Lupe Hagearty

STAY TRUE: Lupe Hagearty Keeps Style in the Streets

Lupe Hagearty
“These kids wanted to hang with Lupe at this Minneapolis, spot, but they kept running away as they got close. They were definitely more local than us and were curious what we were up to skiing in the street. Eventually they worked up the courage to talk to him and found out that Lupe’s actually a pretty nice guy.” Photo: AJ Dakoulas
Words: Twig Spensley

Luke “Lupe” Hagearty is not a social media star. He has never been part of the competition scene, nor has he starred in a big-budget ski movie. In some ways, it’s hard to explain quite how this style master from West Hartford, CT, became a pro at all. Hagearty’s career has been cut from the unforgiving climes of urban skiing, where endless days of looking for spots, bitter cold and the reality of smashing skis (and bodies) against metal, brick and concrete are merely par for the course. Still, in a sport where athletes typically have a short shelf life, Hagearty’s story is one forged by slow and steady progression. He’s a skier doing things his own way, hearkening back to a school of skiing born over two decades ago.

Hagearty had perhaps the biggest moment of his career in 2021 with an appearance in the X Games Real Ski competition and a shot at an X Games medal. While his all-street segment, filled with classic style and timeless tricks, did not put him on the podium, he showed a national television audience that there was still a place for the style-heavy street skiing that gave birth to the more technical and competition-focused freeskiing of today. After years spent quietly earning his place among street skiing’s original superstars, Hagearty is now helping to keep the streets in the spotlight.

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