The 2026 US Masters Eastern Regionals at Stratton Mountain sounded so good and then …
It started with the coldest day I have ever had in Vermont. When I got to the parking lot on Friday, it was -4 with a brisk wind. The first thing I noticed was no lifts going to the top of the mountain. So began the wind hold day.
After five hours of fun in the Stratton Lodge, the National Speed Series SuperG was canceled due to the -40 wind chill at the summit. But it became a memorable day as we socialized, exercised together, and had a great social at the Stratton Mountain School, seeing a side of skiing that is not in usual line of sight.
Saturday was spectacular. It was super cold once more, but no wind at the lodge and manageable on the race trail… until the second run. Swirls of snow started following the racers through the gates down the North American trail from the summit.
Abigail Eng finished first place in the Female division, with a combined time of 2:12.98, and a third place finish against the field. Bastien Martini took first place in the Men’s division with a scorching time of 2:07.84, as Mike Roy finished second, with time of 2:09.50. The full results are available on LIVE TIMING.
I was exhilarated at the shoot for the day and made my way back to my car to drive to the social once more at the Stratton Mountain School, and warm up while I worked on photographs and had a good time….
But now, I’m trapped in Stratton Vermont because of a flat tire.
That’s what greeted me when I got to my car. It was sitting on the rim. There were 11,000 skiers at Stratton and it was 2:30pm on a Saturday. This is America, right? A flat tire should be an inconvenience. I knew I was in trouble. This is a Kia. They don’t give you a spare tire. They give you a Flat Fix kit. Guess what, it doesn’t work.
This is when I first meet Allie Mahone at the Information Desk at Stratton who tries to help me in the madness of the biggest Saturday of the season. I tell her I’m waiting for AAA in the garage and she called security to ask them to come help me as well. As I wait for the tow truck, everyone I talk to makes a little snort, and says welcome to Vermont. For a place that’s supposed to be all about service, don’t let emergency car service be an issue when you’re here.
It was the older locals that came to my rescue.
But the younger ones… the tow truck driver who told me just finding me was above and beyond the call of duty? And showed up with a flatbed tow truck in a parking garage with no tools, not even a plug-in compressor?
And he was quick to try to get me to drive my car out of the garage on the rim so he could tow me to Lebanon, New Hampshire to the Walmart. A $200 tow.
Then I was told about the 24 seven service that would bring a tire to you wherever you were. I called the number given to me and a voice answered, didn’t give a company name and I had to ask, are you the tire service? The voice said yes. He asked me where I was and what I needed. I finally asked for a price and he said $650 and they would be there in two hours. The conversation was so awkward and uncomfortable. There was no way I was going to give this person my credit card number over the phone.
The master ski racing community came to my rescue. John Spooner went above and beyond as he emptied his truck of all of his ski gear because he knew he had a jack. We found it, went back to my car, and it was too low to the ground for the jack to go underneath. Got to love Kia cars.
John and I tried a can of flat fix to no avail, went back to their condo, where they graciously let me sleep on a couch.
Before sleep, I had to call Andrew at the Kitzhoff Inn and explain the whole story to him and ask them to take my things out of my room in the morning and I would pick them up as soon as I could. He said this was a first. Over a tire.
So Sunday morning, Alli Mahone at the information desk at Stratton Mountain resort became my angel. She rallied her local friends to help me. Who can ask for a better person when something like this happens?
First, she got officer Dan Halbert of Stratton security to come to my car with a compressor to see if we could pump the tire up. That led to Officer Dan going to get a better compressor.
When I went back to the info desk to warm up for a few minutes, Alli had arranged with her friend Dean to meet me at Coleman‘s Auto Repair, which he owns. It was like a godsend.
Dan returned with the compressor, we got a little bit of air into the tire, and I decided to try to drive the car the 4 miles to Coleman.
Well, that didn’t quite work the way I wanted it to. I watched the tire pressure drop as I turned out of the parking garage and headed down the access road, found a street corner where I knew a flatbed truck could pull in front of me and parked.
Now, once again comes the long wait for AAA.
The Quarter Mile shuttle driver stopped to ask me if I was OK. She was only the second one to stop. The first stopped to say “you know you have a flat tire?” I wanted to respond “really?”
We talked.
“I’m waiting for AAA. I might be here two hours.”
“That’s terrible,” she said.
“Yes, it’s terrible. This started yesterday. I mean it’s been crazy over a tire.”
As we closed our windows, she said she would check on me. On one of her next drive she might take a break if I needed her bring me anything. It was so sweet.
The promised arrival of the tow truck went right past.
Half an hour later, a tow truck company calls me from Nashua, NH, and says AAA is dispatching them to get my car. Arrival time? 2 hours. It’s now Noon on Sunday and I have missed the first Slalom run of the Eastern Regionals.
And I had to make the dreaded call to Dean. At this point, I know I will be in Vermont another night. So all of those plans have fallen apart. He’ll fix it in the morning. Again, my US Masters community stepped in with racer Stewart Cole giving me a ride back to the Kitzhoff Inn.
So now I have the screw that caused all my problems. Dean was able to fix my tire in about an hour and I was on my way back to civilization.
Next time I’ll know better than to buy a spare-less car.
