From the U.S. Ski Team's media relations staff:

With less than five months to go before he's back on the slopes of the World Cup circuit, Scott Macartney (Crystal Mountain, WA) is so deep into his summer training, one has to wonder if he has time for much else. According to the man himself, Macartney still has time to fit in some cooking, language critiques, and even a little bit of hockey.

You were in a pretty bad crash at Kitzbuhel last season, what was that like for you as an athlete and how has it been coming back?
It's a twofold thing. It was a bad crash and I was very lucky in a lot of respects, basically escaping with no major damage to my head and the stuff with my body wasn't that big of a deal. But, it's part of the sport and part of the risk that we take to be in alpine skiing. It was tough, but at the same time, after I woke up I never had any point where I was like, 'maybe I should quit or maybe I should look to do something else.' That never came into my mind. I guess it was just a reiteration of the dangers of the sport and how it can come up and grab you at any time.

So, how is everything going with training?
It's been good to get back on snow with all the guys and for me it's been good to be back since it's been a while as well.

Summer is usually training season, but do you have any other plans?
I went to a U.S. Ski Team fundraiser in Napa that was amazing. I'm going to try to get some surf trips in. Kitzbuhel actually called me and offered me a weeklong stay there during the summer, so that would be fun if I could plan that.

So, when you were growing up, were you into a lot of sports, or was it all about skiing for you?
When I was really young I played soccer, I was on the swim team, I ran cross country and I played baseball. Then, as I got older, I started dropping a sport here and there. I had to drop soccer because I was gone too much during the season. There were times where I'd run a cross country meet for three miles, race, and then go to soccer practice afterwards and that got a little crazy.

Any hobbies outside of sports?
I used to make jewelry in college. There was a really nice jewelry studio at Dartmouth, so I would make gifts for my mom. I'm not a big jewelry guy - I don't wear rings or anything - but I thought it was pretty fun to make it. I also cook, but I haven't taken any classes.

Oh really? Do you have a specialty?
I make pretty good salmon. My friend Lloyd, who worked on a fishing boat for a while, taught me a salmon recipe for a barbeque. It's just a bunch of things that mix together then you lay it on lettuce over the barbeque.

What about pet peeves? What's one of your biggest?
First annual. There's no such thing as first annual. It doesn't exist.

Well maybe they're just expressing their intention to make it annual.
No, no. If you're at the first annual, you don't know it's annual unless it happens the next year. The only time it's real is when it's the second annual, otherwise it's the inaugural. It's like someone saying they gave 110 percent, that isn't possible either

Do you have any other non-syntactic pet peeves?
Driving in the U.S. When you spend a lot of time in Europe, you begin to appreciate the way how they learn to drive. People in the U.S., they camp out in the left-hand lane and then drive two miles an hour over the speed limit. Everyone in Europe moves to the right because you have to pass on the left. It makes driving so much better.

How about weaknesses, or, perhaps guilty pleasures? Do you have those?
Pfefferminz Ritter Sport. Pfefferminz is key because of the German spelling of it. I haven't found it in the U.S. but it's the chocolate with the peppermint on the inside - good stuff.

So, you just finished up spending some time in Park City, UT, for the men's alpine hockey camp. How was the game?
It was really fun to be out there with everybody and mix it up a little bit. I got checked a few times, but we had a good time. It was a very close game. It came down to the wire and could have gone either way.

Would you say you gave it 110 percent in the game?
No, I would not say that.