BEAVER CREEK — Somewhere on the summit of the highest peak in Utah is a river rock that didn’t get there through geological forces. It was hauled up by the men of the U.S. Ski Team three years ago as a symbol of their unity and aspirations for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
Weighing an estimated 50 pounds, the rock was engraved with bywords of team cohesion: challenge, respect, heart, passion, accountability, communication, fun. The four-day expedition to the summit of King’s Peak (elevation 13,528 feet) by athletes expected to be the core of the 2010 Olympic team was an exercise in team building that followed a grueling summer training camp in Park City.
“We all had camping gear, tents and what-not, so we all had heavy packs, and we took turns hauling the 50-pound rock in our hands,” Olympic combined champion Ted Ligety said. “It was a cool experience, a really cool hike. We had the policy that the rock hauler had to be at the front of the line, (setting) the pace.”
The idea for the rock haul and other exercises intended to foster team unity came from Sasha Rearick, then the team’s head Europa Cup coach. This year, Rearick took over as head World Cup coach.
“The main thing was to have them work together in an environment they were not accustomed to,” Rearick said. “We used the rock as one of the tools in the process of bringing the group together.”
That sort of team building harkens back to the early 1960s when Bob Beattie coached the team with the slogan “One wins, we all win.” After summer workouts in Boulder, Beattie would tell Billy Kidd, Jimmie Heuga, Buddy Werner and Bill Marolt to hike up Green Mountain near the Flatirons.
“This was after trying to kill us for an hour and a half or two,” Kidd recalled recently.
Marolt, now the team’s chief executive, loves the King’s Peak story.
“It’s good stuff, where they all share in that pain, that takes extra effort,” Marolt said. “It’s a bonding experience. It’s how you build team. You build team through physical conditioning.”
It’s an age-old tension in ski racing, an individual sport conducted within a team dynamic. But unity is more important for the U.S. Ski Team, because it has to compete for months on end in Europe.
“Our team functions so well right now, probably better that the U.S. team has ever functioned,” said racer T.J. Lanning, who lived in a trailer next to the team’s training center last summer. “We work hard together and we’re building a team that is almost indestructible. Every one of us is capable of doing something great in the sport of ski racing. We support each other tremendously.”
Footnote. Heavy snow forced cancellation of Thursday’s super-combined World Cup race. A downhill is scheduled today.
John Meyer: 303-954-1616 or jmeyer@denverpost.com
