Killington, Vt.
On a normal Saturday, this ski resort town would be awakening gradually, skiers and snowboarders arriving at Killington ski area nonchalantly at after breakfast. On this early morning the mountain’s access road is already bustling with anticipation, an anticipation that’s been bubbling for 38 years. A Vermont venue will finally host another FIS Ski World Cup.
Thousands of hours and millions of dollars were allocated to this weekend’s event, welcoming the world’s finest women’s technical skiers for Saturday’s giant slalom and today’s slalom runs.
Merely strolling the parking lot and past Killington’s K1 Lodge is proof that the world has come to the Green Mountain State. License plates from locales like British Columbia and California. Flags staked at the finish line representing nations from throughout Europe. Foreign accents among much of the chattering media contingent, along with many of the spectators.
Yet many of the approximately 15,000 attendees — an unofficial estimate based on the venue’s sold out grand stand and VIP areas, as well as an overflowing standing-room crowd — are skiing fans from nearby, many of them children and many others competitors themselves, former and current.
After so much anticipation, it’s finally time to cheer, to celebrate, to reunite and reminisce.
The World Cup is back.
“I’d say it’s the biggest event this place has ever staged, ever,” said Guy Garofalo, who’s been instructing young skiers at Killington for more than 20 years and has skied there for longer. “We’ve been waiting a long time for this. It’s an opportunity for people in this area to witness World Cup competition, and you could just watch the building and the preparation for this event unfold all week long.”
Garofalo is a coach with the Killington Ski Club, one of many Vermont youth skiing organizations on hand to lead the event’s opening parade.
Others include the Quechee Ski Team, the Woodstock Ski Runners, the Okemo Mountain Ski Club and others. The skiers, aged 6-18, are just becoming familiar with the sport; other are experienced competitors. All are excited to be here.
“I’m definitely stoked to be here and see the best in the world,” said 17-year-old Emma Maiden, a Woodstock Union High senior and member of the Wasps’ alpine ski racing team. “It’s awesome to have it back on the East Coast.”
The parade ends around 9 a.m., anticipation immediately building thereafter for the first giant slalom run of the day, scheduled for 9:30.
The murmuring of fans becomes more of a clamor, their voices and feet reverberating through the venue’s aluminum grandstands and echoing off the K1 Lodge’s exterior walls.
The Star Spangled Banner begins, its singer broadcast over a large video screen at the finish line. One gentleman of Swiss descent, Konstantin Schonbachler, doesn’t realize it’s being performed, the large bells swinging from his hands blocking it out. Another fan, presumably American, politely alerts him to quiet down.
“I’m sorry, I did not hear,” Schonbachler says. “(The bells) are a tradition in Switzerland. You have to ring them the whole race.”
The finish-line emcees soon announce a delay, rumored to be due to a TV satellite transmission issue. The starting time is first bumped back to 9:45, then 10, then 10:10. Fans are now rumbling, the demand for World Cup action teetering on frenzy. It’s been permeating in Vermont, after all, since the last run at Stratton Mountain concluded in 1978.
Eventually, forerunners from Killington Mountain School and Green Mountain Valley High take to the Superstar Trail, relishing the chance to perform for the crowd before their idols do. Bridgewater resident Ava Mattsson is among the pair of KMS students, joining teammate Rebecca Clark and GMVS’s Hannah Utter for a set of impressive runs (another KMS student, Cassidy Bebo, is slated to be among the forerunners prior to today’s slalom races).
“It’s an experience most high school athletes don’t get to have,” said Killington Mountain School coach Greg Hardy. “An experience like that can be a perspective changer, a building block for young athletes.”
The event also helps spark memories and unite friends. Former Dartmouth College skier Chan Morgan, of Etna, attended Stratton Mountain School and was on hand in 1978 when the World Cup performed at his school’s mountain. He was part of a dozen or so ski enthusiasts from the Upper Valley stationed in the VIP area during the races, sharing memories while watching the action.
“There are a lot of old friends here,” said Morgan, a Grafton, Vt., native and mid-1980s Dartmouth contemporary of current U.S. Ski Team President and CEO Tiger Shaw. “You look around, and it has the feel of a classic Vermont ski crowd. I’ve seen some hats that you might have seen in the 70s or 80s.”
Near the finish line, former Castelton University skiers Steph Kopko, of Woodstock, and Newington, Conn., resident Heather Patterson are volunteers. The Spartans use Killington as a home course, and the World Cup was the perfect platform to reunite.
“It’s majestic to see what Killington looks like today,” Kopko said. “A lot of skiers from our team made it out. I can’t think of a better reunion.”
Finally, Norway’s Nina Loseth approaches the starting line. The anticipation builds for one last moment, the cameras zooming in on the skier’s focused game face.
Suddenly Loseth is off, swiftly zig-zagging around the Superstar Trail’s gates. The crowd cheers as they view the video board, but they already know what watching the World Cup on a screen is like. The real moment they’re waiting for is when the athlete comes into view for the final stretch, about 150 yards from the finish line. Loseth does just that about 40 seconds into her run, and that’s when Killington truly erupts. That’s when the passion our region holds for skiing truly becomes palpable.
It doesn’t matter that Loseth is from Norway. She could be from Mars. Kids scream, adults roar and clap with gloved hands. The sound, for a moment, rivals that of any football game, any marvelous concert or theatrical performance. It’s spine tingling.
With apologies to alternative rock outfit O.A.R. — who perform a free show following the second runs — the only moments rivaling the excitement of the start come during the performances of fan favorite Mikaela Shiffrin. A former Lyme resident and Burke Mountain Academy graduate, Shiffrin enters the day leading the overall World Cup standings. She placed eighth during the first run (one minute, 0.62 seconds) and 12th during the second (59.88), enough for a fifth overall finish that helped her maintain first place overall entering today’s slalom, her signature event.
Oliver Morgan, a Burke Mountain freshman, was one of many on hand to cheer her on. He’s been looking forward to this day since he heard the news months ago.
“The World Cup is here, Mikaela’s here, it’s awesome,” he says. “It’s a good place to be.”
Jared Pendak can be reached at jpendak@vnews.com or 603-727-3225.