Miller Happy to be Back on Snow

SAAS-FEE, Switzerland (Oct. 15) - Following one day of freeskiing, two-time World Cup overall champion Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) was back to running gates early last week with the U.S. Ski Team in Saas-Fee.

"I'm really happy to be back on snow and skiing with the guys again," said Miller, who stepped back from racing following the February Audi FIS Alpine World Ski Championships for the first time in 13 seasons. "This is the first time I've been to Saas-Fee and it's probably the best glacier I've ever been on in Europe. The surface is really hard, the terrain is great and I'm having fun."

Miller arrived in Saas-Fee following a day of boot fitting with his equipment supplier Head in Austria. He said that while it felt good to be running gates, much of his time in Saas-Fee will be fine-tuning his equipment for the season.

"Head is a great company with extremely innovative products of which I've been able to be a part of the design process," said Miller. "So much of my passion for skiing comes from innovation. Both Head and the U.S. Ski Team have super forward thinking things going on and it's motivating to be part of it right now."

While Miller did say that he's easing back into skiing and isn't taking anything full speed yet, U.S. Ski Team Men's Technical Head Coach Rudi Soulard said he's happy with what Miller is able to do in the first few days at Saas-Fee.

"It's pretty early to say and Bode was probably a little sore after skiing today, but he's really happy to be skiing and it's good to have him back on snow with the guys," said Soulard. "I set a slalom course on the steeps and Bode jumped right in. He's doing a lot of equipment testing, but he made some good turns."

Also currently training in Saas-Fee is Jimmy Cochran (Keene, NH), Tim Kelley (Starksboro, VT), Paul McDonald (Bellevue, WA), Nolan Kasper (Warren, VT), David Chodounsky (Crested Butte, CO), Olympic champion Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) and Tim Jitloff (Reno, NV).

"We have a really good group of guys here right now and we're already seeing some positive things happening," said Soulard.

While he has not set a return to competition date, he hopes to be ready for the Audi Birds of Prey Race Week in Beaver Creek, CO Dec. 4-6, possibly sooner.

The men's World Cup opens Oct. 25 with the traditional giant slalom in Soelden, Austria with the only American World Cup stop prior to the Olympics slated for Beaver Creek. Ligety opened the last season with giant slalom podiums at both Soelden and Beaver Creek.