The World Cup According to Grande: The Summer Season Turns South

By Published On: August 6th, 2010Comments Off on The World Cup According to Grande: The Summer Season Turns South

Mt. Hood, the summer home of most American ski racers, is feeling a little empty. The snow is great and we are skiing directly onto the lift all morning long. Allowing us to plow through our sessions with ease and head off the hill prior to Noon. The snow has been holding up well and there are quite a few camps here, but nothing like the volume we saw in June and July. The Development Teams are here, doing some massive slalom volume on the west side of the Palmer. Sarah Schleper is here getting a few thousand more slalom turns in and signing more than her fair share of autographs for the younger skiers. She always has encouraging words for them as well. It’s nice to see someone of her stature give back. Keely Kelleher is also giving back after her retirement this spring. She has been at Hood all summer picking up camp work throughout the summer. Right now she is working with me at the Shorters’ PV Alpine Summer Camp which will end in just 3 days.

But it is quiet here mostly because many teams have headed south, to the snowfields of New Zealand or Australia and to the giant mountains in the Andes to get on some winter snow and possibly even grab some races. Many of the larger programs have set up shop down there in August for many years now, along with the National Teams and Regional programs. The men’s team is already in New Zealand, splitting their time between Mt. Hutt up in Methven and Coronet Peak in the Southland, just outside of Queenstown.  I am sure they will be there in Coronet for the Japan series races before heading back home for September. Then the speed boys will go south again to Portillo for the always incredible downhill training provided there. The Canadians are already in New Zealand as well and have picked up a GS start at Coronet.  There are numerous training opportunities on the big hills in South America. The French have been going to Ushuaia, way down south in Argentina for years. Our women’s teams are setting up camp in Valle Nevado, Chile in September a number of clubs try El Colorado and there are already a few teams in La Parva.

I will be headed to La Parva in under a week with the Western Region program currently headed by Jeff Pickering. But Jeff will be passing the torch to Brad Saxe in the fall as Jeff heads back to the national team as the Women’s Europa Cup Coach.  We will be taking 12 kids from around the region to focus on Downhill and Super-G skills as well as some GS. It’s a great opportunity to ski on winter snow on a good speed track and add some skills to the repertoire that some of the athletes have not yet developed. Plus, we get to see a beautiful and unique part of the world and some of the most amazing sunsets ever.  La Marmita, here we come!

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Greg “Grande” Needell grew up ski racing at Stratton Mountain,
Vermont. After graduating from SMS he skied for NCAA Division 1 St.
Lawrence University in Canton, NY where he was co-captain in 1986. Greg
returned to SMS to coach there for five years serving as the Head
Women’s Coach as well as the Head J2 Men’s Coach. He then moved to
Mission Ridge in Wenatchee, Washington in 1992 to become the Program
Director and Head Coach of the Mission Ridge Ski Club. In 1997, Greg
became the Head Coach at Mammoth Mountain, California.

In 2002 Needell was asked to join the U.S. Ski Team staff as a World
Cup SL and GS coach. From 2002 to 2008 Needell helped lead the U.S. Ski
Team Men to 43 wins, 105 podiums and 264 top ten finishes. Now at the
helm of Alpine Race Consulting, Needell offers his knowledge and
experience to clubs nationwide.

Click here for “The World Cup According to Grande” archive.

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About the Author: Eric Williams