Meet The Aguirres
Mar 12 2007 / Los Angeles, CACatch the #1 sibling duo in snowboarding as they rise among the ranks of the best at the US Open of Snowboarding
If you follow snowboarding in any fashion, you've heard of Molly and Mason Aguirre by now. Younger brother Mason was one of four Americans who qualified for the U.S. Men's Olympic squad, and barely missed receiving a medal (some would say the judges straight screwed him over). Older 'sis Molly has both the talent (she was the first alternate for the U.S. Women's Olympic squad) and the looks (models for many companies, including her sponsor Burton).
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There's a reason this power sibling duo is ruling the industry. What many don't know about Molly and Mason is the fact that they have one of the coolest dad's in the snowboarding industry. Their dad Mike Aguirre, who also goes by the name 40 Oz Killah, raised the duo in Duluth, Minnesota, encouraged them to learn how to snowboard on the icy hilltops of the frigid Minnesota tundra, and moved the family to Mammoth to help elevate the sibling's talent and success.
And guess what: It worked. Lat34 reporter Cyrus Satsaaz met up and hung out with his favorite snowboarding family and delved into the abyss of the Aguirre life a few weeks before the X Games. More specifically, what the party circuit is like with Burton teammates Shaun White and Hannah Teter, how the success has affected the family's personal relationships, and what the upcoming year holds for the top sibling duo in snowboarding: The Aguirres.
Lat34: How does a family from Duluth, Minnesota become so good at snowboarding? Do they even have mountains out there?
Molly: We have hills, and some of the hills are on garbage dumps. It's crazy, but I love Minnesota. I'm proud to be from there. It's amazing to go back home now, because everyone's proud of Mason and I. I don't get to go back there as much, but I still have the accent that everybody loves to make fun of.
I know that Mason and I share this very eager, competitive spirit. Every since we were little, from playing Monopoly, we would always want to win. That's something in common that you see with a lot of snowboarders. In Shaun White, he wants to win, that's all he wants to do. He has a very competitive edge, and we're similar to that in that we have a drive. We're very driven. When we decide to do something, we'll do whatever it takes to get there.
Lat34: Growing up, were you two competitive with each other?
Molly: Yeah, we were. We actually didn't used to get along with each other. I was the little girl of two boys. Tyler (Molly and Mason's older brother) and Mason would team up and just want to get me mad. And I think that's where I developed my charge and fire as a girl. I was always that tomboy girl. I couldn't beat Tyler, because he was older, but I could beat Mason. And I would love rubbing it in his face. And Mason would get mad.
Then, when we started snowboarding, we were pretty even in ability the first five or six years. This was before Mason started to develop muscles and his physique. We were really competitive. We went through a stage where we had some family issues. Then, when we moved to Mammoth, we lost a good friend to a car accident, and when you experience emotional things like that, you realize the importance of the friends and family in your life. Mason and I then really developed a bond.
Now, trying to make our career happen, it's huge. To go through the experience of wanting to go pro, and the hardships of trying to get there
Lat34: Molly, Burton teammate Hannah Teter's one of your really close friends, right?
Molly: We're really good friends. She's great, Shaun (White)'s great, and we all travel together as a family. Wherever we travel, Burton will rent out a really nice house, and we all make a really good dinner and hang out. I used to be Hannah's boy mentor. We used to go after CBs (acronym for cute boys), but she has her boyfriend now. She's such an awesome girl, I love her.
Lat34: Since I last talked to you Mason, you've been blowin' up by the second. Despite being screwed over by the judges at the 2006 Olympics, you're still considered by many to be the second-best rider out there next to Shaun White. What do you attribute to your success?
Mason: I don't really know. I respect a lot of snowboarders. Shaun is definitely on top of the game and killing contests, and it's cool to see other guys like Travis Rice and Andreas Wiig come out and film banger video parts, and that's what cool about the sport. It's not just all about contests, and there's a lot of different ways to express yourself on a snowboard, and it's awesome.
Lat34: You all currently reside in Mammoth, home of Mammoth Mountain. What is it about the place that you love so much?
Molly: What's really cool about Mammoth is the locals that live there are mellow and chill and don't need a crazy environment. They're just there to ride and have a good time.
Mason: I absolutely love Mammoth. It's home.
Lat34: In your honest opinion Mason, what's the next step for you? You're barely 19!
Mason: Riding Mammoth, having fun and enjoying life.Lat34: Part of being a professional snowboarder is the travel. How much traveling have you done and where have been your favorite spots?
Mason: Since January, I've been on over 50 flights, covering over 80,000 miles. I think New Zealand this year was really good because the snow was super good, and yet after riding we could come down to Wanaka and go skateboarding. We went and did a bunch of stuff there. Me and a few of my buddies like Scotty Lago, Jack Mitrani, Kevin Pierce and Danny Davis drove down the coast and checked out New Zealand. We actually got some time to chill and look around, it was awesome.
A lot of places I go, it's like you go there and snowboard and do the contest, then you leave and go home. So it was cool to be in New Zealand for a month because we had all that time to sightsee. And what a beautiful place. I was looking around for Gandolph and Froto everywhere (laughs).
Lat34: How's the talent level down in New Zealand?
Mason: Um, there's definitely a couple of good shredders.
Mason: Oh. (Laughs) Worse than sheep. It's terrible. We definitely saw some good looking sheep, but not too many girls.
Lat34: You're dad Mike is always on fire. Do his antics like being a rapper and calling himself the 40 Oz Killah roll well with you guys, or do you have to sometimes tell him to simmer?
Molly: At first, it was a joke because my dad is always trying to one-up Mason. Mason got his Mac, and he was playing garage tunes, making raps. And my dad was like, “I'm going to make a rap too!” He's always trying to one-up Mason. I got Mason some Gucci Dog Tags for graduation, and my dad comes out the other day with his own Dog Tag that has some bling on it and says “40 Oz Killah.” It's funny, my dad's a goofball, and he's always told us how you're only as young as you say you are. What started out as a joke though has turned in this phenomenon. Everyone's asking about the 40 Oz Killah now, it's turned into this craze! He's like Weird Al, he's joking but he's serious about it. He really writes raps, and he's pretty serious about it now.
Mason: I kind of stay uninvolved, but I support my dad. He's a dork, he always does stuff like this. So whatever. I'm wearing an XL tall t-shirt, and my dad's wearing a XXXL tall t-shirt, so it's cool, I can respect that. My dad is g-style.
Lat34: Mike, you've raised two incredible snowboarders.
Mike: I would take the kids out on the mountains in Duluth all the time when they were young. And they loved to snowboard. One time, they dared me to pull a jump. I was good at snowboarding, but didn't pull the kind of the stuff the kids were doing. They dared me, and I decided to go for it. I ended up breaking my collar bone, and decided after that that the jumps and crazy stuff were for the kids. I'll stick to rapping.
Mason: I play golf. I have a 13 handicap, I've been playing golf my whole life. It's just something we all did when we were kids. I like to skate a little, go to the beach and hang out. I recently tried surfing for the first time. I was on the beach in a full wetsuit and gloves, had the lobster-claw hands. I almost threw up because I was so tired getting pummeled by waves. I was dry-heaving for days.
Molly: I love to travel. I went to Costa Rica and Hawaii, and just tried surfing myself.
Lat34: When I talked to you last time Mason, you were in a relationship, and I was telling you how you were on the top of the world right now, and girlfriends shouldn't be in the picture. Then two weeks later you broke up with her! What happened? Can I take credit for this?
Mason: (Laughing) I dated my girl for like a year and a half, but when it comes down to it, I guess I was just ready to be single and just be a kid and have some fun and not really be tied down. My ex-girlfriend's a great girl and everything is all good. I'm doing my thing and she's doing her thing and it's all good. You gave good advice. I love being single. It's great!
Molly: Yeah, it's been six months since Mason's been single, and he's just been really trying to figure himself out. And I think it's a good time in a guy's life to just be on their own and hang out with girls and have a good time. It's awesome, he doesn't have to answer to anybody or tell anybody what he's up to. Him and I have actually become a lot closer since his breakup, so I'm his right-hand girl now. Plus, being single is what the Aguirre family is all about!
Mason: Me, Molly and my brother Tyler are all single right now, and it's the best time ever.
Molly: Mason was actually just telling me how he needs a playmate type of girl! (Laughs)
Lat34: When I saw you last Mason, you ate it hard at the half-pipe contest at the Vans Cup. What happened?
Mason: Yeah, it was one of those not-so-good weather contests, a lot of snow had fallen. And it had kinda cleared, and they kinda put the half-pipe together, but with all the snow it's hard to clear all that stuff out, and there were a lot of bumps. I came in real hot about half-way through my run, and then I hit a bump, and my legs completely compressed, and I lost all the strength in my legs and I was going really fast. I went 12 feet in the air and half back-flipped on my neck. I was coughing up blood for like 45 minutes. They took me down in a sled. I was trying to be resistant, trying to be a badass, but I had to go down the sled. They took x-rays of my chest and neck, and found no internal bleeding or major injuries, so I was fine. My back still hurts though. That happens though, it's part of snowboarding. You get hurt, and that's the way it is.
Lat34: Molly, I heard that you were the first female rider to pull off the backside 900.
Lat34: Mason, we all know you were an Olympian and should have won a medal, and Molly you barely missed the cut. How do you feel about the way snowboarding has progressed now versus how it used to be?
Molly: Back in the day, snowboarding used to be that rebel sport. They were rebelling against skiing, and they were the partiers, and I think especially what the Olympics has done for the sport of snowboarding is that it's shown the public that it's a sport. That these are athletes, and they train, and they really want this, and they're serious about it. It's a clean sport, I'm clean about it. It's really important to me, it's not a party. Well, we obviously party, but it's hard work.
You can catch Molly and Mason Aguirre riding in their home resort Mammoth Mountain when they're not competing, and surely wearing their sponsor's apparel, Burton. Papa Mike Aguirre's rap tunes can be heard on www.myspace.com/40yo, his official myspace page.
