Unexcused Absences

Scott Snow - all smiles after going fast!

Scott Snow — what a great name for an alpine ski racer! And, Scott Snow just happens to be the youngest member of the US Men’s Alpine Ski Team. Sitting down with Scott’s father, Shep, over dinner during the Birds of Prey World Cup Ski Race, I asked him what it is like to have a son on the US Ski Team. What I discover during our conversation about the costs involved and sacrifices from the family shocks me.

Pay to the Order of the US Ski Team

Scott pays his own way on the team. In fact, only the top 5 or 6 athletes on the team don’t pay their own way. Shep writes a check to the US Ski Team for $22,000 per season. Not included in this price are any plane tickets home (from North America and Europe) during the season and a host of other, smaller expenses which will total about $5,000-6,000.  For example, the athletes cook their own meals on the road. When cooking facilities or grocery stores aren’t readily available, the athletes eat out. An 18-year-old ski racer eats a couple of entrées in a European resort town after a day of training, and those bills add up quickly.

“Scott could have gone to Harvard — twice — for what we’ve spent on racing,” Shep says. Knowing they are not a rich family, I press him on how they paid and continue to pay these bills. Shep explains that the family follows a strict household budget as well as putting all bonuses, tax refunds and windfalls in the envelope. But personal savings are only a small part of the story.

“I always knew it was coming.”

Scott started skiing by himself at the age of 2. At the age of 4, his family moved to their current hometown of Sagle, ID. Scott skied 140 days that year. In fact, Scott stopped attending traditional school in 5^th grade, opting for homeschooling and spending over 130 days per year skiing with Shep. Let me emphasize that point again; Scott stopped attending regular school in 5^th grade to ski and train during his childhood. That’s how much work Scott put into his ski racing before joining the US Ski Team.

Early on, Shep earned his USSA coaching license, allowing Scott (and his older sister, Bonnie) to race as “Independents” rather than join an expensive and structured ski racing club. When he was 7, Scott won his first national championship at the NASTAR finals in Beaver Creek. Given his talent and dedication, the family knew Scott would likely have a career as a ski racer.

“I want to go fast”

At the age of 14, Scott firmly decided to pursue a career as a racer, aiming for the World Cup and the Olympics. At that point, the family redirected his college savings toward the expenses associated with racing, including travel and race entry fees. Seeing Bonnie enjoying great success with school as well as developing a strong interest in military service gave the family hope that her college expenses would be covered (Scott’s other two siblings are out of college). Sure enough, Bonnie received a full ride with academic and Army ROTC scholarships to Montana State University, where she currently studies Chemical Engineering.

“The bottom line is that if Bonnie hadn’t received an ROTC scholarship to college, Scott would not be on the US Ski Team,” Shep continues. “We never told Scott that his goal was unattainable. He is very aware of the sacrifices made by other family members, but we never want to ladle on the guilt. Let’s just say that our family weighs expenses a little differently than others.”

Of course, Scott also contributes. He works all summer (he has two jobs) besides being available for all sorts of odd jobs like landscaping, minor construction and selling firewood in his hometown of Sagle, ID. Being able to squat 500 lbs certainly has its advantages in the job market! Scott also sells his old ski gear, contributing his earnings to the envelope.

“We really receive wonderful support from gear manufacturers,” Shep enthuses. “As he’s gotten older and faster, sponsors now offer him everything he needs from long underwear, socks, back protectors, helmets and goggles to skis. I think Atomic has given him $16,000 in skis per year! Plus, we never could have done it without the help of the T2 Foundation. In fact, I know World Cup athletes who would not be there right now if the Foundation had not helped out. We also receive all kinds of support from generous friends, family and local businesses.”

“The greatest ski racer in the world has probably never put a pair on,” quips Shep. 

This is where the story of Scott’s racing success diverges a bit from the many similar stories of young, successful athletes and their families. While coaching Scott and Bonnie when both were young, Shep quickly became aware of a number of other local kids who were interested in ski racing. Skiing is an expensive sport and most of these kids could barely afford a season pass, much less membership in a USSA ski club. Shep knew many folks and businesses were willing help out good kids. So, he went from coaching Scott and Bonnie as “Independents” to founding and coaching the Independence Racing Team in 2000.

“You’d be amazed what you can make happen,” he exclaims when he speaks about the Independence Racing Team. The team is made up of “blue collar kids” who wouldn’t normally have the money to ski race. In the US, ski racing is normally reserved for kids from wealthier families. “We don’t bother with uniforms or any of that unnecessary stuff,” Shep says. “And the kids work during the summer at fundraisers to earn enough money so that they can race during the winter.”

So what started out as a way to reduce the cost of Scott and Bonnie’s ski racing became a full-fledged USSA alpine racing team. The Independence Racing Team boasts over 85 alumni, 100 USSA medals, and 5 Junior Olympians in only 12 years!  Shep is currently the full time director and coaches kids 6-14 years old five days a week.

While the Snow family story is one of great successes and sacrifices, it’s also an incredible story of generosity. The Snows didn’t just support Scott; they supported many aspiring athletes – who would not have had the chance to race otherwise – and opened up the sport of alpine ski racing in the process.

What’s happening now

Having finished High School last spring, Scott continues racing for the US Ski Team on the long climb upward toward World Cup and Olympic racing (read how this is done in this excellent blog post by Shep). He heads back to Europe later this winter, finishing up his season at speed events here in the US. You can follow his personal blog here and his racing here.

The Snows (including Scott who is en route to the World junior Alpine Ski Championships in Italy) will be at Bryce Resort over the Presidents’ Day weekend.

A personal note

Scott learned how to ski at Bryce Resort — on Kent’s old red plastic skis. We’ve watched Scott grow and are deeply proud of his athletic accomplishments. We are prouder still of the kind, fun, thoughtful young man he’s become over the years. Knowing how much it means to Scott to have the opportunity to race on the US Ski Team and how much his mother, father and siblings support him, we’ve also made a commitment to support him. If you would like to contribute to Scott via the Independence Racing Team, follow this link.

The US Ski Team came to town this week. There was a pair of FIS (International Ski Federation) slalom races here at Beaver Creek, and the best young college and national team skiers showed up. Big races are always fun, if for no other reason than to watch the athletes out free-skiing before and after the race. These folks can really turn a pair of skis.

FIS Slalom Race Startline

Our friend Scott (youngest member of the US Ski Team) was in town for the race, and we hosted his dad (Shep) in our spare bedroom. The last time we saw them was a little over a month ago in Aspen for the US National Downhill Championships. It’s always a blast hanging out with these two, Shep and I swap stories from back in the 1980′s, and Scott is overflowing with enthusiasm for my favorite/second favorite sport. Scott had a pair of solid, if not stellar, runs in the first slalom race. In his defense this was his first time in a slalom course in about 3 weeks.

Kent gratefully accepts Scott's old GS racing skis

But the big news, aside from the fantastic day of skiing we had (I’ll get to that in a minute), was that when Shep pulled in last night, he said “I’ve got your skis all tuned and waxed,” which prompted a “what skis?” response from me. “We’re giving you a pair of Scott’s GS race skis from last year,” Shep said. A large grin spread over my face. “You can’t be serious?!?” I replied. “Yep, I’ll go get them,” whereupon Shep went out to the car and came back carrying a pair of race-stock 191cm Atomic Doubledeck beauties. These are the same skis that World Cup racers use, a fantastic and generous gift. The general public can’t even buy race-stock skis like these. Very stiff, very stable at speed, pure skiing fun in a 24 pound package.

The next morning was Saturday, race day, but before watching Scott’s races there was some business to attend to. Friday nights the Beav grooms Golden Eagle, a double-black diamond vertical skating rink where they hold the Birds of Prey World Cup Downhill race every year. This is one fun, fast slope, and to top things off, it had snowed a few inches after the grooming machines had worked the slope over last night. Shep and I caught first chair to the top of the mountain, and slid over to the top of the “Brink”, a fall-away pitch that marks the start of about 2000 vertical feet of sometimes brutal steeps. We paused to take in the quiet morning view, untracked snow laid out in front of us, then pushed off into a truly fantastic run of endless turns down untracked powder. Unfortunately Heather and Scott couldn’t join us, Heather because she was working and Scott because he was inspecting the race course.

After watching Scott’s two slalom runs, and grabbing a bite of lunch, we collected Heather and Scott and the four of us headed back to Golden Eagle for another go at the downhill course. Scott was still wearing his 165cm slalom race skis, which are short, twitchy, and very unstable at speed. They are designed for slow speed (~30 mph) and lots of quick turns. An appropriate ski for this slope is at least 190cm, and preferably 215cm (at this point I’m on Scott’s old 191cm GS skis).

If you remember my previous post about free-skiing with Scott, this story will have a familiar ring to it. We arrived at the top of the Brink, and Scott turns and says, “follow me, I’m going to ski the race line,” then points his slalom skis straight down the Brink and immediately accelerates to over 60 mph, through the Talon Turn, around Pete’s Arena, and past the Super G start. What the reader may not realize is that it is now after noon, which means that the slope is no longer the pristine groomed surface of our morning run, but rather is a jumble of snow piles, ridges, ruts, washboards, and moguls. I did my best to keep up, but Scott rapidly pulls away into the distance. And I’m the one with the skis more suited to this slope and speed.

Scott graciously pulls up to wait for me part way down, and then we’re off again, back to 60+ mph, around the Pumphouse turn, big air over the Screech Owl jump, and across the Parking Lot. This time I’m doing a little better keeping up. I see Scott look over his shoulder to check on me, then look back and fly off the Golden Eagle jump. I pre-jump it but still get decent air, then we swoop through a hard right-foot compression in the Abyss, over Bode’s Demise, a left foot turn into Harrier jump, shoot the pitch, and come to a stop at the top of Red Tail jump just above the finish line.  *Whew*.  It’s remarkable what effect peer pressure (from a 17-year old!) can have on a middle-aged, marginally accomplished skier.

After that Scott had to get back to the Team, and Heather, Shep and I spent the afternoon on a full, leisurely tour of the Bachelor Gulch and Arrowhead sections of the resort, making some great high-speed cruising laps on Sawbuck and Golden Bear. The final thing on the day’s agenda was a beer on the sun deck at the Ritz, and then we called it quits after a beautiful spring day covering 25,000 vertical feet.

The final race of the Beaver Creek Town Series went off with a number of hitches, sadly for the Coyote Cafe team. The format was a dual head-to-head GS down lower Centennial, a formidable pitch suitable for World Cup action.

The trouble started right out of the gate (so to speak), our two star skiers, Burke and Drew, took off side-by-side, Drew fell at the 3rd gate and took out Burke right next to him, resulting in two DNF’s for our team. To make matters worse, the next thing we heard over the radio was “ski patrol to lower Centennial,” but fortunately what looked initially like a broken arm for Drew turned out to be just a deep bruise to his elbow.

Coyote Cafe Team - Drew, Ron, Katie, Kent, and Michael (Burke not pictured)

Katie, Michael and I all got our golds, but with only five racers per team, getting two “no results” applied a brutal hit to our season standings, and we fell from solidly in second place into a tie for third. With third we were still “in the money,” podium-wise, but after flirting with first place a few times during the season it was a bit of a disappointment. On top of that, because the organizers didn’t expect a tie, there was only one set of third-place prize mugs, so we (graciously) offered the mugs to the team we tied, since the Coyote Cafe team is made up of Race Department folks. C’est la vie.

Still, we had fun at the after-party at Agave, with a tasty Mexican buffet dinner and some truly stupendous prizes – how about six pairs of new skis & bindings, four GoPro video camera systems, a $150 bottle of champagne, and a lot of lesser booty. Yours truly won a set of top and bottom Mountain HardWear baselayers, worth about $100. Not the new skis, but not the lime-green BudLite hats, either. (*whew*)

Next season’s Town Series is only 10 months away!

The following day held the finals of the Instructor Race Series, which was a mogul competition down Gold Rush. What a hoot! I had not done a bump competition since about 1992 at Snowshoe, West Virginia. Moguls seemed so much softer 20 years ago! Still, it was a fun time. I beat my boss in the Race Department (I’m still on the fence whether that’s a good thing or not), and took first place for the season standings in the Men’s 40+ division.

For my efforts I won a nice pair of Schneider padded racing gloves, which were too small for me but fit Heather perfectly (hmmm…). I suspect that my favorite wife secretly conspired with the organizers to make sure that first prize in the Men’s 40+ division was a pair of… women’s racing gloves. That’s ok, she still owes me dinner for a bet we made last weekend!

“Don’t worry about this one. If you miss it, we lose.”

- Ty Webb, from the movie “Caddyshack”

I got an unexpected vote of confidence from my Race Department colleagues today, which presented itself in the form of “hey, Kent, you’re subbing for Rupert today on the Coyote Cafe team.”  ”Oh, great,” I thought, “that’s all I need.” I was happy to just quietly participate as a solo racer in the weekly Beaver Creek “Town Series” races, otherwise known as the “Locals’ World Cup.” Individuals can race solo, although the real action is in the team competition, where local businesses put together and sponsor teams of five.

The Bear Trap Race Course

I mostly participate in these races so I can attend the after parties, which are fantastic (what’s not to love about free beer, great food and lots of prizes?). Instead, now I’m on the spot with my colleagues and teammates (the bulk of the Coyote Cafe team is made up of Race Department folks). These teams mean business, and our team (I can say “our” now that I’ve raced for them) has been flirting with first place standing all season. At stake is bragging rights for the entire off-season. There is no room for error, all five team member’s times count on each day. To win the season, every team member basically has to score gold every week, because there are a dozen other teams right there behind waiting to pounce. And to top it off, a place with the Coyote Cafe – THE local apres ski joint on the hill – is one of the most coveted spots in the series. I was two runs away from either glory or disgrace.

After-Party at "D'Oro Restaurant"

I checked out my competition around the start of this week’s race, a dual format Giant Slalom run down Bear Trap, a short but steep race hill.  There were a surprising number of former NCAA Div-1 racers, state champions, even some folks from various national teams, who participate.  At my skill level I didn’t really belong here, but the series is open to everyone, and anyone who’s been around me at a ski slope knows that I find it very difficult (if not impossible) to pass up the opportunity to race.

Fortunately, I’ve got one thing even more valuable than years of high-end coaching, race academies, and the latest equipment that most of my competitors seem to have. I’ve got, ahem… age. The way the race is scored, you get your individual gold, silver or bronze standing (for coveted team points) through an age-adjusted handicap. So while these young hot-shots have 2-4 seconds on me, I’ve got 20 years on them. Which means that in the quest for gold, I leave the starting gate each run with a distinct advantage.

I’ve been secretly wondering all season how to score a spot with the Coyote Cafe team, and now here I am!  I wandered over to my fellow teammates.  ”Thanks, guys, for putting me in.”  ”No problem,” Burke said, grinning, “just get a gold.” My first run I was a little tentative, right on the bubble between silver and gold, but on run #2 I dropped the hammer just a bit and got my gold with over a second to spare (a second is a long time in ski racing). Fear of failure in front of your peers is a wonderful motivator!

So all is well. As of this evening, Coyote Cafe is now tied for first place in the season standings.