VAIL'S #1
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The World Cup Competitions
Chills and Thrills
By David M. Frey
Photos by Rex Keep and Tomas Zuccareno/
Vail Valley Foundation vvf.org
It only makes sense that the nation’s top winter resorts should host the top events of the skiing and snowboarding world. The World Cup — a series of elite competitions in alpine and cross-country skiing, ski jumping and snowboarding — takes competitors on a global tour of such countries as Germany and Austria, Finland and Sweden, countries where ski racing is followed with a passion.
Aspen and Beaver Creek join Park City, Utah, home to the U.S. ski and snowboard teams, as the only resorts in the country to host World Cup alpine events. They’re towns where locals are passionate about skiing and snowboarding, and where World Cup races have become an annual tradition.
To be among the 16 sites picked by the International Skiing Federation, and to be picked year after year, is an honor, says Ceil Folz, president of the Vail Valley Foundation that hosts the event. “It’s great to have the world’s best of anything,” Folz says. “When you’re a ski town, to have the world’s best ski racers, you can’t get any better than that.”
Colorado resorts are hosting several other International Skiing Federation events this year as well, from freestyle skiing to ski jumping to snowboarding competitions. It’s a rare chance to get a glimpse of the members of the U.S. ski and snowboard teams, including many of the nation’s medal winners at last year’s Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
The excitement builds when the stars on the slopes are also hometown heroes. Coloradans make up 10 of the U.S. Ski Team’s 35 members. Among them are 10-season veteran and two-time Olympian Chad Fleischer, Sarah Schleper and Lindsey Kildow, of Vail; Jake Zamansky and Katie Monahan, of Aspen; Alison Powers, Wade Bishop and Brett Fischer, of Winter Park; Jake Fiala, of Frisco, and Caroline Lalive, of Steamboat Springs.
Annette Royle, vice president of events for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, calls Colorado’s pair of World Cup events “outstanding races.”
“The women look forward to racing again in Aspen,” Royle says, “and the men will make their last appearance in North America this season on the Birds of Prey run at Beaver Creek.
The events are a thrill on the slopes, where spectators can line the course to see close up the death-defying speeds ski racers reach as they plunge down the slope. At the foot of the hill, racing fans fill stands, ringing cowbells and cheering as their heroes zoom into view, from the giant-screen TV above to real life below.
“You’ll just hear them go ‘pfeeeew,’” says Juliann Fritz, spokeswoman for the U.S. Ski Team, giving her best impression of a whizzing pair of skis. “You just hear their skis chattering, and you get up real close and see their legs shaking under the pressure. Lots of sound and noise. Pretty much every seat is a good seat.”
Off the slopes is a thrill, too, with music and parties to keep the spirit up between races. But even in these ski towns, where skiing and snowboarding rank somewhere between sport and religion, the biggest names in their fields can still come schussing down the slopes to plenty of blank stares.
Last year, as Croatia’s Ivica Kostelic cruised to win the World Cup men’s slalom on Aspen Mountain, the packed grandstand knew it was a momentous moment. Kostelic was ranked 64th to start the race, then posted the day’s fastest time. They just didn’t necessarily know who Kostelic was, or exactly where they’d find Croatia on the map.
At one recent World Cup ski race, a pair of German tourists took a 100-mile detour to see their nation’s star women’s skier, Martina Ertl, speed down the hill in the super G. It was a sort of national duty, they figured. “There’s not a lot of German people here,” said Frank Lewandowski, “so we decided that she needed some fans.”
Lewandowski knew what many Americans have yet to learn — World Cup racing is among the most fun spectator events around. It’s fast, fun and furious, unlike, say, curling. And also unlike curling, it’s not too hard to figure out.
Before most Coloradans have put away their mountain bikes for the season, World Cup skiing gets under way in Soelden, Austria on Oct. 26. The series comes stateside on Nov. 21 in America’s Opening, in Park City. A month later, the World Cup calls Aspen home. On Nov. 29-30, the women come to Aspen for super G and slalom races for the Chevy Truck Aspen Winternational, while the men race in Lake Louise, Canada. After the World Cup events, the women keep racing in town in the Chevy Truck Super Series on Dec. 1-2.
“There’s no better way to kick of the ski season,” says Bill Tomcich, president of StayAspenSnowmass. “It’s a great time of year when the entire town gets together in every little nook and cranny to line up and watch the race course, ring the cowbells and cheer in the racers.”
It’s also a great time to visit Aspen, Tomcich says. At a time when stores and restaurants are ready for winter but most visitors aren’t, guests can feel like they have the town to themselves, for a fraction of peak season prices. “It would not be an exaggeration to say that you could get a lift ticket and a room for the price that a room alone would cost any other time of the year,” he says.
The next week, on Dec. 7-8, the men come to Beaver Creek for the Chevy Truck Birds of Prey competitions in downhill and super G, while the women are in Lake Louise. The race pits the men against one another on one of the most challenging downhill courses in the world. The men stick around Dec. 9-10 for super G and giant slalom races in the Chevy Truck Super Series.
“When you look at the list of who hosts World Cup, they tend to be the world’s best ski areas,” Folz says. “Being a part of that always helps Beaver Creek to be in the position it deserves — being one of the best in the world.”
It’s great for the town in other ways, too, Folz says. “It really pulls everyone together,” she says. Locals, second-home owners and visitors alike come together to cheer on the racers.
Aspen and the Vail Valley have special connections to the World Cup. Aspen resident Bob Beattie was one of the architects of the race circuit, and continues to host it for television audiences. And before there ever was a World Cup, Pete Seibert, one of the creators of the Vail Resorts, brought together ski teams from around the world in 1965 for the World Series of Skiing, an event that became a prototype for the World Cup circuit to follow. Siebert died last July at 77, but his vision of international ski competitions lives on.
The World Cup of a different kind comes to Steamboat Springs on Feb. 8-9. That’s when the Sprint U.S. Freestyle Grand National World Cup competition comes to town. This isn’t just skiing out of the gates; it’s skiing out of the box. Men and women compete down grueling mogul runs and bend, twist and turn in stunning aerial acrobatics in some of the most jaw-dropping spectacles in skiing you’ll ever see.
Skiing is a beloved sports in this old cowboy town, which calls itself Ski City, USA. It’s sent more competitors to the Olympics than any other town in the country. The town’s specialty is ski jumping, an activity youngsters still practice on the city-run ski hill named for Carl Howelsen, a Norwegian who came to town in 1913. That makes Steamboat the perfect venue for the Chevy Truck U.S. Jumping/Nordic Combined Championships on Feb. 12-13.
Visitors can also catch the U.S. Ski Team in Loveland for the Nature Valley Alpine Cup, part of the Super Series, Nov. 13-17. Men will compete in the slalom, women in the giant slalom. On Nov. 17-18, the women’s action continues in the slalom at the Chevy Truck Super Series at Winter Park. The Super Series brings the women back to Aspen again from Feb. 5-11 for the super G and slalom.
For snowboarding fans, the Chevy Trucks U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix comes to Breckenridge on Jan. 9-12. In its seventh year, the Grand Prix is the premier domestic snowboard competition series, with a cash prize of over $300,000 and a key in Olympic selections.
The event is one of snowboarders’ favorites, Fritz says. “They kept doing them bigger and better,” she says, “and the riders keep coming back.”
The Chevy Trucks U.S. Snowboard Finals come home to Aspen/Snowmass from April 3-6, where spectators can also see competitions in snowboard cross and slalom.
You don’t have to be a local to cheer them on, and you don’t have to know a slalom from a giant slalom to enjoy watching racers at the top of their game get to the bottom of the hill. Just grab a cowbell and a cup of hot chocolate, and enjoy.
Aspen and Snowmass
The excitement builds when the stars on the slopes are also hometown heroes. Coloradans make up 10 of the U.S. Ski Team’s 35 members. Among them are 10-season veteran and two-time Olympian Chad Fleischer, Sarah Schleper and Lindsey Kildow, of Vail; Jake Zamansky and Katie Monahan, of Aspen; Alison Powers, Wade Bishop and Brett Fischer, of Winter Park; Jake Fiala, of Frisco, and Caroline Lalive, of Steamboat Springs.
“You’ll just hear them go ‘pfeeeew,’” says Juliann Fritz, spokeswoman for the U.S. Ski Team, giving her best impression of a whizzing pair of skis. “You just hear their skis chattering, and you get up real close and see their legs shaking under the pressure. Lots of sound and noise. Pretty much every seat is a good seat.”
Skiing is a beloved sports in this old cowboy town, which calls itself Ski City, USA. It’s sent more competitors to the Olympics than any other town in the country. The town’s specialty is ski jumping, an activity youngsters still practice on the city-run ski hill named for Carl Howelsen, a Norwegian who came to town in 1913. That makes Steamboat the perfect venue for the Chevy Truck U.S. Jumping/Nordic Combined Championships on Feb. 12-13.