Loon Giant Slalom, February 24, 2002
by Bob Butler

The cheery greetings from Meg Wilson and Roz Puleo started things off right. Loon was a sunny day and, as Pete Donaghy said, it was a great day to be outdoors. When I heard the train whistle blow, it reminded me that I used to take the 6:51 and glad that I am now just a skier.

The turns in the GS courses were, for a better word, turny and on a firm surface. It was challenging to get the edges to hold and keep from getting low, something that I honored perhaps more in the breach than in the doing. I didn't experience any problem of setting up too much; sometimes I felt as if I hadn't.

Before my first run, I watched Meg Nutter skiing with beautiful arcs on the top part of the course, and after it, I watched Sean Florian nipping the gates and shearing off one of them. And, I saw Pat McNamara and John Pierce in the air off the knoll in the bottom part of the course. After my second run, I watched from the side on the steep pitch above the road as the Class 3 men went by. I was impressed with how steep and firm it was there, how fast the men were going, how they were able to set up and how quickly they recovered if something didn't go just right. I also kept thinking that I and everybody else skied that same steep, firm, turny part, albeit for many of us at a materially slower speed. Not bad.

There was a bit of a snafu in Class 8 in the second run, when a snowboarder crossed the course in front of Steve Foley, forcing him off the course. Steve had to climb up, endeavor to regain his concentration and take a "second" second run. Steve went into the second run with an almost two second lead over Robert McKee, but Robert's faster second run narrowed Steve's lead to only about a half a second. Afterwards, Robert told me that you have to believe that you can hold, otherwise your leg relaxes and the ski doesn't hold -- something for me and some of us to think about.

George Caner, Lane Partridge, Andy Lussier, Stacey Weston and Susan Jefferson won their Classes for the first time this year at Loon. Very nice! Repeat Class winners were: Larry Voelker, Bob McGrath, Steve Foley, Pete Donaghy, Bill Brennan, Doug Tucker, Pat McNamara, Steve Oulette, Jane Cooke, Wendy Hill, Anne Nordhoy, Sue Boulter, Gay Foland, Barbara Brumbaugh, Carolyn Beckedorff and Roz Puleo.

As a side note to an earlier weekend, I was intrigued by Bob McGrath's talk about art and the mountains mainly in New Hampshire at the book signing for his new book at White Birch Books in North Conway the evening of the canceled Attitash Super G. A number of us attended. Bob's book, Gods in Granite - The Art of the White Mountains of New Hampshire, has about 150 reproductions of paintings by about as many artists who painted some of our favorite mountains from the early 19th century to the present. We see how the artists had different conceptions of what we like and how the conceptions evolved. In some paintings, the mountains are portrayed as almost god-like, in some they are remote and in some matter of fact. In some paintings, civilization does not intrude on Nature, in others we see the railroad or a hotel. We see climbers in reflective reverie and some who are windblown and feeling the effects of the climb. I think that my favorite mountain painting is the one by George Nick from 1986 showing the snow, the slope and the mountains the way we see them as we drive home after a day with the New England Masters.

I would like to add that we greatly appreciate our sponsors, Swix Wax, George Miller's Artech, Buchika's Ski & Sport Shop, Denby Pottery, Sean Florian's Florian Tools and Atomic Skis, who contribute to our races. I note that you can easily go to their web sites by clicking on their icons at the top of our home page. I would also like to express thanks to our Officers and Directors, Chris McAleer, Pete Donaghy, Nadine Price, Steve Foley, Paul Berton, Bill Brennan, Chris Johnson, Bob Hill., Bill McCollum, Will Withington and Kim Wolff and to our Executive Director, Gary Colwell. With 148 New England Masters on the start sheet at Loon and numbers in that area being our consistent participation, as the saying goes, they must be doing something right. In conclusion, as another little saying goes, Cheers!