U.S. Ski Team veteran and Idaho native Dane Spencer will train with the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation this winter as part of a bid to make the 2010 Olympics after a horrifying downhill crash two years ago.
Spencer, 30, grew up skiing and racing at Idaho's Bogus Basin, and made the U.S. Ski Team at age 16. In 2006 he suffered serious injuries during a downhill race at Whitefish Mountain Resort, formerly known as Big Mountain, in Montana. Sun Valley's alpine program director, Ruben Macaya, said that that after Spencer's crash, the U.S. Ski Team withdrew its financial support, but kept the door open for him. He was placed on the national "A" team for the 2007 World Cup season.
"He had not fully recovered," Macaya said. "Like most athletes he jumped in because he didn't want to miss another season."
After suffering knee problems that year, which required surgery, Spencer was cut from the team.
"Physically I was fine, but it was more mental," Spencer said. "It was tough going from where I have been at death's door back to the race course. It's been a path all the way to the bottom before I get to come back."
Spencer has put together a two-year program on his own and Vancouver in 2010 is his goal.
"It is possible," Spencer said. "There are other avenues than just the U.S. Ski Team."
The ski education foundation's Olympic Development team, normally a "pipeline" for young racers hoping to make the U.S. Ski Team, bridges a gap between a club and the U.S. team. At the U.S. team's C and D level, there's no funding for the athletes, and they need help because they can't work if they are training every day.
"A season of ski racing can cost $60,000," Macaya said. "Spencer has dreams to make the Olympics in Vancouver, and he privately sought funding, which came out of this valley."
Spencer's funding is separate from the foundation, but his benefactor is a donor to the foundation's Olympic Development fund.
"It is a wonderful thing to integrate Dane into the program," Macaya said. "As part of the U.S. Ski Team, you need a home program. We are extremely pleased to be that program and put him on our Olympic Development Team."
This season Spencer said he is feeling good and back in the flow of things. He has set a goal to make the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. Though his funding situation is not ideal, he said he is trying to keep focused.
"The Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation has helped me," he said. "The Olympic Development Team is geared toward younger athletes and historically there hasn't been a niche for someone like me. Typically you are on your own and good luck."
The foundation stepped in to provide Spencer with training as well as attract individuals who might want to sponsor him.
"When I was growing up, Sun Valley had so many great racers, and in the last decade it has dropped off," Spencer said. "The foundation wants to get the team going again. It's an honor for me to give back in any way I can. The training opportunity in Sun Valley allows me to work for an organization within my home state, and help the foundation achieve its dreams."
Macaya said the last time the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation put one of its athletes on the U.S. team was in 1998. The last Sun Valley Alpine ski to compete in the Olympics was Picabo Street in 2002.
"We have had a few athletes knocking on the door, but we have had injuries," he said. "You have to be good and lucky."
Dance Spencer racing Giant Slalom in Treblecone, New Zealand.
