U.S. Tour: Where the Austrians Go to Play

Pro skiing is alive and as well as ever, and the entire troupe--men and women--will again race in California this winter.

The men’s division is called the U.S. Pro Ski Tour, but don’t be fooled. It’s really the Austrian Pro Ski Tour with most of the leading racers heading home to that country every spring with fanny-packs full of U.S. dollars.

After the first two stops on this season’s 12-meet schedule, the top four are Austrians: Hans Hofer, with 135 points; defending champion Bernhard Knauss, 128; Mathias Berthold, 73, and Sebastian Vitzthum, 71. Hofer, who has earned $21,750, and Knauss split the first four slaloms--two at Schladming, Austria, and Les Deux Alpes, France.

The top American is former World Cup racer Felix McGrath, eighth with 65 points.

Now, it’s off to that world-famed ski resort of Daem Yung in South Korea for a couple of races Jan. 18-21, before the American portion of the schedule begins at Heavenly on Jan. 25-27. After two weeks in Colorado, the men will come to Snow Summit, where they’ll compete alongside the Women’s Pro Ski Tour on Feb. 15-18.

The women started their season last weekend at Timberline, West Va., and American Heather Flood took the early lead by winning the giant slalom as Julie Parisien, a former U.S. ski team star who was second in last year’s pro standings, finished third. Anna Boden of Sweden won the slalom.

Flood, with $3,812 in earnings, has 50 points, 15 more than runner-up Andreja Rojs of Slovenia. This weekend, the women will race at Haystack, Vt.

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Mammoth Mountain’s gondola returned to full operation last weekend after an incident Wednesday in which an unoccupied cabin on the lower section disengaged and crashed into one below it.

There were no reported injuries, but the lift was stopped and everyone aboard was evacuated in a 2 1/2-hour procedure after the mishap occurred about 2:30 p.m.

The resort said it has corrected the problem on the lift, which was originally installed by Doppelmayr, an Austrian company.

On Dec. 23, a chairlift manufactured by Yan Lift Engineering of Carson City, Nev., malfunctioned at Whistler Mountain in Canada, killing one skier and injuring nine others. In this accident, on the Quicksilver Express, the grip on one chair became loose, allowing it to slide down the cable and knock four chairs 30 feet to the steep slope below. Skiers in other chairs were stranded for up to four hours before being brought to safety.

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Although the Alpine contingent of the U.S. ski team is struggling this season, American freestyle skiers are continuing to fly high despite injuries to the two top aerialists.

After four meets on the Freestyle World Cup schedule, the United States leads the Nations Cup standings with 2,920 points, 164 more than Canada.

Contributing heavily to that total last weekend at Lake Placid, N.Y., were 1992 Olympic gold medalist Donna Weinbrecht, who won her 37th moguls event, and Jonny Moseley of Tiburon, Calif., who led a U.S. sweep of the top three places in the men’s moguls.

Trace Worthington, the defending world aerials and combined champion, withdrew after being shaken up in a training spill and will not compete this weekend at Whistler/Blackcomb. Kriste Porter, who holds the same titles among the women, is out for the season because of a herniated disk in her neck.

Skiing Notes

On the Alpine World Cup front, the men will race at Kitzbuehel, Austria, Friday through Sunday in two downhills and a slalom, with combined scoring, then go to Adelboden, Switzerland, for a giant slalom Tuesday; the women will be at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, on Saturday and Sunday for a slalom and a super-giant slalom. . . . In the men’s overall standings, Lasse Kjus of Norway, with 956 points, remains well in front of runner-up Michael Von Gruenigen of Switzerland, who has 590, and defending champion Alberto Tomba of Italy, third with 536. . . . Martina Ertl of Germany is the leading woman with 642 points, eight ahead of Anita Wachter of Austria. . . . Rain caused snow conditions at Sierra Nevada, Spain, to deteriorate last weekend, and although the once-postponed World Alpine Ski Championships are still a month away, the International Ski Federation is reportedly considering Crans-Montana, Switzerland, and St. Anton, Austria, as possible alternate sites for the biennial event.