Unexcused Absences

VIP Area!

The champagne and baked salmon (with capers and lemon) on Saturday were divine. As were the grilled asparagus, the artichoke and olive salad, and the spectacular desert table. Were we at one of Beaver Creek’s numerous gourmet restaurants? Had we lost our minds and dropped $50 a person on a buffet brunch? Had we somehow fallen asleep and woken up as wealthy celebrities? Nope, we just knew the right person.

“Fantasy” Saturday Lunch

Thanks to a well-connected friend, we were given passes to the VIP hospitality tent at the Birds of Prey race on Saturday (one of our days off). Rubbing elbows with the rich and famous proved a delightful way to watch the Super-G race. The VIP area occupied a large section right next to the finish – including a portion right next to the athlete’s finish area. “So,” we thought, “this is how the other half lives.”

Endless line of private jets at Eagle-Vail Airport

But at Beaver Creek, it’s more like how the other two-thirds live. Besides a fine pedigree in the racing world, The Beav is famous for attracting the ultra-rich and famous. To give you an idea, the minimum size for a slope-side home at The Beav is 12,000 square feet, leading to the phrase commonly used to describe a wealthy couple, “Oh, their house meets the minimum.” And during holiday periods, the private jets are triple-parked at the local airport.

“Reality” Sunday Lunch

Fantasy Saturday passed, and on Reality Sunday we were back on the bus at 6:00am headed for a pre-dawn chairlift ride to work another shift on the Talon Crew. The GS, short for Giant Slalom (a “technical” event more about agility and technique than raw speed) race was on, and we were back volunteering just above the Golden Eagle jump shoveling, raking, and minding the gates during the race. The athletes rocketed by at about at about 40 – 50 mph, cranking through a series of turns right in front of us. Yes, the view was amazing.

Ted Ligety (USA) on his way to 1st place in GS

Even more fun was watching America’s own Ted Ligety thunder by not 15 feet away from us on his way to winning his first Birds of Prey World-Cup race (he’s finished third, fourth, second and fourth here the past four years). Yes, these photos here are ones we took, not pictures grabbed off the web.

Priceless view

During a particularly large raking session between races (the GS has 2 runs), a gentleman stopped by and chatted with our section chief. We and the other volunteers jealously admired his Kjus “Birds of Prey” special edition jacket. Not that our Eddie Bauer First Ascent Birds of Prey jackets weren’t wonderful, but Kjus jackets typically sell for the price of a small car – and this one was just stunning. Afterwards, I asked our chief what that gentleman had done to get such a great jacket. The chief responded that he was the major American sponsor of the race, and head of a multinational chemical corporation. I found it interesting that he was out on the hill with the volunteers, and not in the VIP tent. Apparently, the view from the racecourse IS priceless!

Best seat in the house

One final note, to add to the “Why Beaver Creek” post, the final racer had finished Sunday and we were beginning the long process of taking down all the “stuff” associated with putting on a World Cup ski race when the Chief Race Director for the World Cup, Günter Hujara (the number one official in World-Cup-land), skied up to us and reached out a hand and personally thanked us for all the hard work we had put in as volunteers the past week. And then we watched as he continued down the racecourse and did the same with all the volunteers on the hill. Günter is a major celebrity in the ski-racing world, and he could easily have just gone on to his fancy hotel suite and catered meal, yet he took the time to look us in the eye and thank us personally. A truly classy gesture.

Heather adjusts a gate

Aksel Lund Svindal

Race Finish Stadium