If you’ve spent any time at Skibowl, you’ve seen Petr Kakes.

In the summer he is the head of mountain bike operations and the owner of
Hurricane Racing, often seen directing competitive mountain bike races,
leading mountain bike tours, or working on trail maintenance with his
companion pup, Bara.

In the winter, he operates the concession service at the Warming Hut at the
top of the Lower Bowl; directs the Hurricane Ski Racing Demo and Service
Center; and runs the Olympic Ski and Snowboard School which each year
trains 4,500 for riding fun each winter.

The name of his ski school is the only clue to one of his athletic
accomplishments. During the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France, Kakes
placed sixth while skiing for the Czech Republic team, where he was clocked
at 139 mph.

Naturally driven, Kakes was inspired to succeed in part to prove his former
government wrong. He defected from Czechoslovakia 1980, when he was 21
year old, and though his FIS ski rankings placed him No. 1 in downhill skiing
and No. 2 in giant slalom, he was dropped from the national team because of
his age.

“It was the communist government that thought I didn’t have a good future,”
he explained. “They were focusing on young athletes for the international
stage following the example of young gymnasts. They supported me when I
was younger, but then was dumped from the team because of my age.”

So he left his homeland, defecting while at a national ski competition in
Austria. He eventually made his way to New Hampshire. Kakes moved to
Mount Hood in 1988, after a couple of seasons training at Timberline.

He approached a few local ski operators about providing ski services in the
winter. When that didn’t work out, he opened his own ski shop in
Government Camp about the same time that then-27 year old Kirk Hanna
purchased Skibowl out of bankruptcy.

“One day our rental shop had people backed up waiting to get gear. I didn’t
want them to have to wait and so I literally loaded up customers in my
Suburban and drove them to Petr’s shop to get them fitted with equipment,”
Hanna said. “We barely talked that day, but I could see that Petr was a hard
worker and I sensed that we were both in a survival mode with our
businesses.”

The following season, when his lease was unexpectedly cut short, Kakes came
over to Skibowl, starting a relationship with Hanna on a handshake that has
stood the test of time. They were both in their late 20s,and both driven to
succeed. Twenty-three years later, they still operate without a written
contract.

It started a shared passion for skiing. Later when Hanna opened what was one
of the first summer mountain bike parks in the country, Kakes was there to
help run it. He has since emerged as one of the top mountain bike race
directors on the west coast, annually coordinating six to eight major races
each summer at Skibowl and at other Northwest sites.

“We met each other at the right time, and it’s been a great relationship,”
Kakes said.

While running his Skibowl- based businesses, Kakes remains a talented
athlete and a fearless competitor. He continued to compete in the FIS Speed
Skiing World Cup, and was the U.S. Speed Skiing Champion in 1991 and
1992.

And for 17 years in a row, he has gone to the remote Hoodoo mountains 150
miles southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska to compete in the extreme Arctic Man
Competition, winning it three times and finishing second six times. Courage is
essential in the Arctic Man race, considered one of the World’s Toughest
Downhill Ski races. Competitors race ski 5 1/2 miles in just over four minutes,
combining extreme downhill skiing with the horsepower of a snow machine
pull.

Starting at 5,800 feet, Kakes skies downhill to 1,700 feet in less than two
minutes to the bottom of a canyon where he meets up with his snowmobiling
partner. On the go, he catches a tow rope and is pulled uphill more than two
miles at top speeds of 80 mph-plus. At that second peak, the tow line is
dropped and Kakes slingshots downhill to the finish line.

Kakes won the event most recently in 2006 and before that in 1996 and 1999.
Last April he was paired with Todd Palin, where they finished seventh. Even
at 51, Kakes remains a top Arctic Man contender each year skiing against
world cup racers young enough to be his son. They’ll go at it again April,
2011.

“I don’t know how much longer I can do this, but I’ll go as long as I can,” he
said. In preparation for the next event, he traveled to Austria last spring to
consult with race technicians at the Atomic ski factory and to select skis for
the next competition. “I’m not done yet,” he said.

Though Arctic Man is extreme, it is not the most unusual athletic feat he has
accomplished.

Kakes was the first of three men who actually walked across the English
Channel — on skijaks.

A cross between skis and kayaks, skijaks are 11 foot long pontoons. Riders
propel themselves across rivers and lakes with oversized twin-bladed paddles.
They were originally developed as a way for alpine and cross-country skiers to
stay in shape in summer months.

To draw attention to the new products in 1983, 21 competitive skiers started
the English Channel race. All but three racers dropped out, most of them
seasick. Kakes led the three finishers.

Though the shortest distance in the channel is 27 miles, due to the currents,
Kakes traveled 42 miles on skijaks in nine hours and 39 minutes.

Skijak white water and long distance competitions emerged as popular sport
in Europe and sticking with it, Kakes later became the European Skijack
champion from 1984-86. Still today, Kakes trains with skijacks on area lakes
and this summer traveled on a pair down the Deschutes River.

“I always had this sense that there is nothing that I can’t do ... as long as I
put my mind, and physical strength to it, with good training,” he said.

Overall, 22 years later, Kakes is happy with where his life has led him — to
work at Skibowl and life on Mount Hood.

“I left my own country and figured out how to do things. I was very fortunate
that I met Kirk because together we made this work. This is home now.