Plake Interview

Our quest to view the Northern Lights was dashed by the sign "Road gated at dusk".<br><br>Back in the car there was a voice on the radio talking about skiing. I asked mrs. wickstad, "is that Plake?"<br>Sure enough it was. He's up here plugging the new Warren Miller film "Journey". (I think it plays tonight at the 5th Ave. in Seattle.)<br><br>After Plake's bit on the news section, one of the night -time talk DJs ran into him in the hall and noticed his hair.<br>One thing led to another and he was the guest on his talk show for over an hour. It was great. <br><br>So I called in to the talk show. And they put me on with Plake. Too cool. Some Q & A. (His answers will be paraphrased since I didn't record the conversation).<br>w.<br>Mike Hattrup is the K2 telemark guru and I know you have your own image, but are you a good telemark skier?<br>p.<br>I'm proud of Mike. I like my randonee setup better. I can lay it down pretty good on tele gear.<br>w.<br>In a past Warren Miller film you made the comment that you wished skiing was more like it was in the days before snowboarding came along. I think I know what you meant by that but maybe you could explain it to me.<br>(the answer he gave me was not what I was expecting).<br>p.<br>Basically Shaun Palmer is a good friend of mine but...<br>I got back from Europe and people were bashing skiing.<br>Saying it was "gay". I just had to fight back.<br><br>Then I went on to tell him and the host and the listening audience that freeheel skiing saved the world from Hitler.<br>I plugged Dan Kurzman's book Blood and Water about the sabotage of a heavy water producing hydro plant in Telemark Norway. <br><br>Way too much fun.<br><br><br><br>

Nice!  Quite by chance, I ran into Plake in the Denver airport last year.  I was on the people mover going one direction when I noticed a man with a blue and blonde mohawk (sans gel) going the other.<br><br>While I'm honestly not one to gawk when I see a celeb, in this case I couldn't help it.  See, Glen was was my icon when I was a kid--even though I haven't lived there for 12 years, you'll still find a big framed picture of he and Phil Mayer in a staredown, each donning K2 Extreme skis, with the caption "Extremely Different" at my mom's house.  I turned around and followed the poor guy until I caught up to him.<br><br>It turned out his plane was delayed to New Mexico, and he and his friend were headed into the bar to pass the time.  Though I wasn't bold enough to intrude, I did introduce myself and we chatted for a few minutes.  He couldn't have been friendlier - he seemed like a great guy.<br><br>