Apr22

The Mind of a Downhill Racer: Scott Macartney

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Kim Kircher

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Scott Macartney spent 10 years racing World Cup speed events on the US Ski Team. To understand what motivates someone like Scott, you must first understand the mind of a Downhiller. Downhill racers ski in excess of 90 mph, on slopes as steep as 40 degrees, over conditions as slick as an ice-skating rink.

The difference between winning a World Cup Downhill and coming in 20^th place is so microthin it can be only .08 of a second.

Scott Macartney laying it out in Val Gardena

Macartney grew up skiing at the Crystal Mountain, where his parents were members of the volunteer ski patrol.

During his twelve-year tenure on the National Team, he also attended Dartmouth and earned a degree in Economics.

Macartney competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City as well as the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino. He had two World Cup Podium finishes., one in Super-G in Garmisch, Germany and one in Downhill in Val Gardena, Italy.

On his 30th birthday in 2008, Macartney competed in the Hahnenkamm downhill in Kitzbühel, Austria. The second racer on the course, he had an excellent run going until he suffered a spectacular fall just five seconds from the finish line. After descending a high-speed section and reaching a speed of 87.7 mph Macartney was challenging for a top ten finish. At the final jump he was twisted left while airborne and could not recover. During the high-speed crash he impacted hard on his right side; his skis released, as did his protective helmet after a direct impact with the icy course.

Macartney recovered from his injuries and was named to the “A Team” of the U.S. Ski Team for the 2008-09 World Cup season, before he retired in 2010.

The sport of dowhnhill racing requires supreme physical conditioning, razor sharp skis and a willingness to put it all on the line. Scott knows what it takes to stand on a World Cup podium: above all else, it takes absolute confidence. Listen to my interview with Scott Macartney on The Edge Radio this Wednesday April 24th at 8AM Pacific.

Apr17

We’re ALL Winners: Free E-Books, The Next 15 Minutes

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Kim Kircher

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Get Your Free E-Book Today

Today I’m celebrating. My memoir, The Next 15 Minutes, has been honored by the North American Snowsports Journalists Association (NASJA) with the Harold Hirsch award for excellence in journalism in the Book category. The Next 15 Minutes, if you’re new here, is the high-octane story of how lessons learned as a ski patroller helped me get through my husband’s harrowing cancer diagnosis. More adventure-story than medical-memoir, this book reveals what it’s like to make the ski industry your life and how to use our voluntary adventures to get through real-life disasters. I’ve always believed that we get out on the edge to see what we’re made of. But we don’t expect to use that expertise in a real emergency. Until we have no other choice.

If you haven’t yet read the book, now’s the time.

Thanks NASJA!

The Book category is only given every three years. Judges are chosen based on their expertise in the field, and are not members of the organization. The award is named for Harold Hirsch, a long-time ski journalist, and member of the NASJA Board.

I’m thrilled to be honored by NASJA. My late father-in-law, Everett Kircher, was given NASJA’s Lifetime Achievement Award in Mammoth, CA in 1999.

My husband and his brother, Steve, accepted the honor in their father’s name. It’s fitting that I received my award in Mammoth 14 years later.

To celebrate, my publisher, Behler Publications, is giving away free e-books of THE NEXT 15 MINUTES today and tomorrow. Just email Lynn Price at: lynn_at_behlerpublications.com (replace “_at_” with @ symbol) and put FREE NEXT 15 MINUTES in the Subject line. Hurry. This special celebration ends tomorrow.

Yea!

Apr15

Meet Chuck Patterson: Legendary Waterman

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Kim Kircher

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In the Green Room

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Chuck Patterson is the quintessential Renaissance man of action sports. Give him a ski, a surfboard or, heck, a wooden park bench, and Chuck will carve, sculpt, and engrave his turns into water and snow with style and confidence. Chuck competes at the pro level in five different sports: stand up paddling, tow-in surfing, kite surfing, skiing and snowboarding.

Chuck developed special skis, with alpine boots and bindings, in order to ski waves

Chuck once held the world record highest jump

The son of a nuclear physicist father and professional ski racer mother, Chuck combines calculated risk with amazing talent. Whether tow-in surfing on big waves such as Jaws and Mavericks or skiing off a 70-foot cliff, it seems there’s nothing that this man can’t do.

Chuck’s interests go beyond single-discipline sports. He wants to innovate, taking his sports to new dimensions.

Chuck recently rode Jaws, not on a surfboard, but on specially designed skis, complete with alpine ski boots, bindings and poles. Photos of Chuck have appeared on numerous magazine covers and he continues to win contests.

Don’t miss The Edge this week as I interview Chuck Patterson and find out more about what it takes to dominate so many spots, how to manage the fear factor and what it takes to be a professional athlete. You aren’t going to want to miss this one.

Apr8

Mind over Matter: the power of hypnosis

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Kim Kircher

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Felix Baumgartner had a problem. In order to space dive from a tiny ballon 120,000 feet into the stratosphere, make a freefall jump at speeds breaking the sound barrier and parachute back to earth, he had to wear a specially designed pressure suit. But it made him claustrophobic. How did he handle it? He took a year off of training, went home to Austria and used hypnosis to get over his fear of the suit. Guess what? It worked.

According to hypnotherapist Paige Wacker, if you can imagine it and you can believe it, then you can achieve it. Hypnosis frees the mind of limiting thoughts, allowing us to accomplish great things. Just look at Felix Baumgartner.

Paige Wacker

Paige Wacker is a Mind Performance Coach certified in Clinical Hypnotherapy and Neuro-Linguistic Programming. She studied both hypnotherapy and NLP at the Hypnotherapy Academy of America in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Having been a World Class Athlete herself in the Quarter Horse Show World, she understands what it takes to achieve the kind of focus that allows an athlete to get into the ZONE.

Paige is internationally certified for hypnotherapy through the International Board of Hypnotherapy and the American Council of Hypnotist Examiners. You can find our more about her at www.hypnopaige.com.

Join me when I interview Paige Wacker on The Edge this Wednesday at 8 AM Pacific. We will be talking about hypnosis and sports–what it is, how it works and what it takes to get into the zone and perform our best. You don’t want to miss this one.

Apr5

Skiiing Waves and Kayaking in the Snow

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Kim Kircher

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Still doing just one sport at a time? How 2012 of you. These days, its all about hybridizing your sports. Like to ski when it’s cold, and surf when it’s warm? Why not ski a wave like Chuck Patterson? Or perhaps you prefer your waves in rivers. Why go snow kayaking like Miles Daisher. Check out these two videos and the watch how the new edge get cut away.

Showtime Chuck Patterson skiing Jaws.

Here’s Miles ripping it up at Pebble Creek Ski Area in Idaho.

Apr1

The Dr. Feel Good of Extreme Sports

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Kim Kircher

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Susan MacKenzie riding a river board

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Join me this Wednesday as I talk to extreme sport psychologist Susan Mackenzie on The Edge.

Dr. Susan Mackenzie is a rare academic. She studies extreme athletes. More to the point, she studies the benefits of adventure to human well-being. Like any action sport athlete, Susan knows in her bones that adventure is good for us. But she’s gone further than just trusting her intuition. She has dedicated her life and academic career to proving it.

Dr. Mackenzie received her PhD in Psychology from University of Otago in New Zealand. Currently she’s an Assistant Professor of Recreation at the University of Idaho.

She recently moved from New Zealand, where she taught courses in Adventure Tourism Management, Outdoor Education and Adventure Recreation and conducted research on psychological aspects of adventure, with an emphasis on positive psychology theories.

Susan’s interest in sport and adventure activities stems from nine years of riverboarding guiding in areas of New Zealand, the US and Chile and competing in the New Zealand National Women’s soccer league.

Her research is grounded in the belief that engaging in outdoor, physical activity is essential to health and mental well-being, and can provide a profound sense of meaning and purpose to everyday life. The results of her research have been published in leisure, tourism and psychology journals.

Kircher-show-description Join me on The Edge as I talk to Susan MacKenzie about river boarding, finding the flow and the extreme sport experience. Have a question for Susan? Leave a comment here and I’ll ask her on the show. Or call in live Wednesday at 888-346-9144.

Mar29

Just Snowboarding at Night

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Kim Kircher

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Want to hit the slopes in the dark? No need for a headlamp, just light your whole body. Not only is this short video stylish and beautiful, it’s pretty amazing. At first I figured the snowboarder, Will Hughes, must have memorized the slope, knowing he wouldn’t hit anything on a perfectly groomed slope. Then he heads towards the trees. And the powder. You have to check this out.