GLEN, I WANT TO START BY ASKING YOU WHERE YOU GET ALL YOUR ENERGY. YOU EMBODY SO MUCH POSITIVITY AND TRULY LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST. WERE YOU ALWAYS THIS WAY? HOW DO YOU STAY SO POSITIVE?

I think I’ve always been this way. I haven’t taken a whole lot of things seriously over the years. I guess ‘passionate’ is a more fitting word for me than ‘serious.’ I always try to enjoy myself and yeah, maybe l giggle too much.

CAN YOU SHARE WITH US ONE OF THE HARDEST MOMENTS IN YOUR LIFE AND/OR CAREER AND WHAT IT DID FOR YOU PERSONALLY AND PROFESSIONALLY?

I wish I could say there’s this definitive moment, but I can’t because I’ve had too many in too many different aspects. Personally, waking up in too many drunk tank jail cells was a low point. Were they turning points? Yeah, eventually. Did they change my life? Yes, absolutely. For the better or for the worse? Both. At the same time, I’ve had just terrible tragedy in my life. I’ve been involved in horrific accidents that left me changed. Different thoughts, experiences that you don’t want anybody to go through. At the same time, on a professional level, the same things happen. You work for a company for 10-15 years, it gets sold. The first thing they do is release you from it. And you’re like, “Wow, wait a second.”

So, I cannot say there’s one specific defining moment, but I can say that I’ve had them all, and through grace and through luck, I’ve made it through. And whether it’s because of a way I changed my own personal thoughts or my own personal actions, or support from my wife or support from friends or just lucky in general. Whatever door opens, I go through it.

WHAT KEEPS YOU GOING AT THIS STAGE IN YOUR LIFE?

Same thing that’s kind of always kept me going. I have a lot of energy. Naturally, some genetics are involved, but I think it’s just curiosity that keeps me going. Not only to find out what is or maybe what isn’t, but to experience something. Curiosity to go figure something out, go do something, follow a passion, follow an interest. When it comes to my skiing, I’m very curious about skiing. I’m very curious about exploring new techniques, exploring old techniques, rediscovering an old technique, trying something on my skis that I haven’t necessarily tried before.

Or in fact, something that I’m very good at, but reanalyzing and rediscovering it. I really think it all comes down to curiosity. I think I am extremely curious, but at the same time, you can’t be curious without being very open and absorbing anything that comes your way. I’m very opinionated, there’s no doubt about it, but I’m completely open to changing my opinion.

WHAT DO YOU DO FOR FUN (OUTSIDE OF SKIING)?

That curiosity has led me down a lot of roads, for better or for worse. I refer to them as my distractions. Water sports is flat out probably my greatest passion beyond skiing. I love anything that has anything to do with the water. I think it goes back to when I was six months old, I won a diaper derby championship and while everyone else was throwing keys and playing with baby rattlers and all these different things, my mother simply had a pail of water at the end of the track splashing water, and apparently, I went straight to it.

So, I was raised on a lake. I’ve been water skiing since a very young age.I’ve been in water my whole life and so anything water related is certainly my number one priority. That could be from sailing to water skiing. I’ve had the pleasure of racing in the Catalina Water Ski Race. I’ve had the pleasure of winning a national championship in my class as a slalom skier. I’m a big barefooter. I just love aquabatics (as I call it) and I love sharing it and teaching other people. I love showing people what can be done on water, because a lot of people don’t understand it. It’s like skiing, it’s a very, very diverse multifaceted activity.

At the same time, I thoroughly love mechanics. Being around my grandparents, driving junk cars, working on the cheapest boat we could get…mechanics have been a significant passion in my life and nobody knows about it, really. When I had the pleasure of working and being a host on “Truck Night in America,” there were these people going, “What the heck and why?” My close friends were like, “Wow, that’s a match made in heaven.”

Nobody knows about my mechanical abilities, so playing around with my wrenches and tools and building stupid stuff. It all goes back to your curiosity and passion and exploring your curiosities, (laughs).

DOES ANYTHING SCARE YOU?

Avalanches.

YOU WERE IN ONE, RIGHT?

Yeah, and they’ve killed every friend I have. They hurt me hard. I mean, every 10 years, another eight friends die. Unfortunately, I cannot be young and dumb and gosh,…I’ve just seen it. I’m not gonna live ridiculously reckless. I know I’ve gotten lucky. They scare me. No doubt about it, they scare me.

YOU TRAVEL TO SO MANY PLACES. DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE SPOT?

Yeah, I don’t mean to sound like a commercial here, but I love Mammoth. I love Mammoth Mountain for many reasons. I love the history of Mammoth Mountain, I love the oddity of Mammoth Mountain, I love the reliability of Mammoth Mountain, but I also love the commitment of Mammoth Mountain.

Going back, the history is wonderful. I believe the story of Dave McCoy is one of the greatest in skiing history. I think the oddity Is wonderful because I travel around the world being a snow skier from California. That makes absolutely no sense, whatsoever. I’m supposed to be a surfer from California, not a snow skier. The commitment of Mammoth Mountain is something that also needs to be talked about and their commitment to be the greatest ski area that they can be, regardless of the date, the budget, and the time.

My favorite example of that commitment was probably around 15 years ago. We had a bad season, a drought season, but we had a May snowstorm and the ski area was closed. It was a tough year. We got a strange three-foot spring fall and they reopened after being closed for the season for two weeks. There was more snow on the mountain than at any time throughout the entire winter season, and they put out an announcement that said “We’re open and will honor anybody that has a ski pass for two weeks.” It wasn’t just a Mammoth pass. It was for anybody who had a ski pass. I just thought that was the coolest thing because every other ski area was long gone and wrapped up, counting their budgets and Mammoth Mountain was like, “No, we’re a ski area here. We’ve got more snow on the ground than we’ve had all year. It’s time to open up, even though it’s May,” and they did. I don’t think anybody in the ski industry even realized that. I found that to be so amazing.

So with that said, again, I love Mammoth because of its reliability. If they open, they’re open, and the intent is to be open till July 4th every year. Period, end of story. That is what they intend to do. And I just find that to be very interesting. So, I love that place.
Because of air travel now, it’s getting easier to get to. I’m not going to say it’s been the easiest place to get to, but it is getting easier for other people outside of Southern California skiers to get there.

And then, of course, I cannot say that I don’t like Chamonix, France because let’s face it, I spend a lot of time there too, and the only thing I can say about Chamonix, France is it’s freaking Chamonix, France. I’m fortunate that I get to live in both.

GETTING REAL HERE FOR A MOMENT. HOW MUCH HAIRSPRAY DOES IT TAKE TO LAND YOUR MOHAWK AND HOW DO YOU DETERMINE WHETHER IT’S A MOHAWK DAY OR A “LEAVE IT ALL TO HANG DOWN” KIND OF DAY?

It’s actually Knox Gelatine that puts the Mohawk up.

What makes amohawk day? If it’s promotionally related, most of the time, I’ll put my mohawk up. Certain ski days, I’ll put it up. Typically spring stuff, party times, various things, I’ll go hawk up. It’s a fun thing to wear. It’s like getting dressed up and going to town. It’s fun to have it up and the joy that everybody gets out of it is quite fun.

I mean, it’s not just for me. Everybody enjoys it as much as I do. Maybe I started wearing mohawks because I wanted to show everybody how bad of an attitude I had, but I think over the years, it’s actually just hilarious to put it up and let everybody else enjoy it. We have a lot of fun with it. We put it up originally to scare the neighbors. And I think the neighbors are all excited when I put it up.

WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT SKIING AND WHY ARE YOU SO ADDICTED TO IT?

I think the diversity of skiing is super cool. There are all the different ways of skiing, all the different people that ski, all the different places we can ski, and all the different types of snow we can ski on. That keeps me going. So with that said, there’s nothing like skiing. In the act of skiing, you’re in the harshest natural environment in the world, you’re in the middle of winter in the middle of a mountain. You’re there for recreational and enjoyment purposes.

Skiing is one of the few sports where multi- generational participants can enjoy it together AND in fact, multi-levels of achievement can enjoy it together. I can go ski with a beginner and have the time of my life and consequently that beginner may in fact have the time of their life. Grandparents can ski with grandchildren. Multi-generations can ski together and have a great non-compromise and experience.

I refuse to call skiing a sport for the world. It’s a sport for me. It’s a sport for some friends I know. But it’s not for the rest of the world. It’s a pastime, and pastimes are meant to be enjoyed by everyone. Skiing is unique and different and unlike most sports, we can all do it together and have fun and not necessarily compromise anybody’s experience.

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE PLACE TO SKI?

No. I’ve been so lucky to ski so many different places and I really don’t keep score on one versus another because every skiing experience is going to give me something wonderful to remember and/or cherish uniquely about that experience and it’s unfair to compare any of them. Maybe why we’re still passionate about it is because of the ability to use skiing to travel and see the world. Chances are, if you go skiing somewhere in the world, you’re probably not going to be sitting in the cities too much. You’re probably gonna have to get off the beaten path. You’re gonna be out there and at the end of some dirt road at the end of some valley, at the end of some village. If you’re going somewhere to go skiing, it’s going to get you off the main road, there’s no doubt about it.

I SEE THAT YOU LIKE TO BAREFOOT WATER SKI. IS IT HARDER THAN SNOW SKIING?

No, it’s like anything in the hands of somebody who’s willing to teach you and/or has some teaching skills, it’ll happen quicker than you think. Footing is an amazing sport. It’s strange, it’s obscure, it’s weird. It’s been forgotten about.

WHICH OF THE GREG STUMP FILMS ARE YOUR FAVORITE TO BE A PART OF?

It’s the most hated one, but it’s kind of my favorite and it’s called “Dr. Strangelove.” There are parts of “Dr. Strangelove” that I don’t like either, but there are parts that I really, really like. We really got weird and did these really strange theatrical scenarios, but at the same time there was some really, really nice skiing that was done (especially in and around the Mammoth segment). I think that film was cool and it was actually the last film that we shot on film before the digital age, and so that to me was cool. Another favorite is “Blizzard” because everybody loves “Blizzard,” but for me personally, I loved “A Fistful of Moguls.”

It was a film that I begged Greg to do after a multi-year hiatus. At the same time, we happened to tap into a group of individuals that the ski industry literally had no idea existed and one of them ultimately went on to win a gold medal. The fact that I had the premonition and basically predicted a gold medal, two to three years out and yet we kind of loosely chronologically followed his path. It’s cool. I like “A Fistful of Moguls.” It’s a good one.

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE RUNS ON MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN?

Wipeout.

FAVORITE ACTIVITIES WHEN YOU VISIT MAMMOTH AND PLACES TO GO?

Not only do I like skiing Mammoth Mountain, but I like skiing June Mountain. I like ski touring from Mammoth Mountain. I love taking runs off the back down to Sotcher Lake and then obviously the surrounding area. I mean the mountains even in the immediate area of Mammoth I love, but also the whole 395 corridor I love from a skiing standpoint.
As far as restaurants, we always find ourselves at Burgers Restaurant or I find myself at Toomeys. I find myself at Carson Peak Inn over in June Lake. You got to go to Carson Peak, kind of a classic, old steakhouse. Giovanni’s Pizza, I like Giovanni’s Pizza.

YOU’VE HAD SUCH AN AMAZING CAREER. ARE THERE SPECIFIC MOMENT(S) THAT MEAN THE MOST TO YOU?

I think anytime I do a Downhome Tour, it’s very meaningful. I didn’t know what I was doing when I did the first one, other than I was trying to go ski with people who made my career possible and meet them where they ski. I wanted to ski with people that wrote to me. This was back in fan mail days, not Instagram.

So, this was going on and I was doing promotions and I would be somewhere strange and ask people where they ski, and they’d be like, ‘Just seven miles down the road.’ So, I decided that I would do these things called the Downhome Tour and it’s basically me and Kimberly and we just go on a ski trip together and we don’t tell anybody we’re coming.

There is no printed schedule, no title sponsor of the Downhome Tour, and we basically just goski places. We don’t visit many ski resorts; we prefer ski areas, and there’s a difference. The first Downhome Tour, weskied 50 different ski areas East of the Continental Divide and over 33 different states. We’ve done 11 Downhome Tours since and we still do it exactly the same way. We don’t tell anybody we’re coming and we just go ski with people. It’s one thing that has greatly affected my career, my life and others, without a doubt.

YOU SERVE AS INSPIRATION TO SO MANY. WHO DO YOU LOOK UP TO AND DRAW INSPIRATION FROM?

I’m inspired by my friends, my peers, certain athletes by their longevity and their individualism. Man’s achievement inspires me. Challenge inspires me, just the ability to be challenged. If I’m challenged by something, then I obviously am inspired by the people that created that challenge. So, if I go do the Catalina Water Ski Race, then I’m automatically inspired by Todd Haig because he’s the greatest champion there’s been at that water ski race.

At the same time, I love riding my bicycles (I’m a big cyclist). How can I not look at the longevity of Jens Voight and how he did tours for years, but did it his own way and has this reputation? Randy Johnson is another. I’m inspired by all sorts of random, different things, I’m inspired by the older generation, I’m inspired by what’s been done before us. And I try to replicate it in some way or pay homage to things that have been done before..

WHAT IS THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE SOMEONE HAS SHARED WITH YOU THAT’S IMPACTED YOU?

Richard Petty – whom is the KING of Nascar – who does not ski, nor have any idea of what I do – once told me, “Keep having fun doing what you do, smile, and be nice to people; that’s the easiest thing to do.”