Ski Girl Says

Olympics Wrap Up

The 2010 Vancouver Olympics are coming to a close. Women's Alpine and Freestyle events have concluded. American women made a strong showing, with one of Team USA's best Olympic Winter Games.

Lindsey Vonn was favored to win up to three golds. She began the games with a bruised shin and a cloud of speculation if she would compete. Weather delays gave her leg time to heal. Vonn came up golden in her first event, the downhill. She later captured bronze in the Super G.   Vonn also had some spectacular crashes, not finishing some events and breaking her finger. She persevered and proved her tenacity as a competitor.

Julia Mancuso knew what it was like to win an Olympic medal, having brought home the gold in Giant Slalom from Torino in 2006.  She made an impressive showing in Vancouver, adding two silvers to her Olympic portfolio, in the Downhill and Super Combined.  She now holds the most Olympic medals of any female in US Ski Team history.

American athletes captured two position on the podium for women's freestyle moguls.  Hannah Kearney took gold and Shannon Bahrke a bronze.

To read more on Olympic competition or Team USA, visit these sites:

Vancouver Olympics

U.S. Ski Team

Competition is not over yet. Paralympic games are just around the corner, with alpine skiing beginning March 13th.

Olympic Team USA

Congrats to the ski girls who will wear Team USA's colors at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

The Alpine team: Stacey Cook, Hailey Duke, Julia Mancuso, Chelsea Marshall, Megan McJames,Alice McKennis, Kaylin Richardson, Sarah Schleper, Leanne Smith, Lindsey Vonn.

The freestyle team for moguls: Shannon Bahrke, Hannah Kearney, Heather McPhie, Michelle Roark.

The freestyle team for aerials:Ashley Caldwell, Emily Cook, Jana Lindsey, Lacy Schnoor.

Wounded Warrior Women Ski Video

The Wounded Warrior program is dedicated to aiding and empowering those wounded in the military.  Through Wounded Warrior, many soldiers have been able to learn to ski after incurring injuries.

The Today Show on NBC recently featured a segment on women skiing through Wounded Warriors. Click here to see the video. 

Edie Thys

Edie Thys is a ski champion and accomplished writer.

Thys is decoratd with ski medals including three world championships.  She competed in two Olympics in 1988 and 1992 . After retiring from racing, Thys began writing for ski publications. Her career advanced rapidly. At one point she served as edtior of Ski Magazine.

Jeannie Thoren

Jeannie Thoren has helped revolutionize ski equipment for women.   Ten years ago, the ski industry made very little equipment designed for women.   I’m talking about equipment that is technically designed for women, not skis that have pink flowers painted on them. 

Thoren doesn’t design skis. She initiated a series of women’s ski clinics that teach ladies how to find gear that fits their needs.  Thoren travels the country running programs for women and helping her customers understand what type of gear will help take their skiing to the next level. 

Thoren’ clinics for women’s gear have been largely successfully. I believe they have been a factor helping the ski industry wake up and take notice of the demand for equipment tailored to the needs of women.

Tamara McKinney

Tamara McKinney is one of the most accomplished female alpine skiers in the America.  She made skiing history, when she became the first US female to win the Alpine World Cup Championship title in 1983.  McKinney also won the slalom title in 1984 and is a two-time winner of the giant slalom title. 

Picabo Street

Perhaps no female is better known in American Skiing Than Picabo Street. She was born in Idaho and named for the nearby town of Picabo, which means "shining waters" in Native American. 

Street joined the US  National Ski Team at age 17.  Her skiing career includes many medals and titles. She became a favorite of fans and the media after claiming a silver medal in the downhill at the 1994 Winter Olympics.  In the 1994-1995 season, she dominated the world cup circuit, winning 6 of 9 World Cup races and becoming the first American downhill skier to claim the overall world cup title.

She then set her sights on the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan.  Her career took a disastrous turn when she crashed and tore her ACL, forcing her to miss an entire season of competition.  A true competitor, Street returned to the sport in time to prove she deserved a spot on the Olympic team.  The Super-G proved to be her race. Picabo won her gold Olympic medal.

Another injury followed the Olympics, this time she broke a femur.  Street persevered through rehabilitation and training, to return to the sport and compete in her third Olympics in 2002. She remains an active skier and a true role model for all ski girls.

Betsy Pratt

Betsy Pratt and her husband, Truxton, bought Mad River Glen Ski Area in 1972. Truxton passed away a few years later and in early 1980's, Betsy took on the management of the mountain.

Betsy managed her beloved mountain not to maximize the number of skiers it could dump at the top of the lift each hour, not to become a condominium-flanked destination, but to to be a truly unique ski area.  Mad River minimizes snow-making and grooming, embraces telemarkers instead of snowboarders, features narrow trails, tree skiing, and is known for the dare-like slogan, "Mad River Glen, Ski it if You Can."

Betsy has held many roles including: ski area manager, great skier, mother, inn proprietor and owner.  In the world of skiing, probably Pratt's greatest legacy will be not what she did, but what she refused to do.

When Betsy decided to "retire" from ski resort management, she might have sold the resort for a nice piece of change to investors, to the owners of neighboring Sugarbush, or other resort management groups.  Betsy is a smart woman, known for independence and for sticking to her beliefs, regardless of the amount of stubbornness required. She did not favor development of her mountain, and wanted to preserve the spirit of skiing at Mad River. She would not sell the mountain to traditional investors. Instead, she decided to sell it to the skiers who loved the area. Mad River Glen changed owners and ownership structure, becoming a cooperative.

That decision has allowed Mad River to stay rooted in its challenging terrain and low-frills skier experience.  Mad River Glen maintains a reputation of rebelling against change, reflective of Pratt herself.  When the single chair lift was recently so tired it could no longer operate as is, most mountains would have raised a detachable quad.  The cooperative replaced and what was needed to maintain a single chair.  The mountain with a pure take on skiing, a little bit of technology and a whole lot of attitude, will maintain it's personality thanks to ski girl, Betsy Pratt.

Jillian Vogtli

When I was a kid, I knew Jillian's skiing, but not her name.  My family skied a couple of times a week at Holiday Valley in Ellicottville, where Jillian grew up.  Since we didn't know her, we referred to her as, "Blondie." Whether I skied nights, days, in sun, snow, ice or rain, I knew I would see a pint-sized girl drilling down the moguls run after run after run.  To not see this little girl running the freestyle course, with her long hair trailing behind was like looking up and not seeing the sun. She was always there, and she was good.

I entered a freestyle competition once in high school. Actually, I did not enter. Someone else entered me on a dare.  So, I showed up for the competition.  I stood at the top of the duals course. I looked to my left. In the gates next to me was Blondie. The officials felt she was such a strong skier that it was unfair to race her against the girls in her age group, so they bumped her up. She was my competition that day. I laughed. I knew I had no chance. My goal now was to get down the course without falling, which I did. 

When I finished the course, before I could catch my breath, Blondie was standing next to me. She extended her hand and kindly offered me congratulations on a great run and looked forward to racing again some day.  I was as impressed with her good sportsmanship and manners as I was with her skiing.  I never skied against her again.

The next time I saw her was on the pages of Ski Magazine, as a member of the US Freestyle team.  Jillian may not be the best-known member of the US ski team, but she is a very accomplished member.  She is a two time US moguls champion, she has competed in two Olympics, was an alternate for a third and has represented the United States in Worlds 5 times. According to the US Ski Team website, during her years on the team she has also managed to start her own business and pursue a PhD.

Jillian is truly a great ski girl. She not only skis great, she manages to have it all, fitting so much into her life, keeping a positive outlook and being such a good role model for girls. I don't know her well. It was years before I knew her real name.  I still frequent the town she grew up in. She is known by everyone in town and they have nothing but kind words and compliments about what a great person the little blond girl in the moguls has grown up to be.

Gwen Allard

You may not have heard of Gwen Allard. If you've been lucky enough to meet her you know she is an inspiration to many people in skiing and a very animated person. You can't help but smile if you ski with her. Gwen is a veteran ski instructor with over 30 years experience and has served as Executive Director of the Eastern Division of Professional Ski Instructors of America.

Adaptive ski instructing has made huge strides thanks to Allard.  She has worked worked tirelessly with adaptive programs that teach persons who are physically and/or mentally challenged to ski and helped bring many new instructors learn how to teach adaptive skiing.  She was inducted into the National Disabled Ski Hall of Fame in 2001. If you visit the Adaptive Sports Foundation at Ski Windham, where she served as President, you will find an entire building named after her

Julia Mancuso

Few American women in alpine have gained as much media attention as Julia Mancuso, who is becoming a household name in women's skiing.  Mancuso stormed onto the the women's world cup circuit at the age of 15. Six seasons later she seized a gold medal in Turin.  She is the reigning Olympic giant slalom gold medalist. In 2007 she finished third overall in the 2007 world cup. 

Donna Weinbrecht

Imagine a shallow, rocky, mountain stream bed. Floodgates open somewhere uphill, channeling a torrent of water down the rocky path.   That's the power Donna Weinbrecht unleashed down a mogul field across two decades of competition.

Her Olympic moments include fourth place in 1998, seventh in 1994 and a Gold medal in 1992. She won five World titles and seven US titles in moguls.  Her legacy in women's freestyle skiing is unrivaled. 

This Jersey girl didn't grow up skiing.  She started downhill when she was in high school, tried moguls in college and went on to make skiing history.

Lindsey Vonn

Lindsay (Kidlow) Vonn is on top of the skiing world. She claimed the Alpine title for Women's World Cup overall,  as well as 2008 World Cup Downhill champion. She  topped off her year less than two  weeks later, taking the 2008 US National Women's Slalom title.

This St. Paul, MN, native who now calls Vail home, is no newcomer to the skiing circuit.  She excelled at the junior level and is also a two-time Olympian.  In the 2002 Olympics, Lindsay placed 6th in the women's combined.  Great things could be in store for 2010.