Legends' Favorite Runs-Stars of Skiing
Pick Their Happiest Trail

by Ted Heck 

          Is there a skier alive who hasn't been asked what his favorite resort is?  And what trail he likes best?  For some of us recreational skiers the quick answers are the resort we're now at and the slope we're currently on.  But with a few minutes to reflect, most of us can remember a special trail where we would be happy to spend eternity, if on the other side of St. Peter's gate there was only on run.

          The adventure I like best in the world is a journey down the Vallee Blanche in Chamonix, France, with its variety of powder, slush, and ice, tempered by spectacular scenery and an occasional crevasse.  A close second is the ego-busting, ski-forever cruise from Zermatt in Switzerland down into Cervina in Italy.

          Champions have favorite runs, too.  I decided to test that premise with some legendary figures from the colorful history of skiing, all of whom I have had the good fortune to ski with.  I asked the legends for their choices, with a proviso that they could not pick a run or a resort with which they are associated.

          Stein Eriksen, gold medallist at Oslo in 1952, has been director of skiing for two decades at posh Deer Valley in Utah.  He had no problem with the restriction, although he feels he is already in heaven leading visitors around the elegantly groomed slopes of his domain.  "Good light, good snow, good people," he said, "then all runs are your favorites.  But only one I really like is from the top at Sun Valley, all the way down to the Warm Springs base lodge.  It doesn't have big bumps and it's great for cruising, with continuous pitch.  You set up a rhythm and just go."

          Warren Miller, a different kind of champion, celebrated his 50th anniversary of filmmaking this year.  It would take a week to add up all the countries where he has skied.  Miller, in his 70's, like Stein, can handle any hill.  However, he is not a mogul fan: "If your heart has only so many beats in a lifetime, you have only so many bumps in your knees."

          It was not difficult to predict that his choice also would be a cruising run.  But what was surprising was that he picked Sun Valley, too, and the very same slope that Stein did: "Sun Valley has the best developed mountain in America.  And Warm Springs the best run.  It has a perfect gradient from top to bottom.  You can go as fast or slow as you like--and it is fun for everybody."

          Franz Weber is director of skiing at another fashionable area,  the Resort at Squaw Valley Creek, whose slopes adjoin Squaw Valley, California.  A six-time world speed champion once clocked at 140 miles an hour, he finds challenge in his native Austria.  He loves St. Anton in the Arlberg, where "The terrain is incredible and the hospitality and individual attention you get are unbearable.  My favorite whole route.  A run with real character."  " My favorite run is one with real character...it is the Schweinstrog, which means pig's trough.  It's a hairy, off-piste, you need a guide and it's wonderful."

          Suzy Chaffee is still exuberant about skiing, more than 34 years after captaining the women's team as a downhiller in Grenoble.  Later she was a three-time freestyle champion.  And who doesn't remember her gliding across the TV screen as Suzy Chapstick?"

She said, "I remember a glorious day on top of Aspen Mountain, when the air was like spring and the snow was smooth as a baby's bottom.  I was teaching a dancer friend how to spin and roll.  I performed an Egyptian ballet, with a flowing white veil that prompted proposals of marriage from the chair overhead."

          Olympic champions Phil and Steve Mahere are tied in with White Pass ski area in Washington, but are often found at their training center in Keystone, Colorado.  Phil said, "My typical choice these days would be a well-groomed blue, but if I'm looking for a black diamond, one of the best is Bushwhacker on the main mountain in Telluride.  It is wide and varied, with some steep spots and a nice rolling terrain.  And the view of surrounding mountains is spectacular."

          Steve Mahre echoes Franz Weber with a fond memory of St. Anton: "Over the years I have always found great snow there.  I can't remember the name, but I started in wide open spaces above the tree line, then rolled and wound down into the trees, finally finishing in a spot where I could look back up and see where I had skied."

         Billy Kidd, director of skiing at Steamboat in Colorado, takes daily runs with customers.  The skier in the Stetson hat is remembered for being the first American male to win an Olympic medal in alpine skiing, a silver in slalom at Innsbruck in 1964.

          He picked as his favorite run the Birds of Prey downhill course at Beaver Creek, Colorado.  "It's a groomed trail, with some untouched spots on the sides, where I can often find powder.  It's gentle at the top and if I'm skiing with Hollis (his significant other), we start off together, but when the trail gets really steep, she detours onto a side trail.  Then she cuts back to join me when the trail flattens out.  We then practice carving turns with our shaped skis, but more important, she ends up with bragging rights for having skied on a championship course."

          Hollis is not alone.  I don't know many skiers who cannot relate to bragging rights.

          Ted Heck of the Wissahickon Ski Club writes "My Europe" at www.OntheSnow.com , the nation's leading skiing website.