'Biling Through History

A sign as we start snowmobiling through the old Camp Hale grounds. I was told there is still a company that is hired every summer that comes in and sweeps the area with metal detectors to find ordinance.

Some of you might remember me mentioning Camp Hale and the 10th Mountain Division last year on Facebook when I had the good fortune of interviewing a 92 year old veteran/skier as part of my market research job. This area is steeped in the 10th Mountain Division history as 14,000 men were trained here in the early '40s to become elite mountain fighters on skis during WWII. It was a high harsh camp at 9,200 ft in the middle of the Rockies about 20 miles south of Vail.  Those men of the "greatest generation"  then came back and were very instrumental in Colorado ski industry. Pete Seibert was one of the soldiers who became familiar with this terrain during training and returned to this uninhabited valley to found Vail in 1962 with many of is comrades as original investors. Our longest ski run at Vail, over 4 miles in length is named Riva Ridge after at 1500 ft vertical climb that 10th Mtn. troopers made in Italy to surprise Germans that thought it impossible to scale. Other runs at Vail are also named for some of the 10th Mountain men and history as well. Since WWII, Camp Hale has held  400 of the most incorrigible POW's from Field Marshall Erik Rommel's Afrika Corps to being a secret CIA training base for Tibetan Guerillas before being dismantled in 1965. Here's an interesting Wiki Entry: Camp Hale.  For Vail's 50th Anniversary in 2012, ski film maker, Warren Miller made a special movie called "Climb to Glory" about the 10th Mountain division and the connection with the founding of Vail.

I was thrilled last week when my boss at the Christie Lodge announced the timeshare sales staff would have a chance to snowmobile with Nova Guides out of the Camp Hale terrain and through the White River National Forrest area for our "Christmas Party." (Yea, I haven't mentioned that new job yet.) We woke up Monday morning to some incredible fresh powder and it was hard thinking I wouldn't be skiing it that day but it did make the snowmobiling great too. Beautiful day high in the Rockies surrounded by both WWII and ski history and up to a 12,500 ft  ridge for a 360 view of the area.

Historical photo of 10th Mtn. Division troopers training in Camp Hale.

This is about the only "structure" left at Camp Hale. It is a bunker that protected men who held targets up that extended above the roof provided firing practice for men practicing from behind berms in the field in back.

My friend Ann looks at one of the berms where soldiers were positioned with their weapons to fire at the targets held up by the guys in the concrete bunkers.

I hadn't been on a snowmobile since the late 70's. They now have heated hand grips!

A pair of 10th Mtn Division "boots" hanging in Snowmobile headquarters. Can't imagine how they could've kept warm in these. Wonder how many of these men lost fingers and toes to cold?

High country snowmobile trail.

There are always great views and it was a clear cold Colorado bluebird day.

Vail Val reporting from Camp Hale and the White River National Forest. :-)

Lift Evacuation Dummies

Looking down between my feet just before sliding off the lift.  While I got lots of photos for other folks I'm not aware of anyone getting a shot of me actually being lowered.

Everyone hates it when they're stuck on a ski lift, especially when the weather is cold and windy. Most of the time the are back running in a few seconds or minutes. There's a whole B horror movie called "Frozen" about 3 kids stuck on a ski lift, don't bother renting it, it is terrible. Today I volunteered to get "stuck" and  be evacuated from a ski lift for a Ski Patrol training drill. It was before opening this a.m.  and over on the Pride lift which hasn't opened to the public yet I think. We were the last chair evacuated and luckily it was a pleasant sunny morning and no one needed the potty because it was about an hour before they got us down.


Ski Patrollers gather for briefing.

Head of ski patrol giving directions.



Volunteer lift evacuations dummies load the lift.



I took this photo of my belayer just as I neared the ground.  The black uniform notes he is a patroller in training yet and doesn't have his red jacket with white cross yet.

The chair I just came off of. Resetting for the next guy.

The seat we slide off the chair onto, don't worry we also had a loop around our chest before we slide onto the little wooden seat.
 

One of my colleagues being lowered.

Another of my colleagues being lowered.

World Cup Weekend Arrives!




Broken hand doesn't keep Ted Liggety from racing or autographing my helmet!
 

Headed up to Beaver Village tonight for a US Ski team autograph session. Men's downhill completed today and Americans Steve Wyman and Travis Ganong finished 3rd and 5th.
(Article from Vail Daily)I wasn't up on the course as I had a Ski Host orientation in Vail I needed to attend. I'm not scheduled to work Saturday so I'm going head to the finish area and new supersized grandstand with friend, Ann Gallo to experience the Super G from that end. The Super G course will start just a bit lower and has more turns/gates in it. Racers do not get to practice it ahead of time and only get one shot at it. Been a huge amount of work on the finish area to get ready for World Championships. A whole new big building for the press. The bleacher capacity was increased to over 8000 and I think when I was at World Cup last year it was less than 2000. It's super easy to get to the viewing area, and it's free! So get your flight for the February 2015 Championships!


With Korbel as a sponsor we enjoyed free champagne waiting in line for autographs. I'm not wearing my helmet because I'm planning to drink heavily I had it with me to collect some autographs on.
 



Steve Nyman, today's 3rd placer finisher in downhill.

 



US Ski Team members Tommy Ford, Steven Nyman, Nolan Kasper & Wiley Maple. My friend, Ann Gallo got this nice shot. Jared Goldberg arrived just after this photo.

Big and little kids gather US Men's Ski Team autographs.



My Blog Goes "Official" and Course Praises Sung by Racers

Excited to announce that posts from the VailVal blog will now become part of the official Talon Crew website as of today and through the 2015 Championships in February! "Going Over the Brink Twice" was published there today.

Good report in today's Vail Daily regarding yesterday's training runs.  "The Brink" gets mentioned as 21 racers missed the gate there. So even the big boys had some trouble with that gnarly spot. Makes me feel a bit better.  (See my blog from earlier in the week about "Going over the Brink) To read the whole article from today's Vail Daily: Pace Quickens in Wednesday at Birds of Prey

In the second part of the article "Day 2 Adjustments" kudos go to the Talon Crew because the course praises are sung: "Skiers from multiple nations raved about the conditions, regardless of start position, meaning the course was holding up nicely." "Perfect," Jansrud said, "This is by far the best hill we're skiing, best conditions we have every year. It's not very icy and tough, but it's still compact snow and a dream to ski on." Well, I think parts of it are icy and tough and obviously since a few guys missed that gate up at Brink!

So check your local NBC listings for this weekends races or scroll down "Brink" blog below (or click December (at right)>Going Over the Brink Twice) for NBC listings as I have them.

Keeper of the Gate

Rode up the ski lift in the dark at 6:30 in the morning for day 3 on Talon Crew. That fresh sharp tune on my skis and 3rd time over the brink--it's becoming a piece of cake. Even carried a snow rake with me as I side slipped down.  I didn't mention in my previous blog that we don't take any poles up on the race course because they would only be in our way for carrying gear down the mountain.

The crew was complemented this morning as the racers who ran the downhill training course yesterday said it was in "perfect" condition and the Talon Crew gets called the best race course team in the world.  We're also told the FIS (Ski Federation) officials have been happy too. 

A quick flurry of activity this morning to perfect the course before downhill training starts at 11:00. Raking, fixing fence, getting airbags ready. When we go into "race mode" we are pinned into place until 81 racers have finished their downhill run. Today is the second day of men's downhill training but it is treated like a race and they talk about who won "training" yesterday. Downhill is the only discipline that the men get to train on the course. The "actual" downhill will be on Friday, with Super G on Sat and GS on Sunday. (see my previous blog for NBC TV times @ the bottom) For Super G and GS they do not get any training on the course, only a chance to side slip the course and "inspect it."

We are stationed behind an airbag at gate 26 along with professional photographers. The 1.73 mile course is divided into 17 sections with 4 or 5 person crews to care for gates, snow, fencing and safety in each section. Each volunteer crew has a volunteer chief and we take our direction from a professional race staffer in each area.  My crew is assigned to  "Westfall Rd" (course section map)   just below a knoll where  racers will catch some air and should they come loose and careen toward us the airbag we spectate behind will keep us from being one big pile of broken bodies. We've been told that if a racer crashes in our vicinity that we are to freeze, and not lend aid and wait for ski patrol/medics. Touching a racer can possibly disqualify them.

All of sudden I'm told to put on the yellow gate keepers vest as I'm going to become a race official. I get quickly trained. I have to watch to make sure skiers pass through the gate correctly.  If  I record a foul, I have to note the racer's number and draw a map of where they skied in relation to the gate. Then after all 81 racers run, if I've recorded a foul I will have to accompany a race official who will come down the course checking with the judges at each of 38 gates on the course  and gathering up any and their diagrams who have reason to DQ a racer. We will have to ski to the stadium and present our findings to the head officials.

The first 6 racers come at 2 minute intervals which means there are 2 racers on course at time and we have to be behind the protective airbag. If a gate gets damaged then crew has to run quickly out to fix it because unless there is a major problem the racing doesn't not get held. Of course radio transmissions are part of all this too. Our part of the course isn't so steep so we were not required to get in our spikes or crampons but up on the "the brink" workers would have to be wearing traction equipment once they take their skis off. After the first 6 racers the "bugs" are worked out of the course and the racing speeds up to 1min15sec intervals. These racers are likely reaching speeds of 40-50  mph more and a collision with race crew would prove catastrophic for everyone. So repairs are made under a bit of stress. For 2.5  hours racers from around the US, Canada and mostly Europe blaze past us.  I check them off on the race program as numbers on their bibs are to spot.

Racing finished around 1:30 and there were no fouls at my gate so I just pass my card off to the official coming down the course.. After a rolling up some fence to make access for snow grooming equipment and raking some soft snow off the course we're dismissed to check in at the beer tent and enjoy the camaraderie.

Scorecard in hand I'm ready to judge the gate in back of me.
 

Our safety airbag we have to stay behind during race action.

Raking soft snow off the course before racing. The racers will have trouble if they get into this.

Course lines being painted.

After getting our section of the course ready we returned to our packs for lunch and found the brazen Canadian Jays had found Mark's tuna sandwich. We had some fun taking photos of them in our downtime. That's my hand selfie.

Another hand bird selfie.

Our bird brained crew chief, Tom Ludwig.

Front of gate judging card. No way would I want to try to judge slalom.

Left side to draw map of foul and right side to record bib and gate #.

Gatekeeper instructions.

Scully, or professional crew chief.

Shot into the finish stadium as I came down from work today.

Where we check in, have a beer and chat and make new friends--just for the "Talon Crew."

Going Over the Brink Twice

I'd heard about it, something like it's a "vertical ice skating rink." Well today I got to ski "the brink," twice and skiing is a misnomer. Even for someone as physically gutsy as I am with years on skis it was a definite challenge. It's more like a survival slide slip trying for all you're worth to keep your edges in so you don't slip, start the "slide for life" and take out the army of volunteers below. Crossing " The Brink" is how we exit the crew shed  area and start of the the most notorious section of the Birds of Prey World Cup Course at Beaver Creek. Once was enough for another lady assigned to our team. She requested a different assignment that didn't include skiing over "the brink" and down the course 2 or 3 times a day.  I have tell you there's not a lot of girls out working on the race course crew. There are constant reminders to "look up" because the danger of a piece of equipment or person coming loose from above us could pose.  Take a look at the stats and the contours lines of this course map: Birds of Prey Course Map

Today was my second day working to prep a race course that will later this week host the top ski racing men from around the world for Downhill, Super G and GS on the World Cup circuit.  In the past 2 weeks shelters have been built, miles of safety fencing and padding installed, race gates drilled in, tons of snow moved mechanically and by hand, and millions of gallons of water sprayed to turn the course into the icy slope the racers will expect.  I was in a crew today that was hauling, inflating and installing giant blow up crash pads at the bases of fixed objects like TV scaffolds in case a racer loses control.

We aren't allowed to "ski" the course, it would mess it up. Anytime we're moving through the 1 1/2 mile course we side slip or snow plow to help move the snow off and polish the course down a smooth slick surface. Yea, just the opposite of all that powder I wrote about enjoying last week.  Even though I  considered myself  a pretty hot shot NASTAR racer, earning a number a one national ranking in my age group not TOO many years back what I was racing on was child's play, maybe even nursery school compared to this World Cup stuff. Frankly I don't think I'd even want to point my skis down the fall line on this baby for long.

So I am part of "Talon Crew" for both this stop on the World Cup and the two week long 2015 World Championships coming here in February.  Pretty much everyone around this valley knows what Talon Crew is. Not just because we sport some pretty spiffy jackets but for the reputation of spending massive amounts of gritty volunteer hours in all kinds of weather up at 10,000-11,000  feet on vertical ice building a world class competition venue. I think there are a lot of  "former" Talon Crew members, on the other hand, there many that return from the around the country year after year.

There have already been injuries, including a dislocated shoulder by a very experienced leader who hit a winch cat cable. Given the danger of a winch cat cable, I'd say he got off easy.  I've watched others lose their edge on the skis and go sliding a good distance. What's the reward for the risk? Camaraderie that bonds through challenge and adversity. Making friends with great skiers from around the country.  Satisfaction of facing your fears and pushing the envelope a little further into the unknown. Being part of a cool "club." Today, it was skiing down (not on the icy race course) a deserted mountain with teammates watching the early evening alpenglow across the mountain tops and then heading into a tent just for us to check in to let them know we safely off the mountain and being handed enjoy a local brew to rehash the day.

I decided $32 for a super sharp race tune on my skis was going to be cheaper than my insurance deductible so I finished my beer and headed off to the local ski shop to drop my skis off so they'd be ready to hold an edge and go over the brink on Wednesday.

You can tune in on NBC:

Dec 5 Friday’s Downhill will air in Primetime, 10:30pm EST, NBCSN

Dec 6 Saturday’s Super G will air at 5pm EST, NBC

Dec 7 Sunday’s GS will air at 5pm EST, NBC


Westfall Road Crew for 12/1/2014. Westfall Rd. denotes a place on the course our crew is stationed during racing. We're just one of many crews.

At Golden Eagle Jump ( Course Map)  looking down into the stadium.



Lower section of the course looking into the finish stadium I sat in that stadium last year and watch local  Mikaela Shiffrin get her first World Cup GS podium.



Korea will host the 2018 Olympics so this Jay is a "spy" who will be spending the next 3 months here to learn how to build a world class ski race venue.
 

Looking up a steep section of the course. Don't remember what section this is.
 

Looking down a not so gnarly section of the course.

Easy top section of the course near the start. Notice we're snowplowing to push the snow off the course and polish it down smoother.
 



Last week I was helping outfit the Tough Shed.. This is a vinyl structure at 11,000 feet near the start area that acts as "race headquarters. It didn't have heat last week on a really cold day but it does now.



The Tough Shed after we got carpet down last week.



The tough shed at lunch time today. Where we might be lucky enough to go for lunch and some hot soup. Other days we will eat at our station on the race course.

A view outside the 11,000 ft elev. Tough Shed last week when the crews were thin, the weather was brutal and work was just starting.



 Outside the Tough Shed today with full crews prepping the course and Men's Downhill Training Runs starting tomorrow.



Morning briefing at a restaurant halfway up the mountain. Coffee, donuts, directions and safety reminders before we "saddle up."