For 23-year-old Langely McNeal, the cutting edge sport of ski cross is the chance of a lifetime to do something original and be part of the development of a new skiing discipline.
McNeal has been invited by the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team to compete in the first two World Cup women's ski cross events of the 2008 season Jan. 12-13 and Jan. 16 at Les Contamines Montjoie and Flaine, in France.
The Ketchum resident leaves today, Wednesday and is totally stoked about making her first trip to Europe. "It's so cool to be part of the development of a sport," she said. "Not too many American girls are competing in ski cross."
She returns to Ketchum Jan. 18 and will then prepare for this country's first ski cross World Cup, Feb. 1-2 at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah as part of the Visa Freestyle International there.
Raised on her skis in the local mountains and always a high flyer on Baldy, McNeal is nervous about performing on the big stage of a World Cup. She is currently a development level skier seeking a berth on the fledgling U.S. ski cross team, so she wants to produce big results in Europe.
"My goal is to make the 'A' team," she said. And her ultimate goal is to compete in the 2010 Winter Olympics at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada—where ski cross will be introduced in two years as the newest Olympic event.
According to the U.S. Ski Team (USST), ski cross features side-by-side alpine ski racing action, similar to snowboardcross, and is expected to be one of the most exciting Olympic events in 2010.
Cypress Mountain's 12,000 seat stadium in West Vancouver with its scenic view of Vancouver harbor will be the site of women's ski cross Feb. 23, 2010 as part of the Winter Olympic freestyle competition.
McNeal wants to be there.
Just two months ago, on Nov. 12, the USST named its first-ever ski cross head coach, Tyler Shepherd, 28, a native Minnesotan who lives in Denver. Shepherd is a former USST alpine racer who turned to ski cross after completing an All-American ski racing career at the University of Colorado.
"Ski cross is unique in that you literally learn on the fly," said Shepherd.
McNeal, a lanky, 5-10 alpine speedster bred on Baldy's steep slopes, caught the eye of coach Shepherd during the Jeep King of the Mountain ski cross event Dec. 10 at Telluride, Colo. McNeal qualified for the Round of 16 at Telluride and did a good job in a strong field.
"I was so excited. I had been training real hard and it paid off. My legs felt good and my skis were fast," said McNeal, who races on 181 cm giant slalom skis. She said waxing is vitally important so she is learning more about waxing.
McNeal said, "Ski cross is very technical. There are four people out of the start and whoever pulls ahead right away usually wins. The adrenaline is incredible and managing the obstacles is important, but the first 100 feet out of the start is critical to your success."
Telluride wasn't McNeal's first venture into world-class ski cross.
She competed in X Games ski cross last year. The former Sun Valley Ski Team coach goes fast down the slope. In 2003, McNeal was the combined winner and super giant slalom queen of the Lane Parrish Memorial races on Baldy.
A 2002 Community School graduate, McNeal graduated from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash. in 2006 with degrees in psychology and Spanish. She competed on the Whitman alpine racing team.
McNeal is the daughter of 33-year Sun Valley ski patrolman Whiz McNeal and Community School fifth-grade teacher Beverly McNeal. She is sponsored by clothing line Roxy, Smith Sport Optics, Dominator Wax, Icebreaker and Zipfizz.
Langely McNeal
