An Interview with Skier Holly Flanders
Former two-time winter Olympian and three-time World Cup champion Holly Flanders recently made an appearance at Snö Mountain in Scranton and took time to do an interview with Spin It about winter sports in Pennsylvania and the sport of skiing. Flanders, who resides in Park City, UT is a junior racing consultant at Snö Mountain and was a member of the 1980 and 1982 U.S. Winter Olympic Teams. She also racked up three World Cup victories and was the U.S. national downhill champion in both 1981 and 1985.
LAG: Who do you feel is the best male downhill skier on the U.S. Ski Team?
HF: Bode Miller recently won several competitions and could come on very strong this season. We’ve got a strong team this year with a lot of depth.
LAG: Okay, who do you feel is the best on the women’s team?
HF: Lindsey Vonn is doing incredibly well this year. She’s amazing.
LAG: How well do you think the U.S. Ski team will do in competition?
HF: As I said, we do have a lot of depth this year. The competition has been really tough for a number of years, but the U.S. is on the up and up and doing really well.
LAG: How is Pennsylvania going to be able to produce a winter Olympian from the junior ranks?
HF: Mountains like Snö Mountain are important in producing young skiers. They have great race programs that are very family oriented.
LAG: What can Pennsylvania do to attract out of state tourists for winter activities?
HF: Pennsylvania has beautiful mountains. I think Pennsylvania is very marketable for tourists in the driving markets like New York and surrounding states.
LAG: What do you think of your visit so far to Pennsylvania, and what do you think of our snowmaking capabilities?
HF: So far I’ve really enjoyed my visit to Pennsylvania. The people are wonderful. It’s also impressive to see the snowmaking capabilities. I see here at Snö Mountain they can cover the slopes very quickly.