This past weekend during Round 5 of the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup, we were lucky enough to have skiing legend Glen Plake join us as a guest driver. A pioneer of extreme skiing, Glen has been in the business for 20 years, currently living in Chamonix, France. His bio reads as follows:

“Plake is the long-time host of Resort Sport Network’s Reel Thrills series and a world-class championship skier. Powder magazine called Glenn the Most Influential Skier of the last 35 Years, as he’s considered the father of extreme skiing. He’s appeared in legendary skiing movies including “Blizzard of AaaHhh’s,” “License to Thrill,” “Fistful of Moguls,” and “Steep.” Not confined to the snow, he has also appeared in several Hollywood productions as well as network TV shows. Plake is also an accomplished off-road racer who won the 2000 Baja 2000 (Class 3) race in Mexico.”

Check out this footage from a recent climbing/skiing expedition to Peru:

During the weekend I got to chat with Glen over lunch, and it was great to get advice from a guy who has actually made it (I think “Dreams do come true” is his favourite saying). More than anything, I was impressed by his enthusiam for getting out there and living. Whether we talked about climbing expeditions above 20,000ft, or racing beater stock cars at his local track, you could tell that he wasn’t taking anything for granted and loving every minute. Here’s a guy whose whole life is an adventure, yet on Sunday I’m not sure there was anyone in the pits having more fun than him. At the drivers meeting he had everyone curled over when announcing that he’d done the math, and despite being 10seconds off the pace, we wouldn’t quite make it around to lap him. He even promised that if the leader caught him coming across start finish he would be pumping his fist so it’d look like he won on TV.

-Jake