What do eight-year-old kids and skiing have in common? Is it bunny hills, snowplows, rope tows, and big fuzzy ski school mascots? Perhaps racing around in the woods on the trails in between runs? If this is truth then 8-year-old Andrew Pollard's relationship with skiing is largely uncommon. Andrew bags 100 days a season at Alta, hucks 15-footers on a regular basis, and skis with a guys more than thrice his age while hiking for freshies on Baldy. Oh yeah, and he's 4'4", so he's getting faceshots on days when everyone else is calling it "knee deep." On a powder day you can most likely find Andrew ripping fresh lines and taking drop in the trees at Alta, POWDER caught up with him to find out what makes such a sensible young man tick.-Jamey Voss

I heard you have a trail map collection. What do you do with them?
Andrew Pollard: I study them. When I broke my leg this one guy gave me a lot of trail maps. I started collecting them earlier and then he gave me more and now I have a bunch of them.

Which ones are your favorite?
A.P.: Probably the ones of Utah.

Do you have a trail map of Jackson Hole?
A.P.: Yup.

Which run would you ski first?
A.P.: Corbett's Couloir.

If you could go skiing anywhere today, where would you go?
A.P.: Somewhere in Alaska.

I heard you switched schools so you can ski in the winter.
A.P.: Yup. I go to Blessed Sacrament and I get off at 12:30 so I can go skiing in the afternoon.

What do your friends think of your skiing?
A.P.: They think I'm obsessed with it.

Your parents work at Alta?
A.P.: Yeah. At the Rustler Lodge.

What do they do?
A.P.: My dad is kind of like a handyman and he's the manager. He sometimes comes up and fixes the pipes and stuff. My mom works at the front desk.

Who do you usually go skiing with?
A.P.: On Saturdays there's this one group, it's called A.Y.C. (Alta Youth Club). There's these kids and we all go skiing together in a group.

Is that your favorite day to go skiing?
A.P.: Yeah, but otherwise when I'm not skiing with them I go skiing with Drew. That's the guy who took all my pictures, he works at the Rustler. I think he's 31.

Does he downhill or telemark?
A.P.: He telemarks.

Do you ever want to try telemarking?
A.P.: Probably not, cause it hurts your knees and I don't like wearing knee pads.

How tall are you?
A.P.: 52 inches.

Have you ever been in powder that was overhead?
A.P.: Yeah, it's fun, but in flat spots you get stuck.

What's your favorite type of skiing?
A.P.: I like skiing trees with little cliffs and chutes.

Do you like hitting jumps?
A.P.: It depends on how hard the landing is, if it's hard or soft.

Are you throwing any tricks?
A.P.: I like to do Iron Cross grabs. I need to learn a 360. I'm trying to land it. I was so close one day, but the jump wasn't big enough.

What do you think of the guys who are landing fakie in powder?
A.P.: I can do that, it's just I don't usually because I think I need bigger tips, usually I just dig into the ground.

I've seen some shots of you dropping some pretty big cliffs. What's the biggest one you've dropped?
A.P.: The one in that picture. The big one where I'm in a ball and just taken off. That's the biggest drop I've ever done.

Did you stick it?
A.P.: Yup.

Do you ever get scared while skiing?
A.P.: Yes, when I'm about to do that rock every time. And when it's really steep and rocky.

Does your mom worry you're going to hurt yourself?
A.P.: Kind of. She says, "I don't believe you can ski, because you're going off all those jumps."

What do you want to be when you're older?
A.P.: A heli ski guide in Alaska for the winter.

Have you ever been heli-skiing?
A.P.: Nope, but I want to go.

What's the best thing about a powder day?
A.P.: Everywhere is untracked

Who's your favorite skier?
A.P.: Kent Kreitler

What's the best Christmas present you've ever gotten?
A.P.: Some new Bandits.

Do you have a girlfriend?
A.P.: Yes.

Does she ski?
A.P.: Yup. She's from Alta. We've known each other since we were babies.