MARCO SULLIVAN

It is Spring!  I just realized that I have not thrown a blog up here for over 2 months.  I am sure that I have lost any loyal followers I had by now, but if there are any of you out there I apologize for being such an inconsistent blogger!

My real day job ended on March 12th when the World Cup Finals were canceled in Lenzerheide.  We packed bags and said goodbye to Europe until next year.  I finished the year ranked 14th in the World Cup Downhill standings.  My best since 2009 so I was stoked about that even though I think that there is still lots of opportunity to move it up.

After we came home I unfortunately had to skip US Nationals at my home mountain of Squaw Valley because the surgeon beckoned me into his office once again.  A small piece of meniscus cartilage in my knee had worked itself loose.  After a quick scope and a  couple weeks of taking it easy I was again ready for action and on the plane to Alaska.

Arctic Man is a race in Alaska that I have won three times with my Teammate Tyler Aklestad.  I have found in trying to explain it that not too many people understand what this race is so I thought I would share a GoPro video that we shot this year. This is a GoPro mounted on the back of Tyler’s helmet so you can see where he picks me up until the time I release. This section represents almost half the race, and the only snow-machine involvement, the rest of the time I am just skiing on my own.

We won the race with a course record this year. We also ate tons of Alaskan crab and fish, saw some amazing northern lights, slept in RV’s for a week of negative temperatures and had an all around great time. For more great Arctic Man photos click here to check out Brian Montalbos gallery from the week. Also check out the www.arcticman.com if you are interested in what it is all about.

After the race I went to hang with my good friend Burntski in Girdwood and had a couple days of bluebird skiing at Alyeska, one of my favorite resorts.

I can’t get enough of the view from Alyeska, so cool to be looking out over the water.

Alaska was a success and now I am hanging back in SLC.  We have had 4 days of pow skiing up in the Cottonwood Canyons and I am looking forward to some more.  Not quite ready to call it a winter yet.

Hope everyone is enjoying the Spring!

World Champs downhill is finally going to get underway tomorrow.  It has been close to two weeks since we last raced in Kitzbuhel and everybody is itching to get going.  I have to admit that my least favorite part of ski racing is the waiting game.   We all want to stay sharp so we have been doing quite a bit of training.  The daily routine is something like, wake up , morning warm up, breakfast, ski , lunch, homework, dry-land training, physio, dinner, sleep……repeat.

When you have days like Ted Ligety had today in the Super G then it all seems worth while , but it is the lead up to those days that can drive me crazy!

Thankfully the waiting is over and we will be back on a real downhill course tomorrow.  I am excited and so are the rest of the guys.  The US has a medal in each of the races so far.  For us to keep that trend going in the DH we are going to have to ski our best.  I think that we are capable, and it’s going to be a lot of fun trying to make it happen.  Like our new coach Andy likes to say “ski with a smile and all es gut!”

Below is a team shot of us training at Hinterreit last week.  Ted came with the speed team to train a few days of Super G and it paid off today. Congrats to the new Super G World Champion!

Wengen Downhill 2013 is in the books.  Sad that it is another year before we can run this track again.  There were some highlights, a new speed record was set!  Johan Clarey of France hit 161.9km per hour (100.6 MPH)  in the speed trap at the bottom of the Hannegschuss.  Christof Innerhofer won the race  with a time of 2 min. 29.82 seconds which was almost 6 seconds faster than last years winning time showing that the course was just plain fast overall.

Innerhofer skied the key turns flawlessly!  He told me that when he was in the start he had a feeling that he has never had before.  He wanted to risk everything and he did not care of the consequences.  In other words he was in the zone and he executed his plan. Congrats to him, it is always a special thing to see racers win on these classic downhills.

This course has been run since 1930.  It just amazes me how much skiing history is held here and how lucky I have been to be able to race here for the last decade.
Today was not my best performance here, I ended in 13th. It was not a bad result but I was really hoping to capitalize on my early start number which is always seen as an advantage on this long course that gets continuously more bumpy as the day wears on.  The result did move me back into the top ten in the season downhill standings.  Our team is still holding strong with 3 racers in the top 15.  If you want to access the standings and loads of other useless information CLICK HERE  that will take you to today’s results.  Then in the upper right hand corner it says 3 files available.  Click on that and then download the Results, Analysis, and Standings page.  That has all the split times and top speeds that were attained by the racers today.

I will give you a few more pics from this fun week of racing. Below is Andrew Weibrecht sizing up the Hundshopf jump during inspection.

Wiley Maple and Steven Nyman stoked to be on the crowded train.

This is one of the hillside viewing areas on the way to inspection this morning almost 3 hours before the race started.  The Swiss enjoy themselves a good ol’ ski race!

This is during the inspection from low down on the course.   Sometimes it is really peaceful just hanging out before the mayhem of the day begins.

We are headed out to Kitzbuehel tomorrow.  Our team is fired up to go attack the baddest downhill of them all!  Now we are off to school the Canadians in our ongoing North American hockey tournament.  Actually I don’t think we have ever beat them but we will keep trying!  Hope that everyone is having a great winter.

Wengen Switzerland, one of the best stops on the World Cup.  Today was scheduled to be the final training run but 15cm of new snow fell overnight.  The jury decided that the day would be better spent clearing off the course and getting it primed for the races ahead and they were probably right.  We went up anyway and piddled around on the hill a little bit, it is hard to stay in the hotel room when you are surrounded by mountains like these.

In Wengen the trains serve as chairlifts and they run on a precise schedule.  Half the battle of this week is catching the train at the right  time so you don’t miss an inspection or a race run.

It was forecasted to be snowy weather all week but yesterday the clouds parted and we had a clear top to bottom training run!

Jared Goldberg getting in the visualizing zone on the Super G turns section of the course.

The start bar will be going off on Saturday!  The Lauberhorn DH is one of the biggest events in Switzerland.  There are usually upwards of 35,000 fans gracing the sides of the course.  I was on the podium here once in 2009 and I have watched some of my teammates stand on the top step.  This is one of the races that can legitimize a ski racer in one day, but it does take everything you can give. At roughly 2 minutes and 30 seconds it is the longest course on the tour, many racers have seen there glory swallowed up in the A nets at the finish S, a hairpin turn that can make world class racers look like beginners.  What a race it will be, can’t wait for Saturday!

The T2 Foundation supports athletes competing in Olympic snow sports, including alpine, Nordic and freestyle skiing.  The Foundation is supporting 29 athletes this season and I am one of them.

More can be found about the foundation at their website at www.T2foundation.com.

T2 is providing an amazing service by allowing athletes in need to apply for grants to help offset the expenses that are demanded by their respective sports.

When I was told by the US Ski Team this past Spring that I was losing my funding one of the first outlets that offered support was T2 even though I am a bit older than their normal demographic.

Beginning this week in Val Gardena I will be wearing the T2 logo on my helmet to help raise awareness for the foundation.  Please check out their website and consider making a donation.  All donations are tax deductible and help to support our upcoming Olympians and a few old downhillers like me!

We are back in Italy and life is good.  We chatted with this guy from Rome today he was sucking down a cigarette in front of the Gondola in the sun.  Had to take a pic because it was classic.  The people love their skiing here and it been fun mixing it up with the locals a little bit.  We are here before most of the teams and have just been free skiing and getting our legs back underneath us after the long travel from home.

Another perk of being over here is watching all the live ski racing going on, eating pasta and of course getting ready for the Saslong Classic to kick off this week.  The Saslong is the name of the Downhill piste here in Val Gardena.  It is a classic course and most famous for all of the terrain and jumps that litter the course.  The biggest jump is the camel bumps where the racers need to fly about 55 meters (180 feet) off the first bump in order to safely clear the second bump.  Not making the gap has resulted in many blown out knees over the years but that is usually due to a mistake before take off. If you are cleanly in your tuck going off the first bump there is really not a chance of coming up short as the race organizers build a nice takeoff ramp.  This was not the case years ago when racers had the option to ski around the camels or dare the leap over the bumps which was sure to save some time.  A brave Austrian, Uilli Spiess was the first racer to ever dare the leap in the 1976 race.

Nowadays it is fast skis and a gliders touch that will take the cake on the top 2/3rds of the course and then some some catlike reflexes to carry you through the Ciaslot section which skis more like a terrain park then a traditional Downnhill.  It is a lot of fun and our team is looking forward to this week.  We will have Travis Ganong, Steven Nyman, Andrew Weibrecht and myself racing for the USA.

Here is a pic of us from the hill today with our coach Andy.

Well we have arrived in Beaver Creek and I am finally getting a moment to reflect on what happened on Saturday. Landing on the podium in Lake Louise was a great feeling but even more incredible is the support and congratulations that I have received from so many friends and fans. The last time I was on a World Cup podium was in Wengen 2009. At that time I don’t think twitter existed and I did not have a Facebook account.   Social media has been like a loudspeaker in my ear this past day two days.  I have not gotten a chance to reply to everybody but I just want to say thanks for being tuned into ski racing and being stoked when you see great performances.  I did have a great run and I am feeling strong, dialed in,  and ready to keep it rolling.

Aksel had a nice short blog this morning in his words he said “But the real feeling is what you feel when you´re all alone in the finish area. Just finished your run and you´re looking up to see your name on the top of the board. Nothing beats that feeling right there. Pure adrenalin, happiness and excitement.”

I hate to agree with the guy who beat me but he is right.  Aksel’s sentiment goes right along with the old saying that “champions are made when nobody else is watching.” When you are in the finish area you usually know exactly what contributed to the time that you see on the clock.  Whether it is good or bad sometimes only you know how you arrived there.  When it is a great time I think  it is OK to be proud within your heart and that is what I felt on Saturday.  I am proud that I still love skiing even after all the times it has knocked me down.  I could go deeper but I will just say that Saturday was the most emotional I have ever been on a ski hill.  I was very proud, happy and excited to be standing up on the steps with some of the best downhillers in the world. I was also very thankful for all of those who have been helping to keep my dream alive all of these years.

That is enough about me. I would like to mention that I think as a team the US boys started some momentum in Lake Louise.  On Sunday there was 4 skiers in the points in the Super G and all the crew is excited to get on the track here in Beaver Creek.  I think it is going to be another great week.

Thanks for reading,

Marco

Lake Louise is here!  First WC of the year  Everyone is excited and it is nice to see a lot of familiar faces and share some stories about what has been going on for the last 8 months.

I am proud to announce that I have a new partnership with the High Fives Foundation.  High fives is a non-profit foundation out of Truckee, Ca. They are dedicated to raising money and awareness for athletes that have suffered a life altering injury while pursuing their dream in the winter action sports community.
The foundation is providing a great service for the winter action sports community and I will be trying to raise awareness by wearing their logo on the front of my helmet.  I will also be auctioning off some of my signed race bibs with all of the proceeds going to the foundation.

Additionally a new company called Play Hard Give Back is making a “Marco Sullivan Blend” trail mix which will be sold in stores around the Tahoe/Truckee area and part of those proceeds will be going back to the High Fives.

So please tune in to the racing this weekend and consider making a donation to support the High Fives at www.HighFivesFoundtion.org.

The DH Team poses with John Wayne and Adolph, our gracious host, at Adolphs Restaurant in Park City last night.

As we stand at the doorstep of another World Cup season the same hype machine is starting to unravel and the same excitement is being felt around all the snowy peaks of the country.

The Copper Mountain Speed Center has been an excellent training venue thus far.  We have not been skiing full-length downhill but the minute long rolling version on firm, grippy, Colorado snow is a nice warm up.   We have had the hill pretty exclusively up to this point. The “new” World Cup speed team has been getting first dibs on training times and locations.  The team this year consists of rookies and vets and a few in between, a small, elite group who are hoping to outrun our setbacks from last season.

Steven Nyman, three times on the World Cup podium, known for his DH win in Val Gardena in 2006 but respected because of his two podiums at home on the Birds of Prey.  Returning from a torn achilles last season, he is strong, ready, and as fit as you will ever find a downhiller. He uses his unorthodox style to create speed where many other racers are just cruising.

Andrew Weibrecht, the Olympic bronze medalist in the Super G and all around hard charging skier.  Sometimes I will sit on the side of the course and watch, just laughing as he pulls off angles that seem obscene and terrifying to the normal skier.  He holds high standards for himself and I expect him to live up to them this season.

Erik Fischer is known as ski racings “strongest man.”  He was in medal contention when he crashed near the bottom of the Kvitfjel downhill course last season.  His knee ligaments tore but it only fueled his passion to ski faster.  We may not see him until part way through the season but he has switched equipment and he is on a mission to prove that he can be one of the best.

Travis Ganong, a product of Squaw Valley, finished last season ranked among the top 30 in the world in downhill.  He will benefit from good starting positions something he has rarely had in his young career.  In his third World Cup season he should start aiming to get on the steps.

The young guns Ryan Siegle and Tommy Biesemeyer are also training with us during this block.  They are both fast skiers and constant hard battling competitors. It is racers like them that make the rest of the group stronger.   They will be starting the early World Cups and making their own campaign to become full time racers on  the White Circus.

Bode Miller is an anomaly and at this point we are not sure when we will see him back. He has been unarguably the best American downhiller since 2006 and I think that if his knee cooperates he can be a viable contender as the first American to win the overall downhill title, whether that will be this season or next remains to be seen.

And then there is me.  I am not going to write a critique of my own skiing but I am feeling strong and healthy and confident in my equipment.  I was standing at the bottom of the Copper Speed Center a few nights ago and watching the snow cats push the man-made snow piles around on the hill. I was thinking about the season when I was one of the guys driving the snow cat, instead of being the one who can simply enjoy the smooth hard runs that are so long in preparing.  Each of my 13 years as being a part of this team has been memorable and special in its own right.  Even the years when I was not able to ski taught me important lessons.  I have been living the dream but it is has hardly been an even, steady path.  I am at a place now where I can look at the sport as one who has truly experienced it, and that is a pretty special feeling.  I have learned that despite the changes in equipment we are still strapping planks on our feet and hauling ass down a mountain.  It is some of the most fun you could ever have and though it is our job we should never take ourselves too seriously.

I have grown to loathe physical therapy, the injuries have been memorable but the months of building your body back to strength is what really tests the soul.  I have cashed six figure paychecks but I am now an unfunded athlete. The funny part is that it does not change the amount of fun that I have when I am charging down a mountain.  Whether on top of the pedestal in our sport, or looking up from the bottom rung of the ladder, each position can be changed in one run.  I have gone from thinking that skiing was life to knowing that it is a big part of a happy life.

I am thinking it will be a great season.  Whether or not Lindsay races with the boys, or Bill Marolt gets another raise, there will still be racers out there scaring themselves and achieving goals.  There will be crashes, bad weather and bad luck but through it all there will be big smiles.

Before the season begins in two weeks I want to thank the sponsors who have stood behind me.  POC and Atomic, Leki, and the numerous friends and fans who continue to help me to pay off my expenses for the upcoming season, you know who you are and I am forever grateful.

Here is to another season filled with snow but not on Saturdays because that is Downhill race day. On Downhill race day people want to watch the best in world  go at it on the biggest venues.  Beautiful skiing, big rivalries, huge crowds, tension in the air, and big smiles; I can’t wait.

Chile camp is wrapped up and done for another season.  It was  a very low snow year, the lowest I have ever seen, but the training was still good.  Aside from having to keep an eye out for rocks and having to divert the bottom of the Downhill track in Portillo I would say that we were largely unaffected by the lack of snow.  It was still freezing hard every night and would remain so until we were done skiing a little before lunch time.

Here are a few pics from the trip.

Our new DH staff from right, Scotty Veenis, TJ Lanning, Andi Evers and head coach Sasha Rearick.

This is a shot of the winch cat up on the top of the DH track in Portillo.  Trying to smooth out a track for us amid the avalanche debris.

The Lago del Inca was not frozen this year and the result was a pristine mirror lake that was amazing for reflection pics.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Dr. Nyman trying out his hand line fishing technique.

The crew up at Tio Bobs, A mid mountain restaurant like no other.

This is a cool birds eye view of the Portillo resort.  What you see is what you get.  The highway on the left is the main thoroughfare to Argentina.  The big yellow hotel that signifies Portillo was built in 1949 and remains largely unchanged.  We stay in the octagon which is the small circular building to the left of the big hotel.

That is it for now.  A month of time at home is in my future and then to Colorado as soon as there is snow on the ground!  Looking forward to the season.