At 21, Beverley Anderson of Mullan, Idaho is the North American Alpine skiing champion and holder of the national giant slalom and downhill titles. Early this month she will be competing against such veterans of international racing as Betsy Snite and Penny Pitou for the six places on the U.S. Women's Olympic Alpine Skiing Team. It is no time for a champion to be resting on her ski poles, and this charming champion isn't resting.
"Nothing in excess but training," says Beverley of her life lately at Aspen, Colo., where she has evolved a muscle-toning regimen which ranges from lugging logs to mothering medicine balls, with touches of mountain climbing, tennis, bicycling and gymnastics, too. Most surprising exercise of all is the ski-less ski run shown at right, a testing downhill descent on foot that makes doing the same thing on skis seem like the lazy way. These activities are the foundation of her Olympic preparation, but by no means the end of it. Beverley's strenuous training includes skiing, too. Turn the page for head-on proof.
After medicine-ball workouts and the like (see preceding page), Beverley Anderson takes to the hills for slalom practice. Hour after hour at Aspen she works on this demanding type of racing, straining to be sure that a second's inattention doesn't cause a fall like that which broke the leg of U.S. skiing star Bud Werner last month as he trained on a slalom run only 300 yards away. Her philosophy of skiing risks: "I work hard, harder than most, to learn to handle a difficult spot the way I want to do it. I stay out of dangerous situations. There's always another race to win."
Next week's Olympic trial isn't just another race though, but a major step for this busy blonde, whose floppy sweaters are almost her skiing trademark ("I'm no fashion plate, but I keep warm"). A University of Washington honor student when off the slopes, she says her self-taught skiing style isn't orthodox, but "good enough to get me where I want to go." She hopes that includes Squaw Valley, come Winter Olympics time.
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BAREFOOT IN SUNLIT GYM, YOUTHFUL CHAMPION BEVERLEY DOES ARM EXERCISES, MATCHES THE MEDICINE-BALL MOVEMENTS OF HER INSTRUCTOR
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LUMBERJACKING WITH SKI TEACHER SEPP KESSLER IS ALL IN DAY'S WORKOUT
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TUMMY-TOUGHENING BACKBENDS FIND BEV TRIUMPHANT, INSTRUCTOR TAGE PEDERSEN SLIGHTLY DOWNCAST
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DOWNHILL WITHOUT SKIS IS UPHILL WORK FOR A SKIER
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TILTING ALMOST AS SHARPLY AS THE SLOPE ITSELF, SMILING BEVERLEY TWISTS THROUGH SLALOM GATE ON ASPEN MOUNTAIN
