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SLOPPY
SECONDS
VETERANS POWER THROUGH CRANS
MONTANA’S MASHED POTATO SNOW
BY HANK MCKEE
It has been a warm sloppy season on the World Cup tour, but no stop
has been sloppier than Crans Montana, Switzerland, where the men
squeezed in two super G’s and a GS from Feb. 24 to 26. Temperatures
climbed near 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and a bright, hot sun baked the
Piste Nationale. At least two coaches described the surface as “mashed
potatoes.”
At this point in the 2012 season, skiers and tech reps have grown accustomed to preparing for warm, soft snow, but navigating a course that
deteriorates visibly with each passing competitor does not make things
easy for late runners. With a quarter of the super G season perched right
there on the hot snow, there was plenty at stake. With no super G races
having been contested since a wind-shortened sprint at Val Gardena on
Dec. 16, it was difficult knowing what to expect.
Even finding the line in those kinds of conditions takes both physical and
mental vision. Understanding how to exploit those lines — and executing
that understanding — takes some experience. It may not be coincidence
