The Raptor and Birds of Prey at Beaver Creek.

Both the men and women made FIS World Cup stops in Beaver Creek.  The Womens races were dominated by Lara Gut who won Gold on the new Raptor downhill course and followed that up with another win in the Super G.  America's newest snowsports super-star, 18 year old Mikaela Shiffrin took second in the G.S., her first World Cup podium in that disipline. 

The men showed up with a foot of fresh snow and sub-zero temps.  Not ideal racing conditions...but they put on a show anyway.  The downhill on Friday was shredded by Aksel Lund Svindal.   Fireworks occurred on Sunday for the U.S. Ski Team as Ted Ligety and Bode Miller finished 1-2 in the G.S.  

It was freezing but Vail / Beaver Creek lived up to its status as one of the best ski racing tracks in the world.  Photos and video Courtesy  U.S. Ski Team, FIS, Vail Valley Foundation, Getty Images and ski racing mag.   For all the results click Raptor and Birds of Prey.

Lara Gut wins the Downhill and Super G on The Raptor course at Beaver Creek.Hometown favorite Mikeala Shiffrin raced to a second place finish in the GS at Beaver Creek.Aksel Lund Svindel ripped the fastest lap in the downhill at Beaver Creek.

 Ted Ligety and Bode Miller went 1-2 in the GS on Sunday at Beaver Creek.

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.

Charge It : The Fastest Ladies in the World come to Aspen.

Opening Weekend in Aspen is always a blast.  Thanksgiving Dinner. Skiing on Aspen Mountain, The FIS Ladies World Cup Skiing races mixed in with plenty of events, concerts and parties....a nice little weekend.

The FIS traveling 400 showed up in Aspen for the only Ladies race scheduled on U.S. soil this year, (although  there is talk about rescheduling the Val d' Isere races in Aspen or Vail in early December due to lack of snow in Europe).  The World Cup skiers, their coaches, the handlers, the tuners, the sponsors, and the entourages came to Aspen for the Aspen Winternational Giant Slalom and Slalom competitions.  The race course on Ajax is known as the toughest on the World Cup circuit.  Steep and highly technical with several terrain changes Aspen Mountain brings out the best in The World's Fastest Women.

These ladies are FAST...and they CHARGE IT.    (more photos coming soon)

Giant Slalom Podium / Aspen. 1) Rebensburg. Ger. 2) Goergl. Aut. 3) Mancuso. USASlalom Podium Aspen 1) Schild. Aut. 2) Pietilae- Holmner. Swe 3) Riesch. GerLindsey Vonn shot us a smile despite a disappointing weekend in Aspen.Julia Mancuso shared the stoke of her podium finish in GS with the whole U.S. support team.The name of the Band is COWBOY MOUTH. The New Orleans rockers played free show at the base of Ajax.16 year old Mikaela Shiffrin / USA scored her first top 10 finish in World Cup Slalom. The Ski Tuners Ball ....is always the best party of the year. 2011 was no exception. It was OUT of CONTROL.