Going for Globes. Aspen World Cup

The White Circus is back in Aspen.  The Women's World Cup is back in Fat City for another sesh.   Aspen is the only FIS Skiing world Cup on U.S. soil.  It's always just after Thanksgiving and it's always a highlight for the American Girls.

It's probably unprecedented in American skiing that two ladies are among the favorites to capture the over-all World Cup title.   LINDSEY VONN has been there done that.  She's the most decorated American ski racer of all time and is vying for the most World Cup Globes (trophies) of anyone, ever.  

At the U.S. Ski Team Press conference, Lindsey seemed supremely confident.   She said "travelling with globes is easier when you don't have to fly with them"  in reference to next season's World Cup Finals in Aspen.   She also admitted that she built a new trophy case that leaves room for a few more globes.

MIKAELA SHIFFRIN the 20 year old darling of American Skiing is also in the running for the overall championship.  She's the clear favorite in Slalom.  She's always a top seed in GS and now she's adding the speed events to her repertoire.

Veteran free spirit Resi Steigler and new ladies coach Paul Kristofic also participated in the presser...along with a whole slew of AVSC Groms.

When the fastest chicks on sticks hit Aspen...you know it's ski season.   Let's Ride!!

U.S. Ski Team has HUGE Weekend at Beaver Creek & Lake Louise.

US Ladies sweep the Downhill Podium at Lake Louise. Vonn, cook and Mancuso. Selfie courtesy of Lindsey Vonn via FacebookAspenSpin ventured over to Beaver Creek this weekend to take in the Birds of Prey Men's FIS World Cup ski races. It was a fantastic weekend of racing, events, parties and skiing.    In a normal year The Beav is the one and only tour stop in the U.S. for the men's world cup skiers.  But in 2015 Birds of Prey is also the site of the FIS WORLD ALPINE SKI CHAMPIONSHIPS in February. So the regularly scheduled WC races were like a warm-up.  The ladies were in Lake Louise, Alberta Canada this weekend.  Both the men's and women's teams had fabulous results.

We've attended several Birds of Prey races in the past and this year's events seemed a little different.  Vail / Beaver Creek is putting on the ritz for the 2015 World Championships so these world cup races almost felt like a test run, or spring training if you will.   All eyes seemed to be looking forward to February when the 2nd most important set of ski races (behind the Olympics) visits the Vail Valley.

Red Tail Stadium, Birds of Prey (from the lift)Birds of Prey has never looked better.   The new Red Tail Stadium at the finish-line which was created for the World's is unbelievable. Much larger than in the past... a massive 10 story scaffolding of bleachers was built primarily for the Worlds. Walking up over 100 steps in ski boots is not an easy task...but thousands of racing fans did it.  A huge deck on the backside of the stands provided for a beautiful sponsor's village with unlimited swag for kids and adults. A newly constructed lodge building houses the new VIP lounge and viewing area.  The former lodge served as a spacious and well organized "press tent".  If I only had on word to describe the finish area...that word would be impressive.  Beaver Creek is clearly ready to host the world's.

The races...while important...seemed to almost take a back seat to the impending rush and anticipation brought by the World Championships. 

Ted Ligety shredded to victory in GS at Birds of PreyNorway's Kjetil Jansrud won the downhill on Friday.  His third win in 7 days.  He described his victory as "the perfect run". "When it runs it runs" explained Jansrud, "it's a German saying" he said.    Jansrud is often considered "the other Norwegian" behind injured teammate Aksel Lund Svindal, but Kjetil has an Olympic Gold and Bronze to his credit and has won the first 3 downhills of the 2014-15 season.   Beat Feuz of Switzerland finished second.  Coming off a series of knee injuries Feuz was thrilled to return to the World Cup Podium.  American Steve Nyman let it rip for a great run finishing third.  Nyman a 32 year old veteran of 13 seasons on the U.S. Ski Team credited the U.S. squad's new conditioning coach Toni Beretzki along with a brand new equipment set-up for the win.  American Travis Ganong had an excellent result finishing 5th.

In the Super G. on Saturday Austrian Hannes Reichelt topped the field for his third Super G. win and 6th podium at Birds of Prey. Norway's Jansrud took second and Frenchman Alexis Pinturault third.   The difficult course set up appeared to throw some racers off their lines...but Reichelt was comfortable enough to take the win.   Andrew Weibrecht aka The War Horse, had a strong run and was the top American finishing 10th.  Ted Ligety nabbed 11th.

The Giant Slalom on Sunday was the race that all the fans were waiting for.   Ted "the Shred" Ligety did not disappoint the crowd taking first place with a super-duper come from behind 2nd run.   This was Ligety's 5th win at Birds of Prey.  Overheard in the press room "thats just Ted being Ted".  Ligety is the reigning Olympic Champ in GS and is now expected to win every week.  At Birds of Prey...Shred lived up to the expectations.  This was his 23rd World Cup win in the disipline and he trails only Ingemar Stenmark all-time.  Stenmark has 46 world cup wins in GS.   Pinturault from France finished 2nd and Austrian Marcel Hirscher took 3rd.   Perhaps the feel good story of the race was American David Chodounsky's 17th place finish.   Chod a slalom specialist started in the 66th position and raised his game to finish strong at 17.

She's Back!!! Lindsey Vonn takes the downhill.The U.S. ladies had it going on at Lake Louise, Alberta.  Lindsey Vonn in her first competition in 22 months since overcoming injuries led a U.S. sweep in the Downhill.  Vonn finished on top of the podium followed by teammates Stacey Cook in 2nd and Julia Mancuso in 3rd.   Vonn also grabbed 2nd in the SuperG.

All in All it was perhaps the best weekend of ski racing in U.S. Ski Team history.   The racers are ready and it appears that Vail / Beaver Creek is ready for the Alpine World Championships...just 60 days away. 

Birds of Prey GS Podium 1 Ligety USA 2 Pinturault Fra 3 Hirscher Aut

 
US ladies sweep the downhill at Lake Louise. Lindsey Vonn, Stacey Cook and Julia Mancuso

First Tracks with the U.S. Ski Team

All the pre-season snow in Colorado has me fired up.  Copper Mountain and Loveland have been open for weeks.   Friday was FIRST TRACKS with the U.S. Ski Team, a pep rally and the official announcement of the Men's and Women's U.S. Alpine Ski Teams for 2013/14.   The skiers are gearing up for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi Russia.    Every year Copper hosts the U.S. Ski Team at their Speed Center.   It's the best full distance (downhill) training facility in the World at this time of year.  Copper pulls out all the stops and devotes the entire Eastern side of the resort, the Super Bee area, to the USSA racers.   In an Olympic year, things get a little bit more serious.  

            Click for pix:  FIRST TRACKS

First Tracks w/ the U.S. Ski TeamMake some turns, shoot some pix, interview Olympians...hellz yeah.  120 miles door-to-door from Aspen to Copper. So I loaded up the cruising vessel, threw the dog in the back and rolled over to Copper.  Boots; check, poles; check, gloves; check, goggles; check, rogain; check.    In addition to hosting the U.S. Ski teams, Copper is probably the epicenter in the U.S. for early season amateur race training.   1000's of kids from all over the U.S.A., Canada, Japan and other places converge on Copper in November. It's probably the largest collection of speed suits in the free world.  Some of the kids skip 2 full weeks of school to hone their ski racing skills.World Champ Mikaela Shiffrin is ready for Sochi 2014

Once the sun came up, a beautiful Colorado bluebird day greeted us.  Walking over to the lift I was surprised to see some familiar faces from Aspen.  Racers, coaches and crew who were at Copper for training.  It felt great to be back on the Mountain.

Booting up for the first day of the season is never pretty.  My feet don't really enjoy the super-tight fit of a ski boot...do yours?   Soon enough I was in the lift line...what a lift line?  It went pretty quick...but lift lines in Aspen are almost unheard of.  First turns...yeeeeeah,  back on snow, albeit man made and wind blown....wooooooooooooooot. The white ribbon of fear was moderately crowded...but it could've been much worse.  A couple of quick top to bottoms...and ski season 2013/14 was underway.

I decided to forgo the advice USSA media contact who said  "you should probably take the bus to the East Village, you're not supposed to ski over there from the top".   Not supposed to ski over there???  I came to shred girl?? Not to ride the shuttle.   So, at the top,  I ducked under the rope and pointed 'em downhill towards the Speed Center at Super Bee. Eventually I got to the starting gate where some of the U.S. Ski Team dudes were preparing for training runs. One of the guys milling around at the start happened to be MR. BODE MILLER.  Wut up, Bode?

Ted "Shred" Ligety getting grilled by Uncle E.An offical looking man, a coach type with a walkie talkie asked me sternly "what are you doing up here?"  I answered in my best Spicoli "skiing laps and takin' pix" and I flashed my super-cool media credential.  "You're not supposed to be up here" he said.  Ooops.  For a split second he thought about making me hike back up the hill, but then Bode jumped into the starting gate, pushed off and all eyes were on him.  After Bode ripped out of sight, the coach-type said into his walkie " I got a media guy up here, he's lost...can i send him down?"    The response took a few moments  "O.K. let him ski it...but tell him to keep his head up".  So while I didn't get to ski the gates...I did get to shred the longest training course in the U.S....which I enjoyed immensely.  At the bottom the entire U.S. team was hanging out doing interviews, taking pix and generally chilling.  Uncle E was there taping an episode of Snow Globe...his show about the U.S. Team.  It was casual and fun.   I actually got to rip a few more laps before the ladies took over the speed course.

Later that day the entire U.S. Ski Team, Alpine Division was introduced to a huge crowd at Burning Stones Plaza at the base of Copper.  Everybody was there, Bode Miller, Ted Ligety, Lindsey Vonn, Mikaela Shiffrin and more. The U.S. Ski Team has very high hopes for Sochi 2014 after their record setting season last year.  It was the best results of all-time with 5 World Championship medals,  33 World Cup podiums from 10 different athletes and 18 victories.   See the official roster here.  U.S. Alpine Team.  90 days to Sochi and the team looks ready.  U.S.A. ! U.S.A. !

I was a great first day.  Click for Pix:  FIRST TRACKS

Bode Miller is 100% healthy and hungry for more hardware. Click 4 pix.

USA's Golden Girl Lindsey Vonn is gearing up and getting healthy.The Men's and Women's U.S. Alpine Ski Team. Expectations are high. See you guys on the podium.

Going HUGE: Aspen Style.

Selfie with Julia Mancuso. AspenSpin. Click 4 pix.It was a HUGE weekend in Aspen. The world's fastest ladies came to Aspen for World Cup Ski Racing. Giant Slalom and Slalom were on the docket for America's snow queens.  Lindsey Vonn, Julia Mancuso, Resi Steigler,  new U.S. star 17 year old Mikaela Shiffrin and their Europeon counterparts were ripping laps down Ruthies Run.  The coresponding action in town was siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick.  Our schedule was packed.  The ski races, the VIP tent, parties, sponsor events, the Squaw House, free concerts, fireworks and of course the #1 house party of all-time;

The 27th Annual Ski Tuners Ball.

Photos:  Going HUGE; Aspen Style   +   Ski Tunes & Tycoons

All that off-season training paid off for Aspen Spin as we managed to go hard all weekend.   Unfortunately the ski conditions are currently "less than great", so we excerted most of our energies towards the social scene.  We got  word from the top ( not from G-D, but the brass at Ski Co.)...please don't belittle the conditions...it's bad for bookings.   I guess I didn't realize that being honest was a problem. Sorry.

Mikaela Shiffrin and her Mom. 2 World Cup top 10's and a Barilla feast at Casa Tua. Not a bad weekend in Aspen. The capstone event of the weekend for Aspen Spin was a small private dinner hosted by Barilla at Casa Tua with Mikaela Shiffrin and her family and friends.  Mikaela, who lives near Vail, Colorado is a rising star on the U.S. Ski Team.  She finished 9th in the GS and 7th in slalom this weekend in Aspen.  2 top tens in one weekend is HUGE by any measure...but the fact that Mikaela is still a Senior at Burke Mountain Academy (High School) makes it that much more awesome.  She admitted that she's hoping to get her drivers license this week before jetting off to St. Moritz for the next World Cup stop.  

Mikaela Shiffrin is an incredibly poised young woman and she's ready to explode as the next BIG thing in U.S. ski racing. That's a lot of pressure, but she seems at ease with it.  Spending some time with her and her family revealed a highly motivated, super- focused, well adjusted, superbly trained athlete.  She is mature beyond her years and AspenSpin along with everyone else in the ski world can visualize podiums, gold medals and Wheaties boxes in her future. 

Any way... it was a great weekend.    Check the Pix.

GOING HUGE:  Aspen Style.    &   SKI TUNES and TYCOONS

The World's Fastest Women invaded Aspen for World Cup Ski Racing. Photo: Raifie Bass.Reverend Horton Heat brought his A game to Aspen for a free show.Fireworks over Ajax.The Ski Tuner's Ball in it's 27th year is the unofficial kick-off to ski season in Aspen. The G's always go HUGE.Lindsey Vonn took time to sign autographs for all the kids in Aspen.Appetitie for Destruction crushed it in Aspen.GS Podium in Aspen. 1) Maze / SLO, 2) Zettel / AUT 3) Rebensburg / AUT Photo: Aspen Ski Co. / Jeremy Swanson.

Lindsey Vonn wins, then Tebows in Beaver Creek.

Since she announced her separation and missed a slalom race in Aspen because of "back pain", Lindsey Vonn has been dialed in.  Four straight first place finished.  In Beaver Creek she Tebowed on the podium. Nice move.

Click the Vid, Courtsey of Universal Sports.