Athletes Critical Of Nordic Course

Sun., March 1, 1998

When John Aalberg looks at the heavily wooded cross country ski trails at the Snow Harp venue in Hakuba, Japan, he sees possibilities for a treeless landscape 5,500 miles away.

Aalberg, a two-time U.S. Olympian, is the director of cross country skiing for the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. He’s been in Japan to learn everything he can about building an Olympic-quality cross country venue for 2002.

Aalberg will be on a much tighter budget than the $4.3 million spent by Japanese on cross country venues. His facilities will be less grandiose.

But there is one thing the athletes Aalberg has talked to and skied with in Japan have told him about designing Salt Lake’s cross country course.

“These are the toughest, most-challenging courses I’ve ever skied,” Aalberg said of the tracks at Snow Harp. “The athletes are actually telling me, ‘Don’t do this in four years. Make it easier.”’

Unfortunately, the Nagano organizers didn’t listen to the athletes who complained about the difficulty of the Canmore Nordic courses during the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.

That cold shoulder to the skiers’ wishes leaves a lasting legacy. If the trails are painfully difficult for world-class athletes, you can imagine how much fun they are for the average skiers who inherit the courses after the games.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

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