Molly Aguirre Footplant

Sponsors DC, Skullcandy, Mammoth, Val Surf, Smith

SR: So what have you been up this summer?
Molly: I had kind of a normal June in Mammoth then came up to Windells around the 4th of July because I have come here every year for 6 years. I get to be a guest and hang out and shred. I went to Camp of Champions for a week with the DC Team which was a cool experience because I had never been to Canada that was fun. Came back to Windells and am trying to learn new tricks, work on a few things, hang out with kids, fill in and do some counseling. I love coming to Windells, you meet a lot of friends and see a lot of people that come up to Mt Hood to ride and pros come in and out. I love Oregon and being based out of here in the summer. You can golf, go to Portland, it’s a beautiful, peaceful, serene state, no other state compares.

SR: Are you are just going back to Mammoth to train after Oregon and get your ankle strong again?
Molly: Exactly, I tweaked my ankle in Whistler on a hip at the Camp of Champions. I have to tape it every day I ride. I keep riding on it and am not sure if I should be doing that. I am ready to go back to Mammoth, get in the gym, mountain bike and get ready for the upcoming season; really be ready to ride come November and be strong

SR: So its late summer 2009 and we are here at Windells camp, Mt Hood, Oregon and you are filling in as a camp counselor for 7-9 year old boys. Do they get all wide eyed, like wow, this is Molly Aguirre?
Molly: Actually my campers this session are skate campers and really have no idea who I am but there are kids that get excited to meet me. It’s humbling and great to spend time with kids like that. There are times I remember when I was coming up that there were pros that were just so nice and so down to earth, that totally changed me and hopefully I can pass that on

SR: Do you feel like you are a role model?
Molly: I would love to have that role if I can inspire girls to be independent, go for their dreams and not worry about what other people think. Snowboarding is an intimidating sport and I think a lot of girls are intimidated not to look a certain a way and I hope that through my snowboarding I can inspire girls to go for it and take risks. Even through Mason and my relationship; to inspire brothers and sisters to have strong relationships. Being able to do this all with Mason is maybe better than the snowboarding itself. It’s cool when girls come up and say they always wanted to meet me or I inspired them to try snowboarding, it’s touching and I never thought I would be in that position

SR: Snowboarding is image oriented but you kinda seem to do you or own thing, let the snowboarding do the talking instead changing your image to whatever is hot from year to year
Molly: As a woman and I don’t think any woman can disagree that there is pressure to look a certain way in snowboarding or any sport. Often, all the girls that that have hype have a certain sex appeal, any sport. I decided to be me, there are some really pretty girls in snowboarding and that’s great, it’s great for snowboarding, however I don’t try to put that out there and I hope girls can be the real person behind the goggles. I am girly and feminine, I go get my hair and nails done, I go shopping but I almost have a different personality when I snowboard. I am a small girly girl but I never feel that when I am snowboarding I am like fuck it and you have to in this sport; you have to go for it. It’s a hard sport, you are going fall down

SR: Where do you live?
Molly: I call Mammoth home, that’s where all my belongings are, I have been there since 2003. My Dad and my step Mom moved out there from Minnesota in 2003 for Mason and I. I have a 2 year old brother there and my boyfriend lives there and it feels a lot like home. With real estate what it is, I am almost stuck there financially as well [laughter] since Mason and I own a condo there. I am happy to go home there so that must mean it’s working out for me.

SR: How is the boyfriend with all the traveling that is required of a professional snowboarder?
Molly: I don’t think I could have a better situation. He does not snowboard but he’s really supportive. It gives me a good perspective since he’s not in the industry he always has a good positive outlook on things that I normally would not see. Snowboarders often get caught up in the job part of it, like I have go do this and that and RJ is always saying “yea but look what you’re doing, it’s all exciting. I just graduated college and I am looking for a full time job” It’s pretty profound to think about what snowboarders do and I get to live my passion every day. It’s a good balance.

SR: If any snowboarders ever had a “real” job, like clocking in and out, wearing a tie, whatever, just not digging their job and doing it for the money then snowboarders would work a lot harder to remain snowboarders and at the top of their game cuz it sucks [laughter]. So your boyfriend having an outside perspective could be a positive influence for sure
Molly: It’s easy to get jaded but when you step back and see what we really do, it’s pretty amazing. My older brother Tyler worked at Charthouse in Mammoth said I should get a job there for extra money. I have had jobs before; Sams Club before the days of snowboarding but working at Chart House for a little bit really made me thankful because people work really hard for their money in the normal world

SR: Yea and for not really a lot of money either
Molly: Serving is hard and really humbling. I may do it again though over Christmas break this year, I can still ride all day. The people are fun but it’s definitely hard work

SR: Well if Chart House does not close because when I was last in Mammoth the newspaper said like a restaurant a week was closing
Molly: Mammoth is struggling, you drive down Main Street and there are closed signs and vacant building everywhere

SR: Yea but despite the economy or whatever politics, Mammoth Mountain has such a great Mountain, great weather, good parks even though some things are weird there. So do you have a house in Southern California?
Molly: No but my Mom, Stepdad and 17 year old sister live in Carlsbad. They moved to Carlsbad about a year and a half ago to be closer

SR: Plus you probably have a lot of friends down there
Molly: Yea, the snowboard industry is down there, or a lot of it anyway. You got Transworld, Snowboarder, DC; basically every company has some network down there. You can go down there, get some work done and go to the beach! That’s why I really love California, you have the mountains, the beach, and you can get in the wilderness and the city

SR: Mason too is down there?
Molly: Right and Mason rented a room at Kevin Pearce’s. Mason likes hanging in So Cal so he can see his Mom and hang out with his dog so he goes to Mammoth to shred but he does not really want to live there.

SR: Funny, when you get to certain level with all the plane travel snowboarders don’t have to live in the mountains. Keir Dillon once told me that he rides Whistler more now that he lives in Carlsbad than when he lived in Whistler, he is on the snow 180 days a year so home is almost a sanctuary more than slopeside lodging like when you are poor and starting out
Molly: Yea, and the balance, its good to be able take yourself out of the element, it keeps you motivated and creates the feeling that you really want to get back on the snow I don’t mind the drive to Mammoth. If you leave at 6 am you can still get to Mammoth at a decent hour and snowboard. I used to be rigid and ancy but over the last 6 years I have learned patience and to go with the flow, which is great. You kind of need to because the travel is what it is, the weather is going to do what it is going to do and patience and acceptance helps in this sport with delays, the airlines losing your bags and so on. I am a much more laid back person.

SR: Is it possible to get too laid back to the point of being un-motivated?
Molly: It’s possible

SR: Like whatever, I got 10th place, screw it, no reason to try harder
Molly: No, I am talking about the traveling sense not personality or for snowboarding. Sometimes if the weather is really bad it’s hard to be like yea let’s go kill it. Especially after living in Mammoth where you get sun almost every day. I actually hate that because Mason and I are from Minnesota and we used to ride horrible conditions in horrible weather. We went back a couple of years ago, it was 20 below and we did not even want to go out side [laughter] we used to shred when it 30 below as kids, we didn’t know any better [laughter]. It’s cool to go to places like Colorado because the weather is more winter like

SR: The snow in places like Colorado and Utah stays so good for so long too
Molly: Yea but when it’s windy in Mammoth I still go up

SR: Super windy days on Lincoln Mountain in Mammoth are actually the best days, new snow every run and most people duck and cover from the nasty winds
Molly: Exactly and there are places to escape the wind. South Park is not as windy as Main Park. You could jib all day long in the trees in bad weather and that is what I really love about Mammoth, there are so many options. If you don’t feel like jumps and the park, you could take a backside run, go jump cliffs, build a jump somewhere, hit jibs; there are so many options. That’s why I love riding there

SR: Back to Minnesota, how did you get from Minnesota to Mammoth, you started with Palmer right?
Molly: Our first sponsor was K2; we were groms on K2 way back in the day. We did local contests and became known. I wasn’t until we moved away although the mountain in Duluth was always really supportive of us.

SR: You’re Dad moved to Mammoth to help your guy’s snowboard career, that pretty insanely supportive of a parent, Mammoth is not really the job capitol of the world
Molly: You know it was tough; we never had formal coaching we never even talked about going pro in snowboarding. I was applying to college; we had never even met a pro when I was a senior in high school. My Dad had met some families that were moving to Mammoth and he realized that there are pros out there from our trip Nationals (at Mammoth) in 2001-02, he had an epiphany like “my kids are good and there’s really not much for them in Minnesota, they need a mountain like Mammoth and terrain parks” My Dad is from Phoenix and he kind of wanted to get out of Minnesota so he wanted to give us the opportunity to go for our dreams. He moved to Mammoth for us but he wanted to move here too so it wasn’t all pressure. He said “we are moving to Mammoth I want you to have the opportunity, if you take it, great, if you go off and go to school, that’s great too” Having that support was amazing. Parents wonder how to do it, “do I send them to Stratton Mountain Academy, do I get them formal coaching?” but it’s really got to be in the kids heart. If it is in their heart, nothing can stop them. We grew up in the hills of Minnesota but we loved snowboarding. We wanted to be better for us, not to be pro; Mason and I are competitive spirits. Some kids see the mass superficiality and they have different idea of what snowboarding really is.

SR: The world is marketing and I agree kids with passion will make it but I think I lot of people just want to get the lifestyle of a pro with out the effort, of riding 8 hours a day in the rain to build the skills or whatever. Academy’s help, I mean if you have the passion and are going to school with kids like Louie Vito, Danny Davis and so on, obviously that is good but if kids don’t have the passion…it’s still up to the kid really
Molly: Exactly

SR: You had great family support too
Molly: That’s the thing, it’s hard to see so many kids that love snowboarding but don’t have the backing of the parents. I would not be here without the financial and emotional support of my family. My Dad did not just drive us to the mountain and drop us off; he would ride with us so it was a family event that we would do together; snowboarding was time with Dad

SR: Well snowboarding cost money so that is a barrier to a lot of people
Molly: Yea, we were not rich, we never had money for Windells [laughter] Coming here now I always think it would be really cool to come here. We did normal sports in the summer. We weren’t wealthy it’s crazy because now I am older and see finances a lot differently and our parents put a lot out there for us. They spent thousands of dollars for Mason and I

SR: but if you are a parent and your kids are happy, it’s probably worth every penny you have, especially if you having fun with your kids too, like your Dad did
Molly: I will probably understand it more when I have kids. My Dad wanted us to pursue our dreams

SR: What are your plans for the future?
Molly: Yea, I am 24, everybody says time flies and it feels like yesterday I was 19. The reality of what’s next looms harder as you get older but I am still taking it day by day and living in the moment. I want to continue with college classes in the fall. I think I can handle college, get a degree. I always want to be snowboarding but I want to have family too
SR: You mean like have a family and go buy a season pass for everyone in the family
Molly: I am not ready to think about that yet and not shredding, that’s far in the future

SR: So the difference between Burton and DC? It seems like Burton was a strong team with maybe a lot of direction from management where DC is a team of strong riders where you do what you want. Is it cool to have the freedom or kind of lonely?
Molly: Burton kind of created my image and that’s what I was. They said what I would do, what contests I would do and I would just say yes. With DC it’s like they ask me who I want to be and what do I want to do and it’s kind of hard after being used to being controlled.

SR: No wait, controlled seems like a negative thing…
Molly: Controlled like organized. On Burton we would go the hill, the features would be set up, and the photographer was there…

SR: So not controlled like a guy tries to control his girlfriend. Not like control but direction
Molly: Burton had everything organized and it’s not like that at DC. It’s hard because I have had to become way more independent where I was kind of used to having everything ready for me. Now I have to do more of the footwork. It’s good because it creates character and I have had to put more into it. It hindered me last season because I was not ready for that. For 5 years I was in the situation where Burton had a direction for Molly Aguirre and now I have to fill in the spaces

SR: So the first season with DC was probably awesome at first then you’re like I gotta get my shit together and make things happen on my own
Molly: I’ve had to become a different rider which is good, it made me look at snowboarding in a different way it’s made me stretch, work, risk and be uncomfortable more. I am glad I made the choice

SR: Freedom has its pressure
Molly: Yea, pretend Burton was a boyfriend, you become so comfortable, then it ends and you are like who am I? DC is very helpful, they are there to help but I have to be the leader and with Burton, they were the leader. I respect both companies.

SR: DC is like be whoever you want to be. Like Travis Rice, Lonnie Kauk, and Chaz Guldemond are such great riders but may not pal around together even if they get along
Molly: They way they are, they way they see things, they way they take care of themselves…they’re focused, those guys mean business. It’s really cool to be a part of that

Big Method at the 2009 Roxy Chicken jam

Molly and Kimmy Fasani

Winning the 2008 Vans Triple Crown rail jam

Can you ever get enough of big Method Airs?

Having fun on a spring day in Mammoth

Having fun all summer at Windells

Backside slasher

Switch 50 50 half cab to 50 50