Colorado snow puts U.S. team training on temporary hold

Colorado snow puts U.S. team training on temporary holdThe 20 inches of snow that fell over the course of Sunday and Monday were good news for Copper Mountain, Colorado, and the surrounding Rocky Mountain resorts looking to get their seasons under way, but not so good for the U.S. Ski Team.

Camped out for the most part in Summit County, the ski team found its training plans buried for a few days when a storm rolled through the Rockies and put a hold on November tuneup sessions at Copper and Loveland.

‘I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life and forgot my powder skis on this trip, and I’m really sad about’ said speed skier Stacey Cook, who acknowledged that that in fact might be a good thing. ‘If I did have my powder skis, there’s a chance I’d be off trail, in the trees, not doing what I’m supposed to be doing’ she admitted.

While the speed teams, and the men especially, have struggled a bit to find suitable training conditions thus far, the women’s tech team has been on snow, mainly at Loveland, every day since it arrived back in the States on the Nov. 8. The storm brought about a day off, but it was back to work at Loveland on Wednesday, as the women squared off in time trials for the coveted World Cup Aspen start spot. (Lauren Ross won the best-of-two-runs time trial.)

While the dump had some excited to throw on the fat boards for a day, (‘I think Daron’s out there right now, he was looking like he was ready to go’ said Chip Knight), both men’s and women’s teams have their fingers crossed that the snow surface hardens.

‘It’s kind of tough because the training is not very much like a World Cup race is. … But it’s all we’ve got, and we’ll make the most of it’ said U.S. tech skier Jimmy Cochran. ‘It’s fun to be in Colorado. It’s fun to be in the U.S., you know, being able to go home and watch Comedy Central, eat a burger. That means a lot right now.’