I stand at the top of a smooth channel of snow that goes straight down between the rocks of an avalanche chute. I'm wearing little more than my underwear and a thin rubber suit that covers everything but my hands, face and feet. My head is encased in a flared fiberglass helmet that extends to my shoulders. It looks like a stormtrooper's helmet from Star Wars.
In a moment I will crouch into a compact tuck and do my best to go 100 miles an hour.On skis.
Speed skiing has exploded as a sport. Recreational races, where ordinary skiers can go 60 miles an hour or more, are being put on at ski areas all over the United States. Elite races, where a license is needed to compete, are becoming spectator events. That's because speeds of 100 miles an hour or more are common, and the racing format is easy to understand even if you don't ski. After all, what can be more simple than pointing 'em down the hill and letting 'em run?
But as I was to find out, it's not as simple as it seems. In my first race, at Kirkwood Ski Area in California, I found that something as slight as a hand tilted one degree the wrong way can make a sizable reduction in speed. Even though I went 90 miles an hour, it was too slow to allow me to reach the top. And reaching the top is what speed skiing is all about.
Races are held over a period of days, beginning with training runs. Those who are unstable on their skis are eliminated from the competition. Others are progress to the first start, which is usually on the lower part of the course. After a certain number of runs, a cut is made and slower racers eliminated. The start is then moved higher, and the remaining competitors again race, not for time, but for the highest speed. As the starting point progresses further up the course, slower racers are continuously cut. By the final day of racing, the field contains only the best racers, starting from the highest point of the course.
There's no starting shack or starting wand, as in other types of racing. Instead, speed skiers use the steep hill to build maximum speed before they hit the trap, where photocells measure how fast they are going. Once past the speed trap, racers stand up, spread their arms, and try to slow down in the runout area to a full, safe stop.
The world record-holder in speed skiing is Michael Prufer, of Monaco. His official speed is 139 miles an hour, which means he can go faster than terminal velocity - the speed one would reach if one were dropped out of an airplane.
The sport has become so popular that it is scheduled to be an Olympic demonstration sport in 1992. But it's not just a spectator sport. Since it is racing stripped to its barest essentials - no turns, no bumps, just straight drag racing - people love it. It's easy to see why.
Hurtling down a hill half again as fast as you can legally drive a car may sound dangerous, but it doesn't feel dangerous. In fact, it feels a lot like riding a bike down a hill. The sensation of speed only comes when you try to stand up, and it is actually a comfortable feeling, a resistance which helps you to maintain balance and stability once you learn how to adjust to it.
Speed skiers must be in excellent shape to handle the forces of high speed, but there's a lot more to it than just tucking down a hill. To reach elite ranks, a speed skier must have the right equipment and the knowledge to use it. The skis, 240 centimeters long, must be specially ordered. The suits are rubberized lycra, fitted to the body so as to be skin tight. Wrinkles or loose fabric will reduce speed. The helmet shapes the head into an aerodynamic unit with the back and shoulders, streamlining the entire surface of the body into one smooth line to reduce wind resistance. Under the suit, taped to the racer's calves with duct tape, are foam extensions called fairings, which add to the aerodynamic shape. The brighty colored suits and helmets, the fairings sticking out from the lower legs, and the wraparound-the-body ski poles make speed skiers look very much like aliens from outer space.
Once the equipment is perfected, the intelligence is put into play. Racers must combine chemistry and science to compute all the combinations of snow conditions, temperature, ski base materials and wax chemicals to come up with the right wax to make the skis glide with a minimum of friction. There's very little margin for errror. Since conditions may change within minutes, a racer who doesn't guess the right wax for that moment is out of the running.
The speed skier's tuck also leaves little margin for error. Try it yourself: Bend and push your knees into your armpits. Hold your clenched hands under your nose. Your back should be flat, and your head held low enough to be in line with it, yet your line of sight must be clear enough to see in front of you. Hold this position for about half a minute, with your legs very relaxesd and your upper body held firm and braced against your thighs. Not easy, is it?
Surprisingly enough, the sport isn't all that dangerous, depsite the high speeds. Falls happen, of course, but serious injuries are rare, much rarer than in downhill racing, for example. That's because falling while going in a straight line usually results in a slide instead of the injury-producing tumble of other ski-racing falls. The most common injury in speed skiing is skin burns produced from he friction of a high speed slide.
Kirsten Culver, a Salt Lake resident who is one of the top women speed skiers in the world, loves the sport.
"There's nothing like it," she says. "The rush of going so fast has no comparison. Once people do it, they usually fall in love with speed skiing. They just want to go faster."