FLYING HIGH: When Glenn Strother can’t find fresh powder, he takes his skis to the skies in search of higher elevations. photography by Elizabeth Lavin |
MY PASSION
Glenn Strother
Skiing enthusiast Glenn “Hopper” Strother’s idea of a perfect day is blue skies, no wind, and two feet of newly fallen snow. His search for fresh powder has taken him from Alaska to Austria and even in the hull of a helicopter to HELISKI—a variation of skiing in which participants are choppered to extreme elevations. A managing partner of Fort Worth-based AUI Contractors, Strother, 51, is also the vice president of marketing for Lone Star Skiers, a local ski club that sponsors trips throughout the year in partnership with the Texas Ski Council. Though the club’s Double Release Rule is unforgiving (fall down the hill and lose both skis, and you buy drinks that night for any witnesses), a bigger bar tab can’t diminish the thrill of the mountain for Strother. “It’s you, a couple of sticks, and Mother Nature,” he says. “You are as close to heaven as you can be on Earth.”