Today may be warm but we are getting close to starting up the race program.
Catamount is making some significant changes for this season. The most noticeable will be a new magic carpet from the current learning area to the Triple. I know some parents with young ones will miss the workout of pulling or carrying kids & skis up the hill to the lift. You will just have to spend more time in the gym.
As part of that change, the bottom of Holiday will be reconfigured into an expanded learning area. Holiday traffic will be routed to the right. This will provide entry level skiers a much better opportunity to develop some basic skills.
They are clearing a glade skiing area between Ali’s Ally and Colonel’s Caper. This will be the first glade option at Catamount and will be welcomed. Please remember that tree skiing elsewhere is considered out of bounds and subjects the skier to the mountain’s disciplinary process.
Over the offseason Steve and I made a formal proposal to management about hosting a Tri-state race on Alley Cat. Given the big changes mentioned above, Management has delayed a decision but is positive. The most significant difficulty is moving some of the snow guns but our project may fit in with some other plans.
Catamount is also offering two new programs. An All Mountain Development Team for 13-15 year olds who will ski and ride as a group on weekends. The focus will be on moguls, powder and terrain parks, as well as, general skiing skills.
There will also be a Junior Snow Sports Instructor program for 13-15 year olds. This program is focused on developing the participants into junior instructors within a year or two. These are exciting options for young dedicated skiers who may not be focused on racing.
Team Jackets have been received in Canada, and will be shipped shortly to Catamount.
One of our race families has a rental available. Newly Renovated 3 bed/3 bath on 10+ acres – centrally located to Catamount and many other local ski resorts. Link to listing and additional details -below.
http://www.vrbo.com/714979
Some Notes from the fall USSA Tri-State meeting
**U14 and older will require FIS conforming helmets**. These came out last year and have a sticker on the back. These will be required at the Tri-state races this year. U12 skiers at the races do not require these helmets even though they are at the same race. Interclub races will not require FIS conforming helmets. Make sure the sticker is not covered or removed.
The U18 age group is now replaced with U19.
Event Qualification Changes
Fundamentals Camp U14
In place of future stars, Tristate with have a U14 fundamentals camp at Berkshire East on December 19/20 for about 50 kids. This is part of a USSA change to have larger development camps at the regional level. The Tristate children’s committee is developing the process for invitation to the event based on race results from last year. The split will be 30 spots for 2nd year U14’s and 20 spots for first year U14’s
U12 Festival
There will be a U12 Festival at Wyndham on March 26-27. This will be joint New York, PA, NJ, SARA, and Tristate. Tristate will get 20 spots and is determining the qualifying procedures. This is a new event.
U14 Eastern Championship Qualifying
The qualifying procedure for Eastern’s at U14 Championships will no longer be based only on runs. The scores will now be based on the standings of the 4 individual runs and the two race finishes. The top the values from the set of six will be used. The goal is to reward racers to complete races, while ensuring a DSQ-F in a single run would not exclude a strong racer.
Piche Invitational
There have been several meetings regarding the Piche Invitational over the off-season. Gunstock Race Club has asked that Massachusetts develop a process to send the best racers in the U12/U14 category. It was decided that there will be one qualifying GS event open to racers in the Tri-State, Interclub and Buddy Werner divisions. The Eastern and Western MA, divisions will determine their nominating processes.
This has been a complicated process as historically the Buddy Werner league in Eastern MA had the relationship and spots for the Piche Invitational. As Tristate has gotten more spots over the years they have lost an important goal for racers. Starting with this race, no one division is guaranteed any spots at Piche.
The race will be limited to roughly 240 athletes (girls and boys) and will be held Saturday February 27th at Wachusset. The race will be a 2 run GS.
The expected Piche quota is 36; 20 U12 athletes split evenly between girls and boys
16 U14 athletes split evenly between girls and boys
U12’s that go to Piche will not attend the U12 festival at Wyndham. U14’s who qualify for Eastern’s will not attend Piche.