Strauss places 52nd in ski championships

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Wonder Lake resident Fred Strauss, an American Airlines Boeing 767/757 pilot, again finished among the top 100 airline-affiliated racers in the world at the 2008 World Airline Ski Championships held March 2 to 6 in the Bavarian Alps resort town of Garmisch, Germany.
Strauss has continuously placed in North American Airline Ski Federation meets, which have taken place this year in Snowbird, Utah, and Steamboat Springs, Colo., and will finish the 2008 season in Aspen, Colo.
The Garmisch International meet joined athletes from 47 global airlines — some of whom are former European Olympic and World Cup ski racers — competing for bragging rights and the Japan Air Lines-sponsored championship trophy in Nordic cross country, giant slalom and head-to-head slalom events.
A total of 600 WASC participants included 240 Alpine skiing qualifiers. The challenging giant slalom course on the famous Kandahar pitch has been the site of many World Cup downhill competitions over the years.
This year’s giant slalom race was complicated by minimal snow and icy and rutted conditions, and was deemed unsafe after one of the two final runs was completed. The second race was postponed for a day. The course was temporarily closed, but the races resumed after a day of snowfall. Strauss said the snow rivaled some of the “absolute best powder” on which he had skied in his life.
Strauss, a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, became an expert skier during his four years in Colorado Springs, Colo.
After maintaining some skiing skills at Air Force meets over his 28-year Air Force career, he has competed now for more than a decade at the airline international meets, placing as high as 42nd in an event held in Alyeska, Alaska, in 2004. He has competed in events in Levi, Finland; Bormio, Italy; Lenzerheide, Switzerland; and Schladming, Austria.
Ski racing at this level does not come without risk. On two occasions, Strauss has suffered fairly serious injuries on the slalom course. In December 2000, in Steamboat Springs he suffered a collapsed lung, requiring three days of hospitalization before his return flight to Illinois. Last year, in Big Sky, Mont., he broke the carpal scaphoid bone in his wrist after a fall on a dangerously icy course. The injuries kept Strauss off the victory podium for those seasons and out of commission with his other “physically needy” endeavors for a short time.
In addition to his distinguished reputation as a snow skier and water skier, Strauss is also an accomplished musician, having played guitar and sung at local venues including Wonder Lake’s Marquise Banquet Hall, Dusty’s Pizza, and Duck Lake’s Summer Festival. Most recently, Strauss has performed nearly every other Friday at Stage Left Cafe. He is scheduled to be the featured performer at Stage Left April 25.
Strauss says his broken wrist gave him the greatest difficulty, slowing down his fairly fast-paced life while trying to keep up with his guitar-playing commitments, including performing for the crowds at some of these Rocky Mountain and international ski meets.
Strauss’ four children and seven grandchildren have performed with him as both skiers and entertainers at some Woodstock venues, including his son Rick, who has also sung and acted on the Opera House stage in numerous productions.
Strauss’ son Kevin, a Peoria Air National Guard and regional airline pilot, and also a national champion water skier, snow skied with his father at the last North American Airlines ski week event in Snowbird.
“Probably better,” Strauss says.

This article was published in the March 26, 2008 edition of The Woodstock Independent.