Hey U16’s!

Congratulations on your 1st SL race at Mohawk!!! We had a top 10 finisher in both Girl’s and Boy’s races! Clare Howard finished 9th with a combined time of 1:57:61 and Alex Gagnon finished 9th with a combined time of 1:48:51. Congratulations to all of our racers. There was so much confidence in their runs and they handled the Royal Flush at the end of the 2nd run like pros!!!

Saturday – SL Training & Paneled SL Training – Lower Alley Cat

Be prepared to train SL and Paneled SL on Lower Alley Cat on Saturday. Please meet Coach
Charles at the Quad at 8:25am sharp! You will warm up until the courses are ready. Training on Lower Alley Cat will run from from about 9am – 12noon. Single pole SL on the upper pitch of Lower Alley Cat. Bring your forearm guards for the paneled SL at the bottom of Lower Alley Cat.

Sunday – Head to Head Paneled SL on Race Slope!

Be prepared to train Dual Paneled SL on Race Slope on Sunday. Please meet your coach (TBA) at the Quad at 8:25am sharp! You will warm up until the courses are ready. Training on Race Slope will run in the AM ONLY and all parents, racers and coaches have been requested to meet with Jim Schaefer and Colin Bargar in the Taconic Lodge after the morning session for a general meeting regarding the direction of racing at Catamount.

Monday – U16/U19 Paneled SL Race @ Blandford

Just a reminder that registration for this race ends at 11pm Friday night!!! Make sure to go to adminskiracing.com to register for the race. (the event is listed as “Ski Blandford U19 Parallel Slalom.”

Registration starts at 7:30am usually in the lodge to the left (as you face the mountain). Let’s meet in the main lodge to the right where the cafeteria is located. I’ve emailed Bill Sherpa from Blandford for more information about race day.

If you’d like to stay overnight before the race, there’s a Holiday Inn Express in Westfield that has hot breakfast and a pool!

See you at Catamount this weekend and at the race!

Coach Pat

“Ski fast…Take chances…”

Hey U16’s!

Congratulations on your 1st GS race at BEAST!!! We had 2 top 10 finishers in both Girl’s and Boy’s races! Clare Howard finished 7th with a combined time of 1:51:72 and Frannie Mann finished 9th with a combined time of 1:53:39. Yanni Schattman finished 4th with a combined time of 1:48:90 and Dax Roy finished 5th with a combined time of 1:50:08. Congratulations to all of our racers. Your hard work really showed and you’ve represented Catamount well!!!

Saturday – Mohawk SL

Just a reminder that registration for this race ends at 11pm tomorrow night!!! Make sure to go to adminskiracing.com to register for the race. They will only accept the first 100 males and females so please register right away. Same day registration is an extra $20 if it’s still open.

Also visit the website for more information about the race here.

Registration runs from 7-8:30am in the Old Ski Shop Lounge (located in the upper level of the main lodge). Inspection of the morning course begins at 8am with a 9am start. The 2nd run inspection will begin around 12 noon and the 2nd run will start around 1pm.

Sunday – SL training on Lower Alley Cat

Be prepared to train SL on Lower Alley Cat on Sunday. Please meet Coach Adam at the Quad at 8:25am sharp! You will warm up until the course is ready. Training on Lower Alley Cat will run from from about 9am – 12noon.

Parent volunteers for B-netting – We will need parent volunteers to help with fencing again. Please board the lift at 8:30am and report to the Pump House @ the top of Lower Alley Cat to help coaches and staff with setting up rolls of fencing. Please defer all decisions on fencing locations to Coach Charles and the Staff. Then we will need you again at 12:00pm to help break down the course and the fencing.

Thanks again for your amazing support!

See you at the race and at Catamount this weekend!

Coach Pat

“Ski fast…Take chances…”

Hey Tristate Racers!

Recently you should have received an invitation to join Sprongo.com. According to Sprongo, it’s “a video analysis platform designed for sports, allowing athletes and coaches to analyze and share videos with ease.” We’ve started it up again this season, paid for by the Parent Association (Thanks Peter Chudy!) and will be active until the end of March. You can watch your videos, create side by sides, overlay with comments and diagrams, and edit them. Currently I am uploading videos and am asking racers and parents to view them finding and tagging themselves so that your videos are more easily referenced. Our team name is Snow Cats and divided up by age group. I’ve already made your coaches administrators so if you have any questions about membership (especially if you haven’t received an email invitation yet). Otherwise, the website is pretty intuitive and easy to navigate.

If any parent would like to help by taking video, uploading or tagging racers, I’d be happy to make them an administrator! Please let me know if you’re interested.

Just another tool to improve our great program even more!

Cheers,

Coach Pat

“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much” – Helen Keller

A quick note to parents: we were notified by Berkshire East that the start time may be delayed to 10am to allow the mountain more time to prepare the surface. Registration opens up by 7:30a and gets crowded quickly. Athletes can load the lift by 8:15a, so plan accordingly.

We are expecting a machine groomed trail with snow/freezing rain possible and temperatures around 32F. Please tune appropriately. Recommendation from Toko below:

Coach Charles.

“insert fancy little coaching tag line here…”

Hey U16’s!

Big thank you to our race crew, coaches and parent volunteers, especially Mike Leifer!!! With setting up B-netting, breaking down the course and taking down the B-netting during Holiday Race Camp. It really gives our racers extra time to train on Lower Alley Cat!

Saturday, 1/5 – Berkshire East GS
Race Registration
Registration is online at Adminskiracing. Online registration ends tonight at 11pm, Wednesday, January 2nd!!! If you miss it, you can register on race day with a $20 late fee.

Race Day
Registration at the Beast starts at 7am on the 2nd floor of the lodge. Course inspection begins around 8am and the race begins at the end of inspection around 9am. Make sure to get there early so your racer can get a proper inspection of the course. They are responsible for making their way to the start BEFORE their bib # is called. If a racer misses their start, they will automatically be placed at the end of the run. The order of this race is as follows: Seeding will be based upon current USSA points by discipline. Random Seed Draw for the 15 athletes with the lowest points. 990s will be randomly seeded after racers with points. Second run start order will be flip 30 format based upon first run finish time. DSQ/DNF will be random draw after seeded racers. At the end of the 1st run, the course is reset and then opened for inspection. The 2nd run usually begins about an hour after the last racer finishes from the 1st run.

Sunday, 1/6 – SL training – Lower Alley Cat

If the schedule stays the same, we will train SL with the U19’s on Sunday morning in preparation for the Mohawk SL on Saturday, January 12th and will likely need a few volunteers to help with B-netting on Lower Alley Cat at 9am. Please come to the Pump House at 9am and the race crew/coaches will direct you to where we need a hand. We will also need volunteers to help break down the course at 12noon. Thanks in advance for your help!

***If there are any changes to the race or training, I will notify you by Remind and Catamountraceteam.com Bulletin***

Thanks again for your amazing support!

Coach Pat

“Ski fast…Take chances…”

Hey racers & parents!

Just a quick update about tomorrow’s training. Steve informed me at the end of the day that the weather will delay our GS training (no early load for coaches). Please check in with Lindsy around 8:30am. Racers should meet Coach Troy at the Quad at 9am to warm up.

If you are concerned about the weather, call the mountain after 7:15am for any pertinent information.

Volunteer parents should come to the pump house at 9am to help set up B-netting. Mike Leifer will gather volunteers in the Taconic Lodge.

Thanks in advance for your help and cooperation!

Coach Pat

“Many hands, light load”

Hey U16 & U19 parents and racers!

Just a reminder that Holiday Race Camp begins tomorrow. U16’s and U19’s will be training together. Please bring your SL gear for Wednesday and Thursday training. Tomorrow we will focus on clearing technique and turn shape/timing in the AM and flushes/hairpins in the PM.

Remind app

For those of you who want to be included in the Remind app text notifications, please click on the following link and follow the given directions:

https://www.remind.com/join/b97kd

Videographer needed!

We could really use a volunteer parent to help video the kids and then upload them to our Sprongo account. I have a camcorder and cables/SD card that we can use. We can use the video help for both practices and races! Please let me know if you’re interested.

Looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow. Please meet Coach Adam at the Quad tomorrow at 8:25am sharp! Grab your buddies and don’t wait to start your warmup.

Cheers,

Coach Pat

“Ski fast…Take chances”

Hey racers and parents!

It was great to see everyone this past weekend where we worked on fundamentals such as balance and stance; free skiing with Alex and Adam and stating our goals this season out loud in our indoor session. Steve Adam’s latest email warns of the rain for Friday and its possible effects on this weekends conditions. There will be a delayed start to the mountain opening however no timeline has been posted. Weather willing, we will continue to work on fundamentals this coming Saturday with the focus on upper body/lower body separation & angulation in the AM and starts/finishes in the PM. Please come prepared to train in your SL skis with no armor or chin guard. On Sunday, we will work on turn shape and pole plants/timing. Please come prepared to train in your SL skis WITH chin/pole/shin guards. There will be no official training on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

Holiday Race Camp

Race camp this year begins on Tuesday, December 26th and ends on Saturday, December 30th. Be prepared to ski SL on Tuesday and Wednesday with pole guards, shin and chin guards. Our first race will be on Saturday, January 6th, GS @ Berkshire East (Beast). So we will begin GS specific gate training for it Thursday, Friday and Saturday. There will be no official training on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day.

U19 Seibert Cup GS on 12/30; Shaefer Cup SL on 12/31

Some of you may be thinking of racing in the U19 races at BEAST at the end of Holiday Race Camp. Of course the decision to race is up to you and your parents but here are some of my thoughts. We plan on working on SL in gates 12/23, 12/26 & 12/27. Then GS in gates on 12/28, 12/29 & 12/30. If you feel that these days are good enough prep for the 2 races and if you have even more days under your belt from Copper Mtn’s preseason camp or other camps, and you want to preview the mountain before Jan 5th’s GS race, then you should sign up for the race. Coach Charles will likely be there for that race. However, if you feel that you need the extra day of training on Lower Alley Cat or that you don’t really want to compete with the U19’s and FIS racers at that race, then stay at Catamount in the full GS course that we’ll set that day. If you have any questions, feel free to ask us during the week. The last day of registration is on Thursday, December 27 @ 11pm.

Tuning & Equipment

Just a few notes for the start to the season. First, make sure that your equipment is properly tuned and waxed. SL skis should be tuned to a 0.5 (or 1) degree base bevel and 3 degree side bevel. GS skis should be tuned to a 1 degree base bevel and 3 degree side bevel. This should first be done by a reputable ski shop. In lower Westchester, I recommend Hickory & Tweed and Pedigree Ski shops. Up at the mountain we currently recommend Mike Steven’s Black Diamond Tuning shop and are looking to others as well. Boots should not only fit correctly but should have the appropriate flex. Please ask your coaches if you have any questions regarding equipment.

See you this weekend!

Coach Pat

“Ski fast…Take chances”

Hey U16 Parents and Racers!

Welcome to the 18-19 season! Your coaches are very excited to meet and work with you to improve your skills and get faster!  Your coaches this year are:  myself, Charles Gagnon, Adam Nielsen, Alex Jacobsen and on occasion, Carl Forcheski.

We will work on fundamentals this coming Saturday with the focus on Balance & Stance while getting our ski legs back.  On Sunday we will focus on Edging/Pressure in addition to Balance/Stance.  We will also train the following weekend on December 22 & 23.  This weekend please come prepared to train in your SL skis with no armor or chin guard.

Holiday Race Camp

Race camp this year begins on Wednesday, December 26th and ends on Sunday, December 30th.  Be prepared to ski SL on Wednesday and Thursday with pole guards, shin and chin guards.  Our first race will be on Saturday, January 5th, GS @ Berkshire East (Beast).  So we will begin GS specific gate training for it Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  There will be no official training on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day.

Tuning & Equipment

Just a few notes for the start to the season.  First, make sure that your equipment is properly tuned and waxed.  SL skis should be tuned to a 0.5 (or 1) degree base bevel and 3 degree side bevel.  GS skis should be tuned to a 1 degree base bevel and 3 degree side bevel. This should first be done by a reputable ski shop.  In lower Westchester, I recommend Hickory & Tweed and Pedigree Ski shops.  Up at the mountain we currently recommend Mike Steven’s Black Diamond Tuning Shop and are looking to others as well.  Boots should not only fit correctly but should have the appropriate flex.  Please ask your coaches if you have any questions regarding equipment.

Looking forward to a great season with your continued support!

Coach Pat

“Ski fast…Take chances”