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Vail Daily column: Third time’s a charm

Richard Carnes
My View

A big ol’ Colorado welcome to the entire (ski) world!

I’m sadly pretty sure the rest of the world doesn’t give a damn.

Anyway, I was living in Happy Valley during the 1989 World Championships, but to be honest I only have a few memory snapshots and videos in my head. I know I owned a camera, and it’s not that I didn’t care or anything, but life was incredibly hectic at that point in time.



With my first born in diapers, my first wife in marital turmoil (unbeknownst to moi … ) and my first retail store expanding to a few different locations with a few more employees, my first World Championships just wasn’t something I dealt with as I awoke each morning.

But I do remember standing around the Vista Bahn (where Gondola One is now) with a few thousand of my closest friends from across the globe and watching Vail’s own Mike Brown scream down Giant Steps into the finish arena with his lower back screaming for him to stop skiing.

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Luckily Mike finally listened.

Fast forward 10 years to my second World Championships in 1999.

My second born was seven years out of diapers, my second wife about to give birth to a third boy that most certainly would be needing diapers, and we were in the process of selling anything and everything that required us to have employees.

We did, however, purchase two VIP passes to all of the races so we wouldn’t miss anything, but alas, my bride ended up dilating just enough during the Opening Ceremonies that she missed it all.

I, of course, took pictures.

No, wait, that came out wrong.

I meant to imply that I took a few blurry photos (no good digital cameras yet) of the races she was missing, but either way I missed most everything as well, yet was able to take strategic advantage of both mom and the poorly-timed new bundle of joy sleeping soundly enough to sneak away and witness the first race down the Birds of Prey.

But as far as memories are concerned, as anyone with a newborn will attest, the following weeks were a complete blur no matter how hard I try to remember.

So here I am, my third World Championships in my hometown (my-my-my, yes, it’s all about me … ), and I’ll be damned if I’m going to miss anything that I don’t purposely care to miss (seriously, I’ve heard enough KC and the Sunshine Senior Home Band to last a lifetime).

From the Opening Ceremonies last night, where for some odd reason Vail’s Precision Lawn Chair Demonstration Team performed just prior to the U.S. Ski Team members being introduced, through each race and concert and concluding with the Closing Ceremonies (we’re having those, right?), I don’t plan on missing a single thing.

I’ll also be sure to bring every camera I own. That way I’ll at least be able to remember with something tangible in the coming decades when Vail hosts the thing for a fourth time.

And if I’m really lucky, my wife (the second one) will be by my side the entire time, for as opposed to the World Ski Championships I never wished for a third.

Richard Carnes, of Edwards, writes weekly. He can be reached at poor@vail.net.


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