Three Ex-U.S. Racers Doing Better as Pros
Three prominent members of last season’s U.S. Ski Team who had trouble placing in the top 30 on the World Cup circuit, have apparently found a home on the Peugeot Grand Prix men’s pro ski tour.
After last weekend’s racing at Heavenly Valley, Hansi Standteiner is fourth in the standings, and Mark Tache, another American who was overshadowed for several years by the Mahre twins, is tied for ninth. John Buxman, once rated as this country’s top slalom prospect, hasn’t fared well in the head-to-head competition, but he had the fastest qualifying time last Friday.
Defending champion Jarle Halsnes of Norway swept both the slalom and giant slalom at Heavenly Valley, defeating Standteiner in last Saturday’s final and winning Sunday’s race when his brother Edvin, the other finalist, missed a gate and skied off the course.
The standings after four stops on the 12-event tour:
1--Edvin Halsnes, Norway, 185 points; 2--Jarle Halsnes, Norway, 175; 3--Francois Vulliet, France, 115; 4--Hansi Standteiner, U.S., 105; 5--Dave Stapleton, U.S. 100; 6--tie between Peter Dodge, U.S., and Gunnar Grassl, Sweden, 90 each; 8--Mikael Berg, Sweden, 85; 9--tie between Mark Tache, U.S., and Tomaz Cerkovnik, Yugoslavia, 80 each.
They’re all scheduled to be at Snow Summit, near Big Bear Lake, on Feb. 13-16.
Snow Summit is one of two Southland ski areas open this week, reporting 8 to 22 inches of snow on its slopes. The other is Mountain High, which lists 3 to 6 inches.
High Sierra resorts continue in more or less normal operation. A couple of sample depths: Mammoth Mountain 65 inches of packed powder and hardpack, June Mountain 36 inches of the same.
Steve Kanaly expects several of his “Dallas” co-stars to be among the entrants in his third annual Invitational Celebrity race Sunday at Mountain High, near Wrightwood.
Twenty teams of patron racers, each headed by a celebrity captain, will compete in a dual giant slalom. Proceeds will benefit the Los Angeles County chapter of the March of Dimes birth defects foundation.
A recent Reuters dispatch from the Netherlands was apparently suppressed by the League to Kill the Fun in Skiing, but a copy floated ashore in an empty Heineken bottle the other day, and here are a couple of key paragraphs:
“If you want to escape injury on the ski slopes this year, alcohol, late-night revelry and lack of exercise could be just the prescription, according to a team of Dutch scientists at Limburg University (in Maastricht).
“The team studied 1,000 skiers, and . . . subjects who shunned preseason exercise, drank alcohol and reveled into the small hours suffered fewer injuries than the more conscientious types, said Prof. Paul Knipschild. ‘We were very surprised by some of the figures,’ he said. ‘We even had a discussion over whether it would be dangerous to publish them.’
“Knipschild could only guess at why the apres-ski enthusiasts were safer: ‘It could be that they are a little more cautious on skis if they are unfit or have been drinking the night before.’ ”
Skoal!
Skiing Notes Sun Valley embarks on a glittering 10-day spree today with Paul Newman’s Celebrity Ski Invitational. Then on Sunday, the Idaho resort will begin a week-long celebration of its 50th anniversary, in conjunction with Ski magazine, which is also in its 50th year of existence. . . . From now until Feb. 14, midweek skiers staying in the Lodge at Bear Valley for a two-night minimum will be able to ski free on those days (Monday through Thursday) at Mt. Reba. . . . Squaw Valley will play host to the American Police Olympics Sunday through Feb. 6. . . . Some of the fastest cooks in the West will race, garbed in their working clothes, Feb. 9 at Alpine Meadows to determine the 20 regional entrants for the Grand Marnier Chefs Ski Race National Finals at Taos Ski Valley, N.M., April 3-6.
The World Cup’s “white circus” has set up its tents in Switzerland this week. The men will compete at Wengen Today in the Lauberhorn downhill and Sunday in either a makeup of last Sunday’s postponed Arlberg-Kandahar downhill or in a slalom, then will move over to Crans-Montana for super giant slaloms both Monday and Tuesday. The women, meanwhile, will have three races at Crans-Montana, site of the 1987 World Alpine championships--ending today, and a giant slalom Sunday. Then on Tuesday, they’ll hop over to Piancavallo, Italy, for a slalom. . . . Today’s men’s downhill will be shown by GGP Sports on Channel 7 at 2 p.m. . . . There’ll be pro racing on two fronts this weekend. The Peugeot Grand Prix men’s tour will be making its fifth stop of the season at Angel Fire, N.M., through Sunday, and the Women’s Pro Ski Racing circuit will swing into Albany, N.Y., for a slalom today.
Five more skiers have been named to the National Ski Hall of Fame at Ishpeming, Mich.: Nelson Bennett, of Yakima, Wash.; Gloria Chadwick, of Marquette, Mich.; Gerald Groswold, of Winter Park, Colo.; Marilyn Shaw McMahon, of Stowe, Vt., and Martha Rockwell, of Strafford, Vt. . . . The Institute for Arthroscopic Surgery, at 10921 Wilshire Blvd., West Los Angeles, is conducting a free weekly ski injury evaluation clinic every Monday morning from 10 a.m. to noon, but if you want to attend, hobble over to a phone first and call (213) 824-9723 because space is limited. . . . One of the institute’s directors, Dr. Daniel M. Silver, has also published a booklet, “Ski Tips for Ski Trips,” designed to help you avoid having to attend one of his clinics. . . . Another helpful book now in the shops: “Distinctive Skiing,” by Bill W. West, who takes on the racing-influenced instructional Establishment and advises skiers to concentrate on looking good and having fun on the slopes, instead of trying to slash down the hill as if it were a slalom course. . . . And if you want to know where to go to look good, check out “California Ski Guide,” a 192-page compendium of 46 Alpine and 23 Nordic ski areas in the state, by Phyllis Neumann and Margaret Chapman, who can tell you where to find it at (707) 833-6357.