The U.S. Olympic women's bobsled and skeleton racers spent this week going through their final preparations in advance of arrivals this weekend at the Milan Cortina Games. They were running, lifting weights, strategizing, whatever they could to get ready.
They also worked on their hair.
Well, technically, they didn't do anything to their hair. They had someone fly from California to Austria to do the job. Jessica Sinclair doesn't know much about sliding and had never seen Europe before this week, but when five-time Olympic bobsled medalist Elana Meyers Taylor — a past client — called and asked if she wanted a most unusual booking, she packed up her gear and got on a plane.
“It's like everybody hasn’t had time to take care of themselves and everybody seems like they’ve not being able to do the things that make them feel kind of normal for a hot second," Sinclair said. "And so, pretty much everybody needed something that made them just feel pretty and taken care of.”
All six of the U.S. women who are set to compete in bobsled at the Olympics — Meyers Taylor, Kaillie Humphries Armbruster, Kaysha Love, Azaria Hill, Jasmine Jones and Jadin O'Brien — got some sort of treatment from Sinclair, most of them posting the proof and high praise on Instagram as well. The U.S. women's skeleton Olympians, Kelly Curtis and Mystique Ro, also got in Sinclair's chair, Meyers Taylor said.
A few others in the U.S. camp saw Sinclair as well. Haircuts, trims, conditioning, color, whatever they needed, Sinclair provided.
Look good, feel good, race good. At least, that's the plan.
“I feel like a major part of being a woman isn’t just necessarily like trying to look good for other people," Meyers Taylor said. “You want to be able to look in the mirror and say, ‘Hey, I feel good, I look good,’ all that kind of stuff. So, just having the opportunity to get our hair done and feel pretty again when you felt like all winter long that you’re just trying to keep it together ... it can make a big difference.”
Virtually everyone in the U.S. bobsled and skeleton camp has been on the road in Europe since November. And yes, when racing, everyone wears helmets, so it's not like Sinclair's work is going to often be on display.
But after a few months of grinding and getting ready for the Olympics, obviously the biggest stage in the sport, any edge can help. And taking a little mental break for some self-care, Meyers Taylor said, just felt right before going through Olympic processing over the coming days.
“To have a second to just like take a deep breath and relax, and have our hair and our scalp massaged, it’s really nice,” Meyers Taylor said. “They'll go to processing and thanks to Jessica, they'll look cute in their pictures, which I love.”
Meyers Taylor called the Sacramento area home a few years ago, which is where she met Sinclair. Meyers Taylor now lives in Texas, but Sinclair came to mind when the idea got hatched to bring someone in to help the Olympic team get their hair right before heading to Cortina d'Ampezzo, where the sliding events will be held.
“She can do Black people’s hair, white women’s hair, Jessica is a jack of all trades. She could do everything," Meyers Taylor said. "So, that’s why I was like, ‘Well, if there’s one person we could bring out, it would be Jessica, because she could do it all.’”
For her part, Sinclair expects to be back at her salon bright and early Friday morning. She got to see her first sliding track on this quick trip to Austria, and it's a safe bet she'll be cheering for her new clients when the racing happens next month.
“It's kind of one of those things where you know you’re doing something important," Sinclair said. “You don’t really like think about it too much. You just kind of just say, ‘I should do this.’ I did, and then I got here and I was like, ‘Yes, I should definitely do this.’”
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
FILE - Fifth placed Elana Meyers Taylor and Azaria Hill of USA react after their second run of the two-woman Bobsleigh World Cup race in Sigulda, Latvia, Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Oksana Dzadan, File)
DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — Scotty’s Castle, a 1920s vacation home for a millionaire couple and the domain of a famous con man, was a top attraction in Death Valley National Park before it closed from a flash flood. After 10 years of repairs, the landmark is offering limited tours.
The castle nestled into a desert hillside tells the perfect Wild West story of a cunning cowboy, a search for gold, a shootout with bandits and friendship. It is a great tale — even if some of it was made up.
“The story of how it came to be in this extremely unlikely place is what makes it so special,” said Abby Wines, acting deputy superintendent of Death Valley National Park.
The National Park Service opened up the grounds for limited flood-recovery tours in the coming months, and its full reopening is eyed for a few years from now.
Around 1.4 million people visit the park located in California and Nevada every year. It is well known as the hottest place in North America and as the driest and lowest place in the continent at 282 feet below sea level.
In its heyday, the castle was “the stage for a massive practical joke on all of America,” Wines said.
Walter Scott, a con man nicknamed “Death Valley Scotty” and a former rider for the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show, took up gold prospecting, convincing people to invest in a fictional gold mine in Death Valley, where he thought none of his investors would dare to visit.
He struck the mother lode when he met Albert Johnson, who made his money in mines and health insurance. He invested in the mine but traveled to Death Valley to see where his money was going. Scott tried to scare the man off by staging a gunfight with bandits.
Johnson realized it was a scam, but he didn’t mind. He found the dry desert air good for his health, and he enjoyed the adventure, Wines said. He brought his wife, Bessie Johnson, and they became friends with Scott.
Over nine years, they built a vacation home they called Death Valley Ranch. But Scott lived on the grounds until he died, and everyone referred to it as Scotty's Castle. He is buried on top of a hill overlooking the property.
Inspired by the sandstone buildings and red tile roofs of Stanford University, where Bessie Johnson went to school, the castle is decorated with stucco walls, painted tiles and elaborate woodwork. A music room with a player pipe organ, arched ceilings and a stained-glass window served as a space for entertaining guests. Outside, a weather vane of Scott is perched on the roof, and a clock tower overlooks the valley. An incomplete pool shows the point in history when Johnson’s business failed and he couldn’t afford to restart construction.
Visitors stopped by the castle to see Scott and his famed gold mine when Death Valley became a national monument in 1933. Continuing his charade, he would tell visitors he built “his” castle on top of the mine. Servants went into tunnels beneath the castle and banged on pots and pans, creating the illusion of a working mine, Wines said. The Johnsons found the story entertaining.
When it was open, Scotty’s Castle drew 100,000 visitors every year. Guides dressed in period costumes gave tours of the castle, still with its original furnishings.
Interest in the castle remains high; the $35 flood recovery tours scheduled through March are already sold out. The proceeds will go toward completing the restoration, which will cost around $90 million.
Repairs, which involved a lot of utility work, have taken longer than expected because of multiple setbacks, including a fire in 2021 and historic rainfall in recent years.
“I think what most people connect to when they come out here is the story of the friendship between the rich couple, Albert and Bessie Johnson, and Death Valley Scotty, the man who started the relationship by convincing them to give him money for a gold mine that never existed,” Wines said.
Sunlight streams into a building at Scotty's Castle, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Death Valley National Park, Calif. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A picture of Albert Johnson is on display in a window at Scotty's Castle, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Death Valley National Park, Calif. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Clouds drift over Scotty's Castle, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Death Valley National Park, Calif. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Chandeliers and sunlight illuminate a room at Scotty's Castle, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Death Valley National Park, Calif. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Scotty's Castle is seen Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Death Valley National Park, Calif. (AP Photo/John Locher)
