American Legends Hit Austria for ‘Woodstock of Snowboarding’

For the 12th time, Stuben at the Arlberg in Austria is hosting the biggest Longboard and old school snowboard event in the world. Snowboarding legends from the US, Japan and Europe will join the crowd of three generations of shred heads, riders, media and industry people, to celebrate the spirit of snowboarding. Among them “Godfather of Freestyle” Terry Kidwell, Mike Ranquet, who brought skate style to snowboarding, Japanese shred granddaddy Ishi Ishihara and many more.

The infamous Longboard Classic race will start 2.408 meters (about 7,900 foot) height on the Albonagrat. After the Le Mans mass start it’s all about getting the 1001 meters (3,200 foot) downhill back to the village, far from any kind of groomed slopes, where winners will be crowned in 3 different categories (Men / Women and Old School). To round the event off, there’s also the possibility to test longboards as well as new freeride equipment from selected brands.

Check out photos, facts and more at www.longboardclassic.com If you’re planning on going, attendees can be sorted by post code, city or names – making it very easy to car pool etc.

Shred White & Blue Sends some Call-outs

From California to Colorado and all the way to Vermont right now, the snow has been absolutely going off. It is one of those seasons you get to lay claim to, and try not to sound like you’re lying when you talk about how deep it got. With all of the fun so far, we just wanted to give a call-out to some of the folks out there doing their own special thing who keep inspiring us:

The Mountain Gazette – www.mountaingazette.com – is an amazing monthly collection of interesting voices from around the Rocky Mountain West. Now online and on Facebook, too, it’s a testament to the mag’s honesty that it has so many fans around the world, who all keep contributing stories about their adventures, as well as plenty of photos of their dogs.

Surfline.com is an addiction almost as deep as surfing itself. With one click you can watch other surfers bust big waves via video all day, plan your own surf trip from bus to bungalow, or just watch the wave cam for a couple of minutes (hours) and dream you are surfing yourself.

www.surfline.com/home/index.cfm

Just released last fall, GNAR is already one of the greatest ski movies ever, and probably growing fans by the hour. With three distinct acts, and the kind of engrossing narrative missing from most ski flicks, it’s a shredder’s mix of Lord of the Rings, Caddyshack and Blizzard of AAHHHs. You can watch the whole movie online at http://unofficialnetworks.com/team/

Wagner Custom Skis really do rock! As does the Telluride-based ski company’s sister snowboard brand, Winterstick. If you want the super personal treatment so that you can hit the slopes on something completely unique to you, this is who you want building your dream design. www.wagnerskis.com

Interski is something you probably never heard of, but it is the Olympics of ski and snowboard instruction, held every three years at ski areas around the world. The last—and only—one that the US has hosted was in Aspen in 1968. But US instructors play a crucial role no matter where the event takes place. This time they brought a whole wave of innovation to Interski 2011 in St. Anton, Austria, internationally updating every one else on how rocker skis are changing telemark to the latest in adaptive snowboarding to even how to teach freestyle to every level of ski class. This very cool group of people also had a great time off the slopes as the top picture of Glen Plake (who recently became certified as a ski instructor, as did Kimberly, his lovely wife) and PSIA-AASI Board President Eric Sheckleton shows above.

Owner Operator is a homegrown outerwear brand out of Rhode Island with some nice ideas about style on the slopes. Thanks to Steven Kimura for reaching out, and thanks to you for checking out their site: www.operatorusa.com

Also, thanks for all the stoke to Mike Horn and Justin Cash at the www.stokelab.com, to the Larson boys for the Shred Sightings, C-Dog and Wyatt for the race results, The Hawk for tagging the hell out of Wahoo’s, the Waltons and Schnitzspahns for catwalking in the colors, Scott in Carbondale for always representing, to Ben for all the Laguna sunsets, Colin for keeping the levers moving behind the curtain, and to our man on the East Coast, Alex, who is counting down the days until he graduates.

Snowboard Legend Shaun Palmer Speaks

Park City, Utah (Courtesy of the U.S. Snowboard Team)-He’s considered the “bad boy” of snowboarding and a legend in snowboardcross, but what you may not know is that Shaun Palmer has totally committed himself to riding this season. Palmer, who recently moved to Park City, UT to train during the pre-season at the USSA’s Center of Excellence, is ready to strap on his board and hit the slopes.

How’s the move from California to Park City?
It’s going pretty good. I like using the facility [Center of Excellence]. It’s a great gym and skate park, to have it all right here is pretty unique.

Tell us a little bit about your car, you have a pretty cool ride.
It’s a ‘61 Coupe de Ville that I have had since 1995. It’s one of the many Cadillacs that I have owned, but this one is good for the winter time. That’s why it’s out here.

After parking your sweet ride, what do you do in the gym?
I’ve been getting ready to go snowboarding and to get on the snow. I’ve been doing a lot of skateboarding and pumping tracks to get the legs ready before the season starts and working with Tschana [Breslin, the snowboardcross trainer].

How is it training with the young guns?
A lot of them are half my age, but I’ve been doing it for a while so it just seems normal.

When you aren’t making the legs burn, what are you doing?
Skateboarding and motocross riding. I also took a Moab, UT mountain bike trip for three days and it was a lot of fun.

Here until Thanksgiving, then what?
Right after Thanksgiving we head to Colorado for a camp. I’m excited and waiting for the runs to open up.

FOMO: www.ussnowboarding.com/athletes/athlete?athleteId=1192#

// Photo © FIS – Oliver Kraus

Pacific Powder: Here Comes La Niña

Pacific Northwest (Shred White and Blue)-It’s time to start waxing up the big boards in the Pacific Northwest, as the prediction for a strong La Niña weather pattern is gaining strength across the U.S.

Compared to the El Niño pattern that rocked the Southwest Rocky Mountains with tons of wet snow last season (and actually resulted in some deep powder poaching in the off-limits hoodoos of Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah), La Niña tends to send the deepest days to places like Crystal Mountain and Baker in Washington State.

Consistent with nearly all of the forecast models, La Niña is expected to last at least into the Northern Hemisphere spring 2011. Just over half of the models, as well as the dynamical and statistical averages, predict La Niña to become a strong episode (defined by a 3-month average Niño-3.4 index of –1.5oC or colder) by the November-January season before beginning to weaken. Even though the rate of anomalous cooling temporarily abated during September, this model outcome is favored due to the historical tendency for La Niña to strengthen as winter approaches.

Likely La Niña impacts during October-December 2010 include suppressed convection over the central tropical Pacific Ocean, and enhanced convection over Indonesia. The transition into the Northern Hemisphere fall means that La Niña will begin to exert an increasing influence on the weather and climate of the United States. Expected U.S. impacts include an enhanced chance of above-average precipitation in the Pacific Northwest, and below-average precipitation across the southern tier of the country.

For the surf set, La Niña can contribute to increased Atlantic hurricane activity by decreasing the vertical wind shear over the Caribbean Sea and tropical Atlantic Ocean. Conversely, La Niña is associated with suppressed hurricane activity across the central and eastern tropical North Pacific.

According to the AFP media services, World Meteorological Organization climate services chief Rupa Kumar Kolli said a “moderate to strong” La Nina, which appeared in July, was now well established.
Kumar Kolli told journalists that forecasts showed “rather a strengthening of this La Nina episode for the next four to six months.”

Hang on Shred America, it’s going to be another wild ride!

Shred 1sts – 14’er Surf, Olympic Freestyle and Hawaiian Green

High Country, Colo. (Shred White and Blue)-Jarrett Luttrell recently made history – he became the first snowboarder to climb and ride all 54 of Colorado’s 14ers from their summits.

Luttrell finished the feat with his descent of Keplinger’s on Longs Peak. A split boarder, the fine folks at Shred White and Blue fave Venture Snowboards were stoked to share the news as Luttrell was riding a Venture-built board.

Congrats to Jarrett, who sent over the photo, and to whom we are sending one of the Shred White and Blue Classic Design shirts from our inaugural business year. FOMO, check out this cool interview with Justin on TransWorld Snowboarding right here:

http://snowboarding.transworld.net/1000126359/featuresobf/the-first-14er-jarrett-luttrell/

Slopestyle Could Go for the Gold!

Antalya, Turkey (Shred White and Blue)- A U.S. and French proposal to submit ski halfpipe to the International Olympic Committee for consideration as early as 2014 was approved without dissent as the International Ski Federation concluded its biennial FIS Congress Friday in Antalya, Turkey. The Congress also unanimously passed proposals from the USA and other nations to accept both snowboarding slopestyle and team snowboardcross into the FIS World Snowboard Championships.

A decision on new events for 2014 could be made by the IOC as early as 2011.

“As a member association, we’re proud of the reputation that FIS has developed as a progressive and dynamic international sports federation, particularly in terms of the events and sports it provides to the Olympic Games,” said U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association Vice President, Luke Bodensteiner. “By aggressively developing new and dynamic action sports into its program, FIS is leading from a position that is relevant to youth and the worldwide public.”

Hawaii Protects Historic Surf Reserves

Maui (Shred White and Blue)-Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle issued an executive order to establish surfing reserves at two of Hawai`i’s most important and well-known surfing areas.  The executive order “acknowledges the cultural, sports and historic significance of important surf sites in Hawai`i,” and “raises public awareness about the importance of protecting, nourishing and developing Hawai`i’s world famous surf sites.”

The Governor’s order establishes the Duke Kahanamoku Surfing Reserve, which includes surf breaks bounded by the Ala Wai and the Waikīkī War Memorial Natatorium, as well as the North Shore Surfing Reserve, which includes surf breaks from Ali`i Beach in Hale`iwa to Sunset Beach.  Both surf reserves are located in the waters off O`ahu.

Senator Hemmings is a surfing legend in his own right, having become the world’s first surfing champion from Hawai`i after winning the World Surfing Championship in Puerto Rico in 1968. Pictured here are (left to right) Paul Strauch, Jr., Joey Cabell, Duke Kahanamoku, Fred Hemmings and Butch Van Artsdalen.

FOMO: http://hawaii.gov/gov/news/files/2010/june/governor-establishes-hawai-i-surfing-reserves

Hot Tub Shred Machines, Venture + POW & Golden Moguls

Photo: Olympic Moguls Gold Medalist Hannah Kearney and SWB Team Rider Corbin

K./Telluride, Colo. (Shred White and Blue)-The new John Cusack Movie Hot Tub Time Machine is a hit, drawing positive comparisons to every film from The Hangover to Hot Dog, The Movie.

Retro snow and social styles from Walkman’s to leg warmers to neon all make the wayback trip to 1986 nostalgically scary for anyone who actually lived and shredded through those long ago seasons. But the best part for Shred White and Blue fans has got to be the skis, custom made by our buddy Pete Wagner of Wagner Customs.

Pete says he got a call from the film company early on in the process, asking him to make a couple dozen era-specific boards for the film.

“My first suggestion was that they just go and raid a ski fence,” said Wagner. “But they were adamant about wanting brand new boards for the actors.”

Wagner made the skinny sticks the film co’ desired, and then the filmmaker’s art department got involved, making up custom ski designs for faux Austro-Franco sounding shred designs with names like ‘Fachmann,’ ‘Schnell,’ and ‘Rasse.’

Check out the teaser and then go see the movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DCFPS58KYY

Venture Partners w/POW for Enviro Boards

Silverton, Colo. (Shred White and Blue)-More Shred White and Blue favorites Venture Snowboards and Protect Our Winters partnered for a snowboard graphic contest to help publicize the impact global warming is having on our snowpack.

The winner (pictured here) is “Unknown Future” by Julie Boake. Congratulations Julie!

According to a release from Venture, “Our panel of judges liked the clean look of Julie’s design, as well as its illustration of the role that mountains play in the water cycle.”

Julie will take home the grand prize – a brand new Venture deck emblazoned with her very own artwork.  These limited edition POW boards will be available for sale this fall and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to Protect Our Winters. The runner up, Aggie Drelich Smith’s “Modern Threat” wins a 09/10 Venture board and the top ten contestants will receive Venture swag as prizes.

U.S. Mogul Gold for Kearney and Discoe

Squaw Valley, Calif. (Shred White and Blue)-It was icing on the cake for one, and a new frontier for the other as 2010 gold medalist Hannah Kearney (Norwich, VT) and Joey Discoe (Durango, CO) took moguls titles at the Sprint U.S. Freestyle Championships at Squaw Valley.

Joining Kearney on the podium were two women who picked up the first World Cup wins of their careers this season. Eliza Outtrim (Steamboat Springs, CO), just off a win at World Cup finals in Spain, was second and Heather McPhie (Bozeman, MT) was third.

Kearney was happy to share the podium with such distinguished talent.

“The podium was three individuals who have won a World Cup so you’re really skiing against the best in the world, which makes it that much more difficult,” Kearney said.

The Olympic champ broke out some new moves Friday, throwing a mute grab off the bottom air to freshen up her run and set herself apart from the stiff competition.

“That was the first time I’ve ever thrown a mute in competition or qualifying and a new trick, it’s always satisfying when that goes well,” Kearney said. “I like to try to push myself because I’ve been stuck in a rut for a few years as far as my tricks go.”

Joining Discoe on the podium were Jeremy Cota (Carrabassett Valley, ME) who was second and Michael Morse (Duxburry, MA) who was third.

American Made – The Legendary ‘Birdos’ of Switzerland

Andermatt, Switzerland (Shred White and Blue)—On a recent trip to Switzerland with longtime SWB friend Chris Denny and Matt Hansen of Powder Magazine, we drove up to Andermatt in the dark and snow.

On the switchbacks our headlights would beam out onto sheer faces and hanging fields of blue ice; onto those dreams of untracked powder and tomorrow and the tram in the light, and that fear of just how big it really could be.

“Damn,” CD said. “I thought we were going to have to drive out on that cliff.”

We went through a tunnel, crossed a bridge and then we were there, in the little town of Andermatt of four roads and a co-op, a train station and a post office and couple of sports shops, a couple of bars, a pizza place and a couple hotels. There was heavy snow on the roofs and snow on the roads, white-walls and wood-framed windows, and the lights all sparkling white and gold.

“Beautiful.”

At the Hotel Kroner we had big plates of rosti with an egg on top like Swiss Heuvos and grand bulbed glasses of wiesse bier. And we met the legendary Birdos himself, ski maker Dan Lauterle, formerly of Boston and now gone native and married to a Swiss woman, Heidi, with a baby on the way.

“Where are you from?” CD asked, because at first we all thought that he was Swiss, too.

Birdos had slept on a landing between two floors when he first moved to Andermatt in 2004. And every day he rode the tram up to ski the giant relief of the Gemsstock, the thigh-shaped powder faces and plummeting ridgelines of almost 6,000 vertical feet per run. Then he met his future mother-in-law. Then his wife. And then he started building skis.

“It’s something that’s in direct response to skiing here – to skiing mountains this big,” says Birdos as we drink more beer, and he sips tea. “The wood is so resilient, and the edges are the biggest I could find, so that they match up to what people here are going to ski.”

He is mountain climber thin and bright-eyed with a thin mustache and beard like a kind of red-haired George Harrison on skis. He shows us the map of the Gurstchen-gletscher off the peak, the yellow marked ‘Descent/Freeride route’ on one side, and the B-Russi-Run, the ‘Pista Dificile’ besides.

It makes me a little nervous without any reference point as to how exposed we will be. “Are those the only ways down?”

We wake to bells in the morning, every half an hour until 7 am when they suddenly ring more than 100 times, and CD and I wonder if the bellringer has lost his mind.

“Dude.”

We drink espresso and eat meat and bread and cheese, then meet Birdos in his shop to see the Fat Bird, the famed Puder Luder (‘powder whore’) and the Ghetto Chicken skis, with the 132mm tips which are what Hansen and I ride.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go fatter?” Birdos asks.

“Maybe after lunch,” I say.

There is a space heater and red walls like a little art studio, the river out the window that rages with run-off in the spring but is quiet as ice, and the pizza place right across the road. There is the tram where we rise up into the peaks through the clouds to the top of the world.

“Are you kidding me?”

It hasn’t snowed in a week and there is still plenty of powder everywhere to see. Plenty of peaks that seem unclimbable except for angels and goats, mountains after mountains that roll away in great waves, and that stomach floppy thrill of vertigo.

“Wow.”

In three runs we burn half a day. We are thrilled and terrified from moment to moment, exhilarated and exhausted, sweating through our base layers as we traverse over ‘Pucker Ridge’ to the giant bowl of snow, to the couloirs and chutes as steep as skyscrapers, then linking turns down the ‘Fitness Gully’ to our long traverse back to town, over the river and past all the white hay houses waiting for the summer cows.

We are in the little Birdos factory down the street, with ski presses, a wall of cores, and the outlines for customization of each ski. We are in the pizza place, the River House for more wiesse bier, and waking up in the morning again to the bells. We drive the car onto the train and go over the mountains, trying to remember and point to everything we got to ski.

Thanks, Birdos, for being Shred White and Blue’s expat American guide.

Birdos Skis: www.birdos.com
All sorts of Wiki scoops on Andermatt, its whopping 1,200 locals, and even a photo of the church from whence we heard the bells: Wikipedia
The lovely Activ Kronen Hotel
The River House
And keep an eye on Powder Mag online for Matt Hansen’s video interview with the Birdos himself.

‘What is Ski Music?’ Part 1: The 8-Track Years

The Parking Lot (Shred White and Blue)—So there’s this ongoing conversation about what the heck ski music is anyway. Does it even exist? Is someone actively creating it somewhere? Or is it just whatever’s on the car stereo when you’re driving to the hill?

It seems as if there’s always been surf music, with its sunny guitar and that drum roll like a crashing wave. And skateboard thrash with its repetitive angst of insistent bass and strangled chords. And always the multi-sport friendly anthemic rock of Springsteen/Queen/Zeppelin and even Jersey pulp like Bon Jovi or whatever kind of hair metal you still get a secret charge from listening to.

But I couldn’t really tell you what defines ski music – now, or ever. Which is what got me searching my own CD (‘album’) collection, across the Internet and on the ever-indispensable YouTube, where it finally occurred to me, that like music technology (the aural delivery service, if you will), since 1970, what may or may not be considered ski music has undergone four distinctly different eras – encompassing 8-Track, cassette (oh lord, it’s the mixed tape), CD and i-Pod.

And you know what? There are a lot of great arguments for what American ski music just may be about. Here’s a little sample of the early years.

The 8-Track Years

Take it to the Limit: The Eagles
‘Cosmic American Music’s’ greatest progenitors, and the all-time gods of American album rock (because ABBA still kicks their asses in Europe), The Eagles were that perfect pairing of country plaid and blue-eyed soul. And out of all their hits, this was the one that let every skier feel as if every heartache could be burned out by a heavier foot on the accelerator – “You know I’ve always been a dreamer.”

Rock, Stein and the Bird
I don’t know Mark Johnson and have only once got to shake the hand of the great Stein Eriksen (who my father still claims as the greatest race and powder and bird-hunting – wink, wink – skier ever), but this film Mark made of Stein and buddies powder skiing in Alta is video proof of the truth that ‘the powder was always deeper in the early years.’ Powder on, ski gods!
January 5th, 1974, Mark, Stein and the Bird:

Hot Dog and the Return of Mitch Ryder
I will never be able to explain how Mitch Ryder of ‘Mony Mony’ and ‘Devil Blue Dress’ fame suddenly singing a Prince written song in a ski movie happened, but this one hits me every time. The video montage of Squaw Valley steeps and easy descending rhythm of this Hot Dog classic is what I still sing to myself on those bluebird days when I want to match a little mojo to my turn (especially as I wonder which local ski-skiing double is under all those hats and sunglasses ripping those local lines): Hot Dog/Mitch Ryder

Next, Ski Music: Cassettes and The Mixed Tape Years

//photo by Colin O’Brien

American Made: Telluride’s Wagner Custom Skis

Telluride, Colo. (Shred White and Blue)—High in the Colorado mountains in the storybook shred town of Telluride, Colorado, Pete Wagner is quickly building his own legend with a bomber brand of custom-built skis and snowboards.

In a craftsman-centered workshop powered completely by wind, sun and soul, Wagner Custom Skis and Snowboards are built to be tough, fun, and customer-centric in that every ride is built to the exact needs of the buyer. With fresh snow falling across the Rockies and the stoke starting to steamroll for the season just begun, we caught up with Pete to talk about his own personal mission to create a uniquely American ski and snowboard brand.

Shred White and Blue: So how did this whole custom ski idea get started?

Pete Wagner: While working as an engineer in the golf industry, I developed a custom-fitting system and software platform for designing, analyzing, manufacturing high-tech golf equipment. During this time, I bought a new pair of skis which received great reviews from various ski buyer’s guides, but never worked well for me. With so many choices when buying skis, how does one know that they’re buying the right product? I realized that I could apply my fitting system knowledge and design insight to help skiers find their perfect equipment.

SWB: With the big brands putting so many great skis on the market, why would I want a custom-built pair of boards?

PW: You want a custom-fit pair of skis because, like custom-fit ski boots, you’ll be more comfortable. This translates into skiing with better balance, control, power, and efficiency. Wagner Custom skis are ultimately about skiing your best and having more fun on the snow.

SWB: What role does Telluride play in the kind of skis you make?

PW: Telluride plays a big role in the durability and craftsmanship that is found in every pair of Wagner Custom skis. The terrain around Telluride is notoriously tough on skis because it’s steep and boney with lots of natural obstacles and features. In response, Wagner Custom skis are built by expert hands, in small batches, to precise tolerances from tough hardwood cores, oversized steel edges, and extra thick base material.  The results are incredibly durable, workhorse skis that can hold up to the abuse of the San Juan mountains, maintain their liveliness and energy over many seasons, and take more repairs and tunes.

SWB: Do you foresee a time when every major mountain or range has its own custom brand, as they seem to in Microbrews and often even apparel?

PW: My guess is that we’ll see a cycle similar to the shakedown of boutique snowboard factories in the 1990s. Many small custom companies will emerge and, overtime, the cream will rise to the top.  The best-managed companies will survive and the weaker operations will disappear.

SWB: By listening to what your customers are asking for, what have you learned about what skiers want most from a pair of skis right now?

PW: Simplicity is king right now. We talk to a lot of people who want one ski that can do it all over a broad range of terrain and conditions.  People don’t want to second-guess themselves about whether they’re on the right ski that day. People don’t want to travel with several pairs of skis. Many people are looking to simplify their quivers and fall in love with one ski that will work well in any situation.

SWB: What kind of boards do you build for yourself?

PW: I have 2 pairs of skis. My powder/AT skis are lightweight and floaty with a 172cm length and 110mm waist. My resort/hardsnow skis are versatile and nimble with a 175cm length and a 90mm waist.

SWB: What’s happening in the market right now that has you believing that you’re well positioned for the future?

PW: These days, people are being more thoughtful about the items they purchase. People want to be on equipment that will help them ski their best. People want to know where their products are coming from and they want to feel good about the companies they’re supporting.   Wagner Custom tries to be very transparent about who we are, what we do, and how we can help people have more fun skiing.

SWB: Bonus Question – Can I visit the factory?

PW: Yes! We’re proud of what we do and are happy to show it off. Because we don’t use molds, we truly create a new design for each customer (that’s a unique length, width, sidecut, tip/tail shape, camber, flex pattern , stiffness, materials layup, and graphic.) People are always impressed when they see our high-tech computer-controlled equipment, our ultra-premium grade raw materials, our solar-powered factory floor, and our precision-crafted products.

FOMO: Check out WagnerSkis.com

Chapter 1: The God of Skiing

The Sports Illustrated story was called, “In Search of Strau: What’s become of the daredevil king of collegiate skiing?” I was in high school when it ran. The photo on the page was the first time I ever saw him, standing on the stage at the NCAA Championships on the top podium.

He was golden and glowing like a statue in the sun. Like a movie star with his broad Swiss face, his white crooked smile and his wheat white hair blowing in the wind. His eyes were as blue as deep water and he stood out from the crowd like a sunflower he was so tall and tan.

He was the quarterback just come off the bench to win the game, except with something tattered and about to be broken. In the scar that cut from his right temple to his cheek. In the careless way he raised the silver trophy in his right hand. You wanted to be there to catch it for him. To tell him that his red speed suit was torn and his biceps showed through at the arm. To show him how his long black skis were both bent at the tips, and how the two other skiers on the stage, the posters, green, red and blue banners and people in the crowd were all falling out of focus in a swirl of color behind him.

The story counted up the long list of come-from-behind victories and heartbreaking wrecks in two columns right beside each other until they began to seem like the same thing: the stunning wins where he careened down the course and everybody forgot to breathe as he zipped by, or the quiet after the crash before the blood hits the snow and the skis are still sliding. From triumph to tragedy, one after another, they read like the made up rumors of some distant, crazy cousin.

His fluid, aggressive style in the downhill and Super G was described as ‘angry,’ ‘feral,’ and even ‘pathologically transcendent.’ It shocked collegiate racing. He skied so close to the gates that they would explode from their moorings. They were left flopping in his wake. Sometimes it seemed he skied right through them.

For two years at St. Lawrence University in upstate New York – where Bob Parker of the 10^th Mountain Division had gone to college, and where I would go too – he built his own East Coast legend. He won races from way back in the field when the spectators were starting home and the courses were rutted and rotten. He ran from the top of the mountain all the way to the bottom on icy blue pavement like tilted frozen lakes through the trees where it’s only glory or ruin; where only because of their balls, their fear or their fuck-it-all that skiers first see if they can survive, then win. And Tack won downhills by a whole second sometimes, which is good as a mile in skiing. Or he crashed so spectacularly that a hush ran up the hill.

“Is he dead?” “Will he ski again?”

They would rush back to the orange fencing when they heard his split-time come over the PA system. Those early East Coast drunks, leaving their beers on the bar as they ran outside for that glimpse of a shooting star – the vapor trail of snow as he was passing. Shouts erupted from the finish line as the adrenaline went through someone. Or there was a collective gasp as he sailed into the woods like a car off the road and everybody waited for the explosion; the blue and red fiberglass poles burst like fireworks, the horse breaking its stable and the raceworkers standing dumbstruck as it happened.

“Tack ‘Tornado’ Strau,” the announcer would say. “Let’s hope he’s not hurt too bad, ladies and gentlemen.”

But he never missed a race. No matter how badly hurt he was, he was always back the next weekend. He hid the bulk of tape around his fractured ribs with an extra turtleneck and told his coaches he was cold. His broken wrist with bigger gloves. He took off an eye patch on the lift and stayed off the drugs to pass the piss test, choosing alcohol over Percodan.

Between his ribs, his arms, his legs and hands he broke 17 bones. But it said you would have to look to see where it slowed him. It said, “He smiles like a joke he shouldn’t tell, with perfect white teeth and thick Swiss lips that are always burned and cracking. He laughs like coffee, like some party or fistfight about to happen.”

He drank after races with his growing legion of fans, the “Scarecrows,” who took to making phony casts, wrapping themselves like mummies in toilet paper and blacking their teeth with markers and charcoal to cheer him. At the NCAA championships in Lake Placid, he annihilated the field in both his disciplines. Then, almost as a joke, he entered and won the slalom. In the post-race interviews he revealed to a reporter that a week before he had torn the medial collateral ligament in his right knee during a training run. He said the doctor told him he needed surgery and at least four months off before he could ski again.

“Why risk it?”

“It’s like being pocket rich,” he said. “You spend it when you can.”

And then that immortal quote: “If it weren’t for gravity, I’d probably be in Nebraska building engines.”

The ECAC coaches couldn’t believe the U.S. Ski Team had never heard of him. The good ones are discovered by the time they’re 14, on the company dime, traveling and training. To make it onto the World Cup from college was like being born again. Tack Strau was discovered when most college racers are playing out their scholarships, deciding whether to take a job pimping skis or to go into investment banking. He was in talks with a ski manufacturer for a two-year contract, lining up his summer training schedule with the U.S. team at the glacier on Mount Hood, then Portillo and Europe in the fall, when he crashed at Whiteface during an early morning practice run. He lost an edge on blue ice and went into the trees. It was almost shtick with him. Except the ambulance came, and the other racers who saw the crash went to wait for news at the bottom.

His helmet was cracked in two. There were more broken bones. Doctors worried his brain might start swelling. But by the time his parents drove up from Pennsylvania, search parties were forming to try and find him. No one saw him leave the hospital. No one saw him in town. It was as if he jumped off a bridge and kept falling.

His teammates drove along the frozen lakes and rivers in their Jeep Cherokees and wood-paneled station wagons, staring into the ice for a glimpse of his beat blue parka, or that blown white paper of hospital cotton. They stopped at the dark little North Country bars, drinking Cokes and Genny’s and pinning up pictures of him. The police interviewed the doctors and orderlies. They put out an All Points Bulletin. For two weeks in the bone-chilling cold, firemen, police and ski racers led search parties into the woods on snowshoes and cross-country skis, following the white-breath of the German Shepherds and Bloodhounds.

It was after Christmas when the reporter drove to Pennsylvania to piece together what might have happened. In the narrow winding roads and the unyielding cold he found the farm in an open field beneath a hill, cloaked in that emptiness of fast December: “January’s desolation.”

Romeo, “Rom,” was from Saas-Fe, in Switzerland. He was handsome, dark and serious as a young priest in his high-collared wool coat except for the gray at the temples, the blue-eyed worry and the places on his face where the sun had been. As a boy he and his brother took the train to Zurich to see Giant and East of Eden. They listened to Hank Williams. They sold the family hotel to move to America and buy a farm, but the brother moved home when the crops first failed. When the mountains didn’t live up to his expectations. “Can you blame him?”

There was a picture of the wooded hill behind the house, up into the trees where Rom built a tow with a cable and an old Ford engine. Each summer he cut and burned the thick brush and saplings. When Tack was born they would wrap him in blankets and pull him on a sled. He was on skis as soon as he could stand. Sometimes they would run the tow until it was out of gas and dinner was on the table. When there was a moon they would go hiking. His legs grew strong on the snow. He learned to be light on the ice and to wait in the trees until he saw the opening.

“Sometimes he would fall so hard, when the cold makes you so sick, and he would get up and be laughing,” his mother said. “You knew you were in trouble when he started laughing.”

Elsa was like the queen of a Norwegian fairy tale, “as blonde as a winter morning.” She was a Scandinavian model that came to America with a farm equipment convention. She was fondling black and orange handled chainsaws in a silver evening gown when a tall young man in a green wool jacket and worn black boots stepped from the crowd and asked in Italian where she was from. Romeo wanted to know if she would have dinner with him.

“I don’t know,” she said, when the reporter asked, writing on the wooden chair on the well-swept wooden floor in the room where all the red and blue ribbons were fluttering like curtains.

“He always said skiing in the summer ruined it for him.”

// photo by Graham Gephart

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