Thunderstruck Adventures is proud to be a family-owned & operated company. Professional snowmobile rider and founder, Clay Hockel, grew up in Minnesota and was instantly hooked on mountain riding after the first trip his dad took him on to the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming. Right after that trip and as soon as high school was let out for summer, Clay went to work at his summer job to save enough money to buy his own mountain-specific snowmobile. After one summer of working 6 days a week from sun up to sundown, Clay had enough money saved up to purchase his first snowmobile, an Arctic Cat M1100 Turbo. Clay’s passion for snowmobiling from such a young age created many opportunities for him.

At the age of 16, he was able to work for a start-up company that specialized in aftermarket performance parts for snowmobiles, Evolution Powersports. This job gave Clay the opportunity to ride with some of the best snowmobilers in the world from Team Thunderstruck. It didn’t take Clay long to realize that he wanted to become a professional rider someday and be able to share the passion he has for snowmobiling with others through a backcountry adventure like Thunderstruck Adventures.

Just like Clay worked to save up enough money to buy his first sled, he was back at work now to push his riding abilities to become a pro rider. One thing led to another in his pursuit to go pro, and before he knew it, he was a sponsored rider for Yamaha USA and was invited to join the most elite group of snowmobilers in the world, Team Thunderstruck.

With a desire for snowmobiling and business, Clay pursued his college education for business at none other than Steamboat Springs Colorado Mountain College. It was here that he started to really get his interest in launching a backcountry snowmobiling adventure.

After college & after 5 years of riding for Team Thunderstruck, Clay knew it was time to start exploring his desire to have a backcountry adventure that he could share his passion of riding with others. When the previous owner of Thunderstruck decided he was ready to pass on Thunderstruck Films and hang things up, Clay saw the opportunity and ran with it. Thus, purchasing the world renowned Thunderstruck Films and then launching Thunderstruck Adventures from there.