SkiMag_Timeless

WE ALL KNOW GLEN PLAKE.
WE KNOW HIM AS THE MOHAWKED
HOT DOGGER WITH AN
UNHEALTHY ADDICTION TO
MOGULS WHO, THANKS TO GREG
STUMP’S 1987 SKI MOVIE CLASSIC
Opposite: Plake showed
fellow ski instructors
Brenna Kelleher and AJ
Oliver a trick or two at
Mustang Powder, B.C.
But that was all decades ago. Since then, Hot
Doggers came and went the way of skinny
skis; other pro skiers like Shane McConkey
dreamed up bigger stunts and took on the
roles of skiing’s riffraff. And yet, Glen Plake
has managed to stay current and relevant in
today’s ski culture. How? By transforming
himself into something entirely unexpected:
a ski instructor who believes in skiing by the
book.
In his own words, here’s a look at his
surprising transformation from an antiestablishment
punk skier into a fully certified
professional ski instructor who now not
only spreads stoke, but the Professional Ski
Instructors of America’s (PSIA) credo.
THE BLIZZARD OF AAHHHH’S,
HELPED ADD “PRO SKIER” TO THE
OFFICIAL LIST OF VIABLE CAREERS.
BUT ABOVE ALL, WE KNOW GLEN
PLAKE AS SKIING’S ANTIHERO—
THE GUY WHO DITCHED THE U.S.
SKI TEAM IN FAVOR OF SKIING
WITHOUT RULES AND ONCE FLED
TO CHAMONIX, FRANCE, TO AVOID
TROUBLE WITH THE LAW AT HOME.
THEN: Eff the Poodles! All I wanted to do was
kick their ass.
NOW: I think we take ski instructors for
granted. That person trained, they’re a
professional. Unfortunately, in the ’80s ski
instruction took a bit of a hit. If you look back
at the ’60s and ’70s, everyone knew who the
best skiers on the hill were: the ski instructors.
That’s why they were ski instructors during
that era, and they were respected and admired.
But something happened in the ’80s, and it
was partially due to technique and partially
due to some protocols like Perfect Form that
made it a bad, dark time for ski instruction. It
just got weird, and the ski instructor became
that poodle that we all made fun of.
THEN: I was a spokesperson for Learn a
Snowsport Month and was asked on the
“Today Show” to teach anchor Hoda Kotb, a
first-time skier, to ski. We were on the ski lift
and she asked me ‘What happens when we get
to the top here?’ And I thought, ‘Interesting
question, I have no idea.’ I ended up literally
carrying this woman around the ski area—
that was my teaching capacity at the time.
And I thought, anyone who sees this is going
to think this guy has no idea what he’s doing.
That night, I made a call to PSIA.
NOW: I took my PSIA Level 1 certification at
Breckenridge in 2011 with 250 new hires. I’ll be
very honest: I was ready to call the examiners
out. And yet, as I moved through the process,
there was nothing I could call them out on.
I was like, ‘Yeah, that makes sense’ ... ‘OK,
SPECIAL ISSUE SKI MAGAZINE 19