26
Escarpment Magazine Winter 2014
At this point in my trip I had almost forgotten
why I had come to Trentino in the first place…
something about a ski race? Strategically po-
sitioned within a small break from the jam-
packedWorld Cup circuit, the winner-takes-all
format is considered to some as a settlement
ground for World Cup rivalries and the
€
75,000 paycheque is the icing on the cake
for these gladiators of skiing. Bragging rights
never tasted so good.
The kitschy nightclub “Shuttle” was the chosen
venue for the bib draw and I was immediately
stuck with how intimate the setting was. I met
them all, and I mean ALL of them. Face to face.
Italian legend Kristian Ghedina was perhaps
the most impressionable and he was as ani-
mated in person as he appeared on TV
throughout his decades long ski racing career.
Although he officially hung up his skis in
2006, Ghedina came out of retirement for the
2013 Alpine Rockfest to celebrate 90 years
of Colmar, his loyal clothing sponsor.
I was struck by several of the other athletes
that night, as well as their wives and girlfriends
(incidentally Ghedina’s girlfriend Patricia was
my favourite). Italy’s Massimiliano (Max) Blar-
done’s intensity was tangible.
Talk about race-face. American superstars
Bode Miller and Ted Ligety kept mainly to
themselves, dispelling my prejudgments that
their on-hill rivalry might cross over to their per-
sonal lives. Their larger than life California
blonde wives/girlfriends were friendly and I
even helped them to locate a 24-hour pizza
delivery service. Canadians David Donaldson
and Phil Brown looked most relaxed chatting
with the course crew at the bar. Sadly two-time
overall World Cup winner Aksel Lund Svindal
was absent at the bib draw, which made see-
ing his 6’3 frame in person on race day even
more impressive (side note: wow).
The morning of the event was warm and the
fog was like soup. There was a worry about
whether the event would even happen. Fortu-
nately the situation mid-mountain was much
better—and the low ceiling seemed to be hang-
ing just beneath the finish line. My VIP status
meant I was granted course access between
inspection and the preliminary round. Our re-
gion was also represented by Dak Williams,
Giulio Baldassarra and Doug Findlay, who all
worked as race crew. If you’ve ever experi-
enced skiing on injected snow… well you’ll
know it’s more like extreme side slipping than
skiing. I spoke with former Austrian Ski Team
coach and Alpine Rockfest
official course setter Günther
Gerhard (aka Goonzy),
who was pleased with the
way the salted snow had set
up overnight. Goonzy has a
colourful past, and has
coached the likes of Her-
mann Maier. Looking back,
he must have been under
such pressure that day, but
he always had a smile and a
smart-ass remark for me
whenever I passed him.
*
FEATURE
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alpine rockfest
Bode Miller high-fives Ted Ligity at the Alpine Rockfest Bib Draw as David Donaldson looks on (r)
