MEDIA > ARTICLES > SUNDANCE CELEBRITIES HIT SLOPES

Sundance Celebrities Hit Slopes in Ski Competition
January 21, 2008. By Stephen Speckman

A beaming Elle Fanning looked cute as can be Sunday in her pink snow suit, pink hat and blue wire-rimmed glasses, all decked out for ski lessons with 1998 gold medalist Picabo Street.

"I love Picabo," the 9-year-old Fanning declared. Her Sundance film "Phoebe In Wonderland" was also making its festival debut Sunday.

The setting during the morning for Fanning and other celebrities was the 2008 Picabo's Ski Challenge. Last year the annual event raised about $150,000 to benefit children's advocacy centers around the country.

Every year during the first weekend of Sundance, when the most stars are in town, the goal is also to attract celebrities to help raise awareness about the problem of child abuse. Street is the national spokesperson for the National Children's Alliance.

The alliance's Joan Hellstrom said that one in four children will be inappropriately touched by the time they are 18, and usually by someone the victim knows. "It really is an epidemic," she said.

Hellstrom heaped praise on the celebrity participants and the corporate sponsors, who donated thousands to support 18 teams in this year's Ski Challenge. MTV's Stephen Colletti chose a snowboard as his weapon for the friendly competition. Picabo's time to beat: just over 21 seconds.

"It's amazing! This town and this mountain are awesome," Colletti said. "As long as I don't kill myself, I'll be back next year."

Fanning's older sister, Dakota Fanning, was expected to show, but her mother said she is currently filming the movie adaptation of the novel, "The Secret Life of Bees." Elle was more than happy to help out Picabo.

"I think it's a really, really great thing to do," she said.

After Street's run to get things started, she shouted out a quick reminder about the cause she shares with the NCA. "Spread the word, people," Street said. "Talk about it."

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