Unexcused Absences

For the next 10 days, we will both be working as volunteers for the Birds of Prey World Cup Ski Race.  We’ll join hundreds of other volunteers who come to Beaver Creek in Colorado each year to make this amazing race happen. These folks do work so difficult it would be impossible to find and hire personnel for this job. Why do we do it? To sum up an earlier blog post, we work in order to be part of an amazing community that contributes to the sport we so love. We’re proud of the astonishing amount of effort that we – and hundreds of others – will do in the days to come.

This is our fourth year working for the Talon Crew (as the volunteers are known). I also happen to be the official blogger for the Talon Crew  and will be posting stories from the trenches! You can check out all the behind-the-scenes action at TalonCrew.com.

Here is a link to the first Talon Crew Blog Post of 2012!

Birds of Prey Finish Line

Heather previously posted the writings she did as official Talon Crew blogger for the 2011 Audi Birds of Prey World Cup Downhill at Beaver Creek, so here I’ll just add my $0.02 on our week in Colorado and include two slideshows of photos I took during the 10-day event. For more on what the Talon Crew is about, see Heather’s posts on the subject, “Life on the Talon Crew” and “A Volunteer’s Life”

My impression of this year’s experience on the Talon Crew was even better than the two previous years. The whole operation really is a well-oiled machine, from the top (Brad, Jen and Kerry) on down. Living in the base village was superior to staying down in Avon and having to deal with the shuttle buses, so thank you to The Charter for their discount Talon Crew rate! We had a minor glitch with our room layout that they solved with a smile, no questions asked. Moving the Tuesday night volunteer party to the Dusty Boot was another big win; while the Minturn Saloon of previous years was a good time, it was certainly more convenient for those of us without cars to attend the event at the base village.

And I can’t talk about how fun volunteering is without mentioning our crew chiefs, Sean and Kevin. They set a really good tone for the work, keeping things organized and flowing during the day, and definitely letting their hair down once happy hour comes around. From Sean and Kevin and the returning crew members all the way to the new recruits this year, this team is a blast to work with.

First slideshow is a set of photos from the pre-race course prep. The Talon Crew begins preparing the downhill track the Friday after Thanksgiving, and works for five straight days setting up A-net, slipping the course, preparing the start house, installing B-fence, and raking out uneven areas of the course.

TALON CREW COURSE PREP 2011

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Beaver Creek Village

Spruce Saddle Lodge at dawn

Tools of the trade

Talon Crew hauling A-net liner

Sean Norris

Raising the A-Net

High-speed slip above "Pumphouse"

Grading the back of the A-net

Just in case

The steeps in "Pete's Arena"

Course prep with a chainsaw?

Top of Golden Eagle jump

The final grading

30 seconds of rest

The daily debriefing at the Coyote Cafe

Conference at the top of Golden Eagle jump

View from our room at The Charter

Our room (thank you, The Charter, for the nice discount!)

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Next comes two days of downhill training and three days of World Cup racing action. I’ve got action photos of some athletes and other associated race-day photos.

RACE DAY PHOTOS, BIRDS OF PREY 2011

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A VERY early chairlift ride on race day

A Sony broadcast camera with a BIG Canon lens

Slovenian coach (team motto, "Go SLO!")

Course inspection

Nordica ski tech

The finish arena during the downhill

Scott Snow greets his fan club at the finish arena

Big right foot turn in "Pete's Arena"

Ted Ligety on course

Red Tail jump

Nice angles

Aksel Lund Svindal (easy now, ladies!)

Snow squalls during the Super G

Austrian TV

Final pitch of the GS course

Didier Cuche with his famous ski flip

Bode wins the 2011 downhill

Team Jacket Composite

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I also shot a brief video of McD doing some course prep… with a chainsaw!!!

As part of my work for the Talon Crew, I gathered stories from fellow crewmembers and quotes from the athletes during the 2011 Audi Birds of Prey World Cup ski races.  Enjoy!

Bode Miller after winning the 2011 Downhill at Birds of Prey

I spoke with Bode Miller after the first training run for the Downhill.
Heather: What would you like to say to the Talon Crew, the volunteer course maintenance workers?
Bode: This is the most well manicured course on the circuit. There’s a great quality to the snow. It’s so smooth because there’s an army of folks out there busting their butts, and we really appreciate it.

Long-time volunteer Shelly Zuroff relates the following tale:
I am working below the Golden Eagle jump, directing slippers as they come down the pitch. As the ski club kids come through, they keep missing the fluff pile right next to me. I am getting a little frustrated, so I look up the hill and see somebody standing there. I point straight at him and yell, “You! I want you right here!” Then, I gesticulate from him to the pile next to me.

He takes off and just obliterates the pile of snow.

“You did that really well, thanks!” I say to him. As he turns around, I realize it is Bode Miller

“Well,” he replies. “I try.”

Scott Snow

Scott Snow, the youngest racer on the US Ski Team and rising downhiller, took his first runs down the Birds of Prey racecourse earlier this week. He skied as a forerunner during the downhill training runs.
Heather: I know you’ve kept a map of the course since you were 15 that’s about six feel long detailing every turn and pitch along this course. You work on it every time you visit Beaver Creek and ski Golden Eagle. You’ve just skied your first World Cup course on the Birds of Prey, how was it?
Scott: It’s the most fun I’ve had in about a minute-and-fifty-one seconds of my life! It’s just like the other athletes say, the course is so smooth, perfect! I can’t wait to run it again!

Jan Hudec (photo by Praz)

World Cup gold medalist Jan Hudec joined the Talon Crew for dinner at the Dusty Boot on Tuesday evening. The downhiller wanted to thank the Crew for their work.
Jan: I stopped by to thank the Talon Crew. It’s such a pleasure to come to a beautiful hill and a beautiful village like this. It makes you really realize why you’re a ski racer! The athletes really appreciate all of the work that you do. We’re going to go out there this weekend and rip it up!

Hubert Seigmann (photo by Marlo Maroon)

Team Captain Sean Norris relates this tale:
The public has already left the mountain when Asa releases us. I am sweeping behind my crew when I see two of our newest volunteers, Hubert and Marlo at the side of the slope. Hubert’s binding has just broken.

One of the race crew comes up and asks Hubert if he needs help returning to the bottom. Hubert says no, turns, and skis straight down the hill. I mean straight down the hill on one ski! Marlo takes off after him and damn can that girl ski. I have to totally let it run to keep up with her! We’re all chasing this one-skied madman down the hill. We can’t catch him and all of us have on two skis!

He finally stops to wait for us. Hubert, Marlo and I collapse in fits of giggles. We’re having so much fun! I see confusion on the faces around us as race crew and ski patrol gather around us. They’re all wondering who is this guy who can ski faster than everybody on only one ski?

Yeah, that’s Hubert. He’s a retired World Cup racer. He’s raced the Birds of Prey. He’s come back to Beaver Creek to volunteer with the Talon Crew. Amazing.

Hermann Maier (photo by taloncrew.blogspot.com)

A tale from a course worker who desperately wishes to remain anonymous:
A number of years ago, I was working at the start shack. I see Hermann Maier coming toward me looking very serious. I back up to give him room, to allow him to get in his race zone. He keeps coming toward me. He’s a big guy, and he looks mad, so I back up all the way to the fence. And he keeps coming toward me! I start to back through a gap in the fence that opens into trees and he’s still coming toward me! I freeze, having absolutely no idea what to do.

“Not you.” he says in his thick, Austrian accent. “Toilet.”

During the 2011 Audi World Cup Birds of Prey ski races, Heather is blogging for the Talon Crew.  This group of insanely dedicated volunteers spends thousands of hours each year preparing and maintaining the 1.5 mile racecourse.

reprinted from the Talon Crew Blog

Why Volunteer?

by Heather Thomas

Conversations about the Talon Crew often begin like this:

Spruce Saddle Lodge at dawn

Q: You’re working a ski race, starting daily at 6:00 am, standing for hours in the cold, shoveling snow, installing fence, and all the while skiing over the scariest, iciest ski slopes you’ve ever seen? Wow! They must pay you a lot!
A: No, they don’t pay us at all. We’re volunteers.

Q: But they fly you out for the races, right?
A: No, we buy our own plane tickets.

Q: But it’s Beaver Creek! They must put you up in really posh lodgings.
A: No, we pay for our own lodging.

Q: But you get a season pass, right?
A: No …. we are volunteers.

Q: Really, so why do you volunteer?

Tools of the trade

Every year we, along with hundreds of skiers, spend our vacation time and pay our own way to Beaver Creek in order to volunteer for the Birds of Prey ski races. We work on the toughest piste imaginable, a World Cup downhill racecourse. Collectively known as the Talon Crew, we build and maintain the racecourse.

The work is physical, brutal sometimes. But something deep in the human psyche craves this sort of challenge. For most of us, work usually means staring at a computer screen. We rarely toil with our hands, our backs, and our bodies.

If physical labor is rare, true communal labor is even rarer. Out on the hill, hundreds of members of the Talon Crew all focus on a single goal, building the course! Crewmembers shout and laugh, good-naturedly teasing each other. Many jobs require multiple workers, and we work intensely together. Nightly gatherings forge a deep community as we swap stories about our day’s adventures. The experience of communal work and shared food feels very ancient and very real. The mind easily measures progress when the body labors. Tired, we share a great feeling of accomplishment.

Prepping the Golden Eagle jump

Working on the Talon Crew means more than earning a crew jacket identifying us as members of this special community. We love the sport; we support the athletes. We know that the athletes relish racing on this course because they thank us, in person. Some join us on the crew after they retire from the white circus.

Our love of skiing and a closeness with the racers means that the Talon Crew works harder, striving to make our racecourse surface better than any other on earth. The crew believes that the first racer, the 20th racer and the last racer should all have the same chance to win.

Big crowd at the finish area

As we work to maintain that course surface during a race, we watch the battle of muscle, sinew and nerve unfold feet away. Each of us on the hill watches, cheers and hopes as a favorite racer speeds past us on the course. And when that special racer rockets past, blending raw aggression and grace, we hope. When that racer crosses the finish, we hold a collective breath. And then, a roar from the finish rolls up the racecourse like a wave, and we know. We know our boy’s won.

And that’s why we volunteer. It’s about being a part of something bigger than ourselves while celebrating the sport we love. We’re a community that’s one week long and a thousand friendships deep. We are the Talon Crew.

During the 2011 Audi World Cup Birds of Prey ski races, Heather is blogging for the Talon Crew.  This group of insanely dedicated volunteers spends thousands of hours each year preparing and maintaining the 1.5 mile racecourse.

reprinted from the Talon Crew Blog

Talon Crew Profiles: Katie Keane

by Heather Thomas

Katie ascending an A-net tower

Katie, what would you like to say to the Talon Crew?

I’m single, in my thirties and seeking someone for long walks on the beach … no seriously!

Katie’s laugh is infectious. It’s a great chuckle that relaxes everybody around her. This newly promoted Assistant Chief of Course has worked the Birds of Prey races for years. An ex-college racer who fell in love with Western terrain, Katie started working at Beaver Creek fresh out of college. She’s worked her way steadily up in the race department and assumed greater responsibility during the race since her arrival.

OK, my real advice to the Talon Crew is don’t bring poles! Plus, you will probably work harder than you’ve ever worked when you come here, but the harder you work the sooner you can take a break!

Is Birds of Prey a year-round job for you?

This past year we started in May by tearing out and replacing the A-Net towers. Assuming the permits go through, we’ll start building a new racecourse for the women for the upcoming events in 2013 and the World Championships in 2015. We hope to cut the new slope and install and snow making over the summer. We also plan to reconfigure the finish area at Red Tail Camp.

How is the professional race crew going to deal with the increased workload for the upcoming races in 2013 and 2015?

We’re temporarily bringing in race crews from the local mountains to help. We’ll draw from Vail, Breck and Keystone. We will also give more responsibility to the Talon Crew; we know they can handle it!

Katie Keane (photo taloncrew.blogspot.com)

You and Ellen Galbraith are #1 and #2 in the race department. It’s pretty unusual to have two women in charge of a major race department, not to mention you two are both Assistant Chief of Course for a World Cup event.

Yeah, but it’s easier when a woman smiles and asks you to do a really difficult job like shovel the next 1.5 miles going down a mountain.

How is this year going on the course?

Energetic! We’ve had good weather, less work than usual, and I have 350 over-amped vollies who are ready to pitch in. I love their dedication and their hard work. We couldn’t do this event without them.

What type of skier should consider applying for the Talon Crew?

Vollies should be expert skiers who are comfortable on skis all day and can hold a strong edge. Sharp skis and quality ski tuning are also crucial.

Any tips for the Crew?

As Chief of Course Ron Rupert says, “Look uphill! Nothing from below can hurt you.”