The Honda Ski Tour: Zach Crist Interview

Zach Crist is one of the stars of The Honda Ski Tour. Not only is he one of the top athletes competing in the skiercross but he also helped put the whole tour together and design the skiercross course here in Sun Valley. Usually when his named is mentioned in his hometown of sun Valley it’s in tandem with his brother Reggie. The Crist brother duo is one of the most recognizable relationships in skiing (see lat34’s exclusive interview with the brothers to learn more…link here). But now everything is different. Reggie had to undergo hip surgery and is out for the year and Zach has to go it alone for the first time in a major skiercross competition. I caught up with Zach watching the pro photo shootout and asked him how he felt about racing without his bro and The Honda Ski Tour in general.

Zach: Check it out man…these photos will blow your mind (I glance up and see Zach caught in a fairly serious avalanche up in Alaska)

Zach: All you can do is hold on…that one took me for a ride…definitely rung my bell.

Kitt: Can you believe all these people…Ketchum hasn’t closed down Main Street in a really long time.

Zach: How cool is this? The Wailers are about to come on…everybody’s here, everybody’s having a good time…this is what it’s all about!

Kitt: So I have to say Happy Birthday, what a great way to celebrate it.

Zach: Thanks man, I couldn’t agree more. We (The Honda Ski Tour Staff) worked really hard to put all this together and to see it go off like this after talking about for so long is really rewarding.

Zach: He’s recovering, it’s a slow process but he’s been injured before and knows it takes patience, the surgery was more preventative than anything, but it was a tough decision that he had to make.

Zach: Yeah, it’s not like we’ve been in every heat together, he’s working the microphone for the event so he’ll still be there, rooting for me and waiting at the bottom of the course.

Kitt: Right on, good luck tomorrow, any surprises with the Dark Horse Qualifier?

Zach: Not really, all the top guys didn’t have much trouble qualifying and it is a great way for the local guys to get involved…there’s some fast skiers here and giving them a chance to step it up is really exciting.