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Show A spirit and attire reminiscent of the great Waldo Pepper. Left: Tony Fugit of Pap ill ion, Neb. Right: Nick Kingery , 2nd place overall winner of men's division and a fireman of West Valley City. The injuries sustained during the competition were not serious but there were more than usual. Several para-skiers admitted a lack of experience jumping at high altitudes which caused the canopies to descend much faster. Para-Skiing - An Exhilirating Rush For A New Breed By Nan Chalat They are a breed unto themselves. During the week they work at jobs just like ours, but on weekends their spirits take flight. They jump out of small aircraft at frigid altitudes (3,000 feet - above ground), freefall for an 'exhilirating rush, and then sail to the ground. A safe landing would be more than enough cause for a less man (or woman) at that point to indulge in at least a week's worth of self-congratulations - but not for para-skiers. For. one thing -- just any safe landing won't do. The shoot for accuracy, which means they don't always cut upwind to check their speed at the last moment -- if the target i$ still downwind nine out of ten times they go fot it. And the thrill is still not complete until they have slipped out of their chutes and onto their skis for a final race down the mountain. One can only begin to. imagine the gusto with which , they guzzled their Miller Lite at the end of last week's national championship meets at Park West. Take Joy Burtis, for instance. Vivacious, intelligent, intelli-gent, a little excitable, but seemingly normal - until the conversation turns to para-skiing. para-skiing. Yes, it is the most important thing in her life, she says without hesitation. "I jumped off El Capitan last summer," she adds with a wild glint in her eye. Now Joy has her sights set on being the first woman para-skier to make the U.S. World Cup Team. She is just one weekend, one more meet, away from achieving her dream. She was second last weekend in the women's division. Her fastest downhill down-hill time in the skiing event was only six seconds behind Bret Pendleton's first place time. 'i want to make the team with the guys to be the first woman ever!" she says with indisputable conviction. The U.S. World Cup Team . will be chosen from the top . winners of last weekend's event at Park West and the weekend's continuation of the championships at Jackson Jack-son Hole. Last weekend was the third time para-skiers dropped drop-ped in on Park West, to the delight of many ski spectators. specta-tors. "Park West has been a perfect place for our meets," explained meet director Linda Lin-da Miller, "Aside from the wide open spaces we also get a lot of support from Dick Frost and his employees. The ski patrol, the race department and the people handling the food service were wonderful." The national championships champion-ships were sponsored by Miller Lite with prizes also distributed by Sunset Sports, Mother Karen's and Northwest North-west Energy. |