MASTERS
Mei adds: “I used to be nervous, but now I love being in the start. It’s a great feel-
ing of accomplishment.”
As strangers in the strange land of Park City three years ago, they note that the
camaraderie also played an important role in their participation. “It’s different to be
on the hill with those with a similar interest,” says Ed. “We all help each other and
get to know one another. This is better than reality TV.”
Jeff Gray
Computer wizard Jeff Gray created a startup computer company called Glue Net-
works in Sacramento, Calif., just last year. The 36-year-old Gray has always been
an entrepreneurial type, starting and managing computer oriented businesses
around the world. As for what is Glue Networks, Gray offered the following de-
scription: “We’ve created a highly intelligent software engine to rapidly deploy and
easily maintain the next generation of branch office and tele-worker networks.”
Got it? Actually, what was also highly intelligent for Gray was locating his company
near skiing and ski racing.
This is Gray’s first year back in gates after a 15-year hiatus. Gray raced as a
kid at Donner Pass and then Alpine Meadows, and was a star on the southern
California collegiate circuit, but life always seemed to get in the way of ski racing
in the following years. His business endeavors took him to the East Coast and to
Germany. Sweden, Norway, Slovakia, and Scotland, where he met and married
his wife, Lindsay.
“I had to hang ‘em up after college and wasn’t able to ski for a long time,” says
Gray. “And then when I came back to California, I thought, ‘Why let the kids have
all the fun?’”
By coincidence, Gray found a business partner, Hamish Butler, a Scotsman with
a serious ski racing habit. Butler was a regular on the Far West Masters circuit,
and, of course, wasted no time in convincing Gray to join him.
“My first race was at Mammoth Mountain a few weeks ago,” says Gray. “I hadn’t
trained or even skied a run in years, but I showed up for training and jumped right
into the course.” Work still comes first for Gray, but he makes time for a bit of train-
ing at Squaw Valley and has worked out what could be an airtight reason (or ratio-
nalization) to continue to pursue the circuit. “My mindset is that being in the start is
like running a business,” says Gray. “You have to be calm and confident, and when
it’s time to go, you GO. So actually I’m practicing skills that I need at work.”
Gray really doesn’t need a reason, however, that goes any further than the fun-
factor. “I’ve been thinking about this for 15 years, and now I’m totally jazzed to
actually be doing it,” he says. “It seems like I’m 16 years old all over again.”
The corporate alter ego
of Jeff Gray.
