The week started off with beautiful snow capped mountains, blue skies, and the hopes we could close the gap with Delta on the overall point standings. It kind of went downhill from there...no pun intended. Snowbird is a beautiful mountain, and the ski in ski out convenience of the Cliff lodge spoiled us from the moment we arrived. But one has to be leery about coming to Delta's back yard and picking a fight. Ever since they bought "Western Airlines" many years ago, Salt Lake City has been the big hub for training their best skiers. And they typically come out in droves for this meet. Some things never change. But we put up a good fight. We had some new members show up for support and they didn't disappoint. With fantastic blue sky weather on the first two days, everyone was enjoying the skiing and the mountain. On Tuesday the snowboarders ran one of the longest snowboard races we have ever had. For the men Jim Tullos had a great run and finished 2nd only to Delta's Demion Brooks who is near pro status. In the women our own Denise Connell put in a great run and finished on the podium for us. But the real shocker was when Susan Noel's friend and new ski team member Inger Loeser who has never raced before, decided to give the newcomers race a go. She smoked it and won first place for the women.
On Wed the weather changed and we found overcast skies with some light snow flurries, but it was the flat light and poor visibility that was the most challenging. Jim Tullos was skiing down to the top of the course and found a depression that was impossible to see, and it threw his knees up past his ears and torqued one way out of limits. Net result was no more skiing for him. (I am happy to say that one week later the doctor says it is just a major strain and should NOT require surgery, and with rest and treatment he will be good as new after a short while.) The rest of us worked our way down the courses carefully and in the end we made a good showing, albeit trailing the Delta gang once again in overall points. The highlight of the week had to be our "B" Women. Remember that "Inger" girl...the one who never had raced? Well she jumped in the the "B" courses and WON both the GS and the Slalom! And she was followed closely by our other "Super B's", Susan Noel, Denise Connell, and Gulcin Gilbert, all finishing on the podium and earning us precious points. Way to go ladies!!
On Wed the weather changed and we found overcast skies with some light snow flurries, but it was the flat light and poor visibility that was the most challenging. Jim Tullos was skiing down to the top of the course and found a depression that was impossible to see, and it threw his knees up past his ears and torqued one way out of limits. Net result was no more skiing for him. (I am happy to say that one week later the doctor says it is just a major strain and should NOT require surgery, and with rest and treatment he will be good as new after a short while.) The rest of us worked our way down the courses carefully and in the end we made a good showing, albeit trailing the Delta gang once again in overall points. The highlight of the week had to be our "B" Women. Remember that "Inger" girl...the one who never had raced? Well she jumped in the the "B" courses and WON both the GS and the Slalom! And she was followed closely by our other "Super B's", Susan Noel, Denise Connell, and Gulcin Gilbert, all finishing on the podium and earning us precious points. Way to go ladies!!
The Wednesday Theme party of "Mardi Gras" was great, with a lot of color, fun costumes, dancing and celebration. One of our new members Mike Rounds of Miami recruited some friends to come and new members Anja Kapusinski, Alex Stellyes, and Colette Cantremember joined right in! It was great to see new faces liven up the party. Even some old faces showed up. Past President Gail Head and her body guard Jerry showed up with Mark and Sheryl Byrd, and Fred Strauss fresh off of back surgery showed up to join the festivities even though he could not ski or dance. He'll be back soon though! Of course the regular gang was there, too many to list here, but all in all a good showing and a good time was had by all.
As 24 brave souls now prepare to make the trek to Japan for the internationals, we wish them all well, and hope as many Club/Team members will try and make it to Sun Valley the first week in April for our last chance to challenge Delta, United, Southwest, and all the rest of the teams for the end of the year honors. Hope to see you there!
As 24 brave souls now prepare to make the trek to Japan for the internationals, we wish them all well, and hope as many Club/Team members will try and make it to Sun Valley the first week in April for our last chance to challenge Delta, United, Southwest, and all the rest of the teams for the end of the year honors. Hope to see you there!
