Tag Archives: Outdoor Sports

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The Attack from the Back

us%20ski%20team.finals2013photo I just came in from my hike in the snow and although it was pleasant, I am dying to ski. I have been out once, but the weather around here has not been consistent for the season to open full scale. So, I placate myself watching all the ski racing on TV and I DVR all of them. I just watched Ted Ligety, our US Team star slay all in the GS at Beaver Creek and watched Lindsey Vonn make her second comeback of the season from knee injuries to finish 10th in a downhill at Lake Louise in Canada. These world class athletes are amazing in that they take their rehab seriously and want to win at all costs. They are not afraid to put it all on the line and risk injury for the reward of a gold medal. My friend Travis Durfee, who at one time was top ten in Downhill and Super G west of the Mississippi for several years and a member ofthe prestigious Far West team, always said that the difference between world class competitors and national class competitors was that fearless attitude to go as fast as they could and put it all out there risking all. Susan DiBiase, another friend, said the same thing about women racing dowhill in mountain biking. If you are not willing to take every risk, you will never reach the pinacle of the sport. She was a pro mountain biker and knew the game. Ski racing is a dangerous sport and I thought of my dabbling in it way back when, and how I was not willing to take those risks at all cost.

I was not a very fast ski racer. I came from the instructors background and although people said I looked smooth in a race course, I was not fast. Locally, we had several guys who were fast because they tried as hard as they could to beat each other every weekend. We had juniors, seniors and masters races at our local mountain. My group all grew up racing together and when we were in our twenties, we all raced as masters in the USSA races here and sometimes visiting our friends in New England. It was a lot of fun, but guys like Porter Scott, Bill Boucher, and Craig Jerome were the fast guys. They were the tops in our division and my friends Craig Morris and Tim Chappell and I were always chasing their times. We got smart and decided that while those guys were trying to kill themselves to beat each other, we needed to put two consistent runs together and we might end up in the money. Usually one of them or a couple of them would crash because they would be willing to put it all on the line and one or two of us would sneak in there and stand up for two runs and grab a trophy. People got to think we were good but really our strategy was to make sure we finished two runs reasonably fast and hope for the best. That hope was that one of the fast guys or two of the fast guys would crash. We called ourselves the attack from the back and oftentimes we got the trophy. I have a box full of trophies in the basement that are a testament to the fact that I could put together two smooth looking but not fast runs, but fast enough if the good guys tried to kill each other.

I got to see some really good guys when I ventured to New England to race with my friend Eric Durfee who was a really fast racer and had collegiate and Can- Am experience. He was a real ski racer and the guys in New England were a different breed and very competitive and very fast. When our crowd went up there, we got smoked. Even the fast guys. I would do NASTAR races with Eric at Mad River and Killington and would watch him try to destroy the pacesetter while I was just trying to win a gold pin. That is the difference. The fast guys in New England were competitive as all hell and wanted to win no matter what the venue. To this day, Eric is our fearless leader when we ski with him and his competitive nature and win at all costs, is still evident in his free skiing. His son Travis is the same and it is amazing to see these guys in action.

I have also had the good fortune to see World Cup races and see the best in the world. Just like any sport, it is enlightenling to see world class athletes and how they perform. I skied with Phil Mahre one day, who was our greatest male ski racer of all time along with his brother Steve. I got to see first hand how strong they were and how they effortlessly carved trenches in the snow and nothing threw them off balance. I thought I was pretty good on the snow but when I got to ski with world class guys, you quickly realize that these guys are on a completely different level. Ski racing hones good technique and the one thing that was always good about running gates even at my level, was it made your skiing sharp and the little bit of local competitiveness was not only fun, but it made you a better skier. Craig, Tim and I talk all the time about the attack from the back and how we succeeded at grabbing a trophy out from under the faster guys. Eric, Travis, Ted and Bodie would disagree with our philosophy by saying that if you don’t put it all on the line, you will never know what your potential is even if you crash out of a lot of courses. Bodie Miller was a classic example in that if he managed to stand up for two runs, he usually was in the money. He crashed more often than not but his willingness to win at all costs is what makes him world class. The 59 year old kid, unfortunately, did not have the talent or the will to do that. But skiers from the banana belt seldom reach those lofty heights anyhow.

Probably the only time I can remember putting it all on the line was when I was a kid and dove across the finish line at our little Standard Race to try to win the coveted gold 7 pin. I got my pin but took out the timing device and everyone in the lodge thought I had killed myself. Kind of a dumb way to try to be faster but I was proud to win that gold. When you were a fat little kid and you wore that gold 7, you had arrived. I got the bug, but the smooth looking turns eventually won out and the attack from the back was born. Hoping some snow comes our way soon or I will have to keep watching the fast guys show me how it is done. Think snow and thanks for reading.

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Get to know an Austrian

From the Best of http://www.chroniclesofmccloskey.com

Trans Can HigwayGoogle Image Result for http--www.flags.net-images-largeflags-AUST0002.GIF (2)photophotophotorodeln01 If you check out my Janury 23rd blog post about my time in Austria called “The Rodelrennen” you will see some funny things that happened along the way there. If you are a skier, at some point you will meet an Austrian. Even if you are not a skier, you will still like the stories of a very passionate and humorous people whose lives revolve around winter sports. As I said in the post, my first experience with the Austrians was on an exchange trip between U.S. and Austrian ski instructors. I was a guest for two weeks in that country and participated in the Rodelrennen(read about it), skied in many areas including the Soelden glacier where the recent World Cup opening races were held, and taught for a week in Kuhtai- a small resort near the Italian border. Witnessing the Hahnnenkamm World Cup Downhill Race, I got to see the passion of the Austrians up close and personal as 100,000+ people line the “Streif” to see their heroes rocket down the slope at nearly 90 MPH into the finish area. This race is like the Super Bowl in Austria and the whole town of Kitzbuhel buzzes with the energy of the world’s greatest ski race.

In my teaching experience over there at Kuhtai, I was reminded that the origin of ski instruction was in St. Anton, Austria. The technique of the Austrians was never questioned and the introduction of the wider stance by the PSIA American Technique was seen with a wary eye by the patrons of the Kuhtai resort. I was trying to teach them the wider, more athletic stance that the racers were using, but the ladies and gentlemen who were taking the mandatory lesson at the time would hear none of that. They wanted me to guide them basically around the resort and not try to teach them anything new especially the current teachings of the PSIA. I drank their plum schnapps and reveled with them as they all enjoyed their time in Kuhtai, but make no mistake, we were in the land of skiing- Austria. Anyone else who thought differently was a usurper to the ultimate degree.

Personally, I have met many Austrians in my skiing adventures and as much as they are a proud people who take their winter sports very seriously, they are a fun lot. Take my friend Max Katzenberger. Max was a pilot for USAirways and was proud of the fact that he was a captain and worked his way up through the Austrian military. He always walked in front of his crew and remarked to me one time that whenever he was in a holding pattern and wanted to land, he just thickened up his accent a bit and they got him down in a hurry. Another time, some guys were ignoring the flight attendants on the plane and their instructions. Max called the security at the gate and had them removed from the plane. He remarked,” I tell you guys to behave, you don’t behave, now you go to the Klink!!!” You don’t mess with an Austrian. Max was fun to ski with and was a very enjoyable host on my honeymoon with Janet. We met Max and his wife Barb in Austria and toured the country with them. They showed us his home town of Moedling and we spent some time in the Austrian wine country in the foothills of the Alps in a town named Gumpleskirchen. Max had that joyous love of life. He passed away a few years ago and he is sorely missed among the local ski community.

Josef Cabe was the ski school director at Hidden Valley Resort here in Pa. for many years. Josef and I would travel to PSIA update clinics and it was so funny to hear his big hearty laugh and his very thick accent. He constantly criticized the clinic leaders and insisted on showing them the right way to ski. He was strong as a bull and could ski most people into the ground, including the clinic leaders. In the evenings, he led the group in song with Austrian anthems and everybody loved Josef on the slope and off the slopes.

Another Austrian that I spent some fun time with was Rolf Sigmund who owned a ski shop in town at the time. Rolf was a solid skier in the Austrian mold and we went heli-skiing one time in British Columbia together. He didn’t like the off piste skiing in the trees, and in the wind packed conditions that you get sometimes before you hit the deep powder that is always shown in the movies for heli-skiing. Sometimes it gets pretty rugged and Rolf always remarked to me on that trip that,” thees is pullsheet McClaaaahskey. We should go to Tahoe. The slopes are smooth and the chicks look at you in da lines and it is way more fun than theeees pullllsheet McClaaahhhhskey.” I laughed as he tried to bribe the helicopter pilot into flying us back to the lodge so we could watch the Super Bowl. Rolf was hilarious as he drank his schnapps and abused some loud obnoxious New Yorkers who were along on the trip.

I got my rear end chewed pretty well one time by a rather intimidating Austrian named Rudi Kuersteiner. I was with a group of guys skiing rather fast through a beginner area at Whiteface in the Adirondacks. We were there for a clinic and Rudi saw us and skied up to us at the bottom of the hill and demanded that we all follow him to the side of the slope. There he told us in no uncertain terms how rude we were and how dangerous it was to ski that fast where beginners are learning to ski. He was right!! We were wrong and were told so by an old pro. Again, you don’t mess with an Austrian. Fun loving people but don’t get on their bad side.

The Austrians are passionate people and if you get the chance to ski with them, talk with them, drink beers with them, you will surely have a good time and you will be told how skiing really is and how you must go to Austria to ski where it all began. I always laugh when I think of their universal famous line to me…………” you don’t know sheeeeet McClaaaahhhskey.” They are right. Thanks for reading.