SST Chronicles: Aspen Winternationals Training Day

November 30th, 2008 at 09:43pm Mitch Mulhall 171

Sunday started early. The alarm sounded at 5:00 am sharp. I don my sweats and head downstairs to heat the teapot, clean off the kitchen counter, and deploy breakfast and lunch preparations. My son agreed to do his buddy’s paper route, so after I’ve packed lunch, I roust him. While he pulls on layers, I toast sourdough bread for him, pour him a cup of tea, and put the raspberry jam and milk out for him. When he finishes breakfast, I help him wrap and bag papers. He's out the door and back in twenty minutes.

Today was more than an ordinary training day. The women’s world cup is in town. In addition to practice, the coach planned to have the team watch one of two heats in the women’s slalom. I have taken my son to three world cup events, if I recall correctly. On balance, he seems more interested in skiing than in watching, which is fine by me. There will be plenty of time to watch later on in life.

At 7:50 am, I meet up with several other team parents in the River’s restaurant parking lot. Gas prices and economic times being what they are, it’s hard to justify driving several vehicles, so the four team members pile into my vehicle with room to spare.

We meet the coach as planned at the Gondola, 9 am, only to find out that high winds have it shut down. The coach decides to walk to the race finish and catch the first slalom race. Maybe in time weather conditions will improve. Lacking the challenge of skis to carry and boots to walk in, I reach the finish area before the team and take a seat in the stands behind a vociferous contingent of Croats wrapped in red and white checked flags. If I didn’t know better, I might think they were sponsored by Domino’s Pizza. Shortly, the team shows up and joins me in the stands.

The first racers down set the times to beat. A Czech, Sarka Zahrobska, takes the lead early and holds it as wind conditions deteriorate. The wind became so bad that officials issued a course hold and disassembled the Audi banner over the finish line, which was waving uncontrollably and threatening to take itself and several hundred yards of netting with it to higher elevations. It took a dozen course workers about fifteen minutes to wrestle it into submission, sufficient time as it turned out to let the winds die down and the race resume.

American racer Lindsay Vonn managed a fourth place finish. Julia Mancuso, a personal favorite, skied out of the course but a few gates before reaching the finish on her first run. Her day was over, as was my enthusiasm for hanging around for the second run. I headed down town to get lunches out of the back of my car. I dropped the lunches off with the kids at the plaza in front of the Gondola and headed to Explore Book Sellers, where I enjoyed an Avocado Omelet and a cup of coffee while I wrote this...

Entry Filed under: Skiing, Glenwood Springs, Aspen