McKee's McThoughts: Ramblings from a wild one

It was quite a season, wasn’t it? And it just keeps coming.
    We can’t get out to the porch these days for the snow. Where was it in December when we wanted it? Haven’t seen the figures, but April’s accumulations must rank right up there with January, December and March.  
IT WAS QUITE a season, wasn’t it? And it just keeps coming.
    We can’t get out to the porch these days for the snow. Where was it in December when we wanted it? Haven’t seen the figures, but April’s accumulations must rank right up there with January, December and March.    
    What a misnomer the term greenhouse gases is. Sounds so innocuous. Like the faint aroma from the fertilizer at the end of grandma’s gardening bench. Reality alert: These are dangerous changes the global environment is undergoing. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure the last time something like this happened, all the dinosaurs died off. They had thicker skin than you or I. Smaller brains, though. My brother-in-law says if they had known about layering, they’d still be around.
    With all the weather problems skiing faced this season, most of it came off pretty well. The alpine World Cup held drama right through the final races. Aksel Lund Svindal and Benjamin Raich gave us a fabulous finish, and the women had four skiers at 1,300 points or better: Nicole Hosp, Marlies Schild, Julia Mancuso and Renate Goetschl.
    In looking over the numbers, try these on for size: Atomic won the Manufacturers Cup 10,415 to 4,115 for Rossignol. The ski got roughly 39 percent of the available points. Third place (overall) Head beat Atomic in men’s downhill; Rossignol took the prize in women’s downhill. Völkl kicked in women’s giant slalom. Apparently the old saying “You can’t win ’em all,” still holds a little credence, but Atomic sure took a stab at collecting every category.
    Our development gurus ought to be mighty concerned when the heart of our ski country — meaning the Rocky Mountains — gets crushed like it did at nationals. The Regions Cup competition, where they add up the points of the top 30 finishers at U.S. nationals from each of the three major regions of the country, shows Rocky/Central deep in third place. The mountains couldn’t produce a third of the points of the West, and only slight more than half of the East, which shouldn’t be taking any bows, either. And the Rocky Mountains get the Central division to help out.
    Take out Kaylin Richardson — a Midwestern hero of mine — and the numbers look extremely bleak. Rocky/Central guys contributed 363 points to the Regions Cup totals. That’s from four races and a combined. Western men topped 530 in the downhill alone. I’m no genius, but I’m betting we see some focus on the Rocky region’s development opportunities over the next couple of years.
    All of us lost a friend when former Ski Racing publisher Don Metivier passed away on Good Friday. His family walked proudly behind his body as it was carried into the church, and they stretched a good 20 pews deep along the center isle. The good that was Don Metivier will continue in one way or another for generations to come, and that makes us happy. The sport of ski racing was lucky to have had him as our champion.
    While we mention generations, our sport has grown old enough that second (and third) generation racers are making their impact. Tina Weirather comes immediately to mind, and Felix Neureuther. Resi Stiegler did OK at nationals, too, which no doubt makes Papa Joe happy, though the work son Seppi did from back in the pack was perhaps more impressive. Then of course there is that amazing Cochran legend that just continues to grow as the offspring of Lindy (Jessica and Tim Kelley), Marilyn (Roger Brown) and Bob (Jimmy) get better and better. Former coach Brad Ghent and Karen Lancaster had offspring performing at nationals, and Jana Gantnerova had two daughters racing. That’s kinda cool. But you’ll have to make your own name, kids, and even when you do, folks will nod to themselves and say they knew that was coming. Somehow a big chunk of the credit for your hard work will go to mom or dad or both. If you’re good, you don’t mind people watching a little closer.
    Alyeska, Alaska, where nationals were held, also hosted in 1963. There’s a coversheet on the ’63 results that notes calculations were carried out by an IBM 1620 computer, enabling commentators to announce the placings “in seconds.” More amazing were the fields. Barbi Henneberger won the women’s DH, though the national title went to Jean Saubert. Nancy Greene was third. Bill Marolt won the men’s DH, ahead of Buddy Werner. Saubert won the women’s GS, Swiss skier Joseph Minsch the men’s race with Werner getting the title. Rip McManus was fourth, skiing for the Army. Sandra Shellworth got the women’s slalom crown, finishing five seconds behind Henneberger. Chuck Ferries won the men’s race ahead of Werner, with Jimmy Heuga in third. Marolt says the skiers arrived by charter plane with the pilot doing a loop around Mount McKinley on the way in. A year and six days from the last of those races, Werner and Henneberger perished in an avalanche on the Trais Fleue near St. Moritz, where they were skiing for Willy Bogner’s ski movie Ski-Fascination.
    Werner was America’s first skiing star. He knocked seven seconds off the Kitzbühel course record when he won in 1959. The course was not easier back then, nor was the competition any less fierce. Saubert won two Olympic medals in ’64. Nancy Greene won the first two World Cup titles. Marolt, the czar of U.S. skiing these days, was 19 when that pilot circled McKinley. He’s hung around quite a while.
    There are other great names on those computer-generated result sheets: Starr Walton, Karen Korfanta, Joan Hannah, Cathy Nagel, Linda Myers, Gordy Eaton, Moose Barrows, Peter Ruschp, Rebel Ryan, Rick Chaffee, and the TD for the events in Alaska this season, Gerry Rinaldi.
    Most of those who raced at Alyeska this season won’t know enough of those names. Still, the link to history was made with or without their knowledge.
Perhaps one day soon, one of them will knock another seven seconds off the Kitzbühel record, win a couple of Olympic medals or go back to back as World Cup champion. If not, well, they’ve already come a whole lot closer than most of us can even imagine.
    Rebel Ryan makes the all-name team, and Don Metivier would have liked that.