Mountain Mayhem: Welcome back, World Cup

News News | Mar 11, 2023

May Selby
Mountain Mayhem

**Ski superstar Lindsey Vonn with an adorable fan, Harlan Moszynski, at a book signing at Gorsuch for her new autobiography, "Rise."**
*Darcy Conover/Courtesy photo*

The Audi FIS Ski World Cup last weekend was a true homecoming for our ski-centric community. The return of the America’s Downhill course on Aspen Mountain on Friday, March 3, and Saturday, March 4, followed by the Super-G race on Sunday, March 5, felt like a soulful series of events with many festive celebrations throughout the weekend.

Among the activations was a book signing at Gorsuch by Lindsey Vonn, presenting her new autobiography, “Rise.” A special dinner took place one evening at Bonnie’s on Aspen Mountain with about 50 guests in attendance, including skiing legends like Franz Klammer and AJ Kitt. Guests could ride a snowcat to and from the base or skin up and ski down.

Bonnie’s owner Brigitte Birrfelder and her team welcomed all for a candlelit dinner. The Bonnie’s dinner was sponsored by Aztech Mountain, a performance sportswear company rooted in skiing whose mission is to create purposeful, cutting-edge garments that add value to life and inspire adventure. Ski Portillo hosted a party at French Alpine Bistro over après one day, highlighting the Chilean ski area’s stunning photography and welcoming many past Portillo guests who raved about the resort. There is a Portillo-World Cup connection as the 1966 World Cup Skiing Championships took place there. And for many years, the racing teams from the USA, Canada, Austria, Norway, and elsewhere have trained there during the late June-September ski season.

Another tradition that was exciting to see return last week: seeing all of the handmade World Cup hats on fans in the stands, along the course, and around town. Detha Mika has been making her Sno Knits for decades, having knitted her first World Cup hat in 1982. Over the years, she’s had knitters to assist her, though she now operates as a one-woman organization. Back in the day, she had a workspace at Gene Taylor’s in Snowmass and could fulfill requests as overnight orders. When the store downsized and there wasn’t enough room for machines, she moved her operation home and would continue to make hats during World Cup.

“Some people have a collection with a hat from every year,” she said. “And the years there was no World Cup, I’d still make hats; but instead of writing Aspen World Cup, I’d write No World Cup and the date.” After the last World Cup in Aspen in 2017, she went into semi-retirement, though this year she got back to work on knitting. She had no idea how popular her handmade, heavy wool hats would be — she’s backed up through April, though she’s open to taking more orders via email if interested: mike@sopris.net. “My family and I thank the whole community that has supported this tradition and we love seeing everyone in World Cup hats.”