SKIING
This will be a busy summer at Mammoth Mountain, where owner Dave McCoy plans to spend between $8 million and $14 million on capital improvements.
“We’ll have more precise details soon,” marketing director Pam Murphy said this week. “But it will definitely be the biggest expenditure here since the mid-1980s, involving new high-speed quad chairlifts and possibly a restaurant at the base of Chair No. 2.
“Our main goal over the next five years is to tighten the lift network. We may even take out a few older lifts and install high-speed quads for quicker, more direct access.”
Although the current ski season is winding down in the Southland, Mammoth has barely reached its midpoint. With 10 to 14 feet of snow on the slopes, it has every intention of operating through July 4. “That looks like a very attainable goal,” Murphy said. “We like to call this our second season, and starting April 14, all-day lift tickets will drop to $35 [from $45].”
Today through Saturday, the Eastern Sierra will play host to the U.S. Snowboarding Championships, which include a slalom at Mammoth and halfpipe and giant slalom at nearby June Mountain.
June will close a week from Sunday, but several resorts farther north--notably Kirkwood, Heavenly, Alpine Meadows and Squaw Valley--will remain open until late April or even into May.
Locally, Bear Mountain, Snow Summit and Mountain High continue to operate daily. However, Snow Valley shut down its lifts Sunday.
A COUPLE OF PROS
Julie Parisien of the United States and Hans Hofer of Austria wrapped up their second consecutive World Pro Ski Tour titles last weekend at Squaw Valley.
Parisien, 25, slalom silver medalist in the 1993 World Alpine Ski Championships, earned $38,825 while piling up 320 points on the seven-stop women’s circuit--90 more than runner-up Camilla Lundback of Sweden. Rookie Ophelie Racz of France was third, another 15 back.
Hofer, 30, finished the nine-meet men’s competition with more than $70,000, overcoming a 32-point deficit in the final three races to edge countryman Sebastian Vitzthum, 370 to 367. Swiss Jakob Rhyner was third with 329. Erik Schlopy, who finished sixth overall, became the first American male to win a race on the tour since 1992, taking the super-G at Squaw.
MOE IS BETTER
Tommy Moe signaled that he is regaining the form that won him gold and silver Olympic medals three years ago as he swept his specialties in the U.S. Alpine Championships at Sugarloaf-USA, Maine.
After winning the downhill and super-G last week, Moe told the Associated Press: “I’d like to be the first to win two [Olympic] downhills. I’m not even ruling out 2002 at this point. If I win the gold [at Nagano, Japan, in February], I wouldn’t retire. I’d go for three, maybe.”
Moe, 27, of Anchorage, Alaska, said he has recovered completely from knee and thumb injuries, adding: “Right now, I’m psyched on racing, and that’s when I do my best.”
Another top-flight American downhiller, Kyle Rasmussen, 28, of Angels Camp, Calif., is also on the mend after suffering a knee injury Jan. 18 at Wengen, Switzerland. “When I got hurt, there were a few days when I thought it might be over,” he said. “But I’m on the comeback trail. I’m just getting new tires.”
QUICK TURNS
The Sprint Bumps and Jumps Challenge Finals will be held at Heavenly on Friday and Saturday. . . . Spring events at Mammoth Mountain include the Special Olympics April 7-10 and the Dave McCoy Invitational race April 18-20. . . . Ski filmmakers Warren Miller, John Jay, Dick Durrance, Roger Brown and Otto Lang will be honored April 11-13 at Vail, Colo., during the first Colorado Winter Sports Film Festival. The event, which will also include a posthumous tribute to Fred Iselin, benefits the Colorado Ski Museum/Hall of Fame and the Steadman-Hawkins Sports Medicine Foundation.
Todd Lodwick of Steamboat Springs, Colo., finished 10th in the final international Nordic combined competition last weekend at Strbske Pleso, Slovakia, but failed to place among the top 10 in the World Cup standings for the sport, which combines ski jumping with a 15-kilometer cross-country race on separate days. Samppa Lajunen of Finland won the title with 1,223 points, 283 ahead of countryman Jari Mantila, who was second. . . . The U.S. Nordic Combined Championships will be held today and Thursday at Steamboat.
The U.S. Freestyle Championships are under way through Sunday at Sugarloaf-USA, Maine. . . . Primoz Peterka of Slovenia won the World Cup ski-jumping title with 1,402 points, 194 more than runner-up Dieter Thoma of Germany. . . . For those who like to plan--and make reservations--well ahead, here are some key future ski dates: Feb. 7-22, 1998, Olympic Winter Games, Nagano, Japan; Jan. 25-Feb. 7, 1999, World Alpine Ski Championships, Vail, Colo.; Late Jan./early Feb. (TBA), 2001, World Alpine Ski Championships, St. Anton, Austria.; Feb. 9-24, 2002, Olympic Winter Games, Salt Lake City.