Skiing / Bob Lochner : Everything Is Ready--Except for the Snow

Ready or not, the international ski racing season arrives this weekend. Millions of dollars have been spent to train and equip the teams of the Alpine nations, Scandinavia, the United States and Canada, but one ingredient is missing, or at least in short supply. It’s the only thing that’s free in skiing--snow.

Early season races in Europe have always been touch and go, and after the string of postponements last fall and winter, the organizers of the World Cup circuit decided to try opening the women’s schedule in the United States, where conditions are supposed to be more reliable. The result: a giant slalom Saturday and a slalom Sunday at Park City, Utah, followed by two more races Dec. 5-6 at Waterville Valley, N.H.

A Park City spokesman said Wednesday that the resort near Salt Lake City still needs another storm before it can open for general skiing, but thanks to the miracle of snow making, the women’s World Cup opener has been saved.

“We have three to four feet of snow on Payday,” he said. “There’s no problem.”

One layer of that base came with a storm about two weeks ago. The rest of it was man- and machine-made, and certainly didn’t come free.

Park City’s big show starts today with a Women All-Stars of Skiing race involving former Olympic and world-class competitors such as Christin Cooper, Gretchen Fraser, Marilyn Cochran and others.

The men, meanwhile, are taking the traditional route of trying to begin their campaign at Sestriere, Italy, and yep, there’s not much snow there, either. More to the point, the temperatures have been too warm for effective snow making, so the organizers will probably cancel the giant slalom and concentrate on preparing the shorter slalom courses.

This figures to be a rebound season for the U.S. ski team, especially the women, whose highest ranking in the 1985-86 World Cup overall standings was downhill specialist Pam Fletcher’s No. 23.

Of course, it didn’t help to have Debbie Armstrong, the 1984 Olympic giant slalom gold medalist, and Diann Roffe, winner of the giant slalom at the 1985 World Championships, miss most of the races with knee injuries. Both are back and ready to join Tamara McKinney, the 1983 World Cup champion, Eva Twardokens and Fletcher in mounting an American challenge to the powerful Swiss team.

Switzerland, led by World Cup overall titlist Maria Walliser, swept the top 3 women’s places and 5 of the first 6. They’re all back for more.

As for the U.S. men, it’s another case of Bill Johnson and Doug Lewis against the world in the downhill, and not much talent in the technical races.

For Johnson, 26, the ’84 Olympic champion, it’s time to show whether he can be considered a viable threat for the 1988 Winter Games at Calgary. His best showing last season was an eighth at Kitzbuhel, Austria. Perhaps the fact that we haven’t heard much from him lately indicates that he has been in serious training.

Lewis had a fifth at Kitzbuhel--the day before Johnson’s eighth--but generally failed to live up to the promise of his bronze medal at the ’85 World Championships.

The World Cup overall title chase again figures to be between two-time defending champion Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg and Pirmin Zurbriggen of Switzerland. Zurbriggen, the ’84 titlist and runner-up the last two seasons, would probably have caught Girardelli if he hadn’t hurt his knee in last season’s opening downhill.

The Austrian-born Girardelli, who won only one race but had 17 top-five finishes, hinted that he is eager to pop out of the gate.

He said recently: “I spread myself too thin (last winter) and because of the publicity things from my first World Cup, I didn’t have enough time to train in all four disciplines. I skied well until January, but by the end I was just hanging on.”

Skiing Notes

California ski slopes, which are just about every color but white, will be shut down for the Thanksgiving weekend, with the exception of Boreal, way up there on Donner Summit in the High Sierra. It has 6 to 15 inches of man-made snow and is running three chairlifts. . . . Two Utah ski areas are operating daily--Alta, with a 46-inch base, and Brighton, with 31 inches. . . . In Oregon, there’s skiing at Mt. Bachelor, 44 inches, and Timberline, 52 inches. . . . In Wyoming, Grand Targhee has 28 to 44 inches. Jackson Hole won’t start until Dec. 6. . . . Sun Valley, Ida., has Lower Warm Springs covered with man-made snow and will launch its season today. . . . Most Colorado resorts will be open by this weekend, but skiing is still somewhat marginal, with Summit County (Arapahoe Basin, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain and Keystone) probably the first choice. . . . Some of the best skiing in the West right now may be in Montana, which has had a series of storms this fall. A report trickled down this week that Red Lodge has 60 inches on top, and Big Sky, Big Mountain and Bridger Bowl aren’t far behind.