Skiing / Bob Lochner : Oh, Those Corporate Rat Races

If you can ski, you can race, and some of America’s largest corporations are encouraging you to do so.

At first glance, it would appear to be a conspiracy to ruin an otherwise enjoyable sport and turn it into something like, say, tennis, in which cutthroat competition comes first and recreation is a lagging second.

But these companies all seem to be acting independently, at worst copying one another, in their frenzied rush to inscribe their corporate logos on racing bibs worn by skiing’s upscale compulsive consumers.

In so doing, they prey on the dark competitive animal instincts that govern such activities as freeway driving, career networking and triathlons.

Skiing used to be one way to escape from such anxieties, at least for a few hours. Carving your way down a snowy mountain and gulping the pure air, it was possible to shut out the rest of the world, except for an occasional kamikaze shouting, “On your left!”

But not anymore. Now, you have to head for the starting gate, await the countdown and try to get to the bottom of the hill as fast as you can, beating either the clock or some stranger in the next lane, er, course.

If you think that’s an exaggeration, check out this partial list of racing programs now being offered from Snow Summit to Squaw Valley and points in between: Lite beer NASTAR, Subaru Super NASTAR, Coca-Cola junior NASTAR, Michelob Light Town Challenge, Equitable Family Challenge, Grand Marnier Ski Club Challenge, Henry Weinhard’s College Cup, Dodge Performance Ski Race Series, Chrysler-Plymouth All-American Ski Series, Hiram Walker Schnapps races, Leaf Great American Ski Chase, Corporate Ski Challenge and, new this season, BMW Corporate Grand Prix of Skiing.

There are races for toddlers, preteens, swinging singles, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, senior citizens--you name it. In addition, most ski areas have their own events, plus racing clinics and automated coin-operated race courses--in case there happens to be no race scheduled that day.

So, it’s obvious that recreational racing has joined night skiing and strings on sunglasses as threats to the continuation of the sport as we know it. In two words, the best advice that can be offered to those who would turn skiing into tennis or bowling or, heaven forbid, golf is: Lighten up.

Let’s leave the racing to the Killys and the Mahres, and just go enjoy that powder.

Skiing Notes The weather-plagued World Cup circuit staggers into its final weekend before taking a two-week break, with the men competing in a pair of downhills, one a makeup, at Morzine, France, and the women going in a slalom and a giant slalom at Jasna, Czechoslovakia. . . . Next week, the U.S. ski team will return home to face the challenge of aspiring younger racers in the National Alpine championships at Copper Mountain, Colo. . . . Diann Roffe, who underwent knee surgery after being injured Jan. 19 in a slalom at Oberstaufen, West Germany, is expected to be back for the March World Cup races in North America. . . . The Peugeot Grand Prix men’s pro ski tour will be at Winter Park, Colo., this weekend, then will head for Snow Summit’s Winterfest Feb. 13-16. Women’s Pro Ski Racing will stop at Nashoba Valley, Mass. . . . The first Park City winter carnival is scheduled at the Utah resort Friday through Sunday. . . . Jackson Hole, Wyo., will stage its eighth annual Grand National Powder 8 event Saturday, when teams of two skiers try to carve the most perfect figure 8s in the Teton powder. . . . Royal Gorge Nordic Resort and Reno will be co-hosts of the U.S. Ski Assn.’s cross-country national championship races March 19-28.