Alpine skier Frank Vettergreen hasn’t lost his competitive edge on the slippery slopes at the vintage age of 74.
“If you can still do it, why not?” said the spry medal contender at the Alberta 55 Plus Winter Games. “If you were competitive when you were younger, you don’t lose it. It’s just a natural thing.”
The noted St. Albert curler started downhill skiing when he was 12 years old.
“I skied before I curled,” said the 1987/88 president of the St. Albert Curling Club. “I still curl three to four times a week but I’m probably slowing down a little with the skiing. I used to ski 20 to 25 days a year.”
Vettergreen will race in the 75-plus men’s slalom and dual slalom and the 55-plus men’s time prediction.
“You’re there to socialize, but you want to win too,” said the 65-plus bronze medallist at the 2009 winter games in Lethbridge. “I want to give it another shot and see if I can get gold this time. You never know how long you’re going to be doing this.”
The slalom is Vettergreen’s best event to medal in. The dual slalom is new to the games. As for the time prediction race, it’s a wide-open field.
“That includes everybody and you predict your time. It doesn’t matter if it took you five minutes to go down the run, which is really only about a 20 second run. If you were dead on five minutes and you were the closest of all the skiers there, you would win a gold medal,” he explained. “One year I won in Calgary. I ended up being the closest guess and that’s what it amounts to. If you’ve done it enough you have a general idea how fast you can go.”
Snow Valley is the venue for alpine skiing. The competition goes Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and Saturday, from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“When I was a kid I used to ski there,” Vettergreen said. “I would’ve liked to see it done in a zone 5 area, which is Rabbit Hill, Tawatinaw or Sunridge. Snow Valley is Edmonton, which is zone 6, but they look after it pretty good because I worked the [first winter games in] Edmonton as a director and they really looked after the skiers.”
Only the weather can slow Vettergreen down.
“It’s going to be cold out there, unless it turns into a nice warm day or two days,” he said. “Skiing at minus 21 is not any fun.”
The speed freak enjoys the sport’s thrills and spills.
“It’s fast and exciting,” said the multiple gold medallist at provincial-sanctioned races. “I’ve had a couple of little dings but nothing where I didn’t break anything badly.”
The camaraderie of competition also brings out the very best in Vettergreen.
“Oh yeah, you get pumped when you get there,” he said. “Every time you go to one, you get to know the people you’re skiing against. There is one guy in zone 2, Jack, and he is always there. We kid each other every time we see each other. Of course, you want to beat him, even if it’s only by half a second.
“At my age, you ski to your ability now and as long you have fun with it, that’s the main thing.”
At the 2007 winter games in Lloydminster, Vettergreen represented zone 5 in curling.
“There are really just a couple of sports you do in the winter and curling and skiing are mine,” he said. “Physically, obviously skiing is a little harder because you’re doing a different thing, but I can show you some curlers that don’t have any balance and they won’t ski but they are damn good curlers.”
Vettergreen is pretty proud of his athletic longevity.
“When people say do you still curl or do you still ski, I say, ‘Why not?’ I’m healthy and I’ve been doing it all my life,” said the member of a national championship-winning St. Albert slopitch team in the 60-plus division.
As for St. Albert hosting the 55-plus games, Vettergreen believes it’s a big deal for everybody involved.
“It’s great for the town and it’s going to be great for the competitors,” said the father of three and doting grandfather of three.
“Two of the grandkids are already skiing. Maybe they will be just like me.”
For more information on the winter games, visit www.st-albert55plusgames.ca. You can also check out the games’ special section in this issue of the Gazette.
