Brian Irwin
Age: 40
Hometown: Morrisville, Vt.
Circuit: Masters Class 4
Tried and True
I’ve been on Völkl skis for 14 years — they’ve been very good to me — and have been in Atomic boots
for two years now. They fit me and had a great reputation for performance. I’ve been on Marker bindings
since my first pair of MRR’s in the mid 80s.
Like Father, Like Son
A little bit of everything goes into an oversized backpack that I got at some race. I’m my father’s child and
don’t want to be caught at the hill without something. It always looked like my dad was leaving home for
good when we went skiing as kids, so I have a little bit of that in me. A Carrera helmet and a couple pairs of
Uvex goggles with lots of lens choices for whatever the weather throws at us. I have a POC back protector
that I have modified for GS, super G and downhill. I also have a shoulder brace that I wear for racing and
training slalom to protect my shoulder from further subluxation, despite the fact I had surgery to repair it
about a year ago. Slytech shinguards for slalom, two or three pairs of gloves and mittens. I don’t freeski in
a helmet, so a couple of hats are in the bag too. For luck, I wear whichever baseball hat is working for me
as of late. I have quite a collection.
JIM MCKEON
Truckin’
I fire up music in the truck
on the way to the race: The
Offspring, Green Day, Guns
N’ Roses…but if it’s spring
and going to be sunny,
then Bob Marley or Jimmy
Cliff. There are always two
or three pairs of poles in
my truck at all times just in
case. Isn’t the reason you
have a truck is make sure
you can bring it all?
Jennifer Kaufman
Age: 41
Hometown: Denver
Circuit: Masters Class 4
The College Try I started skiing on Völkl skis and Tecnica boots around 1990. I was in col- lege back east at the time and the Völkl skis per- formed better on the harder snow than my previous skis. Tecnica also made better boots for GS and slalom
versus what I had been skiing on when I was mostly skiing downhill and super G,
before going to college.
Baggage Claim
I have a couple of wheeled ski bags for flying or longer travel. One is Sypder and
one is Swix. Ski bags have gotten so much shorter that it’s sometimes hard to find
newer ones that are long enough for speed skis. I mostly use Eagle Creek for my
main luggage. And I have a backpack with straps for my boots to carry them on
the plane.
From Mitts to The Mental Edge
I prefer racing mitts to gloves and have a few pairs, which are mostly Fuxi Racing. I have Ice Breaker for base layers; outerwear is generally either Spyder or
Marker. For tuning, I bring an SKS edge tool, Moonstone stones, various brands
of scrapers and overlay or rub-on wax, usually Toko. My post-race footwear is
snowclogs — Salomon and Merrell. On my iPod shuffle, my music collection is
highly variable, everything from Nirvana and Beyoncé to rap and classical. I tend
to prefer the “harder” music and rap before I race. I usually pack water, Gatorade
or Emergen-C. I also usually have a Lara bar in my bag (either lemon or cherry pie
flavored.) For a book, I pack “The Mental Edge.”
Bolt of Lightning
My nephew loves the movie “Cars” and has many of the characters. He gave me a
small car — the red one named Lightning McQueen — and I carry it in the pocket
of my race jacket.
