Alpine Skiing
In Vermont, a Town Saved a Mountain, and a Mountain Saved a Town
Jim Lyall briskly skied up Mount Ascutney, eagerly pointing out the view. We were skinning up a ski area in southern Vermont, but the chairlifts are long gone. At the top of the mountain we arrived at an abandoned ski patrol cabin and lift station. A cold breeze whipped through the deserted structures. It had […]
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For Skiers, a Winter of Discontent
“Is it just me, or do some of the lifties look older this season?” asked my husband as we rode a chairlift at Snowmass, in Colorado — our local resort — a couple of days after Christmas. I reminded him that during the holidays, the Aspen Skiing Company’s executive team comes out to Snowmass and […]
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Breezy Johnson Will Miss the Olympics With Injured Knee
The American ski racer Breezy Johnson, a top contender for a gold medal at next month’s Beijing Olympics in the women’s downhill, said on Monday that she would not compete in the Games because of torn right knee cartilage she sustained in the second of two high-speed training crashes this month. Saying she was heartbroken, […]
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Skier Mikaela Shiffrin is Back on Top and Headed to the Olympics
Thursday afternoon, roughly one month from the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, Mikaela Shiffrin was still a bit out of breath from a slalom training session in Austria. But it felt good, and not just because Shiffrin, an eight-time Olympic and world champion, is once again atop the Alpine World Cup overall standings. “I finally feel […]
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Meet the Woman Who Helped Set a Speed Record on a Classic Alpine Ski Route
So how did you and Ms. Gerardi team up? It was February or March 2019, and we both did a 1,000-meter vertical ski race. Hillary won, and I came in second. We were waiting for the awards ceremony after the race and my partner, Ben, heard her talking about how she wanted to set a […]
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The ‘Best Spring Skiing Anywhere’? Try Crete
“Here, now,” our local guide, Nikos Kalatzakis, said on cue, “we have found the Holy Spirit.” It looked heavenly, but we hadn’t yet fully tested the snow, at least not for skiing down. The springlike conditions had felt promising on the way up, but it was mid-afternoon by now and the sun had been on […]
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Skier Mikaela Shiffrin, Top Medal Contender in Beijng, Tests Positive
Mikaela Shiffrin, the two-time Olympic champion skier and a top U.S. medal contender at the Winter Olympics in Beijing, said Monday that she has tested positive for the coronavirus and will miss World Cup races Tuesday and Wednesday in Lienz, Austria. The result complicated Shiffrin’s preparations for the Beijing Games and showed how a surge […]
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On Cue, Skiing Re-enters the Spotlight Ahead of Olympics
BEAVER CREEK, Colo. — Pretty much everywhere besides the Alps, ski racing tends to fly under the radar most of the time. And then, every four years, an Olympic Games approaches, and with the flick of a switch, ski racers once more capture the imagination of anyone who catches a glimpse of the high-speed daredevilry […]
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How to Ski Smarter in the Age of Multi-Mountain Passes
In Denver, many local residents hit the road early on winter weekends, packing I-70 and the slopes closest to the Front Range. To avoid this crush, ski the resorts closest to Denver during the week — Vail, Breckenridge, Keystone, Beaver Creek on Epic, and Winter Park, Copper Mountain and Arapahoe Basin on Ikon. For weekends, […]
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