Editor’s Note: The story below is excerpted from Tanner Bowden’s How Skiing Returned to the East Coast after 25 Years, which published December 2016. Click here to read the story in full.
The skies were clear of fog for the final day of Killington’s races. The parking lots filled hours before the first run, and while some spectators scrambled eggs and sipped flasks at their car fenders, others hustled straight to the grandstand to get a good view of Mikaela Shiffrin, the 21-year-old national phenom. Shiffrin spent her formative racing years at Burke Mountain Academy and is adored as a local; before Killington, she had won 20 World Cup slaloms, but never on the East Coast, where her family, including her 95-year-old grandmother who had never seen her race in person, could watch.
The base of Killington peak erupted in excitement as Shiffrin launched out of the start. The sound drowned out the thwap of skier-meeting-gate as her pink blur traced an irregular sine wave down the icy face of the mountain. It took Shiffrin less than 45 seconds to finish her run, take the gold medal, and set off a charge amongst the thousands watching — a charge pent up over the last 25 years.
Last night in PyeonChang, Mikaela Shiffrin took home the gold medal in the women’s Olympic giant slalom. Here is all the gear she used to do it.
Flight Deck Harmony Fade by Oakley $210
Redster FIS 130 by Atomic Learn More: Here
Carbon GS by Leki $250
Redster WC AMID by Atomic Learn More: Here
Redster G9 by Atomic Learn More: Here
