Published: February 09, 2008 11:33 pm      

Steelers help kick off Seven Springs Winterfest

CHAMPION — Norma Doran woke Saturday morning in her home near Pittsburgh without a game plan.

She had heard about current and former Steelers competing in “celebrity Olympics” at Seven Springs Mountain Resort a few hours away and decided it would be worth the trip.

“We needed a winter break,” she said with a laugh as she and a friend watched Steelers defensive lineman Chris Hoke act as a human bowling ball cruising down a beginners’ slope on an inner tube.

Organizers grabbed an extra large beanbag and spectators scooted back as former Steelers center Jeff Hartings pushed Hoke toward a group of waist-high “pins” with Seven Springs logos. Hoke hit eight.

Hartings, Hoke and other Steelers celebrities Robin Cole, Louis Lipps and Jerame Tuman entertained a crowd while throngs of skiers took to the slopes Saturday.

The “celebrity Olympics” helped kick off the 21st annual Winterfest at a packed Seven Springs Saturday afternoon.

Doran had no intention to try her luck on the slopes – she left her skis at home – but she and friend Mary Lou Blair of Upper St. Clair in Allegheny County enjoyed the show.

“This is funny,” Doran said.

Blair held out her pink digital camera and said she wanted to try for an autograph later. It was the closest she had been to the football players.

“It’s really something to see, all of them,” she said.

“I am a watcher. I don’t ski.”

The resort reached out to nonskiers and snow junkies alike with other Winterfest activities that began Saturday and are to continue through Feb. 17.

A craft-show started Saturday and continues today, picking up again next weekend.

A schedule is available at 7springs.com.

Tubing games and activities for skiers and boarders also are planned throughout the week, with a new choreographed synchronized skiing show timed to upbeat music and colorful light displays to be held Friday at 6 p.m.

Jeff Smith and his wife, Betty Rae, of Fayette City, Fayette County, were happy just to watch the Steelers try their hand at human bowling and blindfolded tubing.

“This is the extent of our activity,” Jeff Smith joked.

His wife’s chuckles said the games were plenty of entertainment.

“It’s a lot of fun,” she said.