Ski and Snowboard News, Deals, and Events

Yesterday, by chance, I bumped into Daron Rahlves in the Tahoe City lakeside Boatworks parking lot. Every part of him looked like a fit champion. His ear, the one the cell phone was glued to, probably could do more stomach crunches than Madonna. I kept asking myself: Why has Daron retired from the World Cup? He could keep making gobs of money in sponsorship. He wouldn't even have to milk it like Picabo. Talk about going out on top, he finished fourth overall on the World Cup only last year. He helped lead the United States to a rare second place in the Nation's Cup. He was so ripping he won the US Alpine National Super G in the final race of his career. Luckily, his limo was late and he ran out of minutes: his phone crapped out. It gave him time to tell me soberly: Daron Rahlves, three time Olympian, velocity cultist and World Champion, legendary for his 12 World Cup wins, is retiring because he wants to spend more time with his possessions. "I took a long hard look at my Mercedes CL500 Coupe and realized it wasn't getting any newer," the gifted downhiller said, also spooning about his $3,100 leather massive chair with seven adjustable heat settings that has sat unused in Truckee the last few years. "Can you believe my 37-foot Cobalt with dual 950 Penta-Volvo engines is already two years old?" For the last 14 years Daron set aside little time to enjoy his belongings. Most days, the only interaction he had with his pair of BMW R11100 motorcycles, Olympic-sized pool and $8,000 Thomson Electronics Proscan 61-inch rear-projection TV with six speaker stereo surround sound were looking at pictures of them in his wallet. In between traveling the world on the US Alpine Team, or driving through Europe in his custom RV, the former Squaw Valley Ski Team member used to regularly put in 18-hour days on the hill gate-training, often sleeping in a lift shack to rise by 6 am only to do it all over again. Those days are over. Even as Daron looks forward to being a full-time possession dude, he is still grappling with guilt over his competitive lifestyle. "Can you believe I wasn't even there for the delivery of my first anti-gravity back-stretch/relaxation table?" said Daron, adding how just the night before he cracked open a bottle of 1982 Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou at his fantasy ranch in Truckee. Before heading out for a spin over Lake Tahoe in his Beaver PNH A-Star helicopter, Daron said: "My wife Michelle had to sign for the invoice all by herself. I should have been there, but I was skiing."

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