U.S. alpine men train with fire fighters

The athletes of the U.S. Alpine Ski Team are no wimps, they live to push the limits of speed and sanity on the world’s most intense and intimidating ski slopes. But on July 12 the men of the U.S. Alpine Ski Team got a chance to train along side a few heroes of their own – the men and women of the Salt Lake City Fire Department.

Ted Ligety, Marco Sullivan and the rest of the team, in Utah for mid-summer training and meetings, traded in their skis and speed suits for rubber boots and fire turnouts as the winter warriors were tested by Salt Lake’s finest. The workout began with a military style mile and a half run. The U.S. Ski Team flag waived as the athletes sang marching cadences. Then the athletes suited up for some serious search and rescue drills in the department’s five-story practice environment.
The athletes of the U.S. Alpine Ski Team are no wimps, they live to push the limits of speed and sanity on the world’s most intense and intimidating ski slopes. But on  
July 12 the men of the U.S. Alpine Ski Team got a chance to train along side a few heroes of their own – the men and women of the Salt Lake City Fire Department.

Ted Ligety, Marco Sullivan and the rest of the team, in Utah for mid-summer training and meetings, traded in their skis and speed suits for rubber boots and fire turnouts as the winter warriors were tested by Salt Lake’s finest. The workout began with a military style mile and a half run. The U.S. Ski Team flag waived as the athletes sang marching cadences. Then the athletes suited up for some serious search and rescue drills in the department’s five-story practice environment.

A spatial orientation drill demanded that the athletes, weighed down by oxygen tanks and masks, work together to navigate a dark series of rooms and hallways aided only by a hose to follow.  “It was kind of sketchy even though you know you are in a controlled environment, being in a dark room with all that equipment, you definitely need to work as a team,” said Marco Sullivan.

The event marked the first time the fire department had worked with a professional sports group, something department representitives say they would like to do again. “It was a great day, a good opportunity for us to interact with some local athletes and citizens, kind of show them what we do and get to know a little bit about them and what they do,” said Salt Lake City Fire Department training Captain Brady George. “Most of the guys really enjoyed using the jaws of life to cut through cars, and taking out some aggression on somebody else’s car.”

“This is a really cool team-building activity for sure, something different,” said Ligety. “It’s amazing how much tough work this is for sure, very physically and mentally demanding.”

“It was really fun and interesting to see how they do things, a lot of hard work too, it was tough dragging all that hose and stuff,” said Ligety whose highlight of the day was working as a team to get a fire hose through a dark room. “You had a bunch of guys in the room talking to each other about how to get out and following the hose so it was a lot of fun.”

Head coach Sasha Rearick left his role of standing by with a radio and suited up to join his team in the trenches 

“After doing this for a full day we got a sense of how fire fighters have to work together and it’s exactly how we have to work together,” he said. “Yes, it’s an individual sport, but besides from the start and the finish it is a team and we have to work together and support each other, and that’s basically what we did today.”
The skiers proved they had what it takes when it came to getting things done fast. “The instructors were actually quite impressed in the stuff that was physical, where the guys had to go with speed and be physical they were like, ‘wow that’s faster than any of our recruits do it’,” Rearick said. “In terms of how we work together as a group to unload and load a fire truck, we have a lot of work to do.”

Rearick said this type of activity as well and playing hockey is crucial for the team to form what he calls a “primary group.”

“We’re trying to create a primary group, which is a group of people who absolutely care for each other and would go to fight for each other, just like a family,” Rearick said. “We must create that sense of primary group on the team.”  

The day ended with a high-powered water fight and some good old fun, including a surprise fire extinguisher down Ted Ligety’s back courtesy of Andrew Weibrecht and TJ Lanning.   

To view a photo gallery of the day’s events check out Ski Racing Magazine’s Facebook page.