If youre a skier, you probably know who Glen Plake is.
Even if hes just: That guy with the mohawk, but hes so much more than that.
My first time on skis was actually up in Montana when I was two-years-old.
Then my parents moved to Lake Tahoe.
I love my summers and I love my winters.
I like keeping them separate, different activities and different ways to do it.
I was never any kind of racing prodigy, at all, but I certainly was involved in it.
You going to school or this and that.
I was convinced that my skiing had yet to come and in fact, it did.
As people quit racing/ski programs, my skiing started to blossom.
I was a bit of a late bloomer, technically-wise.
As kids start to get cycled out of these programs, it was kind of a whats next?
I was climbing and discovering the mountains more and more and more.
I grew up in a ski town, so that was that.
South Lake Tahoe was a funny town to grow up in.
I was on the South Shore, theres definitely a rivalry.
North and South certainly when I was youngertended to butt heads quite often.
_
Where did you ski?
No, no, no!
The only reason youd go to Squaw was to win, beat them!
We would ski all those places and we would certainly drive up to Squaw and places.
Getting ready to ski, but probably not at Squaw!
Squaw valley had the Olympics, we were like: So?
They dont even have the flag anymore.
If the weather didnt change, they wouldnt have had the Olympics.
Wouldnt that have changed everything?
Ultimately the rain turned to snow and the Olympics did, in fact, happen at Squaw Valley.
As one of the pioneers of freeskiing, who were your ski heroes growing up?
Freeskiing was there, it just had been forgotten.
The seeds were set, and I certainly grew up watching ski movies.
You had the wholeSummit Filmscrew, who were probably the first freeskiers, to be very honest.
AfterSummit Filmsthe Hot Dogging revolution took place, so now you had professional freestyle.
You had Moguls, aerials, and ballet.
You had John Clendenin, Wayne Wong, Airborne Eddie, OLeary and you had all these guys.
Again, they were all professional skiers, now the competition was part of the game.
All of a sudden, I was like 13/14/15 years old and: POOF!
It was all gone.
The one thing I dont like about skiing is that we dont reference our past enough.
I think we do need to understand a little bit about where things came from.
We laugh when people do daffies.
Whatever your triple cork was done back in the 80s by Frank Bare anyway.
Quite frankly I think youve degraded progression.
Blizzard of Aahhs was obviously life-changing, how did that happen?
Through my competitive endeavors, I met Geoff Stump, not Greg Stump.
I also met Mike Hattrup, as competitors.
We were all mogul skiers.
He like myselfgrew up watching the Roger Brown/Summit Films, he grew up watching the Dick Barrymore films.
Greg skied in a Dick Barrymore film and he was intrigued by that.
It was through their association that I was asked to ski in a film that Greg was making.
At the time you would just film your buddies and whatever, thats what its about.
They were like oh we gotta have Plake ski in it!
Hes from California, he knows the place and hes freakin rad!
Hes got his mohawk.
He’s a freakin knucklehead!
We gotta have him film!
We were definitely a band of outcasts.
I was asked to ski in the film, I skied well and everybody liked my style.
All of a sudden, Ive skied in a film.
Hattrup, Plake, and Schmidt: Changing the game.
Did you guys realize you were making a classic movie?
I got hold of Hattrup and the guys and said alright dude, here we are.
Where are you, right now?
They were in Snowbird, so I drove all night and surprised them.
I basically slammed my way into what ultimately would be theBlizzard of Aahhhs!.
At the time, we didnt even know what it was, it didnt have a title.
I skied in Snowbird, then we skied at Squaw because that was my neck of the woods.
After the Squaw shoot, Bruce Benedict –who was actually the missing link of all of Stumps films.
Bruce who had the technical training and guided Greg through certain things.
Bruce asked me if I had a passport.
When I said no, he said I should get one.
I knew they were going to Europe and I knew I needed to be there.
They were in Chamonix for a six-week shoot and they only had two skiers.
Bruces forethought said: Get Glen over here right now.
They flew me over immediately, so did we anticipate it to turn into what it is?
We were just banging our way through a winter.
Even after the film was released, I stayed over in Chamonix for nearly two years.
I never came back after that first trip.
I had reasons not to come back, that are relatively well known.
I only saw the film, with a live audience, a couple of years ago!
For the first time, with a live audience.
I really think that we need to do more of that.
It was trippy actually.
What made you stay in Chamonix?
For me, it was the next step.
Id been in California, I knew there was other stuff going on.
That was not in the United States.
I had to get to where skiing was valid.
Not only personal, but also judicial!
Going to Chamonix was a way for me to run from some problems that I had.
When youre young, you make decisions and my decision was run and run I did.
Id be like: uh, whats the name of this place again?
I was a struggling artist, whatever you want to call me.
Judge:oh ok, so do you make a living doing that?
G:well no, not really.
J:Oh ok, so are you on the US Ski Team?
Yes, I qualify, but Im not competing on the U.S ski team.
J: So what are you doing Mr Plake?
Im, in fact, skiing in another film next year.
Why wouldnt I stay in Chamonix?
What was I going to go back to the U.S for?
I sold my car, to get to the airport.
I didnt have a place to live, I didnt even have a return ticket.
It was the next step in my own personal development.
Lets face it: I love my beloved Sierras, but the mountains are a little bigger in Europe.
The Alps are bigger than the Sierras and the Tetons for that matter!
What exactly were those legal problems?
It was all drug-related.
I had trafficking, I had intent to sell.
I was selling drugs, thats how I was getting by.
I wasnt selling guns or anything, I was doing what a lot of people were doing.
I just happened to get caught.
Which is why I dont support legal-marijuana!
Im like: BULLSH*T!
you gotta hide it!
You gotta get busted like I did!
Go sneak around like the rest of us had to!
You said you like to keep your winter and summer separate.
How do you do that?
I love playing with our 4-wheel-drive Jeeps.
I love playing with the boat.
I just really enjoy those things.
I also love mountaineering and climbing.
I love sailing, swimming and all the activities associated with lake-life.
At the same time, I love my winters.
I love everything about winter and even more so than winter, I like Spring.
The long days, tons of snow on the ground.
I wouldnt miss it, theres plenty of other days to ski.
To answer your question: America, below 6,000ft, is a really fun place to be.
Its a very free country, below 6,000ft.
Its all National Park, its all National Forest.
Dont go up there, its a ski area.
Its this, its that.
Its all homogenized and weird.
Youre not allowed to go up there.
Its a State Park and blah, blah, blah…
In Europe, above 6,000ft, is no-mans-land.
They give you the lift, they give you the hotels, they give you the refuges.
Go for it dude!
Anything you want up there!
Go have some fun, theyll help you get up there!
Conversely, its really difficult to throw your boat in the water in some lake in Europe.
My interests are water-based.
Im definitely a water-baby, so in my summers, I have to have the freedom that unregulated-bodies-of-water provides.
My other passion, riding bicycles, ok now were over in Europe.
Riding bicycles in the US is not so wonderful.
I keep it separate by doing different activities, depending on where I am.
I definitely keep them separate.
Spray from roots out to ends.
Blow- until dry, then flip like a pancake repeat spray/blow dry.
Finish Mohawk in mirror, by holding it up using MegaHold hairspray and blow drying each side to Finish.
