Ok, as promised in tomorrow's paper, here's video of Crystal Mountain's Scott Macartney in what has become one of the most famous ski accidents ever. Don't watch it if you have a weak stomach. Macartney is lucky to be alive.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, if you ever share a lift with Macartney at Crystal Mountain pick a different topic to talk about. He's getting pretty sick of talking about the accident.

I talked with him this morning about his most recent injury, a torn ACL in his left knee that needed a cadaver graft to be repaired.

He says he’s giving the knee some time to heal and then he hopes to be back in top form by November when qualifying races for the 2010 Olympics begin.

As for last year’s crash, Macartney recovered physically and mentally from the horrific accident. However, the European media hasn’t let him forget about it.

While he graciously answers the questions, some reporters have bothered him. Before an interview with an Austrian TV crew, they told him they had a present for him at the end of the interview.

“The present was still shots of the accident,” Macartney said. The crew wanted to shoot video of him looking at the pictures.

“I was very frank with them. I told them if I knew they were going to do that I would not have agreed to the interview.”

For downhill racers, it is important not to focus on the danger of the sport, Macartney said. Having to field constant questions about the crash has made that difficult for the 31-year-old.

“Most of the questions are OK,” Macartney said. “But some of the questions just make you shake your head.”

He knows the questions will persist, especially know that he’s dealing with another injury. But he’d rather deal with the annoyance and the rehab than walk away.

“Retirement never crossed my mind,” Macartney said. “I still have a lot I want to do. I want to show the hard work I’m putting in. If I retired now I would wonder about what could have been.”

The U.S. Ski Team just sent out a ton of quotes from its athletes about the recently concluded summer games in Beijing. It seems all the action inspired them to be ready for 2010:

Here's what they are saying:

Scott Macartney, 2002 and 2006 Olympian, U.S. Alpine Ski Team, Crystal Mountain, WA
My Olympic experience has been watching clips of Spanish language coverage on mute with them skipping around to any Chilean that did decently while cutting away from events mid-shot, mid-dive, mid-routine ... and still riveted to the screen. I enjoyed the track events, watching (Usain) Bolt crush in the 100 and 200 and watching the pole vault. Especially the women's pole vault, they have to have the best bodies of any sport, as a group, by far.

Scotty Bahrke, 2007 World Cup Rookie of the Year, U.S. Freestyle Aerials Team, Tahoe City, CA
My favorite moment was watching Shawn Johnson on the balance beam when it was her last chance to win a gold medal. I thought that was pretty cool watching all her training come together at the very last possible chance to win the gold.

=> Read more!

The 2009 U.S. Alpine Ski Team named it's 2009 World Cup roster today. Here it is:

A TEAM
Men
Jimmy Cochran (5/29/81; Keene, NH; Cochran's/Mount Mansfield Ski & Snowboard Club)
Ted Ligety (8/31/84; Park City, UT; Park City Ski Team)
Scott Macartney (1/19/78; Crystal Mountain, WA; Crystal Mountain Alpine Club)
Steven Nyman (2/12/82; Provo, UT; Park City Ski Team/Sundance)
Marco Sullivan (4/27/80; Squaw Valley, CA; Squaw Valley Ski Team)

Women
Stacey Cook (7/3/84; Mammoth, CA; Mammoth Mountain Ski Team)
Julia Mancuso (9/9/84; Olympic Valley, CA; Squaw Valley Ski Team)
Kaylin Richardson (9/28/84; Edina, MN; Team Gilboa)
Resi Stiegler (11/14/85; Jackson Hole, WY; Park City Ski Team/Jackson Hole)
Lindsey Vonn (10/18/84; Vail, CO; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail/Buck Hill Ski Team)

B TEAM
Men
Erik Fisher (3/21/85; Middleton, ID; Bogus Basin)
Tommy Ford (3/20/89; Bend, OR; Mount Bachelor Ski Education Foundation)
Kevin Francis (6/13/82; Bend, OR; Mount Bachelor Ski Education Foundation)
Tim Jitloff (1/11/85; Reno, NV; Park City Ski Team)
Tim Kelley (5/20/86; Starksboro, VT; Cochran's/Mount Mansfield Ski & Snowboard Club)
TJ Lanning (8/27/84; Park City, UT; Park City Ski Team)
Cody Marshall (11/15/82; Pittsfield, VT; Burke Mountain Academy)
Erik Schlopy (8/21/72; Park City, UT; Park City Ski Team)
Jeremy Transue (6/1/83; Hunter, NY; Green Mountain Valley School)
Andrew Weibrecht (2/10/86; Lake Placid, NY; New York Ski Education Foundation)

Women
Hailey Duke (9/17/85; Boise, ID; Park City Ski Education Foundation/McCall Ski Team)
Jessica Kelley (10/5/82; Starksboro, VT; Cochran's/Mount Mansfield Ski & Snowboard Club)
Chelsea Marshall (8/14/86; Pittsfield, VT; Green Mountain Valley School)
Megan McJames (9/24/87; Park City, UT; Park City Ski Education Foundation)
Sarah Schleper (2/19/79; Vail, CO; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail)
Leanne Smith (5/28/87; Conway, NH; Mt. Washington Valley Ski Team)

C TEAM
Men
Chris Beckmann (10/9/86; Guilderland, NY; New York Ski Education Foundation)
Will Brandenburg (1/1/87; Spokane, WA; Schweitzer Alpine Racing)
Travis Ganong (7/14/88; Squaw Valley, CA; Squaw Valley Ski Team)
Tague Thorson (1/9/85; Park City, UT; Romark Ski Academy)

Women
Sterling Grant (6/1/87; Amery, WI; Buck Hill Ski Team)
Keely Kelleher (8/12/84; Big Sky, MT; Rowmark Ski Academy)
Julia Littman (7/21/84; Vail, CO; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail)
Laurenne Ross (8/17/88; Klamath Falls, OR; Mount Bachelor Ski Education Foundation)
Kiley Staples (2/2/89; Park City, UT; Rowmark Ski Academy)

U.S. Alpine Development Team
Men
Michael Ankeny (1/17/91; Deephaven, MN; Buck Hill Ski Team)
Nick Daniels (4/5/91; Tahoe City, CA; Squaw Valley Ski Team)
Colby Granstrom (9/21/90; Lake Stevens, WA; Mission Ridge Ski Education Foundation)
Will Gregorak (9/30/90; Longmont, CO; Ski and Snowboard Club Vail)
Nolan Kasper (3/27/89; Warren, VT; Burke Mountain Academy)
Wiley Maple (5/25/90; Aspen, CO; Aspen Valley Ski Club)

Women
Felicia Byers (12/17/91; Sandy, UT; Snowbird Sports Education Foundation)
Julia Ford (3/30/90; Plymouth, NH; Holderness Ski Team)
Kayla Fry (5/1/90; Reno, NV; Team Savage Ski Racing)
Alice McKennis (8/19/89; Glenwood Springs, CO; Rowmark Ski Academy)
Jennie VanWagner (6/22/89; Traverse City, MI; Rowmark Ski Academy)

Reserve
Caroline Lalive (8/10/79; Steamboat Springs, CO; Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club)

Here's our monthly 2010 Winter Games update:

LOCAL ATHLETES
Crystal Mountain skier Scott Macartney continues to train as he recovers from a nasty crash that cut last season short.
“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,” Macartney, an ’04 Olympian, said in statement released by the U.S. Ski Team.
Macartney is staying pretty active off the snow, too. He’s surfing, cooking salmon and might take a European vacation. He says Kitzbuhel, the ski area where he had his accident, offered him a week long summer vacation.
Earlier this month Macartney and the U.S. Ski Team finished a hockey cross-training program in Utah. The program ended with a hockey game.
“It was really fun to be out there with everybody and mix it up a little bit,” Macartney said in press release. “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.”

TEAMS USA UPDATES
- Snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler won Best Female Action Sports Athlete honors this month at the ESPY Awards.
- Kikkan Randall of the U.S. Nordic ski team spent part of July training on the Eagle Glacier in his home state of Alaska
- Skating Magazine readers voted Johnny Weir the skater of the year making him the first man to win the award since Michael Weiss in 2000. Weir received 1,156 of approximately 8,400 votes.
- The U.S. Snowboarding team finished a training session on Mount Hood on July 25.

FACILITY UPDATES
- According to the Vancouver Sun, a bad splice resulted in an underground explosion that destroyed 14 circuits and left 20 percent of the city in darkness for three days. According to the newspaper, some officials are concerned about a power failure during the Olympics.
- On July 7 the University of British Columbia’s Thunderbird Arena became the first indoor competition venue to be completed. According to a statement released by organizers the 7,500 arena was finished four months early and on budget. The venue will host men’s and women’s hockey.
- Organizers announced this month that the anti-doping lab for the games will be located at the Richmond Oval, the speed skating venue.

OTHER OLYMPIC NEWS
- The Summer Olympics start Aug. 8 and the Vancouver Olympic Committee will send 36 members to the games to study the event as it continues to plan for 2010.
- General Electric donated a CT scanner for the games that Olympic organizers say will be the first in Whistler. The scanner will be installed in December.

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets go on sale Oct. 11, 2008. Tickets.com was selected as the games’ official ticket service.

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.

From the U.S. Ski Team

It took Scott Macartney (Crystal Mountain, WA) less than five months to go from lying in a hospital bed with a severe head trauma to clicking into his bindings for an on-snow training camp with the men's U.S. Alpine Ski Team at Mammoth Mountain. This fact clearly illustrates the feelings he has for skiing.

"It's my life," he says. "It's what I do. Beyond that, it's not just something that I do passionately, it's something that I've had to give a lot to be able to do."

Macartney's return to the sport that defines his life was a process that, not unlike the tales of many of sports' heroes, began with a tragedy and eventually grew into a story of courage in the face of adversity.

On Jan. 19 - his 30th birthday - Macartney was flying down the Streif in the famed Hahnenkamm downhill in Kitzbuehel, Austria. With the speed he was carrying, many expected he would have had a top 10 finish when suddenly he crashed coming off the last jump.

The impact of the crash and sliding unconsciously through the finish is something that Macartney has only seen in videos and heard through the words of those close to him.

"It's kind of weird explaining to people that you can take crashes that are way harder but as long as you don't hurt yourself, you can pick yourself up and walk away," Macartney says. "If I wouldn't have hit my head so hard, I would have been just as sore in the morning, but I would have gotten up and walked away."

Although he did not walk away in Austria, Macartney knew where he wanted to be when he woke up, and after taking months to get there, he is ready to finish what he started.

"I never even thought about not coming back - that never came into my mind at all. I still have a lot of things I want to accomplish in the World Cup and in Whistler and I have a lot of things that I'm looking forward to," Macartney says after a day of training that involved a great deal of fundamental ski work.

In Mammoth, Macartney is working on what coaches call the "return to snow" program, which involves drills and movement patterns at slow speeds that are intended to get athletes focusing on the basics of skiing as a foundation to build upon.

"It's been fun to get back on snow and work on my skiing again while thinking about next season," he says. "It's good to be back both with the group and on snow in a more official format."

Macartney is taking a step back and trying to focus on fine-tuning his fundamental skills at this camp, which he believes will help him to attain the goals he has made for himself this season.

"It's a progression, of course, but my goals last year were to move up in the standings with a couple podiums and perform in the big races, and it's a center focus for this coming season," Macartney says. "I want to expand from what I did last year and hopefully more consistently be in that top group and on the top steps of the podium."

Before his crash, Macartney was third at the Val Gardena, Italy downhill the month prior and ranked 22nd in the World Cup downhill standings heading into Kitzbuehel.

Macartney also has his sights set on accomplishing the Olympic victory he came so close to in 2006. He was tracking well going into the Games from his career first World Cup podium, second in the Garmisch, Germany super G, just weeks before Opening Ceremonies.

"Looking back at Torino, I was skiing well going into [the Games] and I had a shot at it. I ended up less than three tenths away from a medal - it was right there," he says. "Saying I want to win a medal in the Olympics is pretty easy, but I know if I get that momentum going, it's a possibility for me.

"My goal is to go in there firing all cylinders and give myself the best chance of finding my way onto the podium [at the Olympics]."

In order to reach his goals, Macartney has a long road of training and competition ahead of him - but he already knows as much.

"You just give yourself a shot and nothing's guaranteed. It's that year-round dedication to the sport that's necessary to do well," he says with a focus in his voice that assures he will complete what he has set out to do.

Macartney will break from training in Mammoth near the end of May before heading to Park City for the men's Team hockey and conditioning camp at the end of June.

LOCAL ATHLETES
- Cle Elum mogul skier Patrick Deneen was named the FIS rookie of the year and celebrated March 15 by finishing third in a race in Italy.
- Federal Way native Apolo Anton Ohno finished his season with a strong performance at the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in South Korea. He won gold at 500 meters and overall. He also took the 1,000- meter silver and bronze at 3,000 meters. Ohno has won 18 world championship medals – six of each hue.
- Yakima’s Phil Mahre, a gold medalist in the 1984 Olympics, fell short of his goal of qualifying for this month’s U.S. Alpine Nationals. He turned down special invitations to compete because he wanted to qualify on his own.
- Crystal Mountain’s Scott Macartney finished 26th in the World Cup’s downhill standings this season despite not racing since January because of an injury. A ski team spokesman said he’s hoping to return to racing speed this summer.
- Crystal’s Libby Ludlow finished 32nd in the giant slalom and 36th in the Super G. She participated in the NorAm Finals in New York despite knee injuries.

TEAMS USA UPDATES
- March was an historic month for the U.S. Ski Team as it finished one of its best World Cup seasons ever. Bode Miller and Lindsey Vonn took the overall titles. It’s the first time U.S. men and women have swept the titles since 1983 when Yakima’s Phil Mahre and Kentucky’s Tamara McKinney won the titles. Miller also claimed the season combined title and Vonn took the downhill title in February.
- Olympic gold medalist Ted Ligety won the World Cup season giant slalom title.
- Vonn and Jimmy Cochran each won slalom and combined titles at this week’s U.S. Alpine Championships.
- Miller did not compete in the U.S. Alpine Nationals.
- Katherine Ruetter won Team USA’s only women’s medal at the speed skating world championships. She took bronze at 3,000 meters.
- The 1998 Olympic Women's Hockey Team, which won the first-ever Olympic gold medal in the sport, is one of five finalists for the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. It’s the only winter team nominated. Its competition includes the 1992 Men’s basketball team - the original Dream Team.
- Figure skater Brian Boitano and speedskater Sheila Young Ochowicz are among the 18 individuals nominated. Fans can vote at usolympichalloffame.com.

FACILITY UPDATES
- Testing at the sliding center on Blackcomb Mountain continued this month.
- Work is expected to be completed on the Hillcrest/Nat Bailey Stadium Park, the Whistler Athlete’s Centre, the UBC Winter Sports Centre and the Richmond Oval this year.

OTHER OLYMPIC NEWS
- Some members of the Canadian cross-country team have complained that the 2010 Nordic venue is too easy according to the Vancouver Sun.
- The 2010 day-by-day competition schedule can be viewed online at blogs.thenewstribune.com/adventure.

COMING UP
- The U.S. Freestyle Championships start today in Park City, Utah.

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets go on sale Oct. 11, 2008. Tickets.com was selected as the games’ official ticket service.

This isn't necessarily Olympic related, but we'd love to have your help:

Help us determine the best ski area in the Northwest by voting for your favorite resort, lodge food, ski run and more.

Click below to take the quick survey. Your favorites will featured in 2008-09 Ski preview sections in newspapers across the Northwest. Voters from around the region - Idaho, Washington, Oregon and B.C. - are participating so make sure your favorites are well represented.

2008-09 Snow Ride Guide Survey

Watch the video below and you'll see why Crystal Mountain's Scott Macartney is lucky to be alive.

We talked to Macartney about his recovery in a story that runs in tomorrow sports section.

A few pictures from the Whistler World Cup.

Check out pictures of the skiing on the rest of the hill on our Adventure Blog.

The timing flats that will be the finishing area for all of this week's race and all the Olympic races in 2010.

One of the first finishers Thursday.

Even UK fans love Bode Miller.

This is as close as us media stiffs were allowed to get to Bode Miller after he failed to finish the super G. He did, however, tell ESPN he injured his wrist during the race. Miller is the dude in the green helmet.

And here's some video shot by a fan higher on the course:

Sorry I didn't post this sooner. Crystal Mountain's Scott Macartney was hospitalized Saturday after a high-speed crash in Austria. Here's the latest from the U.S. Ski Team.

INNSBRUCK, Austria (Jan. 20) - Two-time Olympian Scott Macartney (Crystal Mountain, WA) said Sunday he remembered his run during the 68th Hahnenkamm downhill but has no memory of the high-speed crash, which put him in a hospital. He's looking forward, though, to returning to racing.

=> Read more!

Here's video of interview with Crystal native Scott Macartney courtesy of U.S. Ski team.

Macartney competes in the 78th running of the Lauberhourn Downhill Sunday. He talks about the legendary course here.