Skiing / Bob Lochner : Disabled Ski Circuit Starts This Week at Mammoth
Disabled skiers throughout the United States will have their own racing series this winter, starting Saturday and Sunday at Mammoth Mountain.
The program, called the Chap Stick Challenge, offers skiers with physical handicaps opportunities to qualify for the National Handicapped Ski Championships March 26-April 1 at Winter Park, Colo. To reach the nationals, skiers must post times faster than the qualifying standards in at least 2 of the 18 regional events.
Other California races are scheduled for Alpine Meadows, near Lake Tahoe, Jan. 28-29 and Bear Mountain, at Big Bear Lake, Feb. 25-26.
More than 60 competitors and volunteers are expected at Mammoth, including Diana Golden, who won a gold medal last February at Calgary, where disabled skiing was a demonstration sport in the Winter Olympics. Golden will forerun the race courses.
Mammoth is reporting 24 to 30 inches of packed powder on its slopes, with some obstacles showing--a situation that is prevalent throughout the High Sierra, where the snow generally gets deeper the farther north you go. Around Tahoe, Kirkwood, Heavenly Valley, Alpine Meadows, Squaw Valley and Sugar Bowl all have maximum depths of 60 to 72 inches.
Locally, Mountain High, Snow Valley, Snow Summit and Bear Mountain continue to operate daily on mainly man-made snow.
Ski Dazzle ’88 opens a 4-day run today at the Los Angeles Convention Center, offering skiers a potpourri of celebrities, demonstrations, films, new equipment, fashions, resort displays and travel information.
A record total of 375 exhibitors will be on hand this year, which marks the 25th anniversary of the L.A. Ski Show.
Show hours are 4 to 11 p.m. today and Friday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.
The early-season shortage of snow in Europe has caused one of this weekend’s two scheduled World Cup men’s downhills to be shifted from Val d’Isere, France, to Val Gardena, Italy, to avoid too much wear and tear on the French resort’s course.
This is the revised schedule: FRIDAY--Women’s downhill at Val d’Isere; SATURDAY--No race (men’s downhill moved to Val Gardena Dec. 9); SUNDAY--Men’s downhill at Val d’Isere; TUESDAY--Men’s slalom at Sestriere, Italy.
Pirmin Zurbriggen of Switzerland has taken a commanding lead in the men’s overall standings with 50 points by winning both races so far. His main rival, Alberto Tomba of Italy, picked up 12 points in the super-G but lost his balance and missed a gate in the first run of the giant slalom.
On the women’s side, the Austrians are showing that they will provide the Swiss with a strong challenge as Ulrike Meier and Anita Wachter moved into the 1-2 positions in the standings, just ahead of Switzerland’s Vreni Schneider, who won the first giant slalom, and France’s Carole Merle, who took the opening super-G.
Skiing Notes
The U.S. Pro Tour stops this weekend at Waterville Valley, N.H., where Phil and Steve Mahre will take their second crack at head-to-head racing. Steve won the slalom and Phil finished third last Saturday in the opener at Park City, Utah, but both were beaten in the early rounds Sunday, when Niklas Lindqvist of Sweden won the giant slalom. . . . The Mahre twins will offer racing tips on “Subaru Ski World With Bob Beattie” Sunday at 12:30 p.m. on ESPN. Taped highlights of the World Cup men’s super-G at Schladming, Austria, last Sunday will follow at 1 p.m. . . . Snowbird reported that its November snowfall total reached 118 inches on Monday, breaking the previous record for the month at the Utah resort, set in 1985. . . . Taos Ski Valley, N.M., with a 46-inch base as the result of two recent storms, moved its opening up from Dec. 15 to next Thursday.