Chimney Sweep

From Kidd to Ligety, distinctive World Professional Ski Tour carries on

Most afternoons, Billy Kidd glides down the Heavenly Daze ski slope as he runs a free clinic with the guarantee – he always kids – that it will bring them closer to the Olympics or get their money back.

This weekend, the 1964 Olympic slalom silver medalist will reminisce when a pro racetrack he once raced regularly stops on his native snow in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

Over 50 years ago, the charismatic Kidd, together with Jean-Claude Killy and later the Mahre brothers, brought momentum to an up-and-coming World Pro Ski Tour. It’s a tour that took root in the late 1960s, flourished for years before disbanding in 1999 and returning in 2017.

Kidd, easily recognizable in his distinctive cowboy hat, will definitely be a little nostalgic when the first races of the season – due to the global pandemic for the first time in a year – take place on Saturday and Monday.

For your information, Kidd won’t be taking part for the sake of the old days.

“I don’t even try to keep up with them,” cracked the 77-year-old. “But I love everything about ski racing.”

Especially this unique tour with a format of side-by-side racing. Because the racing driver who is in the next gate could be a national team member, World Cup participant, college star, journeyman or even the two-time Olympic champion Ted Ligety, who is known to appear.

And this is how it works: 32 racing drivers earn a starting place in the field based on the time of the qualifying. From there, the racers are placed in a kind of bracket of the NCAA March Madness, who compete side by side on a super slalom course with jumps in pro style. One run each on the red and blue courses (to keep it fair), with the winner advancing depending on the time difference.

“It’s an opportunity for some of these racers to justify their skiing,” said Jon Franklin, CEO of the World Pro Ski Tour. “To show that they belong to the world’s elite.”

Back then, Kidd was a driving force behind an idea from the late Bob Beattie, a former US ski team trainer who also helped create the World Cup ski circus. Beattie saw an opportunity to expand a pro route and started what would eventually become the World Pro Ski Tour.

The story goes on

Kidd won the first world title of this tour in 1970 and beat Egon Zimmermann from Austria – the Olympic champion in the 1964 Downhill – during an epic final race in Switzerland. They kept going to the starting gate – a dozen times in Kidd’s memory – to determine a winner, as one of them had to win twice in a row back then.

“Egon, who was a few years older than me, graciously let me win,” said Kidd, Steamboat’s longtime ski instructor. “That’s the nice thing about it: Anything can happen.”

Like last season when Max Bervy of the University of Colorado defeated Ligety in a head-to-head match at Eldora Mountain, Colorado. Ligety was Bervy’s idol who grew up. So much so that Bervy studied the video of Ligety who has 25 World Cup victories.

But no trace of nervousness, even after losing to Ligety in the first run. He beat Ligety in the second run and advanced to the next lap with a time difference.

“I knew where my skiing was and that I could do something cool,” said Bervy. “It’s always good to have someone like Ted in the back of your mind.”

Over the years many well-known ski racers have competed on the track: Kidd, Killy (the French standout who won three Olympic gold medals in 1968), the late Vladimir “Spider” Sabich, and Phil and Steve Mahre, who won gold and silver in the slalom of the Games 1984 in Sarajevo.

The track fell asleep around ’99 after a sale but reappeared after Ed Rogers, who oversaw the tour for many years, brought it back in ’17 with new sponsors and a television deal.

The prize pool is around $ 10,000 for a tour stop win. Also, about $ 150,000 is at stake during the World Championships on a date yet to be determined. This season’s schedule has been complicated by trying to secure venues during a time of strict COVID-19 protocols.

For now there are no separate men’s and women’s competitions – just one competition.

Memo to retired skier Lindsey Vonn: A permanent offer for her to show up should the most victorious alpine world cup racer of all time return. Vonn has long urged to compete in the World Cup against the men, but was never allowed.

“If Lindsey Vonn came out and competed against Ted, for example, that would be international news,” said Franklin.

Racing enthusiasts should be familiar with the names of the current tour. There are Nolan Kasper, three-time US Olympic champion, and Michael Ankeny, 2015 overall and slalom NorAm champion. In the shortened season of last year, Robert Cone took the overall title. Cone was the 2015 NCAA giant slalom champion for Middlebury College.

For some, the tour offers a chance to revive their careers. For others, it’s just a way to have fun.

Take Jake Jacobs, who is a summer chimney sweep in Glens Falls, New York so he can make money to scout the circuit. The 27-year-old makes his way from competition to competition in a blue van.

He hasn’t missed a scheduled event since returning to the tour in ’17.

“I just want to have fun and live freely,” said Jacobs.

He currently lives in Utah with his girlfriend and trains to race by imagining giant slalom goals when he goes freeskiing.

No doubt to introduce this first victory as well.

“Jake lives the dream for everyone – all of the people who work on Wall Street and want to qualify for a professional race and take on the best in the world,” said Franklin. “These are real Rocky Balboa stories.”

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