Top downhillers credit course crew for pulling off Beaver Creek race

BEAVER CREEK, Colo. – With 30 to 40 centimeters of snow falling on the Birds of Prey downhill from Friday to Saturday, it’s a small miracle that a race occurred. An actual village of people, most of them volunteers, made it happen.

Beaver Creek crews ran winch cats through the night, pushing snow off the course. Before the sun came up Saturday, about 200 volunteers boarded the chairlift with shovels and rakes and worked nonstop until the start time to ensure the course was as smooth as possible.

Steve Prawdzik leads the Talon Crew

“We loaded about 160 people, plus Ski Club Vail, Beaver Creek Patrol, staff, a lot of early risers,” said Talon Crew volunteer coordinator Steve Prawdzik. “Everybody grabbed a shovel or rake and kept side-slipping all morning.”

Prawdzik, or “Praz” as he is known among the Talon Crew, has worked the Beaver Creek World Cup races for the last 16 years. Altogether, nearly 600 volunteers make the event happen. Several Talon Crew members, including on-hill coordinator Sean Norris, have been with the crew since it started 25 years ago. Talon Crew members range in age from 18 to 90. Many come from out of state (35 states altogether) and others from out of the country.

Although the work is arduous, especially when blizzards are involved, the gratification of a successful race keeps them coming back.

“What’s most rewarding about it is when the racers come up and say this is their favorite course of the season or the best track in the world, or when you go to a different country, they don’t have the track preparation that we do,” Praz says. “You want to see a happy face. That ripples through the whole fleet of people working. They know that only happens with a lot of work.”

On Saturday, the efforts did not go unnoticed by the fastest skiers of the day.

Grateful skiers

“They did an incredible job. I mean, unbelievable,” said Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, who won his second straight Birds of Prey downhill race on Saturday despite recovering from the flu. “They got 30 centimeters of snow yesterday and you can’t even see it today. So, thanks to everyone for putting the work in. I know there were 100 people out there the whole night that made us have a race today. I had such a good time when I skied, as always in Beaver Creek.

It’s also true that the majority of venues on the World Cup do not have the resources, staff, or volunteers, to put on a downhill race following more than a foot of fresh snow.

“I’m sure in other places, we wouldn’t even race today,” said Marco Odermatt, who took second in Saturday’s downhill, .06 seconds behind Kilde. “It’s a very difficult situation. The slope was in perfect condition in the second training, then 40 centimeters of snow. That’s a lot. For this situation, we had a really good race.”

Weather is always a factor in ski racing and can especially make a difference in speed events. Wind at the top of the course and another round of snowfall on racers at the back of the pack impacted Saturday’s race. All the more reason why the course crew’s work made for as fair a competition as possible given the uncontrollable variables.

“Sometimes you just gotta get lucky when the weather is in play,” said James Crawford, who rounded out Saturday’s podium, beating Austrian Matthias Mayer by .01 seconds. “I’m just glad the hundies were on my side today. Wind at the top was a problem. They did a good job to set up the track and make it safe and skiable.”

Even Mayer, albeit on the wrong side of the hundredths, was quick to commend the quality of the course.

“First of all, I have to say they worked really well that we actually have a race,” the Austrian said. “It was heavy snow yesterday and they did a really good job. It was difficult, changing conditions. I tried my best and was happy with my run. In the end, it’s one hundredth off the podium. It’s a close one, but it’s good.”