A little article about the giant slalom at Mount Snow on Sunday, January 12, 2003, by Bob Butler
I went out with the boys on giant slalom eve to Dot's of Wilmington. We got our attitudes straight for the meal and for the GS when the waitress pointed to the sign that said, "Whiners will be shot." The fresh baked nut bread and the pie ala mode prevented that. This little article will be about more than just eating, but not quite yet. On the morning of the GS, the early French toast and coffee at Dot's of Dover gave me the feeling that one could be less than a local.
At Mount Snow, early on there was kind of an uncertainty because, reportedly, the mountain had not been able to run a lift to the top the day before due to the wind. Also, there were notices on the cafeteria tables about getting a voucher for another day if you happened to be dissatisfied. But, up to the top of the hill and to Fallen Timbers we went, where all the gates were set on the new fallen snow. The air was somewhat crisp, and there was something of a breeze.
Pete Donaghy led a group of us through inspection and helpfully explained strategy and tactics for the key gates and the different pitches. I think that both the less and more experienced like this recent addition to our program.
Fallen Timbers begins with a moderate pitch, then has both flatter and steeper parts. The first steep part is kind of a warm up for the second. I thought the race was all about line--as I watched, the tighter the line, the faster the racer. Bill Zimmerman told me that he thought it was about "juicing" the skis the most. Doug Tucker spoke of drastic rhythm changes and low visibility. So, I guess I will leave it to your own opinion as to what made all the difference. But, I do think it is a great GS. It felt fast, and I liked the way the skis arced through turn after turn.
In the women's classes, Wendy Hill and Anne Nordhoy had Classes 9 and 8, respectively, all to themselves. Anna Wieser was the winner of Class 7, with Sue Boulter second, and Stefi Hastings third. Sally White was first in Class 6, and Meg Nutter second. Sally reportedly is familiar with the hill and was second among the women overall. Meg is a fine skier. Margaret Vaughn won Class 5 and was fifth woman overall. I have the idea that somehow Margaret keeps in touch with the Italian women's team. Stacey Weston took second in Class 5, and Susan Dorn was third. Lisa Densmore took the honors in Class 4 and was third overall. Lisa Dietrich was second in Class 4. Lisa has had first rate coaching at Mt. Hood and at Bromley. Patti Lane, consistently a fine competitor, was third. Carolyn Beckedorff won Class 3 and was fourth among all the women. Lori O'Brien and Richlene Mooney were second and third in Class 3. Jessie McAleer was both first among all the women and first in Class 2.
In the men's classes, our new colleague, Jim Thompson, was first in Class 1, followed by Steve Oullete and Marc Sorel. In Class 2, Matt Aecshliman was first. Alex Gadbois was ahead after the first run by four one hundredths, but moved to second place by 0.52 after the second run. Andy Lussier took third place. Matt was second among the men overall, and Alex third. In Class 3, Eric Tanner beat Chris Yombor by a mere 0.05, and David Wolff took third. Tip Kimball was the first in Class 4 and the fastest skier on the hill, which is a nice place to be! Doug Carpenter was second in Class 4 and the fourth fastest skier, which is not bad, too. John Grush of Alpine Traders in Dover was third in Class 4. Class 5, if you'll pardon a slight redundancy, is in a class by itself. In order of finish, there were: Doug Tucker, Fred Dieffenbach, and Bill Zimmerman. Doug was fifth fastest racer, which, as they say, is not too shabby. Brad Domina edged out Eric Cutting by 0.07 in Class 6. Stephen Crimmin was third. In Class 7, Bill McCollom won, with Greg Gill next, then Jim Larsen. Class 8 went to Wig Wigglesworth over Bob McKee. They are two of our particularly fine racers. Mike Zanolli took third. In my Class 9, Bob McGrath won outright. Bob had on new skis, as possibly distinguished from his Super G equipment. Doug Wisse, a local skier, was second, and Ji Chang, having studied John Howe's book and using "The Claw" to advantage, was third. Bob Wilson and Larry Young had excellent first runs. I carried coats faster in the second run than the first. In Class 10, Al Sevigny, skiing without trepidation, beat Paul Rich. George Caner had Class 11 all to himself, and in Class 12, in reverse order, it was Dick Wood, third, Rod Aller, second, and Nate Grifkin, first.
It was nice to see Heinz Paul Wieser. It was also very nice to see Phil Brodt, and we look forward to Phil skiing fast in the gates with us soon. Additionally, Phil Boulter told me that he would compete shortly.
Thank you to Mount Snow and the Mount Snow Ski Club. Thank you to those who did the registration, to the course setter, to the starter, to the gate keepers and to the referees. Thank you to our Directors and our Executive Director, Gary Colwell. Thank you to our sponsors, Denby Pottery, Alpine Racing Technology, more familiarly known to us simply as Artec or George Merrill, Florian Pruning Tools, Buchika's Ski Shop, Atomic skis, Swix wax and other stuff, and Moguls Mountain Travel in Park City . I would like to thank Sean Florian for the pruning clippers that I won on Saturday in the raffle, an event that went off nicely. The clippers are very nice.
Cheers!