Birds of Prey course report: Snow, speed, drama

The official National Weather Service report for Colorado called it a “heavy snow warning.”
    For the Vail Valley Foundation, the host of the Birds of Prey World Cup, it’s a nuisance.
    A winter storm dumped somewhere between 8 inches and 2 feet (depending on the source and the height on the hill) the night before the first downhill training run was scheduled, canceling the run Tuesday and setting the schedule makers into overdrive. With four events on tap — a super combi Thursday, downhill Friday, GS Saturday and slalom Sunday — there is not a lot of wiggle room. The current plan is to go with one training run Wednesday, but the snow may not let up long enough, and that would create major problems.
THE OFFICIAL NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE report for Colorado called it a “heavy snow warning.”
    For the Vail Valley Foundation, the host of the Birds of Prey World Cup, it’s a nuisance.
    A winter storm dumped somewhere between 8 inches and 2 feet (depending on the source and the height on the hill) the night before the first downhill training run was scheduled, canceling the run Tuesday and setting the schedule makers into overdrive. With four events on tap — a super combi Thursday, downhill Friday, GS Saturday and slalom Sunday — there is not a lot of wiggle room. The current plan is to go with one training run Wednesday, but the snow may not let up long enough, and that would create major problems.
    It’s all part of the routine for the racers. The U.S. guys simply went back to Keystone, where the training has been excellent, and tried their best to take it in stride. As Steven Nyman pointed out, the race hill was going to see an extraordinary amount of traffic over the week, and it probably won’t hurt to leave it unscarred another day.
    “It is going to get rough with all those people running it,” Nyman noted. But he also said he’s really looking forward to the racing.
    “The Birds of Prey has everything,” Nyman said. “It is the total package.
    “There is a flat on top so you have to have fast skis, and then it drops over the Brink and at the snap of your fingers you’re doing 70 [mph]. Then there’s some big sweeping turns, which should be pretty rough this year. You go through a terrain section, the Golden Eagle Jump, and it’s all going so fast it’s hard to notice anything. There’s the Camels, and then you come into view of the stadium and you get amped up and really want to charge in.”
    The jumps, and there are five of them on the course, are among the portions of the run Nyman likes best. “Approaching the jump, the launches, you see it, and you know it’s coming, so you have a little bit of time to think. … And then the earth just drops away and you’re flying. … You’re a bird.”
    Coach Phil McNichol has reported the Birds of Prey course has the best base it has ever had for an early season World Cup, and Nyman said that all adds up to providing exactly what a downhill racer looks for. “All of what we desire as racers is there,” he said.
    Ted Ligety, who collected his first World Cup podium at Beaver Creek by placing third in last season’s slalom, is looking forward to the super combined event. “For combined, [the downhill] starts at top of pitch — after that flat. Luckily for me, because I’m not that good on the flats and not the strongest out of the start.”