Schreiber sets the pace

Press, 7 August 1985, Page 31

Schreiber sets the pace

If one of the main ingredients needed for the construction of Mount Hutt’s new-look international downhill ski-ing course is enthusiasm, then the visiting expert, Steve Schreiber, of Aspen, Colorado, is half-way there. As chief of course for the Europa-F.I.S. (International Ski Federation) series to be held at Mount Hutt from September 9 to 27, Schreiber finds the whole programme “pretty exciting.” He does not envisage any problems in his special task of building a shorter, more technical downhill course that will use less of the area needed for recreational skiers. Working with the race department head, Robin Armstrong, and his staff is “a real buzz,” too, he said. “We’re going to use machines and manpower 5050 on the job and I expect it to take about five weeks with a work-force of 150 to 200 people. The snow quality this year is exceptional, and I don’t foresee any problems,” Schreiber said. The New Zealand Army will again provide support. Schreiber said that recreational skiers at Mount Hutt would have a tremend-

ous opportunity during the two weeks of the downhill events to “learn by seeing” as some leading international downhill racers whistle down the course. He is hopeful that the Canterbury ski-ing community, in particular, will support the F.I.S. series and enjoy the downhill, a great event for spectators. The whole scope of the ski-ing programme at Mount Hutt is very unusual in world terms, according to Schreiber. “Here you hold

not only local and national races, but you also host this major international event. It doesn’t happen in many places.” Back home in the United States, Schreiber’s official title as a staff member for the race department on Aspen Mountain seems pretty appropriate. He is the “pace-setter.” The pace in his own professional ski-ing life has been a brisk one so far. Schreiber, aged 28, is a certified ski instructor, a certified avalanche technician, a United States Ski Association official and has been involved with World Cup races at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for the last five years. At present he is training to be an advanced paramedic. As a downhill racer himself, Schreiber had “decent points in high school,” but his racing career ended when he ripped shoulder muscles hitting a tree at Winter Park, Colorado. He still finds time for freelance coaching clinics. Schreiber feels that the complete professional skier should “know every job on the mountain.”

He does not necessarily need to know how to load the lifts or repair a snowgroomer, but should be proficient and knowledgeable about ski-teaching techniques, race-coaching, snow safety and hazard prediction, mountain rescue and first aid, and timing and communications. Among Schreiber’s future aspirations are being a technical delegate on the World Cup circuit. He would also like to follow in the footsteps of his countrymen, Ed La Chapelle and Rod Newcombe. They are freelance avalanche experts who work for big oil companies predicting the future in snowy prospecting country. Sometimes companies refuse to listen to the experts they hire — and live to regret it. Schreiber said that in 1969 Newcombe advised an oil company not to site a SISM bridge in a certain place, pointing out that “a hundred-year slide could destroy it,” but it persisted. The next year the bridge was destroyed by an avalanche. “Now,” he said, “it looks like a pretzel.”

NANCY CAWLEY