Snowmass – Daron Rahlves is frustrated, angry, stiff and sore. He’s getting slapped around by skiercross guys with records far inferior to his. He has crashed in every event he has entered, crashed so hard in training here last week he couldn’t compete the next day.
So why is the guy so happy?
He doesn’t have to spend the winter in Europe anymore. In August he will become a father – of twins.
And Rahlves always loves a challenge. It took him a few years to figure out World Cup racing, but he retired with 12 wins, 28 podiums and three world championships medals. His reputation as America’s greatest downhiller is unchallenged.
Now he has found another riddle to unravel, this time on 190-centimeter giant slalom skis, trying to conquer skiercross on The Ski Tour.
“Ski racing was incredible, it was one of the most amazing things I could ever imagine doing, but been there, done that,” Rahlves said while The Ski Tour’s skiercross event went on without him last Friday. “I left healthy and strong at the top of my game. Now I want to try something else.
“Some people are like, ‘You might taint your image.’ I don’t care. I want to learn. I’m a skier, I love to be challenged in new ways. I’m getting spanked a bit, but it brings a smile to my face. I’m loving it.”
It’s a journey that might lead Rahlves back to the Olympics – skiercross will make its debut at Vancouver in 2010 – but so far he has been taking his lumps.
In the first Ski Tour event at Sun Valley, Idaho, former U.S. Ski Team mate Casey Puckett gave him a rude reception.
“I had a chance to make some good passes in the finals against Casey,” Rahlves said. “He knew I was coming, he moved over, I landed between his skis, on his tails. He gave me a little pop with his left foot and knocked me down.”
Rahlves crashed in The Ski Tour event at Breckenridge. He crashed here in the X Games. Sharing a race course with three other guys isn’t easy.
“You’re trying to draft and your tips are inches away from some guy’s tails. It’s crazy,” Rahlves said. “It’s a little like NASCAR because of the drafting. When you’re skiing behind somebody, you’re not skiing your own game. You’re reacting to what the guy in front of you is doing. It’s just like ‘Days of Thunder’: Hold (the throttle) down and just go. If they crash in front of you, you’re probably going to be hitting them. You can’t afford to scrub too much speed, because you’ve got a guy behind you.”
Puckett, who was unbeaten this season until he crashed in the final here, said Rahlves might be too eager to win.
“He takes some unnecessary risks sometimes,” Puckett said. “You want to pick your places to pass.”
Puckett takes his rules of engagement from auto racing and motocross: He who leads makes the rules.
“The guy behind doesn’t have the right of way,” Puckett said. “If you’re in the lead, you’re going to cut the line off, you’re going to take it wide, whatever you need. It’s up to the guy behind to suss out where he’s going to make that pass. Most of the time you see crashes is when the guy behind tries to make a pass where it’s unpassable. That’s where you find some carnage.”
Rahlves couldn’t blame last week’s crash on anyone else. In a training run – this time he was ahead of the other guys – he caught an edge in a compression. When the weight-loaded ski rebounded and shot him over a bump, he soared 20 feet in the air. He landed hard, leaving 3-inch divots in the snow.
His longtime ski technician, Willi Wiltz, was surprised he didn’t leave the mountain in a medical helicopter.
“It was a violently brutal crash,” Wiltz said, comparing it to an epic beater Rahlves had in Adelboden, Switzerland, two years ago.
Because Rahlves is known as a calculating competitor, Wiltz is confident he will figure out skiercross, but it’s going to take time.
“He’s been racing one way since he was 9-11 years old,” Wiltz said. “Doing one thing one way, and trying to perfect that for so many years, then trying something new, it’s a total learning process. You have to put in your time. There’s a little bit of humiliation, even.”
Humiliation?
“One of my buddies is like, ‘You let all these hacks beat you now?”‘ Rahlves said with a smirk. “I’m not going to call them hacks. It’s not just your skiing skills, but it’s how good you are in traffic, your start – it’s a well-rounded package.”
He’s eager to win the last stop on The Ski Tour at Squaw Valley, which for Rahlves is home turf. Says he wants to own Squaw Valley on The Ski Tour the way he came to own Beaver Creek on the World Cup. He wants to win the tour next year.
The Olympics in three years? Maybe.
“I’m still learning, I’m trying to figure this out. I want to see the caliber of the courses elevate a little,” Rahlves said. “If it’s a challenge, I’ll be there, probably. I want something long, demanding, challenging. If I have that, I’ll be interested. This is our avenue to show off and play and display some skills, and for me to learn a new side of skiing. I never want to be one-dimensional.”
