Daron Rahlves, the most decorated American downhiller, is in his second winter as a former World Cup racer. He now competes in only domestic skicross events, including the Winter X Games at Buttermilk, Jan. 24-27. Rahlves is feeling pangs of withdrawal this week because the World Cup is in Kitzbuehel, Austria, for the Hahnenkamm races.
Kitzbuehel is considered the ultimate in ski racing, and Rahlves scored seven podiums there. In 2003 he became the second American to win the Hahnenkamm downhill, the most prestigious — and most dangerous — ski race in the world.
Denver Post ski writer John Meyer reached Rahlves at his home near Lake Tahoe, Calif., on Wednesday while Rahlves was feeding one of his 6-month-old twins (Dreyson and Miley).
Q: You’re feeding the baby? Which one?
A: I’m feeding the boy right now. Drey was just passed out, so I picked him up and stuck his feet in some snow outside. That woke him up pretty quick. His eyes perked right up.
Q: How are you enjoying fatherhood?
A: It’s awesome. They’re finally at the age where they’re laughing and playing around a little bit; they’re sleeping through the night better. The first four months was rugged. Every three hours you had to feed them, and the feeding times would be like an hour and a half.
Michelle (Rahlves’ wife) is out skiing right now, I just got back. We kind of trade off.
Q: This is Kitzbuehel week. How badly do you miss it?
A: Shaun Palmer (a prominent snowboarder) is over here right now, and he’s got one of my Kitzbuehel trophies in his arms. All my other trophies are in my office, but the Kitzbuehel trophies are in the living room on the mantel. I see them every day.
Kitzbuehel, hands down, nothing else compares. It’s what I lived for, every year. I know it’s going on this week, and I’m trying not to look at the training results so it doesn’t eat on me too much.
I just sent (racers) Didier Cuche, Marco Sullivan and Scott Macartney this video clip of some of my skiing at Kitzbuehel, like, “All right, boys, I know you’re having fun over there, this might get you a little more fired up.”
Q: You said the Kitzbuehel trophies are in the living room. What about the one from the 2001 world championships in St. Anton, Austria, where you won the super-G?
A: That’s in the office, too. Everything is in the office except for Kitzbuehel. When you’ve got Shaun Palmer — one of the greatest action sports athletes in the world — grabbing my Kitzbuehel trophy and telling me he’d trade all his medals for that one, it’s nice to have stuff like that.
Q: How did you feel about making your first podium as a skicross racer at Telluride last month?
A: I got second there, which was a nice start, especially because I was out for six weeks. I broke my arm (dirt-biking Nov. 3). I had two days of skiing without poles and got the cast off five days before I went to Telluride. I was treating it as a training event, but it actually turned out pretty good.
Now I’m a little more prepared for what’s coming up: X Games, the Deer Valley (Utah) World Cup and the Squaw Valley (Calif.) event.
