Paul Jastrow – December 9th, 2021

PAUL JASTROW
Flying Eagles Ski Club, Eau Claire, WI
Chairman, US Officials Subcommittee
pjastrow55@gmail.com
 
Working My First Tournament
 
It’s been almost 25 years since I have been involved in this sport (to me it seems like forever, but in Eau Claire, I am still considered a newbie) but I still remember working my first Silver Mine Invitational like it was yesterday.
 
Back then, I was a new Flying Eagles parent, scheduled to work the concession stand for the event. While getting the concession stand ready for taking sales, I was watching the Senior Club Members (back then Eau Claire had two clubs) readying the hill and venue for the crowds to show up.  I was really intrigued by what they were doing so I asked my wife, Tami, who was managing the Concession Stand if I could get out of Concession Stand Duty and see if the other club needed help during the tournament. She said “Yes”. Woohoo, no concessions for me.
 
After finishing getting the concession stand ready, and right before the tournament was scheduled to start, I walked over to one of the EC Club members holding a rake (Dan Wold) to see if there was anything I could help with. I told him I had no experience, but was willing to do what was needed. He proceeded to hand me the rake he was holding and said “Follow me”. He led me to the bottom of the hill around the 100 meter marker and stated the following. “If any skier falls, you need to go onto the hill and rake out any damage the skier made. But don’t worry, nobody falls so this should be easy”. 
 
Thinking I got the better end of the deal, watching the jumping from the side of the hill vs the concession stand, I felt GREAT! That is, until the first skier fell!
 
It was about 5 skiers into the trial round when the first skier landed funny and fell about 20 meters from where he landed (about the 85 meter mark). I proceeded to jump over the side rail and hustled my way out to the area I needed to fix. I raked it clean and worked my way back to my spot. I was out of breath, but it felt good doing something meaningful. But that feeling didn’t last long.
 
Maybe 10 skiers later, another skier fell, and out on to hill I went. This time not so smoothly. The skier fell around the 80 meter mark, so I had a longer trek up the hill to get to the damaged area. Remember when I stated I had no experience, I wasn’t kidding. Not wearing crampons, I created more work getting to the spot than the actual damage from the skier. All the while I was raking and making a mess, the people in the Judges Stand were nice enough to yell down at me stating as such. 
 
After a much longer time getting the hill back in shape, I finally made it back to my spot completely out of breath, muscles aching and starting to get really tired. But I figured this should be the last one. Heck Dan told me nobody ever falls, so two should be it. WRONG!
 
After six more falls, I felt like I just finished playing in a football game on the losing end of a blowout. I was dogged tired, extremely sore and dejected from the instant feedback I received from the Judges stand.
 
But Dan came up to me after the tournament ended, thanked me, offered to buy me a beer, and stated he never experienced that many falls (but he said that with a smirk on his face) and that I did a great job. 
 
The next day, I seriously contemplated working concessions, but I figured it wouldn’t be as bad two days in a row so today should be much easier.
 
I located Dan and asked him if he wanted me to do what I did the night before and he thought for a moment and said he had something different in mind. I was to work with Gary Thompson and assist him. Okay, something different. Not sure what that would be, but I was open to anything other than fixing fall damage.
 
Dan introduced me to Gary and said he was the Chief Starter. Gary told me to dress for cold weather and meet him at the top of the hill. I was confused since it was a balmy 35 degrees Fahrenheit and no real wind, but I got my jacket and walked up the hill. Remember, when I stated I had no experience? Well I didn’t realize until I got to the top of the hill that I was actually going to the WAAAAYYY Top, another 150ft top, scaffold swaying top, coldest spot top. I stared at the stairs on the scaffold, and started walking up, with each step thinking how wonderful it would be fixing fall damage. 
 
But I got to the top and it was incredible. The view from the top of the scaffold at Silver Mine is truly awesome. On that clear day, I could see for miles. I also got to experience the first-rate camaraderie and sportsmanship the skiers have with one another. Yes, they complained when we had to move the bar down, but they did it in a somewhat respectful manner.
 
Other than the biting cold wind, it was an uneventful afternoon. Heck, there wasn’t even a single fall that day.
 
For anyone wishing to get more involved with this sport, let me offer this piece of advice. With no experience and only a willingness to get involved, I was able to work my way all the way from the bottom to the top in only one day. 
 
I was hooked from that day on. So on to the next challenge, how do I get (weasel) myself into the warmest area of the hill, the judges tower? But I will leave that to another story
 
I also want to thank Dan Wold for letting a total noob get out of concessions; and for becoming a close personal friend over the years.