Olympians, World Cup skiers, and NCAA collegiate stars all gathered at Taos Ski Valley March 27-30 for the northern New Mexico resort’s third iteration of the World Pro Ski Tour Championships. Despite a 50-inch, 3-day storm that preceded the races, with doubled effort the event came off with remarkable results.
Race Results
Taking the first place in the Super Slalom run on March 29 in the women’s class was Paula Moltzan (USA), with Tuva Norbye (NOR) and Kaja Norbe (NOR) securing second and third place finishes. On the men’s side, Sam Maes (BEL) took first, followed by Raphael Haaser (AUT) and Reto Schmidiger (SUI).
The GS race, run March 30, found Tricia Mangan (USA) taking first place in the women’s field, followed by Kaja Norbye (NOR) and Fabiana Dorigo (GER). First place for the men was won by George Steffey (USA), with Jan Zabystran (CZE) and Patrick Kenny (USA) making the podium as well.
First place winners in the GS race walked away with $20,000, while second place finishers secured $6,300 and third place garnered $4,500. The same cash awards were handed out to the Super Slalom finishers, except third place notched a $2,500 reward. In addition, an overall men’s and women’s champion was determined for best combined finishes. Taking home the $25,000 bonus were Tricia Managan (USA), while three men split their bonus: Raphael Haaser (AUT), Sam Maes (BEL) and Jan Zabystran (CZE).
I had a chance to speak with a handful of athletes and event organizers at the highest profile race event New Mexico has ever hosted. Under bluebird skies, the finish area was buzzing with excitement as racers ripped across the timing line and threw up clouds of snow that drifted into the large crowd ringing cowbells and toasting the speed demons.
Paula Moltzan
Appropriately, Moltzan walked away with the first place finish in the Super Slalom in her third World Pro Ski Tour Championship at Taos. “I love racing here!” she noted. “It’s always a good time.” Moltzan was recently appointed as an ambassador for Taos, and wears the ski area’s logo in training events. “I’m often asked about it, so I explain where it is, its character and such. I am especially pleased with its status as a B-Corp (given to select companies with the highest environmental standards). That fits in with my personal values and with all the travel I do, I love the fact we are offsetting my carbon footprint. I come here a few times a season, and bring friends and family to enjoy the great snow and mountain.”
Moltzan raced for the University of Vermont and is currently a USA national team member racing on the World Cup circuit. Her specialties are slalom and giant slalom. This season she notched 20 World Cup races, which wrapped up March 10, followed by the US Alpine Championships in Sun Valley. This entails a heavy travel schedule, which she’s been on for six years. “You get used to it, kind of immune. I’m lucky because my husband travels with me, so I have that support. And our team is very small so we are like a functioning family on the road.”
Big Goals For Moltzan
Her ultimate goal is to win a World Cup Globe or an Olympic medal but “I try to just stay focused on the next race and chip away at it. A World Cup podium is my next immediate goal.” She finished 8th in slalom and 11th in GS at the 2022 Winter Olympics in China—a very solid showing. Her sights are now set on the next Olympics, to be held in Italy. “I’m building into that.”
In her free time, she “spends a lot of time working out in the gym and mountain biking. My husband has a white water rafting company so I do some of that.” Indeed, she has an unusually strong upper body, with broad shoulders and muscular arms, though she notes—as befits a ski racer—“My lower body is much stronger but I try to balance it out.” Moltzan lives in western Massachusetts but calls Vermont home.
River Radamus
Radamus says his home is currently “my suitcase.” But, most exciting for New Mexico’s ski scene, he added, “I’m looking to put down roots in Taos. I just want to be a part of this. It’s something really special, not like any other ski town.” Part of that decision is that he too is a Taos-sponsored athlete. He was tapped for the role two seasons ago and is a roving ambassador for the ski area as he competes on the World Cup circuit.
“I came to ski here for the first time a couple of years ago and just felt an immediate connection to the place,” he explained. “By the second day I said to myself, this is where I want to be. I make rash decisions but this was one of my better ones! Taos seemed to have a mutual feeling about me. When the World Cup wraps up, this is where I head to. I had a lot of fun and success racing this year (including first place finish in GS at the US Alpine Championships) but skiing the powder we had here over the past week has been the highlight of the season.”
He noted he follows in the footsteps of a few other international ski racers who’ve been associated with Taos, such as Deb Armstrong. “She introduced me to the place and let them know I was interested in exploring a relationship, and carry on her torch.”
Asked if he’s found a favorite part of the mountain to ski, he joked, “If I had I wouldn’t tell you,” but he admitted he loves the hike-to runs off Highline Ridge and West Basin out to Wild Wild West, as well as lift-served runs like Reforma.
World Pro Tour Love Fest
While the racers above have an obvious love for Taos, the relationship with the World Pro Ski Tour seems equally solid. Briar Schreiber, vice president of the tour’s marketing division, noted, “Taos is an amazing place to come to. We love the crew here, we love the mountain, and the backdrop scenery is great! We’ve been warmly welcomed! Yesterday, Governor Lujan spent the entire day here, giving out awards and sitting with the TV crew for a long time. Other ski areas would love to host this, so it’s about building a relationship and building the event. We found a terrific partner in Taos, starting with Mr. Bacon who is doing amazing things with the ski area and for New Mexico as a whole.”
Course & Event Preparation
A great deal of the event’s success lies with the preparation of the race course, which is led by Tommy Murray and his team of snow makers and groomers. They began “building” the course in November by laying down manmade snow. Over time, this creates a very hard surface, which is what is wanted for ski racing. “Then it snowed 50 inches over three days just before the event,” he explained as we watched racers rip across the finish line. “We were building the course but we had to suspend that and instead go into a stripping mode to remove all of the new snow!”
The Super Slalom on Friday did cut up the course a bit, and they put a cat out on it right after the race to smooth it out and provide compaction. That done, the race course crew then reset all the gates for the Super G course.
Between the snow maintenance team Murray oversees and the course crew, some 32 people were involved. Tasks included running conduit for electric cables and power under the snow to the timing devices and jumbo screens. Additional staff set up the race headquarters in the Phoenix restaurant, and prepared and hosted the awards party down in the base village at the championship’s conclusion. Accommodations and transportation needed to be arranged. “There’s a ton of preparation involved!” Murray concluded. “I’m amazed at the quality of people we have here to make this happen. Everyone worked so collaboratively; there’s a lot of camaraderie! It’s a well-oiled machine.”
Here To Give Anyone Assistance
This extended to offering racers the expertise and elbow grease of the TSV Sports shop techs. Working on the surprisingly slim and little-shaped skis of Sweden’s Sara Rask was James Gonzales, tuning crew director. He laid down an even layer of wax, then scraped it off, took a brush to it to create some structure, then buffed that to a gleaming finish. “I’m here to give assistance to anyone who needs it,” he explained.
“I am very lucky to have such a talented, hard working tech here working on my skis,” noted the blond-haired racer. “I usually have to do this myself!” Rask was on the World Cup circuit before coming to the U.S. on a ski racing scholarship at the University of Denver. She just concluded a good season there; the team took third place in the NCAA Championships. She’ll be back next year as a senior. But, she had actually hoped to ski for the University of New Mexico. “Growing up, many of my coaches in Sweden went there.” But, UNM killed its ski program several years ago, despite the fact it’s the only sport that UNM has ever notched a national championship.
Feeding the Stoke
Adding significantly to the event’s excitement was Chris Ernst, better known as “Uncle E.” Sporting a faux Mohawk in red white and blue, he served as one of the two public announcers. “I get the distinct honor and pleasure to announce for the World Pro Ski Tour, along with Kevin Clark,” he said.
It’s his third season with the World Pro Ski Tour, but he’s been an announcer for more than 30 years. “You name an event on snow and I’ve worked it.” His own competitive background was in freestyle skiing. “Inherently, skiing around gates is a more controlled environment. It’s as fun as you make it. When you get to this stage, you can kind of lose track of that. Part of my job is to keep it fun and do the interesting research, tidbits about the racers and the sport. Educate, entertain and inform is my aim. It’s a gift, to get to work with something greater than me. I did a stint in the corporate world, for about five years and I learned what I did not want to do. That’s important in life, so you can appreciate it when you find the right place.”
Broadcast Details
The Taos championship event was live streamed on Facebook, YouTube and CBsports.com. FOX Sports will broadcast a four-part series in the coming weeks, and a behind-the-scenes docuseries, Life Between the Gates, will air soon on Amazon Prime, AT&T Sports and other media.
