Yesterday (1/27/18) was a special day for me.
Back at the turn of the century, my (future) friend Hans Wolf started a DH race event at Ski Cooper. He called it the Wolf Cup and for years it was hard fought for recognition among us speed freaks. Cooper isn't intrinsically difficult as it isn't super steep or have blind turns or jumps. What it does have is a 15 second flat out of the start, a nice roll over into a pitch with rolls and micro terrain, followed by a long flatish finish with more rolls and terrain to challenge the racers.
Many of the features have names for racers that have wrecked in a notorious fashion such as Graham's Bump where Graham dislocated his knee. The place is know as a great place to learn and the competition is fierce. You need a good start, excellent wax and gliding skills and the touch to not overedge or overturn as races are won and lost in the details.
Hans grew up in Davos where he would ski to and from school from his family's dairy farm. I met him in 2002 when I returned to ski racing by joining his racing club: SwissAm.
Looking down on the barns and home of the Wolf family in Davos.
Riding the tractor up to the upper buildings on the farm. We stayed in the white house in the background.
One of the ski areas actually traversed the family farm. He was a champion racers in his youth and continued to be involved in ski racing along with Masters competition until his untimely demise in 2010 at the age of 61. He was generous with his time and support for ski racing and anyone who was involved in it. One winter, he brought me along with some of his close friends as well as family to Switzerland to compete in the Parsenn Derby. He raced on a team with his brother and friends from his youth in Switzerland while I raced with his son and his friends on another team. We all competed in the individual race as well with plenty of fun, racing and winning. Here is some of the swag and winnings. Priska won a Tissot watch for first in Ladies individual. Bread, ham, wine and other delights were part of the team and individual prizes we all won.
Here we are at our celebratory dinner in the family kitchen. We had to consume the winnings, of course!
Hans is to the left, his wife standing next to him in the doorway. That's me on the far right.
The Wolf Cup is awarded based on completion of two DH race runs with the times adjusted for age. The handicapping permits everyone to compete on an equal footing. For years the race has been won by people in their 50s, 60s and older. One particular individual has dominated the race. Lee Kaufman was a leader back in his youth in collegiate racing at Middlebury and in Rocky Mountain Masters is untouchable in his class. At 78 years of age, he still charges out of the start and attacks the course and races like someone 20 years younger. Due to his skills and his age, his name has appeared on the trophy 7 times starting in 2005 and the last time in 2017. He even took the trophies (men's and women's) which were originally a plaster model and had it cast in bronze and mounted on a new stand.
Over the past years I have been second and third in the handicapped results despite actually winning both runs in real time on occasion. It has been a fleeting goal for me to win the Cup. Well yesterday Lee was ill and couldn't compete. It still wasn't a shoe-in for me. Stein Halsnes had come down from Steamboat Springs and my friend Erik Klemme showed up for his first Masters race of the season; it was also my first time in the gates as I only race DH these days. Both of these guys are about my age and have a long history of racing both in their youth and as Masters. It was nip and tuck all the way.
The day before it had snowed, so we had a fresh groom on the hill which made for a fine surface to start. Unfortunately the conditions deteriorated with time. Cooper has no snow making so we were reliant on natural snow which was scarce. The race department had been manicuring the hill and done a great job of working the snow so that it had good density. The biggest problem was that there were layers of snow that would give out in the turns so we had some ruts and chunks of snow to contend with. Charging down the hill was a challenge with the vagaries of the track trying to push you down the hill when you needed to be moving across to the next gate. As I mentioned before, the challenges aren't extreme here but the speeds exceed 60 mph and with the soft snow, when you are trying to move from one side of the hill to the next it is important to keep contact with the snow but not be too hard on your edges. I don't think anyone had a perfect run, but after the first race I was the winner overall. I was followed by two younger racers by .04 and .06 seconds (IIRC). It was really close.
The next run had the additional difficulty of a strong uphill wind. We were leaving the start and trying to get a small as possible to overcome the wind. I felt pretty good all the way until one turn where I got pushed down the hill a bit by a rut bouncing me off the snow. I pulled it back in the next gate before the final flats and proceeded to think small. I could see the blown snow from the wind and just hoped that I didn't get the worst of it. I crossed the finish and coasted to the scoreboard. I waited a moment and still no time. I guessed (correctly it turns out) that there had been a false pulse at the finish from the gusting snow which made my time questionable. I didn't get the word to go for another run, the hand timing would correct the result. Stein had a really good run already and Erik followed me. He ended up in first for the run (my missing time excepted).
It wasn't until the party had started that I learned I was .6 behind Erik. That along with my first time where I had him by .21 meant that the handicap would have to be more than .4 seconds for me to win the cup. The regular awards were announced, medals procured and the final awards for the Wolf Cup were next. Stein's name was announced as the third place winner and Lauren tormented me with a long pause after saying 'and runner up is....'
'... Erik Klemme'. I couldn't believe I had won. I couldn't speak; I could barely see for the tears in my eyes. I had finally won the Wolf Cup and my emotions just welled up. I was happy to win the Cup but to win Hans' Wolf Cup was absolute joy. I love the man and all that he meant to me. He was a lifelong skier with a love of the sport as large as any I have known. He was my Rocky Mountain Dad and a true and generous friend. I miss him so much.
Stein Halsnes, me, Erik Klemme
Back at the turn of the century, my (future) friend Hans Wolf started a DH race event at Ski Cooper. He called it the Wolf Cup and for years it was hard fought for recognition among us speed freaks. Cooper isn't intrinsically difficult as it isn't super steep or have blind turns or jumps. What it does have is a 15 second flat out of the start, a nice roll over into a pitch with rolls and micro terrain, followed by a long flatish finish with more rolls and terrain to challenge the racers.
Many of the features have names for racers that have wrecked in a notorious fashion such as Graham's Bump where Graham dislocated his knee. The place is know as a great place to learn and the competition is fierce. You need a good start, excellent wax and gliding skills and the touch to not overedge or overturn as races are won and lost in the details.
Hans grew up in Davos where he would ski to and from school from his family's dairy farm. I met him in 2002 when I returned to ski racing by joining his racing club: SwissAm.
Looking down on the barns and home of the Wolf family in Davos.
Riding the tractor up to the upper buildings on the farm. We stayed in the white house in the background.
One of the ski areas actually traversed the family farm. He was a champion racers in his youth and continued to be involved in ski racing along with Masters competition until his untimely demise in 2010 at the age of 61. He was generous with his time and support for ski racing and anyone who was involved in it. One winter, he brought me along with some of his close friends as well as family to Switzerland to compete in the Parsenn Derby. He raced on a team with his brother and friends from his youth in Switzerland while I raced with his son and his friends on another team. We all competed in the individual race as well with plenty of fun, racing and winning. Here is some of the swag and winnings. Priska won a Tissot watch for first in Ladies individual. Bread, ham, wine and other delights were part of the team and individual prizes we all won.
Here we are at our celebratory dinner in the family kitchen. We had to consume the winnings, of course!
Hans is to the left, his wife standing next to him in the doorway. That's me on the far right.
The Wolf Cup is awarded based on completion of two DH race runs with the times adjusted for age. The handicapping permits everyone to compete on an equal footing. For years the race has been won by people in their 50s, 60s and older. One particular individual has dominated the race. Lee Kaufman was a leader back in his youth in collegiate racing at Middlebury and in Rocky Mountain Masters is untouchable in his class. At 78 years of age, he still charges out of the start and attacks the course and races like someone 20 years younger. Due to his skills and his age, his name has appeared on the trophy 7 times starting in 2005 and the last time in 2017. He even took the trophies (men's and women's) which were originally a plaster model and had it cast in bronze and mounted on a new stand.
Over the past years I have been second and third in the handicapped results despite actually winning both runs in real time on occasion. It has been a fleeting goal for me to win the Cup. Well yesterday Lee was ill and couldn't compete. It still wasn't a shoe-in for me. Stein Halsnes had come down from Steamboat Springs and my friend Erik Klemme showed up for his first Masters race of the season; it was also my first time in the gates as I only race DH these days. Both of these guys are about my age and have a long history of racing both in their youth and as Masters. It was nip and tuck all the way.
The day before it had snowed, so we had a fresh groom on the hill which made for a fine surface to start. Unfortunately the conditions deteriorated with time. Cooper has no snow making so we were reliant on natural snow which was scarce. The race department had been manicuring the hill and done a great job of working the snow so that it had good density. The biggest problem was that there were layers of snow that would give out in the turns so we had some ruts and chunks of snow to contend with. Charging down the hill was a challenge with the vagaries of the track trying to push you down the hill when you needed to be moving across to the next gate. As I mentioned before, the challenges aren't extreme here but the speeds exceed 60 mph and with the soft snow, when you are trying to move from one side of the hill to the next it is important to keep contact with the snow but not be too hard on your edges. I don't think anyone had a perfect run, but after the first race I was the winner overall. I was followed by two younger racers by .04 and .06 seconds (IIRC). It was really close.
The next run had the additional difficulty of a strong uphill wind. We were leaving the start and trying to get a small as possible to overcome the wind. I felt pretty good all the way until one turn where I got pushed down the hill a bit by a rut bouncing me off the snow. I pulled it back in the next gate before the final flats and proceeded to think small. I could see the blown snow from the wind and just hoped that I didn't get the worst of it. I crossed the finish and coasted to the scoreboard. I waited a moment and still no time. I guessed (correctly it turns out) that there had been a false pulse at the finish from the gusting snow which made my time questionable. I didn't get the word to go for another run, the hand timing would correct the result. Stein had a really good run already and Erik followed me. He ended up in first for the run (my missing time excepted).
It wasn't until the party had started that I learned I was .6 behind Erik. That along with my first time where I had him by .21 meant that the handicap would have to be more than .4 seconds for me to win the cup. The regular awards were announced, medals procured and the final awards for the Wolf Cup were next. Stein's name was announced as the third place winner and Lauren tormented me with a long pause after saying 'and runner up is....'
'... Erik Klemme'. I couldn't believe I had won. I couldn't speak; I could barely see for the tears in my eyes. I had finally won the Wolf Cup and my emotions just welled up. I was happy to win the Cup but to win Hans' Wolf Cup was absolute joy. I love the man and all that he meant to me. He was a lifelong skier with a love of the sport as large as any I have known. He was my Rocky Mountain Dad and a true and generous friend. I miss him so much.
Stein Halsnes, me, Erik Klemme
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