Keystone – Heavy clouds scraped high peaks and ridges on a cold, gloomy Monday morning, and the snow on North Peak’s Starfire trail was hard and icy.
While not the conditions tourists dream of finding in the Colorado Rockies, the weather hardly mattered to the U.S. Ski Team, and the snow conditions were ideal for training.
“It’s incredible,” said slalom/giant slalom racer Jimmy Cochran of Keene, N.H. “We’re so lucky with this setup. This is some of the best training we’ve ever had. Just the quality of the snow, the way the hill is – beautiful hill – and there’s nobody here but us.”
With season-opening World Cup slalom races set for this weekend in Levi, Finland, coaches “injected” the slope Sunday night with water so it would freeze and harden the racing surface, simulating the race conditions they are apt to face.
“It was a little harder today, just like a World Cup,” said Cochran, a 2006 Olympian. “It’s unbelievable. It doesn’t get any better.”
Olympic combined champion Ted Ligety only wished he had two healthy hands. Ligety broke a bone in his right hand training last month on a high glacier in Pitztal, Austria, and he’s been training with one pole since. His hand notwithstanding, Ligety was grateful to have exclusive use of a mountain instead of having to share it with other teams and tourists.
“It’s unbelievable,” Ligety said. “To have this kind of training first week in November is awesome. Full winter snow, we’re able to inject, and we have our own high-speed quad (lift). There’s no line and nobody on the hill but us.”
Cochran has ski racing in his blood. His father (Bob) and three aunts (Marilyn, Barbara Ann and Lindy) were Olympians. Barbara Cochran won a gold medal in slalom at Sapporo in 1972.
He is lucky for his lineage, but also to have teammates like Ligety and Bode Miller. Ligety is one of the world’s best slalom racers. Miller used to be, and could be again.
“It’s huge,” said Cochran, 25. “To ski with a guy like Ted or Bode, it’s so nice. You know Ted is one of the fastest guys in the world, and if you’re close, you’re skiing that good. It’s legit. Same with Bode.
“Also, it’s nice just to be able to talk to them about equipment. A huge portion of the coaching that goes on in our team is athlete to athlete, talking about new ideas and things to try.”
The dynamic within the team also helps Ligety, who came to the mountain Monday with a collection of his new signature “Shred” goggles, which he developed in the offseason with an Italian engineer.
“We’re always debating,” Ligety said. “We debate what we think is the right (equipment) setup, the right ramp angle, different styles.”
Ligety and Cochran leave today for Levi, a ski area 100 miles north of the Arctic Circle. The women race Saturday, the men Sunday. Then everyone heads back to North America for races in Aspen (women) and Lake Louise, Alberta (men) on Thanksgiving weekend.
“The first race of the year, if you can set the tone, that’s huge for the rest of the year,” Cochran said. “If you start the year off with a slow race or you crash, you’re in a hole and you’ve got to dig yourself out. Not to put undue pressure on the first race, but yeah, it’s very important.”
