Attitash GS, Cranmore SL, Wildcat SL: January 29 - 31, 1999

by Nadine Price, from another level.

After enduring all manner of affront at the hands of Mother Nature in the last few weeks, Masters racers were finally rewarded with a picture perfect weekend in the Mount Washington Valley. With one of the best turnouts of the season to date, Attitash hosted nearly 140 competitors on Friday for what has become a very popular GS on the Masters circuit. The men’s field welcomed back Tyler Palmer who, in only his second appearance of the season, cruised handily to the top of the podium, showing once again that he doesn’t get older, just faster. With a commanding first run lead of almost six tenths of a second over nearest contender Tip Kimball, Palmer withstood the challenge from second run winner Will Withington, who rocketed to third from more than a second and a half out. Doug Tucker’s solid second run moved him into second and Kimball had to settle for fourth. Chris Johnson joined the fray in the second run and climbed to fifth place.

In her first Masters race of the season, class 4 veteran Sarah Pendelton smoked the women’s field. She set a blistering pace in the first run and took a two and a half-second lead into the second. Although the second course was tighter and tougher, Pendelton rose to the occasion. Skiing flawlessly, she nailed the steep, icy pitch and more than doubled her lead. Lisa Densmore’s untimely exit from the race, and her skis, when she pre-released out of the start and onto her face, left Brooks Axelson and Nadine Price vying for second place. Price hung on to a first run advantage. Margaret Vaughn and Tracey Boulter, respectively, rounded out the top five.

In women’s class action, Boulter, the sole class 1 representative in the top five overall, ran away with the class title. Axelson bested class 3 by a good margin, flying past second place finisher Karen Nash. Newcomers Cheryl Rowland and Barbara Brumbaugh skied solidly into third and fourth respectively. New class 6 member Tammy Marcinuk garnered the laurels when she was the only class member to successfully negotiate the harrowing second course. Class 5 welcomed back Cindy Berlack who took third place in her first race of the year. Although she put herself in position to challenge for class 5 honors, Gay Folland had to settle for second as Meg Nutter poured it on in the second run and added more than two seconds to her slim first run lead.

In the ever deepening men’s class 1, second run winner Will Withington overcame a quarter second first run deficit to take the class, leaving Mark Sorel in second place. Matt Aeschliam, who came all the way from Cincinnati, held onto third and Mark Budreski had to settle for fourth. In the equally contentious class 2, the top three finishers were within a second. When the dust settled Dave Bruhm edged out John Pierce for the win and Scott Berube took third. Although he was only half a second behind class 3 behind winner Tip Kimball, Dave Lamb slipped to third when Chris Johnson uncorked a terrific second run and moved into second.

Exhibiting the perseverance that got him from Buffalo to Bartlett for this race, class 4 member Fred Dieffenbach skied steadily into third place behind Bob Hill and class winner Doug Tucker. Walter Elander fended off Bob Hickey to take second place in class 5 behind overall winner Tyler Palmer. George Merrill laid down the gauntlet in class 6, taking a 1.7 second advantage over Joe Berry in the first run. Berry went all out in the second run and actually beat his first run time in a course that was definitely slower. Not to be outdone, Merrill ripped a screamer of a second run and also bettered his first run time, easily taking the class honors and earning a top twenty spot as well.

Bob Wigglesworth out-skied his competition and cruised easily into first in class 7. Bob McGrath, Paul Rich and Duffy Dodge fairly crushed the competition in classes 8, 9 and 10, respectively. And in the large and ever competitive class 11, Richard Calvert overcame a quarter second first run deficit to squeak by Nate Rifkin and seize the victory. Tony Hide had to settle for third.

Saturday was another perfect day for a ski race as the Masters reconvened at Cranmore for the second part of the Gibson Cup. The Gibson Cup competition combines this weekend’s slalom race with a GS held earlier in the season. The trophy goes to the man and woman with the lowest combined times from the two races. The contest has a long history and the list of winners reads like a who’s who of New England skiing. This year first time winner Brian Dewsnap and repeat winner Lisa Densmore joined the luminaries whose names are engraved on the men’s and women’s trophies.

The men’s trophy was hotly contested this year. Tyler Palmer was the odds on favorite going in to the slalom. With a perfect first run, he clinched a commanding lead, and the result looked to be a forgone conclusion. But when Palmer was unable to finish the tight and relentless second course, the contest was wide open. Dewsnap, Doug Tucker, Dave Lamb and Jim Nash were all within a second and a half in the GS and Mark Sorel and Will Withington were also in the hunt. In the end, Dewsnap’s margin in the slalom was enough to carry him into first place. Tucker’s very safe slalom skiing, combined with his margin from the GS, earned him second place. Sorel’s strong performance in the slalom catapulted him to third. Nash and Lamb finished in fourth and fifth respectively.

Densmore went into the slalom with better than a second and a half lead and never looked back. Her third place slalom finish was easily sufficient to win the women’s Gibson Cup. Second through fifth places went respectively to Nadine Price, Margaret Vaughn, Karen Nash and Meg Nutter.

In her first Masters overall victory, Tracy Boulter won the women’s slalom. In the first run Boulter took a .46 second lead over second place finisher Brooks Axelson. Boulter continued her excellent skiing in the second course, which was as tight and gnarly as the first had been flowing and rhythmical, and won the second run as well. Axelson remained in second, followed by Lisa Densmore in third.

In the men’s race, the second course played a significant role. Almost ten seconds longer than the first course and set by golf pro Ed Bradley, it was so tight that it left some racers wondering whether they were suppose to putt through a castle or drink a beer at certain gates. And it relegated a number of contenders to the ranks of letters instead of numbers. But while some where tilting at windmills, Chris Johnson was lighting the course on fire. His winning second run combined with the lowest first run time of any finisher carried him to an overall first place. Hans Schemmel continued his outstanding skiing and took second place. In his first Masters race of the season, Kim Zimmerman skied into third place, a second and a half ahead of Gibson Cup winner Brian Dewsnap. With some very impressive skiing, Eric Larsen completed the top five.

In the classes, Duffy Dodge shellacked the competition in class 11 with the largest margin of the day. Nearly as impressive was Scott Pyles’ trouncing of the rest of class 6. Chuck Phillips also administered a fairly severe beating to the rest of class 7. After being down by .15 in the first run, Tony Hyde ran away with the second run by more than four and a half seconds in class 11, proving that the tougher the course the better he skis. In the tightest class race, David Britton edged out Bob McGrath by just a half second.

Sunday took the Masters to Wildcat for another slalom. At what is arguably one of the coldest venues in the east, Mother Nature was again more than generous, serving up clear skies, moderate temperatures and no wind. In the women’s race, Saturday’s winner Tracey Boulter clocked the fastest first run time on a tight and challenging course. But Lisa Densmore cranked it up for the second run, proving once again that .16 seconds is not a safe margin. On a course that averaged almost 9 seconds faster than the first, Densmore sped to victory in the run and snatched the overall from Boulter by a little more than half a second. Karen Nash’s solid skiing carried her to third 2 seconds ahead of fourth place Margaret Zuccotti. Cindy Berlack stepped up the pace and sizzled into fifth just behind Zuccotti.

Berlack’s consistently strong performance in both runs vaulted her to the top of class 5 several seconds ahead of second place Meg Nutter. In her first class victory, the much improved Patti Lane skied strongly and bested second place Margaret Vaughn in class 4. Wendy Hill controlled class 9 all the way, earning a decisive victory over Betsy Kent and Suzanne Boulter cruised easily to victory over Virginia Petrie in class 7 with the largest margin of the day. Things were pretty heated in class 1 after the first run. In her first weekend of racing Susannah Phillips (if the name sounds familiar it should, Chuck Phillips is her dad) was only .6 second behind Tracey Boulter and ready to mount a challenge. However, when she failed to complete the second run, Boulter walked away with the class victory ahead of second place Margaret Zuccotti and third place Sue Withington.

In the men’s race, former US teamer Troy Watts dazzled the field, winning both runs, class 2 and the overall. Although he was more than two seconds out after the first run, Hans Schemmel challenged with a brilliant second run that moved him into second place ahead of third place Bob Hill. Schemmel seized class 1 in the process, about 3 seconds ahead of overall fifth place finisher Mark Sorel. Hill’s ever elegant skiing topped class 4 leaving Kevin Nolan and John Weitz to battle it out for second. Although Weitz skied well and passed Nolan in the second run, Nolan hung onto his first run advantage and took second place.

Apparently still stinging from the previous day’s loss to David Britton, Bob McGrath cranked it up a notch and took both runs to win class 8 with a margin of 1.14 seconds over Britton. George Merrill flew to victory in class 6 and a seventh place overall with two technically proficient and very fast runs. Although Bill Brennan had an excellent second run, it wasn’t enough to challenge Merrill or overtake Scott Pyles. Pyles' two solid runs secured second place in class and Brennan had to settle for third. Dave Roberts won class 3 and took fourth overall. Ronn Gifford’s seamless second run moved him into an overall sixth place finish but it wasn’t enough to overtake Roberts’ outstanding first run so he remained second in class.

In the gossip column department, it was a terrific weekend of racing, lots of sun and camaraderie, lots of family ties and lots of future Masters racers in attendance. Rumor has it that the next generation of racers will soon welcome a new Wolff to its ranks since Kim and Dave are expecting this summer! The only thing missing from the weekend was the traditional Shovel Handle Pub dinner. After organizing the event for many years, Betsy Kent has decided she has had enough and would rather spend the day racing than worrying about the party. Many thanks go to Betsy for her past efforts. Betsy has spoken with a couple of local Masters in the hope that one or more will take up the baton and continue this terrific tradition.