The Pain Of The Downhill Racer -- Ex-World Cup Skier Mcewan `Retires' To Seattle U.

It comes every two years, like an odd season. A season of grinding pain. For Tracy McEwan, it's like having little rocks in her knee.

Every two years, McEwan has to visit her orthopedic surgeon for her regular cleaning.

"I go in for arthroscopic knee surgery," said the 24-year-old Seattle University skier from Bellevue. "I've got so much crud and bone chips from not having any cartilage. I've got to get it cleaned just like most people go to the dentist. My next cleaning is just around the corner. My knee is starting to hurt, right on schedule."

Not the best time because today McEwan starts teaching summer skiing camp at Mt. Hood, Ore., where she will live for the next month. But McEwan points out it's easier on your body to teach a group of kids than to race in World Cup competition.

Most of McEwan's young adulthood was spent pushing that line between speed and safety, racing without limit down the world's most treacherous hillsides. McEwan paid the penalty of torn cartilage, broken arms and twisted ankles.

Her visits to her knee doctor are the only reminders of a career McEwan has left behind.

"I was always pushing myself 110 percent," said McEwan. "That was great when I was in one piece. But I wasn't in one piece very often. Now I can ski at 90 percent, still do well, stay in one piece, and have a good time doing it. I was just really tired of being in the hospital."

McEwan spends more time these days in the classrooms, as a marketing major at Seattle University. And since the school made skiing a varsity sport, she can also spend more time on the slopes.

In her first year as a collegiate skier, a year after breaking her arm in a World Cup race, McEwan finished fourth in the giant slalom and ninth in the slalom at the National Collegiate Ski Association championship.

McEwan was also selected to represent her country in the World University Games, held last March in Japan. Against the world's top collegiate racers, McEwan won a silver medal in the downhill.

"It was a lot like World Cup because of the level of competition, and I thought, `Gosh I miss this, maybe I shouldn't have quit,' " McEwan said. "But then I realized I wouldn't have gotten there if I wasn't in school. I really like the coaching aspect of what I do now. I intend to stick with it."

McEwan first became an instructor as a teenager at Crystal Mountain, at the behest of her first instructor, Rick Reid. Once she became a world-class skier, people started asking her to coach.

"I get satisfaction knowing I'm sharing something with them, something that I've already done right, or wrong," McEwan said. "A lot of coaches can't coach that. Plus there's not a lot of females that coach, which is a disadvantage for the gals."

Later this month, McEwan will teach a group of select skiers from Washington, Oregon, California, Alaska and Idaho. The camp will be held at Palmer Glacier, part of the Timberline resort. The permanent snowfield is one of the few places in North America where you can ski in August.

The kids who didn't get picked to be in the camp were picked up by McEwan. She'll teach those kids this week.

"I didn't want them to be left out," she said.

McEwan started skiing at age 8. By the time she was in high school, she was already racing full seasons. She spent so much time skiing, she couldn't attend classes at Bellevue High School. So she went to the school's off-campus facility, where she received personal tutoring.

That allowed her to ski six days a week during the winter. She would leave school for as many as four weeks at a time, but still managed to graduate in 1985.

She was a member of the U.S. ski team from 1987 to 1989. The year she graduated from high school, she won the junior national championship, drawing interest from the national team.

The team invited her to camp, but in March of 1986, McEwan broke her left ankle. In August, she broke her right ankle. She came back from her ankle injuries only to tear up her right knee in the spring of 1987.

Her doctor told her to quit skiing, but after a year of rehabilitation, she finished fifth at the U.S. Nationals and made the ski team.

Then in April of 1988, McEwan had the accident that ended her career. She hit a bump during a giant slalom, throwing her off course. She tried to make the next gate, but missed badly.

Out of control, she ran into a course official. She put up her left arm to protect her face. Her arm broke in more than a half-dozen places, and took three operations to repair.

"By the next spring, I thought maybe it was time to move on and keep my body in one piece," McEwan said.

She didn't want to leave skiing entirely, and she wanted to stay in the area. Her solution was Seattle University, which is providing her a scholarship to ski.

"I made a commitment to myself to go to college, not to go and do something else," McEwan said.

She will graduate next year with a business degree and letters in skiing and soccer. Ski season begins in October with dry-land training. Races begin in January.

"I just want the team to have a big year," McEwan said. "I want to help the team make it to nationals. We'll be getting more good skiers. I think the program is really on its way up. That's certainly the direction I want to leave it in."