Mike Hattrup Interview that ran in Skiing a few years ago
Mike Hattrup: Godfather of New School Tele
Tele skis never used to be the object of overwhelming ski desire–they were usually earth toned or baby blue and had hippy friendly names like Mountain Noodle, Karhu, Madshus–until Mike Hattrup got in the game. Hattrup did to modern telemark skiing what you always dreamed you could do to Dad’s Chevy—souped it up, painted it black with cool flames down the nose, and he made it rip. Hattrup is the manager of K2s telemark program, but that title is way too small for a guy who has helped create two of skiing’s modern revolutions.
Hattrup sprang into public consciousness in Greg Stump’s Blizzard of Aahh’s, playing the quiet ripper, sort of the base player to Scott Schmidt’s lead vocals and Glen Plake’s screaming guitar. It was as much Hattrup’s cool stylings in Aahh’s as Schmidt’s sick lines that gave a generation of ski bums a new mojo. He was part of the birth of what is now the freeski movement.
Hattrup is disgustingly competent at everything he does. He can out ski, out drink, and out hike anyone, and does it whenever challenged. He jumps seamlessly between alpine and tele, yet his style is the same, rock solid triangle underneath him, deathly quiet upper body, all at mach speeds. Stuart Rempel of Whistler marketing said, “you could set a bomb off under Hattrup and it wouldn’t phase him.” It’s his ability to translate his alpine skiing energy and style to telemark that has allowed him to craft the new school telemark revolution. “The alpine turn and the tele turn are remarkably similar…yet the shaped ski revolution was being ignored by telemark companies. I was just the first guy to really apply the new widths and sidecuts to telemarking. I had the advantage of being able to build on all the knowledge the alpine guys at K2 had developed.” Call it sidecut, call it width, whatever, the real impact was felt with the release of the K2 Totally Piste, the first telemark ski with attitude. It was deep black with Camaro-like flames on the shovel and people fought to buy it.
Six years after introducing the Totally Piste, Hattrup now hangs his hat back in Sun Valley, Idaho with his wife Claudia. He splits time between guiding trips in the Cascades, British Columbia and Chamonix with his work for K2 running their telemark division. New school tele is going off and K2 is a leader thanks to Hattrup. This year the hot item is twin tip tele skis. Yeah it seems crazy to want to backwards freeheel but as Hattrup says, “You can’t always give the public what they want, sometimes you have to tell them what they need and educate them.” His newest educational tool is called the Piste Pipe. Fat, curvy, twin-tipped and it’s showing up in half-pipes and parks all over America. “I never really went after the wool and beard market,” says Hattrup.
Born: August 7, 1962
Birth Mountain: Crystal Mountain, WA
Adopted Home Mountain: Sun Valley, ID
First Skis: XR10- Someone else’s rock skis, but he was just “stoked to be skiing on K2s.”
Higher Education: Seattle University, 7 year BA (fact check school and major)
Current Titles: American Mountain Guide certified skiing guide, director K2 Telemark Society, member of Marmot Design Board, manager of K2 Telemark Division
Spouse: Claudia Hattrup, professional mountain biker and personal trainer who now runs biking camps for women in Europe. Married September, 2001.
Competitive Creds: 1987 National Mogul Team (Fact check- he wasn’t sure of the year–Was that even part of USSA at that point?)
Ski Bum Creds: Waited table and ski bummed in Crystal, WA, Sun Valley, ID, Steamboat, CO, Winterpark, CO, and Squaw Valley, CA.
Why Telemark Skiing: “I was turned onto telemark skiing by Mark Shapiro and Ace Kvale who refused to take me on the Haute Route unless I could tele.”
Why Was Blizzard of Aahh’s So Good?: “During Blizzard we were so green–living that movie was an unbelievable adventure. We were wild-eyed kids, just like everybody watching it.”
–John Bresee
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