Who needs a mountain anyway? Ski stars with humble beginnings...

[Karl B]

Cary Adgate. Skied World Cup from 1974 thru 1980. Came from Boyne Mountain. Maybe 150 meters of vert.

 

[LuliTheYounger]

Was it Tommy Moe that came out of Swain, NY?

Good god that would truly be a feat.

 

[Stev]

Has this article already been posted?
http://www.sportsfeelgoodstories.com/buck-hill-the-little-hill-that-launched-a-legend/

 

[Stev]

I remember heading up to Timberline at Mt. Hood for some summer skiing a while ago and watching the US Ski Team training. I was thoroughly impressed with Kristina Kosnick's slalom skiing. She was descending so fast that it looked like she was plunging down an elevator shaft while keeping her upper body nearly still and her lower body moving like a blurred pendulum. Her team mates looked slow and awkward compared to how fast and smooth she moved through the slalom course.

 

[Average Joe]

I guess we could talk about the whole Cochran family too. Pico is colossal compared to Cochran's.

Cochrans as it exists today is colossal compared to the original that produced an Olympic Gold Medalist, combined Hahnenkamm winner, and World Cup discipline winner.
I was told that the original tow that Mickey built behind the farmhouse (I am estimating with an orange line) terminated just uphill from the current base lodge (big arrow).

I would estimate the vertical rise to be less than 100 feet.

 

[James]

Cochrans as it exists today is colossal compared to the original that produced an Olympic Gold Medalist, combined Hahnenkamm winner, and World Cup discipline winner.
I was told that the original tow that Mickey built behind the farmhouse (I am estimating with an orange line) terminated just uphill from the current base lodge (big arrow).

View attachment 77559

I would estimate the vertical rise to be less than 100 feet.

This shows it.

 

[Swede]

”Yxbacken”—The ”mountain” that Pernilla Wiberg started at. 300 (100 m) feet vertical.

 

[Lifer]

Lost Valley, ME. home of Julie Parisien, World Cup race winner.

Holly Flanders, World Cup downhiller, Pat's Peak, NH.

 

[crgildart]

You don't need a mountain when you have rope tows and Sailers..

I practically lived at that place (Buck Hill) from 6th grade through high school...

 

[James]

So far Cochran's is kind of the only legitimate one. Backyard rope tow? But then they went to Smuggs and Stowe too.

 

[Guy in Shorts]

At last years Killington World Cup my buddy helped an elderly gate judge get out of her boots. Asked him later how it felt to pull a boot off an Olympic Champion.

 

[Uncle-A]

Who was she or should I say which one?

 

[Guy in Shorts]

Who was she or should I say which one?

The one and only Barb Cochran

 

[Wolfski]

Steve Porino started at Wilmot, total vertical 200'

 

[ejj]

As a Buck Hill alum, I will say this: skiing in MN is limiting—there is no big mountain free-skiing to distract you. If you are a kid that likes skiing, you are likely to find your way to one of the local USSA programs. Rope tows are quick, which means a lot of time/repetition training gates. Small hills means a lot of slalom specialists.

 

[Moose32]

AJ Kitt's home mountain was Swain. Dianne Roffe also started at an even smaller hill near Rochester called Brantling. Same deal as Buck Hill - European Ski Coach starts a small academy at a tiny mountain.

Piling on some more ROC and WNY ski racing pride...

Rochester also had Sandy Williams (Brighton High School) who was on USST for a decade and skied in 1988 Calgary Olympics. Scholpy was not far away either in Buffalo. As far as age, I was between AJ and Diann and raced out of now defunct hill called Ski Valley.

All of our hills in WNY were smaller than the next. But not sure any hill, that produced a USST member, can be smaller than Roffe's Brantling. All rope tows and you could do 20-25 slalom runs in an hour depending on the number of kids queuing at the top of hill. All the other hills mentioned here look like Vail compared to Brantling. http://www.brantling.com/trail-map.html. My kids race out of WIlmot and that seems much bigger than Brantling.

But Brantling was big enough for Diann to be GS World Champ (Bormio '85) at age 17 (and later Olympic Silver in GS and Gold in Super-G).

 

[Dave Petersen]

 

[Moose32]

No, Moe was from Missoula, skied The Big Mountain, renamed Whitefish. Then Alyeska, AK as a teen.

Maybe you're thinking of Andrew Weibrecht? But he's Lake Placid/ Whiteface.

Yea, Tommy Moe has a couple places claiming him. Back in 1994, seems they always said his home was AK. Hellroaring Saloon, at WMR, makes a good, but pricy, grilled cheese in his honor - The Moe Snow.

AJ Kitt raced out of Swain. Small hill but we had USSA races there and our HS races were there or Bristol Mountain.

 

[Sibhusky]

I was in the Ski Heritage Center the other day and they have a picture of him winning the Frabert Award. Looked pretty young, but I admit to not being a good guesser on that. And of course we've got a trail named after him -- Moe-Mentum. And the little kids league is called Tommy Moe.

 

[BrianB]

Tommy Moe raced for Big Mountain as a J4 and possibly one J3 year. Don't remember exactly when he left. I always assumed he was from Whitefish, but don't know for sure. It would be strange to drive all the way to Whitefish when there is a junior racing program right in Missoula.