Eric Klaussen should not be forced to live on the horizontal plane. The captain of the ski team is more comfortable on the inclines, whether it be climbing El Capitan or Yosemite's Half Dome, skiing Squaw Valley or Tuckerman's ravine, or even hurtling down the Rockies on a skateboard.

The senior from Lake Tahoe points to one of the mountain landscapes on his bedroom walls, a snow-capped peak that towers next to his high school in Colorado and remarks how "disappointed" he was when he saw what the East had to offer. "There aren't really any mountains big enough for a downhill, remarks Klaussen. But this week Klaussen returns to the Rockies for his first collegiate race there in four years, the NCAA's at Park City, Utah.

Demi Tough

Klaussen is the first Harvard skier to qualify for both the NCAA slalom and giant slalom events since demi-god Ben Steele did it in 1973. Last year, Klaussen, the only Harvard contender and seeded a dead last, barely qualified for the giant slalom. Although he was the 57th man to leave the gate, Klaussen took a surprising 26th place at the University of Vermont-hosted meet.

But a different Klaussen is skiing this year, one who no longer places in the middle of the pack at ski carnivals. In the first race of the season, this Klaussen jumped to a 16th in the University of New Hampshire carnival, his second best race to date. Here was a Klaussen who could fall in the middle of a run and still cop sixth place, as he did at the giant slalom at Dartmouth last month. And then, three weeks ago, he took a 5th and a 12th in the slalom and giant slalom at Williams.

From 51st to 5th in the Heinz variety list, Klaussen keeps on moving up all the time.

Felled Again

Klaussen had a setback two weeks ago when he fell in both races at the Eastern Championships at Middlebury. He was foiled by what should have been a Western skier's delight; more than a foot of soft, new snow that was soon gouged into thigh-deep ruts by the racers...

"It was like skiing in a toboggan run," recalled Klaussen. "You pointed your skis downhill and tried to stay in the center of the rut."

Though he leaves Eastern ice and rocks far behind, Klaussen will have to face the same problem of soft snow and deep ruts out in Utah. Having been away from Western skiing for four years, Klaussen hopes he will be able to readapt his form in time for the slalom tomorrow and the giant slalom on Friday.

Gunfight

All the eastern ski powers will need to adjust quickly to keep pace with the West's big guns, particularly former champion University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Wyoming, and a very strong University of Utah squad.

Klaussen, who's lived a half mile from the Squaw Valley ski area most of his life, will at least be familiar with the surroundings. Hi father, former coach of the Squaw Valley ski team, put Eric in the gates at the age of four. Life has been at a 60-degree angle for him ever since.

Eric began spending much of his time in the mountains above Lake Tahoe. He was on a perpetual vacation: "It's great living around a resort; you spend all your time with sports." Klaussen uses his time in the mountains to take photographs, hike, do technical climbing and practice ski mountaineering, a sport that uses cross country skiis with metal edges, and strapped-on climbing skins to hike up and down the mountain.

All Klaussen's life has revolved around the steep slopes.

"I've traveled over one hundred miles by skateboard... We used to drive to the top of Donner Summit and come all the way down on our skateboards... We would do it at night on those four or five days near the full moon." For Klaussen mountain sports were a habitual, day-to-day activity, not relished as a special weekend treat.

Klaussen reveals his western spirit in describing his path to the 1977 Junior Nationals: "I hadn't raced in quite a while and just decided to race with some of my friends." He not only raced--he devastated the competition. As a result, he made the Rocky Mountain Ski Team.

Once Klaussen was caught in a large avalanche while skiing at Squaw Valley. He was wrapped around a tree and covered by a snow dune. It then became one of his pastimes to create small avalanches, catch them, and ski through them. Possibly, Klaussen's attraction for the slopes may bring him back to those same California snow fields to initiate avalanche surfing as a sport. ABC Wide World of Sports 1985?......