Downhill at any level can be a funny and fickle sport. Whether you are in Lake Louise this week for the World Cup or Bormio or Big Mountain, Montana for a FIS race. “Safety” is paramount and it is a relative term. When officials and coaches and athletes talk safety, they are talking about whether or not the conditions put the athletes at an unreasonable risk over and above their normal risk. So going 80 MPH or flying 40 meters off a jump at 70 MPH is being judged on relative safety. There are A nets, B nets, big fall-zones, crowd control. These are all in the realm of safety. But races and training runs are canceled due to weather and track condition more than anything. The training run in Lake Louise was canceled today due to unsafe conditions from about 5 inches of snow fall overnight. As FIS and the organizer look at it, they have 3 runs scheduled, the weather looks reasonable the rest of the week. So why not use the day to remove snow and have a good, clean training run tomorrow? They are banking on the weather forecast being correct. And the strong backs of the “Sled Dogs” as the Lake Louise volunteers are known; in order to get this training run off tomorrow, and the race the next day. There is also a Super-G on Sunday and everyone needs to get to Beaver Creek. So there is no margin for error in the calendar.
So let’s say the forecast is good. The guys get their training run off tomorrow and the race on Saturday as scheduled. What did today’s cancellation mean? The reality is that it did not cost anyone much. Everyone will be able to get another look at the hill, take another run and try to go fast. The service guys will get on there one more time to look at the new snow, etc.
What changed because of the cancellation? New snow crystals in the surface changes the waxing and ski preparation program. They were on old snow on run 1 and snow that was deteriorating in warming temps. Now there are new, sharp crystals mixed into the surface. More work for the already over-worked service guys. Different skis will go out tomorrow and more attention will be paid by the technicians to the surface as it changes going into race day.
Let’s say the forecast is bad? It keeps snowing and they race on Saturday but without a training run on Friday. So you’ve had a training run. A lot of guys took it easy out of the start, or skied the pitches with less than full intensity. Or did not push all the way through the finish. If you are a skier who did that and does not have a lot of experience on the World Cup or at Lake Louise, you might not be able to judge what happens in C turn or Fishnet or Claire’s having not carried full speed into one or more of those sections. It could lead to mistakes and crashes on race day. Because the guys are going to race. That is what they have been doing their whole lives. Competing as hard as possible with just a helmet and DH suit between them and the rock hard snow. They have made it where they are because they have guts. Because they go like hell where most of us would just as soon side slip.
The boys will knock it down, push for all of everything from start to finish. But if someone wasted day one either being cute, saving energy or only working hard for certain sections, it could hurt them by Saturday if there is no training run tomorrow.
The last thing is that the snow has changed dramatically since training run 1. No matter how you did or if you tried all the way down. IF there is no training run tomorrow, everyone is starting from scratch on Saturday.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!
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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.
About the Author: Eric Williams
