Mohawked mogul settles down

Although standing in a crowded Lake Tahoe restaurant in early December, Adia Folsom, 5, remains mesmerized by the one person in the room who truly intrigues her."Mommy, it's that guy with the Mohawk," she whispers to her mother, Darya Folsom, who anchors the morning news for a San Francisco television station.The guy with the Mohawk gets a lot of that. If people don't know the name Glen Plake, often times they simply recognize him as the skier with the weird hair. And it's weird all right. Plake literally has a wall of hair that sticks up about a foot in the air, colored red, blue, green or whatever shade suits his mood.Naturally, the hair draws attention, especially from kids. "Our two kids have watched him in the ski movies, they know him as the guy with the Mohawk who does amazing things," Darya said.Although he's toned down the wildman act quite a bit, at age 40, Plake can still do some amazing things on skis. He mostly does them for fun now, working regularly for Heavenly as its SkiEO and traveling the country and abroad as a virtual skiing troubadour.He serves as a great ambassador, a man who loves the sport and promotes it any way he can. Skiing's original hot-dog (he prefers the term extreme skier), Plake can still perform some death-defying aerials. But what he loves most is just being on a hill, skiing with regular people.That's why he's been part of the Heavenly team the last two years - it allowed him to return to his roots as a normal guy. Plake grew up at Heavenly, perfecting his skiing, becoming an expert on moguls, then branching out to include an array of aerial tricks that would leave most skiers petrified. "A lot of people identify with Glen, he has that contagious enthusiasm," said John Wagnon, Heavenly's vice president of marketing. "He's the Mohawk guy. People see him as being kind of edgy. He brings a real vibrancy, a youthful feeling to our mountain. You get the whole package with him."The package for the last 13 years has included wife Kimberly, an attractive blonde with a Texas twang who accompanies her husband during his many winter travels. The couple, who have several homes in the Tahoe area, currently is on a "Down Home Tour," which has them showing up unannounced at various small resorts around the Northwest.Sponsors pay Plake to be a roaming ski ambassador. Yet to hear him enthusiastically talk about these trips, one gets the feeling he might do it for free. He loves the one-on-one interaction, skiing a run with admiring fans, and just enjoying the sport for what it is - fun."We show up at these little resorts that nobody has heard of and people that recognize me say, 'Why are you here?' And I say, 'You're open, aren't you?' " Plake explained. "People in these places just ski for the love of it, not because it's the cool place to be. I love that."Kimberly knew right away this would be no typical marriage. For the couple's honeymoon in 1991 they took the original Down Home Tour, hitting 50 resorts in 68 days and putting 13,000 miles on their recreation vehicle, appropriately concluding the trip at Mohawk Mountain in Connecticut."Glen truly loves skiing and the kids in particular are just fascinated by him," Kimberly said.Growing up in Lake Tahoe, skiing is akin to most California kids playing youth soccer - everyone does it. Besides being the Tahoe fire chief, Jim Plake was a certified ski instructor. So it was no surprise his son was on skis by age 2. Despite breaking his leg at age 4, there was no keeping Glen off skis for long.He became a local legend, a dare-devil who would sometimes get banned from Heavenly for doing unauthorized things at ski practice. He was on the Blue Angels racing team for many years, carving out his legend, both good and bad."Heavenly was my hill, I was there every day," he recalled.Not that he needed further recognition, but the Mohawk he started sporting by age 17 made him stand out even more."I did it to scare the neighbors and my competition," Plake joked, displaying his infectious laugh. "Growing up around here I followed the punk-rock bands. I was part of the scene."He eventually made the scene nationally as well, joining the U.S. Ski team and qualifying for the World Cup tour in 1985, skiing moguls. His career was short-circuited following a broken leg. After that, Plake turned to extreme skiing, where he found his niche.He also found trouble as well. Plake was a definite hell raiser as a teen and young adult. Drugs and alcohol were as much a part of his life as skiing. Various unlawful endeavors landed him in jail on several occasions.A bar incident in Jackson Hole, Wyo., became the final straw that ended the wild times in December of 1992. Plake quit drinking 12 years ago and now only sips soft drinks.A more focused Plake also rehabilitated his rebel attitude, becoming a ski ambassador instead of a bad boy. He has appeared in five Warren Miller films, produced "Fist Full of Moguls," and became a favorite of Greg Stump, who produces ski films. Of course, the hair helps, making Plake one of the most recognizable people in the sport. He probably signs as many autographs each year as most Olympic skiing heroes."It was a dream of mine to meet him," said Duncan Smith, who grew up in Ann Arbor, Mich., and this winter is working at Heavenly. "Glen Plake is a legend."They are kind words that Plake never tires of hearing. He heard the adulation as a rebellious teen-ager and loves the fact that over two decades later the same tune is still playing in regards to his reputation, which was aided by his fearless mogul runs down Gunbarrel, Heavenly's signature run."I used to look up at Gunbarrel and wanted to be that guy everyone was watching coming down," Plake said. "Eventually, I was that guy. And I'm still that guy - sometimes."Despite entering his 40s, the Mohawk Man stands as tall in his sport as the hair that sticks straight up on his head.Jeffrey Weidel is a Sacramento free-lance writer with more than 20 years of skiing experience.