Crazy Blood

Acknowledgments

Sincere thanks to the town of Mammoth Lakes for setting my muses free.

In particular, I’d like to thank Pam Lonza, Mammoth Mountain Ski & Snowboard Teams Administrator, for opening many doors and offering up so much of her valuable time to answer my questions.

Ben Wisner, Director of Mammoth Snowboard and Freeski Programs, showed me competitive skiing and snowboarding through the eyes of a coach. He also marked up my ski-racing scenes with an eye for verisimilitude that no outsider could have given.

Beat Hupfer, Mammoth Race Department Director, was generous with his time and very helpful with racing rules and regulations, politics and protocols, methods and myths.

Thanks to Mike Cook for always making me feel welcome in Mammoth Lakes, and for lending me his very real name for this work of fiction.

Many special thanks to John Teller, who grew up on Mammoth Mountain and was the sole American ski crosser in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. It was a privilege to watch you race, and to see your sport through the eyes of a champion.

Last for Oakley Hall, who so beautifully ran these slopes before me in The Downhill Racers.

All truth contained herein comes from them; the errors are mine alone.