Trevor Leafe
Age: 22
Hometown: Monroe, N.H.
Team: Dartmouth College (senior)
Eye of the Tiger
I have a few good-luck superstitions: I always
race with the same pair of ski socks — don’t
worry, they get washed often — and, like Tiger Woods and his golf shirts, I always wear
red long underwear on Sundays. I’ll also tap
the doorframe of the start house or give the
timing post a little nudge for luck.
Regional Demands
I need really stiff, stable skis that can power
through the crud and cross ruts that come
with East Coast racing. No matter where I’m
going, I always make sure to bring a back-up pair of skis for each discipline — it’s not
fun bending or breaking a pair of skis the
first day of a three-week training camp in
South America, for example.
Breakfast of Champions
I always have a sport drink, a few choco-
late truffles and a bag of gummy bears on
race day — not much of a breakfast guy,
so my first meal of the day often ends up
being gummy bears. The Dartmouth team’s
parents always bring an amazing spread of
food to carnival races for the athletes, but
it’s risky breaking into because it’s easy to
eat too much. Lately, I’ve been making sure
to get in a post-race protein drink to better
recover for the next day.
Tuning…
The Dartmouth Ski Team has a TriOne tuning tool for us to use, but I still like to hand-tune my skis, especially for races. In GS, I
run a three-degree side bevel and half on
the base. In slalom, I like a really aggressive set up and go four degrees on the side
and run a flat base with only the tips and
tails ever so slightly beveled — works really
great on the boilerplate that we’re always
skiing.
…And Tunes
For music, I’d still be rocking a cassette
player if I hadn’t gotten a free iPod when I
bought my computer for college. I don’t have
a playlist, but the last songs that I listen to
before a race run are Toby Keith’s “
Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue” and the intro
to “Down with the Sickness” by Disturbed
— right about when they start screaming is
when I turn it off.
Two’s Too Many
I have just one pair of boots because I like hav-
ing the same set up for every event so that I
never have to worry if something goes wrong
with my “tech boots” or “speed boots.”
I like my boots overly stiff and tight; I also re-
ally like the new metal boot-board set up that
some companies are implementing.
SL skis length: 165 cm
GS skis length: 191 cm
SG skis length: 211 cm
DH skis length: 215 cm
Boots: One pair
Poles: Four total: Two pairs of
SL poles (one is a back-up);
one pair of SG bends for GS
racing and training; one pair of
DH bends for both SG and DH
racing and training
Speed Suits: Two — a padded
suit for tech events and a pad-
less suit for speed
Helmets: Full helmet for free
skiing, GS, SG, and DH; half-
helmet for SL, no bar
Protective Equipment:
stealth, mouthguard, back
protector for speed events, half-
guards on SL poles
