SKI SAINT LOUIS: Kitzbuhel…St. Moritz…Cortina d’Ampezzo…Vail…Park City…St. Louis???

 

(Now that we are on the verge of that cold, wintry time of year, here is a piece I had published back in the mid-1990s in a magazine named Sports Saint Louis.  Enjoy!) 

     Believe it or not, The Mound City is rapidly gaining a reputation for developing quite a few top-notch snow skiers.  Much of the success goes to that 282-foot mound at Hidden Valley Ski area in Eureka.

     World-class downhill and slalom skiers don’t flock to Hidden Valley.  In fact, it would be ridiculous to try and compare the site with any of the nation’s foremost peaks and ski centers.  But Hidden Valley has provided St. Louisans with a strong springboard for cultivating their skills.

     The proof is in the powder!

     This past April, a small group of Hidden Valley Ski Team members traveled to Crested Butte, CO for the Salomon (Manufacturing Company) Spring Fling.  The competition pitted teams representing some 40 nationwide retail ski shops. 

     Lo and behold, the Alpine Shop of Webster Groves slipped away with the title in that Alpine formatted downhill event. 

     “It says a lot for St. Louis,” said team member Brett Borgard.  “We beat teams from Colorado, Utah, Vermont as well as the ones up north…places where they can practically ski year round.  Meanwhile, we’re from the Midwest with that hill about 280 vertical feet. ‘Wow!  You guys are from St. Louis, Missouri?’ they’d ask.”

     Not only did the team sparkle, but as individuals, Borgard and two of his teammates placed third, fourth and fifth, respectively, among some 250 racers.

     Borgard is a 1988 Lafayette High School graduate who spent two years on the University of Wyoming ski team.  He then competed for several years in the United States Ski Association’s Central Region circuit before yielding to his desire to teach the sport.  He formerly had worked at the Alpine Shop and currently can be found in the Sun and Ski Shop.

     Although Borgard still skis some 100 days a year, he is probably best known as one of Hidden Valley’s top instructors.

     Borgard began his Hidden Valley junior racing program in 1991.  He currently coaches some 50-60 youngsters with his sights set on developing national-level performers.  Last year, one of his pupils was just one spot away from qualifying for the Junior Olympic squad. 

     “Since we don’t have nearly the amount of snow they have in the west and the north, we do a lot of other things like roller-blading between gates,” Borgard said.  “Also, kids in some of those states take snow for granted.  Our kids take full advantage of Hidden Valley because you can’t ski all the time in St. Louis.”

     And the only place where one can actually ski in the St. Louis area is Hidden Valley.

     The Boyd family predictably drew a lot of chuckles when they first opened Hidden Valley in 1982.  After all, the average annual snowfall in St. Louis is only 20 inches.  Also, the site was hardly of Alpine quality; a mere hill built on the front nine holes of a golf course. 

     But owner Tim Boyd is now doing the laughing about his facility’s overwhelming success, which offers several overnight skiing sessions.

     Night-time skiing was the topic of a November 1995 story in Skiing Magazine which had Hidden Valley as its featured spot.  It described half-mile-long, police-directed traffic jams which often lead into the Eureka site.

     Massive crowds mean big bucks.  But as local Trails End Ski Association president Bill Ryan said, this type of scene doesn’t benefit everyone.

     “Hidden Valley is an excellent place for someone to go out and do something,” Ryan said.  “But you don’t want to have 3,000 people on a lift, waiting in line more than skiing.  If you select a timeframe like mid-week when others are working, you can find enough skiing time to help you decide if you want to spend more money on the sport.”

     Ryan, who formed his organization 17 years ago, sees some 300,000 potential skiers in St. Louis. 

     Hidden Valley continues to do its best to meet that demand.  For the third consecutive year, it has dramatically increased its snow-making capabilities by adding 15 new, permanent  snow guns to just 17 existing ones.  Now, much more snow is being rapidly pumped out in sub 30-degree weather.  

     The site promises many more open hours with more available runs and a lengthier calendar of events for the season, which runs through February.

     Despite the diminutive nature of Hidden Valley, the quality is good enough to feature the competitive Monday and Wednesday nights’ NASTAR Race League.

     Thanks to its good number of seasoned instructors, Hidden Valley has been a strong training ground for the novice skier.

     One such racer is Andrew Reich.  The recent CBC High graduate was a winning member of the Alpine Shop team who first skied at Hidden Valley at the age of nine.  Reich enjoyed his early Hidden Valley experience so much that his tenth birthday present was a ski trip to Snowmass, CO.

     “There’s a lot of different snow conditions at Hidden Valley,” said Reich, one of the 800-member, singles-oriented St. Louis Ski Club.  “Quite often, the snow is the best I’ve seen anywhere.  It’s hard to just go west to ski without first training a lot at Hidden Valley.”

     The Trails End Ski Association is taking that next step with young Hidden Valley Enthusiasts.  The organization features weekend trips to Dubuque, IA and Chestnut Mountain in Galena, IL for high school and scout groups.

     Ryan also packages novice to expert level skiing opportunities for corporate businesses and organizations.  One of his current goals is to further promote the sport by forming a ski council in St. Louis. 

     Borgard is certainly buying into that concept.

     “We all enjoy skiing and love spreading the word about it,” Borgard said.  “My goal is to get skiers on the Junior Olympic team, then to the Olympics.  The way skiing is growing in popularity here, someday, it might happen!”

Tommy’s Express Car Wash wins Ballwin board approval

In the near future, Ballwin residents may be singing, “Take Me Out to the Car Wash” while being just a short toss from the Ballwin Athletic Association ball fields. That’s because Tommy’s Express Car Wash, a national franchise headquartered in Holland, Michigan, has taken its first steps toward opening on Ballpark Drive.

At the Nov. 9 Ballwin Board of Aldermen meeting, Dowling Enterprises was granted a Special Use Exception (SUE) to build the car wash at 14918 Manchester Road.  The vote was unanimous.

Earlier this month, Tommy’s Express Car Wash opened its first area location at 101 Fallon Loop Road in O’Fallon, Misssouri.

The Ballwin property is owned by Cypress Real Estate of Chesterfield. Its chief spokesperson for the evening was Ben Stegmann, who addressed a wide variety of concerns before the vote.

Mayor Tim Pogue specifically asked about concerns raised at the P&Z meeting in regard to traffic flow and parking. To which, Stegmann said, “Since the Planning and Zoning meeting, we went back, looked at our site plan to take it into account some of the issues raised.”

Stegmann noted that some of the changes have been a real challenge. 

“It seems like a simple thing, ” Stegmann said. “But there’s about three grades that intersect there, a couple of storm(water) structures, retaining walls and a loading dock for the adjacent property that we’re trying to keep intact.”

Pogue also asked about a traffic study letter he had received from the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT).  He said he was interested in getting responses to those concerns as well.

Julie Nolfo, from the traffic division of the Lochmueller Group, was one of several others in attendance regarding the car wash project. The company is a regional consulting firm with an emphasis on planning and designing state and local infrastructure improvements.

“All the comments (P&Z) had were addressed,” Nolfo said. “The first one was the car lane issue. So, that was taken care of.” Nolfo was referring to changes in the site plan that resulted in the creation of two “escape lanes” for the car wash’s drive-through as well as cross access to the property from Ballpark Drive to the west.

Additionally, Nolfo said, “Two and three (of the concerns) had to do with some typo in the report itself, which was corrected.” Her final comment addressed concerns of high traffic volume around Ballpark Drive. But none of the board members considered that much of an issue.

On a final note, City Attorney Robert E. Jones wrapped up the discussion with a reminder that the proof would be in final development plan.

“I feel comfortable with the contingent items,” Jones said. “I was looking at the exhibit to the SUE bill that you’re considering, and if you look at paragraph 6, it requires a final development plan that meets all the requirements of the staff report and the minutes in this meeting … to be resubmitted within 30 days of the approval of the ordinance. That’s the catchall to make sure the product that’s received is what we approved.”