1967 World Cup ski races at Cannon

[granite]

I've always been interested in these races, the first races held in North America during the inaugural year of World Cup ski racing. Jean Claude Killy won all three races. I always wanted to know how the gates were set up on Paulie's Extension onto Avalanche. This is the steepest and fastest part of the old downhill course, almost a 180 degree direction change. I wonder if there were a few gates set up as one big turn or if they had to turn back and forth a few times across this fall away slope? Any old timers out there that might know? CBS televised all three races, anyone know if there is any old video tape stored away in some archive? It would great to see video of the races if they still exist?

 

[Dickc]

I was 11 at the time of these races and my Dad took me up for the day of the Giant Slalom. I still remember a lot about that day, but not about gate placement. I vividly remember being able to stand right on the side of the trail. There were no safety fences (We don't need no stinkin fences...) and you could move across the trail between races or move down to a different spot. When a racer was coming you would hear shouts from above of "Course" and that was the signal to get the hell out of the way! I shudder to think of what would have happened should a racer have caught an edge and slid into the crowds!

The gates were also bamboo poles with the flags on them too, not these rubber based fiberglass things. If you hit them like they get hit now, they broke. Racers were trained to go AROUND the gate and not to hit it.