The ski season ended on March 22, but Afton Alps was still dressed for winter when a favorite daughter arrived for a visit Wednesday. On an 82-degree day, a coat of well-packed snow stubbornly clung to the hill, while a cozy fire awaited Lindsey Vonn in the chalet.
Vonn had come to her home state to rekindle memories of last winter, meeting with the girls who had participated in a ski camp she designed. Like the Afton resort, she wasn't ready to say goodbye to the snowy season, either. After two years scarred by a pair of major knee surgeries and long recoveries, Vonn climbed back to the top of the World Cup mountain, winning season titles in downhill and super-G and breaking the record for most career victories by a woman.
She was able to relax Wednesday, posing for photos and signing autographs for the gaggle of giddy girls who completed Afton Alps' "Ski Girls Rock'' program. But she won't stay idle for long. With her right knee healed and her confidence restored, Vonn, 30, intends to keep speeding down mountains until the 2018 Olympics, and perhaps beyond.
"It was a very meaningful season,'' said Vonn, whose 19 World Cup season titles are tied for the most ever by a man or woman. "Winning the two globes in downhill and super-G, those were probably the most meaningful globes of my career, because I'd been gone for so long and been through so much.
"A lot of people doubted me and thought I would never win again. I just proved to myself, and to everyone, that I'm still here. And I'm not going anywhere.''
Few thought Vonn would reclaim her place atop the World Cup podium after her protracted recovery from her injuries. This season she won eight World Cup races, pushing her career mark to 67 and breaking the record of 62 set by Austria's Annemarie Moser-Proll in 1980. She skied at the world championships in her adopted hometown of Vail, Colo., earning a bronze in super-G — her sixth world championships medal, more than any American in history.
Vonn tore two knee ligaments and broke a bone in her leg in a horrific crash at the 2013 world championships. After grinding through an accelerated rehabilitation schedule, she returned to racing 10 months later. But the repaired ligament soon gave way, forcing her to miss the 2014 Olympics and undergo another long, painful recovery.
Vonn said Wednesday that she had to approach her second rehabilitation stint with much more patience, a trait she admits is not her strong suit. With stars such as Austria's Anna Fenninger and Slovenia's Tina Maze ruling the mountain in her absence, many assumed Vonn's time had passed. She did not, if only because she couldn't bear to give up the sport.