Destination Resort of Big Sky. You know what I mean? (Laughs.) And they had 4,000 people out skiing. As opposed to just shutting it down on Monday after Easter. You're future is more intact if you base your business, or your partnerships, or whatever on people that want to ski, as opposed to people that are skiing because it's Christmas and we're supposed to be on holiday. When you ski in the spring, you ski because you want to. I can't even figure out why anyone wants to ski on Thanksgiving, why we're even open at all. And then we get into Chinese manufacturing, and government quotas, and all this other stuff. And we're all a part of it, and Powder's part of it, and I don't know how to get out of it. It's stupid that I'm going to get a ski magazine on my doorstep this week (late August).

Well, it's evolved into this situation where it's all about hustling skis out the door at Thanksgiving and Christmas, regardless of whether there's snow on the ground. It's like the school holidays dictate the ski business, not the snow.
Well, they’re not hustling too many skis out the door now. Whoever stands up and says, "You know what, it ain't like it used to be, we don't need to do that anymore, and let's promote skiing when it's good to ski, when you want to ski." When they step out and do that, like I say, at Big Sky, that closing day got their wheels going. They're going "Hmm. Ok, here we go, how we gonna make this adjustment?Are we the destination ski resort still, yes. But are we still the local ski hill, and do we have some responsibilities to this community? Absolutely. So what are we gonna do? People want to ski in the spring, so are we going to give it to 'em, or are we going to be the uptight destination resort that's only open during the holidays?" So I think it's a pickle; ski sales are gonna stay down. Part of that is the ski bum—the same guy that's benefiting from all these ski shapes is, is also is, is, is not helping things out. I mean I love the ski shop employees, they're passionate, they're the welcoming committee, the ambassadors, but unfortunately, you can't tell every guy who walks in the shop that the only thing he's going to like is a twin-tip that's 110 underfoot just cause that's what you got.
You gotta be really careful about all these specialty skis…

Well I think what he industry is giving us now, at least, is Dukes, and Fritschis, and Dynafits, and good touring boots…
Enthusiast related products. They're gonna be bought by people who want 'em, want 'em for a specific reason. That's great, ok cool, so there was 10,000 pairs of Dukes sold last year. What about the million point five pairs of bindings that were sold? Let's keep it in perspective. We sold 15,000 pairs of Kryptons. Dalbello sold 46,000 pairs of (low end) NX60's. In white. They sold 42,000 in white. So how do we make that transition? So do the companies need to say "No more price points, no more discount gear. This is a high-end sport," well that ain't gonna fly. Even though I think it should. You wanna be skier, you have to make a commitment to the sport. Fine, throw down. When I walk into the motorcycle store, there's Honda CR that costs $5,600, and that's it. There ain't no $2,000 bike. And the sad thing is we're not giving the people the good stuff—would you ski in NX60's? It's sad, we're telling people that they don't need the best gear, you need this ok gear, this gear we wouldn't ski on. What is wrong with a beginner skiing in our best ski boot? Is he gonna break his leg? Drive the ski into some uncontrollable turn? ‘Course not, it's going to make him ski well.
Anyway, this sport has always been controlled by volume, and volume is slowly but surely goin' away.

So how is that going to change our experience as skiers? It already has. Look at all the empty hotel rooms. They’re gonna start cutting back. There's gonna be a halfpipe at Mammoth, there'll be one here, there'll be one there, but the huge parks are going away, I guarantee it.

Who's on your list of Skiers Worth Paying Attention To (pro or not)?
We can't not pay attention to our U.S. Team, racing and freestyle… whether it's Lindsey Vonn or [Ted] Ligety, or some of the younger bump skiers. As far as spinners are concerned, there a couple of Midwest kids that are insane, just insane. Chris Laker is a kid that we're sponsoring from Ohio and he's 14, and I look forward to seeing his career continuing to grow.
Some of the twin-tipper crew is starting to show up at the big-mountain things, you know with Henrik [Windstedt] coming in, he kind of opened some doors, like "Hey you guys come check this out," He has not opened his box of freestyle tricks up yet, as I'm waiting for him to do that. Unfortunately, at the moment, the Fashion Police aren't sure they want to see that at a big-mountain contest. Last year, a couple of French kids basically skied the whole slope backwards, and that was kinda cool to see them play that game a little bit...

So there's a couple of the younger freeskiers, guys like Eric Hjorleifson, Sage [Cattabriga-Alosa], and Mark Abma, that actually go out and go skinning, and are kind of all-around skiers…
Yeah. And I'll get in trouble for it, but I just don't think the last generation of big-mountain skiers has been that good as stewards of the sport, or representation of the sport. I think the group you're talking about is coming up with a better understanding at a younger age of, let’s say, the traditions of the sport. And with that said, it'll be kind of interesting to see where they go. Especially like Sage, what you were saying. I just think their values are a little, uh, stronger, than the last ten years. I mean, I'm the biggest self-promoter in the world, but at the same time, I wasn't trying to promote myself, you know what I mean? I just think there's been a lot of people in the industry in the last ten years that… I mean, I'm not boasting, but it's like, hey Powder, where are all your cover boys? Where are they? Where's Braly Joy? Where's Kreitler for that matter?

He started a surf/yoga camp in Panama.
Good for him, Mister frickin' six or seven covers of Powder. Take me off of your black list, I'm sick of it! Talk to me about the things I'm doing, and don't blacklist me—"Oh Plake's involved? Naaah." That ain't cool.

Who do you think blacklisted you?
I don't know who blacklisted me. But it's just funny… maybe I just been here too long, or… anyway, there's a group of us that are still doing what we do. And for that matter where the hell is Schmidt? Get your damn hero out here and let's see what he's doing!

What is he doing? Are you in touch with him?
He's ridin' his motorcycle a lot, he does his thing, but c'mon what has he done? Let's do something. Ok, Plake is doing the same thing he's always done, but did he evolve over the years? Who evolved?

We wanted to do this interview with you because guys like Schmidt had a great run and full career and seems retired, but at similar age you're doing stuff that you weren't doing 20 years ago, and you have evolved, and you are doing stuff at real high level.
Again, I just think it's funny. It's just like "C'mon, let's go." And I'm not the only one who's been doing this for a long time. In the last ten years or so, there's been some "stars" and I'm not convinced that they were the greatest stewards of the sport.

But now there is a different generation. Powder's stoked on guys like Sage cause he's a nice hippy kid who was a dishwasher at the P-Dog.
Exactly. As they should be. Sage actually won one of my Wild Wild Hot Dog contests. That was his first pair of free skis. He was like 15 or 16 at Grand Targhee. The roots are goin' pretty deep when you talk to Sage. And that's awesome, and I think they do need to watch where he's going, what he does with it.

What are the questions that people don't ask you in interviews, that they should?
Well, it would be nice for exploration… certainly, you're doing it right now: Why? And why for so long?
You know…. there's that one day you don't forget. That one water ski tow in the summer that you don't forget, hundred days of skiing all summer and there's that one tow, maybe it's into the sunset, the idyllic ride…

So what was your one day last year?
I could talk about so many days last year. I could talk about two flips in a mogul run at Boss de Bosses and have three thousand people freak and just go "I can't believe Plake did that," and me bein’ cocky and goin' "Bring it frickin' on—I'm here to win this contest and I will. C'mon, show me whatcha frickin' got!" and that was great, but it wasn't the day that was the best.
We were just skiing, and there was like a couple hours left and I had to do some bullshit and interviews for the Freeride Tour. Anyways, it was me, Fred Syvverson, and Thomas Diet, and shoot, what's her name? Rachael Burks. And it was like "Hey, you guys wanna go ski somethin'?" and they were like "Yeah!" So we just went and skied this run we've done a thousand, no maybe a hundred, times before. We thought we were just skiin' to town, and then we down and we were like "We gotta do that again, it was killer!" So we blasted up the lift again and did it again. And it was just fun for me to ski with those three people, um, I've skied with Fred before, but I hadn't really spent much time with Thomas, and I'd never skied with Rachael, and they did know… they'd never seen Glen ski. And I don't mean it that way, but it was just great to be skiin' with 'em, and we all had so much fun, and it was just this group of skiers and I wish… it was just one of those situation that was like, "Um, dude, you're…" and I was takin' it as a complement, but they were like "What the hell, man?" and I was just proud, like "Whattayamean? Why would that take you by surprise?" You know? I go "Dude, I'm frickin’ Glen Plake." (laughs for a long time)

Well, you are surprising people, busting out backflips, I don't think people expect it.
No, uh-uh. I was showing some pictures to someone the other day and they were like, "What are you doing? That's you?" Yeah, that's me. (laughs)
To add to you questions, cause I've just gone frickin' everywhere, I just think… maybe it's happening during this interview. I love… I just love skiin' and every aspect of it, and I would never think to stereotype myself as one type of a skier, and I think that's why… twenty-sumthin' years after Blizzard of Aahhh's I'm still here doin' what I do, and wanting to do what I do.

That's a luxury that a lot of skiers don't get. When I went to Jackson I was like "Wow, there's a whole world here, a whole unique ski culture, or genre of skiing, lifestyle, whatever."
Oh, absolutely. No doubt about it. It's a totally cool deal. I'm fortunate that I get to go to Jackson and I'll get collared by a couple guys and their like "We're gonna go out and have a frickin blast." And I'm so lucky that I get invited into those circles of people. I'm so lucky. Um, at the same time, um, that one circle shouldn't be able to deal the cards for the entire sport. You know, c'mon down to Mammoth with your fat skis, so how well you do, ya know? (laughs) I mean, still the only place where you can, or you'd want to ski a 212 or something.

We had our edit conference here in December and I was skiing a pair of Super G's 'cause the snow was hard, and they thought I was just joking.
I did the same thing this year. We were going to shoot some mogul pictures, so I took my 202 bump skis, and it snowed so much, the moguls were gone. And everybody's up there with their fats, and I'm the only person with a mogul ski. And, lo and behold, as the day goes on, it's chopped up, it's bumped up, and I'm still skiing the 202s. And everyone's like "Those things look like they friggin' rip!" and I'm like "Yeah they do—'course they do!" And we end up switchin' skis with everyone, and they were like, "Man… these things are cool!" (laughs)
But back to the factions… Mammoth, no doubt about it, you’re a fool if you don't have a pair of Super G's ready to go at all times. But you probably wouldn't be caught dead up in Jackson Hole with a pair. Although, you can't tell me… what's that chair that you ride all the time there?

Sublette.
Right. You can't tell me, after it gets skied up… that ain't nothin' but a bump run, dude. Period. Nothin' but a bump run. So maybe it makes sense there too. Anyway, those different groups are kind of cool, and then there's that Wasatch crew, they got their thing goin'… but you gotta keep your eyes open. Even though I'm in Chamonix, the center of the universe, I still think that, um, we might need to learn a little about the avalanche procedures that the Wasatch people have to face. Or the intensity that the Jackson Hole crew has. Or the passion that they have. It goes back to, don't be afraid to be inspired by someone else that might be different, or not part of your crew. The same thing can be said, when you're from Jackson Hole and you show up in Chamonix, don't be fuckin' around like you're somebody… cause you aint'! (Laughing) Don't be stickin' your frickin' Alta stickers all over Chamonix, France.

Stay tuned to powder.com/glenplake for updates, photos, and videos of Glen and wife Kimberley Plake’s 2009-10 Down Home Tour starting Thanksgiving 2009.