News from Killington, January 4 and 5, 2003, more or less fit to print By Bob Butler It snowed during the drive to Killington on Friday, and continued through Saturday and Saturday evening. It was powder snow, and on Saturday skiers filled the parking lot at the Killington Base Lodge before some of us arrived about eight. We parked perhaps a half a mile away, and some of us walked up the hill with packs and skis, but to my observation, no one was daunted by this unaccustomed warm-up drill.
The slalom on Saturday was on Bunny Buster. The poma lift went on break occasionally, but when operating it seemed that the singles line moved fairly quickly. After the initial lift off on the poma, there is perhaps a silent thank you that one seems still fit to ski and for whatever.
The ladies looked nice, and there were some nice new parkas, pants and suits. I have it on good rumor that someone had new goggles and noticed that the vision was better after removing the protective film following the first run. Not to worry George, the day before, Hans Baurmeister showed me that my new poles worked better after removing the rubber caps that came on the tips.
Bunny Buster is not a steep trail, except for the final part, but in a way it sorts out the best skiers by their ability to gain and maintain speed essentially just by the way they ski. I was impressed by the way the better racers attained significant speed by the first gate. Nadine Price told me that the race to the first gate is the first race and then the second race starts.
The first course was set by one of the Killington people, and the second by Jim McKeon. The people I talked with liked Jim's a bit more on account of it was so smooth and could be skied more aggressively.
Jim Thompson had the best time in the slalom, and it was his first time racing with us. He is from Ontario, where he learned to ski in the valleys. Along the way, he coached in Quebec, and is now doing graduate work in kinesiology at Penn State. Jim told me that he enjoyed racing with us, and we hope he will come again. Watch for the young, tall, fast skier in the orange suit.
Jim McKeon was five tenths of a second ahead of Jim Thmpson in the second run and less than half a second behind for the two runs combined. Mark George, apparently learned everything he needed to know at the recent Comets camp at Stowe, taking third for the men. Carolyn Beckedorf was the first woman. Susan Jefferson and Margaret Vaughn, who sharpened their skills at Copper in November, were second and third among the women.
Haldor Reinholt, new to Class 9, won the class going away. Bill McCollom won Class 7 in similar fashion. Class 8, on the other hand, was won by only six 100ths of a second by Bill Crabtree, and Bill Brennan won Class 6 by but a slightly larger margin. Meg Nutter told me that she was going to dial it up in the second run, and she did, taking eight seconds off her first run time. It was very nice to see Nadine Price getting back at it again the way she does, and in the second run she took six seconds off her first run time.
On Sunday the snow had stopped, and some of us arrived before breakfast to assure a better parking arrangement. The giant slalom was on Skylark. It begins with sweeping turns on a long, even pitch, which can make one feel pretty good about life as a masters racer, as well as life in general. Then the trail levels out, and there is a 135 degree (just a little guess there) turn to the left and over the lip to what I would call the steep part. More than one person described this part of the course as wild. In the first run, there was a blue gate to the right followed by a somewhat exciting red under gate. Near the end, there was a blue gate to the left, red to the right and then blue to the left. As I watched from the bottom, more than merely a couple good skiers just didn't happen to make that red gate. I did see Doug Tucker and Bob Hill ski it very well.
In the second run, the steep part was more back and forth, but the track was firmer. There was what I would loosely call a hole before a red gate to the right, which provided something to remember the steep part by. In the second run, I watched Bill Zimmerman and Fran Spring skiing very nicely.
Lisa Densmore was the first among the women, followed by Susan Jefferson, Carolyn Beckedorff, Nadine Price and Margaret Vaughn. Alex Gadbois was the first man, then Bob Hill, Dorin Munteanu, Jim Thompson and Doug Tucker. Duffy Dodge, Al Sevigny, Haldor Reinholt, Robert McKee and Dorin Munteanu each won their class, a number of seconds ahead of number two.
We appreciate our sponsors -- Swix, Artech (George Merrill), Buchika's Ski & Bike Shop in Haverhill and Salem, Moguls Mountain Travel in Park City, Denby Pottery, Florian Pruning Tools and Atomic Skis. We appreciate Killington hosting the race, the Killington staff who assisted and the gate keepers. We appreciate Gary Colwell and the New England Masters Directors making everything happen for us. |