As skiers, we all love those early morning days with spring light, arcing our skis over freshly cut corduroy, the run all to ourselves, edge spray glinting against the royal blue sky.
On a winter morning a year ago at Deer Valley Resort, two of ski racing’s biggest stars were out for an early ski together. It was a carefree day, other than cameras rolling in the drone overhead. There were no gold medals at stake, no television crews at the finish line, no pressure other than linking turns together down the ridgeline on Stein’s Way as the sun came up over the Jordanelle.
In successive eras, Picabo Street and Lindsey Vonn pioneered their sport to its greatest heights. Their careers crossed over at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games here in Utah, with Street wrapping up a gritty tenure that saw her win 1998 Olympic gold and capture hearts around the world. Vonn, then Lindsey Kildow, was just beginning a 14-year run as the greatest female ski racer of all time, winning 82 World Cup races.
It was a scene of beauty as two of the greatest names in ski racing history were simply having fun skiing together. Without a care in the world.
The early morning first tracks open up the feature-length documentary film, “PICABO,” part of the Five Rings Films collection from the Olympic Channel and the International Olympic Committee that was released on Peacock TV last month. It’s directed by Vonn, the first project of her new Après Productions, together with the legendary Hollywood producer Frank Marshall.
After the shoot, the two skiers kicked back in front of a fire at the Goldener Hirsch, feet up and cackling about the good times they’d had that morning.
Olympic champions like Street and Vonn are a part of our culture here in Park City. Street, who grew up in Sun Valley, retired after the 2002 Olympics and chose to stay here to raise her family. Vonn, a Minnesota native who spent much time in Vail, also chose to return here in recent years.
Any ski racing fan today will know Vonn, the 2010 Olympic downhill champion and winner of three overall and 16 discipline titles. But if you’re a younger fan, you might know Picabo Street’s name but not her story. While her 13 World Cup victories might pale in comparison to Vonn’s 82, Street’s pioneering accomplishments, in a career that stretched from the late-’80s to 2002, set the stage for the future generation of her sport in America.
While Street’s story as a ski racer was well documented in her career, the broader story of her life and her family has been sheltered. Engaging in the production of “PICABO” was a gut-wrenching experience for Street, who bared all to talk about not only her success, but the challenges she balanced behind the scenes.
After a bleak period for the U.S. Ski Team in the late ’80s, Street burst onto the scene with a world championship medal in 1993, Olympic silver in 1994 then the World Cup crystal globe for downhill in 1995. In an eyelash, she took the world by storm, with menacing skiing and a charisma that ignited hearts around the world.
Her career was fraught with horrific injuries and interspersed with moments of glory, like her 1998 super-G Olympic gold. Amid it all, she balanced a very close-knit family relationship with her mother, father and brother that at times became a roller coaster with her late father.
“PICABO” is, at times, raw and unfiltered. It captures a remarkable period in ski racing history through a phenomenal collection of archival footage from the libraries of the Olympic Channel and Jalbert Productions. It showcases little-seen interviews from the past with an emotional modern-day conversation between Vonn and Street.
It’s a story about ski racing and athletic success. It’s a story about family, with all the good and the bad. And, in Picabo’s words, it’s a story about love and fear — and how she doesn’t fear any more.
There’s a scene near the end of the film where Street, her fiancé Jake and her three teenage boys are pushing fat bikes through the muddy trail along East Canyon Creek just outside Park City. It’s a joyous outing for an outdoor-loving family, a world away from the gnarly downhill race courses that used to form the fabric of her life.
The film showcases her not only as one of America’s greatest Olympic champions, but in the role she so cherishes today.
“When you become a mom, you are instantly tethered with this sled,” Street said. “You’re constantly pulling the sled, whether all of the kids are riding in it or none of them. It doesn’t matter, you’re still pulling it along. It’s such a warming, welcoming, forever feeling. It’s like nothing else on the planet.”
Yes, even better than skiing.
How to watch: Now that the Beijing Olympics are over and you’re looking to maximize your subscription to Peacock TV, PICABO is available free to subscribers. Check it out at peacocktv.com.
Wisconsin native Tom Kelly landed in Park City in 1988 (still working on becoming an official local). Inducted into the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame in 2019, he is most known for his role as lead spokesperson for Olympic skiing and snowboarding for over 30 years until his retirement in 2018. This is his 52nd season on skis.