Unexcused Absences

Vintage Ski Race Start

Beaver Creek marks the end of ski season by celebrating skiing’s history and its can-do spirit. On the final Saturday the woolen garments, straight skis and run-away straps come out as the resort hosts the Jimmie Heuga Vintage Ski Race.

For those of you who aren’t skiing history buffs, in 1964 Jimmie Heuga and Billy Kidd became the first American men to medal at the Olympics in alpine skiing. A scant few years later, with mysterious symptoms plaguing his skiing, Jimmie was diagnosed with MS. Doctors advised him to stop physical activity. Instead, he founded Can Do MS which challenged the accepted wisdom of the day and encouraged those with MS to set goals and to participate in physical activities in order to live fuller, richer lives.

Olympian Billy Kidd

In Jimmy’s honor, the resort puts on the Jimmie Heuga Vintage Ski Race in authentic vintage style. Bamboo poles with canvas flags mark the course where skiers are hand-timed by a race crew wearing vintage ski clothing. And then there are the vintage racers! Billy Kidd and other top skiers from the 60’s scrounge in their closets and garages for gear made before most of us were born. When they arrive at the start line, they GO! Muscle memory is an amazing thing. On older skis, the methods for building and maintaing speed and the techniques for choosing the race line are all different than with modern skis. And yet, these gentlemen in their 70’s remember ALL of it, their bodies performing techniques unseen on the slopes since the advent of shaped skis. Of course, Olympian Billy Kidd wins the ski celebrity division … he’s still damn fast on any kind of ski.

At the Start

But the Vintage Race isn’t only so the older generation can ski down memory lane.  Skiers of all ages come out in gear dating as far back as WWI. Wooden skis! Woolen ski skirts! Folks in their 20’s bring out vintage neon one-pieces and straight skis from the 80’s. I see an old 10th Mountain Division suit, a WWII uniform, and even see a Karl Howelson (founder of Howelsen Hill in Steamboat) costume along with guys memorializing the heyday of Glen Plake.

Wooden Rental Skis

Kent and I rent 50’s gear from Richard Allen of Vintage Ski World at a booth at the base of the race hill. We don our canvas racing bibs and head to the top of the Buckaroo Express Gondola. We put our boots into our bindings (if you can call them that) and attach our run-away straps. I’m wearing Greg’s high school racing sweater along with jeans and a pair of Scott ski boots that look like they belong on an Imperial Storm Trooper.  These are actually some of the first plastic boots ever made, and while I wouldn’t call them confortable they aren’t too bad as long as I don’t actually ski in them.

Vintage Ski Outfit

Skiing in the white Scott boots is unlike modern skiing. They’re soft, squishy and don’t really offer any more support than a pair of high-top tennis shoes. I have none of the fine control of my modern ski boots. Racing in the old gear gives me a whole new appreciation for recent advances in boot technology. Folks in the industry always crow about shaped skis, but I think I could easily ski these straight wooden skis wearing modern boots. I feel like I can hardly pressure these delicate plastic things on my feet, that making an actual modern turn in these boots would destroy them. I chicken out at the race start and revert to the safest of all skiing techniques — the snowplow. I manage to make it down in just under a minute, but I attract a certain amount of gentle ridicule from the race crew!

The taint of intact-but-slow-racer shame is washed away by a photo op with Billy!  I’m a huge fan of America’s most famous ski ambassador.

Billy Kidd and me!

Kent on the Podium

Kent, on the other hand, feels much more comfortable in his ski gear and his tie-dye-and-jeans look from the 1970’s. He recalls coming to Beaver Creek in 1989 with his parents to race the NASTAR finals. He fondly remembers his long, straight racing skis of days past and immediately feels at home. His run looks great. He remembers to step uphill before each gate and really works his straight skis. He looks like a natural, and wins the non-celebrity portion of the ski race.

Costume Contest

The event culminates with a costume contest and raffle in front of McCoy’s cafe. I win a pair of Hot Tronics boot dryers — little electronic goodies I’ve been coveting all season!!

What a great way to end a fantastic season, by celebrating the can-do attitude of one of the great American ski racers and celebrating that spirit in all skiers!

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Almost Famous!

After the race (and after I’ve discarded my jeans in favor of real ski pants), my friend Susan and I sit down to enjoy a coffee while the race results are tallied.  A photographer from the Vail Daily happens to snap our photo and voila! our 15 minutes of fame is secured.  Here’s a link to the Vail Daily article on the Vintage Ski Race.