Category Archives: Updates

Upcoming Registration Deadlines

Hello Catamount Race Families-This is a reminder for 2 important upcoming deadlines. The early bird prices for registration go up on October 31st.

You will be able to either pay in full, or pay 50% now, and the remainder by December 1st for all race programs.


For those who are experiencing financial issues and may need help to continue ski racing, can apply for a scholarship from the Miles Humbaugh Memorial Fund to help offset the cost of program fees. You will find a link on the Catamount Race Team page to download the application. Please note that the deadline to submit confidential applications is by the end of today- October 15.

The link for both can be found here: https://catamountski.com/winter/racing

20/21 Race Season Updates

GREETINGS CATAMOUNT RACERS AND FAMILIES,
As the season continues to draw closer, we wanted to reach out to update you on what’s new at Catamount.
REGISTRATION. For starters, registration for the upcoming season is up and running. You can log on and register at https://catamountski.com/winter/racing Please note that discounted rates are in effect until October 31. You can pay 50% of program fees now and 50% any time before December 1.
MILES HUMBAUGH MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP. Those who are experiencing financial issues and may need help to continue ski racing, can apply for a scholarship from the Miles Humbaugh Memorial Fund to help offset the cost of program fees. You will find a link on the Catamount Race Team page above to download the application. Please note that the deadline to submit confidential applications is October 15. Those who wish to donate to this wonderful cause may do so when they register for the season. Look for the link on the website. Thank you to Erin and Matt Humbaugh and their family for establishing this fund in loving memory of their son Miles, a beloved member of the Catamount family, who passed away this summer. Thank you also to the many people who have donated money and raised funds for the memorial fund. We are deeply grateful for the bottomless generosity of our Catamount Family.
NEW START HOUSE. We continue to plan for the upcoming season. These are ever-changing but exciting times at Catamount. Last week, the mountain broke ground on the Miles Humbaugh Memorial Start House near the top of the Catamount Slope. The start house will be a thing of wonder. It is being built on graded, elevated earth, with a rear entrance on the uphill side, into which the athletes will enter prior to firing down the hill and onto the course. Our racers will be sheltered from the elements while they wait in the start house for their turn to rip it. In addition to the interior, tunnel-like start, it will also have two exterior start ramps, and room inside for storage and an office. It will be unlike anything else in the Tri-State Alpine Ski Racing area. This jewel was made possible by the generous donations to the Miles Humbaugh Memorial Fund, the Schaefer Family, architect and race dad Mark Maljanian, Rich Herrington and Herrington’s Lumber, Race Crew member and builder John Mueller, and the efforts of the incomparable Karin Tanenbaum. Thank you all.
UPGRADES. Other notable improvements for this season are the expansion of the Glade Chairlift, and the clearing of trees to widen the slopes and improve traffic flow. If you stop by the mountain you may catch a glimpse of Colin out on the hill on a bulldozer or excavator, moving earth and removing trees.
FOOD AND DAY LODGING. We are pleased to announce that management and Mountain Ops are busy planning the construction of 50 heated bungalows throughout the base area , each capable of holding 6-8 people comfortably. The bungalows will be available for daily rental for a modest fee, in an amount to be determined as we get closer to ski season. A forward thinking solution to the anticipated COVID restrictions on lodge usage this season. We are also planning on having food trucks on hand in the parking and/or base area to feed the masses.
We will continue to update you as things change and we know more. We cannot wait to get back on the hill with all of you!
Stay safe and be well. See you on the slopes!

Bruce and Colin

Catamount and Berkshire East Closed for the Season

Catamount has officially announced this morning that the decision has been made to close for the season. This decision has been made by John Schaefer, and is in direct relation to recently confirmed cases of COVID19 in our region. In corporation with recommendations from the CDC. Catamount and Berkshire East will be closing to prevent further spread of illness. John notes that as his father lies in the high risk demographic and would advise him against visiting either location. As the GM of both Catamount and Berkshire East John cannot, in good conscious, recommend others visit at the risk of possible exposure. In order to do his part the decision to close for the season has been made final. A reopen date for summer activities will be made is the near future.

Unfortunately that does mean that the tristate training at catamount this weekend has been canceled. There will be no additional training held at Berkshire East. We apologize for the inconvenience for those still planning to attend away events. As this is related to the COVID19 pandemic we recommend that all of our racers and racer families stay tuned to our webpage and those of post season event mountains for any changes regarding these events that may arise.

Thank you,

Catamount Racing

Training Schedule for 2/2, 2/22, and 2/23

Abbreviations for clarification: IC-Interclub
TRI- Tristate
UAC-Upper Alley Cat
LAC-Lower Alley Cat
UCS-Upper Cat Slope
LCS-Lower Cat Slope
SL- Slalom
GS- Giant Slalom
PASL- Parallel Slalom
FRIDAY 2/21/20
5-8:00 pm TRI-U12/14: Coach: Karin, Chris, and Shiau-Sing, Race Slope SL
5 -8:00 pm TRI U16/19: Coach: Bruce, Sonia, CAT Slope SL course


SATURDAY 2/22/20
-EARLY LOAD -7:45 am quad chair: : U12/14 and U16-19 coaches. Also, IC coaches who
will be training w/ TRI for Championships
7:45 am double chair: IC Coaches
–AM SESSION
DEVO:TBD
IC: Race Slope – SL drills, brushes, stubs, tall gates, etc ** NOTE: Gates, etc. must be
pulled and hill slipped completely smooth before Ripper Opens to the public at 11:30**
TRI U12 & IC who are going to Championships: UAC SL ( UAC am only, pm LAC)
TRI U14: Championships BEAST
TRI U16: LAC SL from flats above Pump House down
TRI U19: LAC SL from flats above Pump House down

–PM SESSION
DEVO:TBD
IC: CS (skier’s right), SL (brushes, SL and/or GS gates, skills development)
TRI U12 : LAC SL Sharing hill with U16/U19’s ( separate lanes) from ½ down pitch
TRI U14 Championships BEAST
TRI U16: LAC SL from flats above Pump House down
TRI U19: LAC SL from flats above Pump House down
** LAC to be cleared and slipped completely smooth by 4:00 **


SUNDAY 2/23 (EARLY LOAD, Quad Chair 7:45 am)
ALL TRISTATE U12 AND U16 COACHES WILL BE REQUIRED TO ASSIST IN
BNET SKIRTING OR TAKE DOWN FOLLOWING TRAINING
–AM SESSION
IC: Away – Away Otis
IC U8 UCS – drills, brushes, stubbies, etc.
TRI U12: LAC GS sharing course with U16’s,
TRI U16: LAC GS Sharing course with U12’s
TRI U19: Away – BSQ SL
–PM SESSION
IC: – Away Otis
IC U8 UCS – drills, brushes, stubbies
TRI U12 : LAC GS with U16’s
TRI U16: LAC GS with U12’s
TRI U19: Away BSQ SL

GREETINGS CATAMOUNT RACERS AND PARENTS,

We are coming off a fantastic weekend of racing which saw many of our Catamount athletes climbing podiums at numerous races throughout our region. Through the hard work of many, the Catamount Interclub Race came off in spectacular fashion with many of the kids taking home hardware and others achieving personal bests. The race was run under nearly perfect conditions. The track was mint and held up beautifully for the two runs taken by 310 + racers. We have seen tremendous improvement from all of the racers at all levels. It is important to recognize not only the accomplishments of those who were fortunate enough to podium at the races, but also how much each and every racer has improved so far. And there is much improvement, plenty of smiles and tons of laughter among friends yet to come as the skills of the racers continue to progress!!

Now, for weekend training plans – We have carefully reviewed the requests from all the Catamount coaches, and the hill space requests from outside groups, as well as the current and forecasted snow conditions. Mother Nature has been and continues to be unusually unkind to us this year and presented a huge challenge to creating a workable plan for all of us. Colin has been all the over mountain with his drill trying to find snow of a suitable depth on trails that lend themselves to training, as well as discussing the challenges with Mountain Ops. One of the biggest challenges (in addition to the depth of natural snow and lack of cold weather for making it) is dealing with the on-coming traffic from the public using Ripper which has imposed limitations on using both Catamount and race Slope at the same time. After considering all of the factors, here is what we have come up with:

Friday:​ CATAMOUNT IS CLOSED. Tri-State We had planned to train today at 5:00, but unfortunately, we have been rained out, the mountain is closed ,and consequently there will be no training.

Saturday: ​Interclub will train GS and drills on Race Slope in the am until approximately 12:30, when we will have to pull and yield the hill to a large group.

Tri-State U12-14’s will train GS on Lower Alley Cat in both the am and pm. We will have  to stage and set BNET on LAC Saturday morning, which will push training back a bit. We encourage parents to come out to help as soon as the lifts open at 8:30. The more parents we have to help set BNET, the earlier we can begin training. BNET will be left up for U16’s to train on Sunday.

Tri-State U16-19’s will train SL on Lower  CatamountSlope on skier’s left from the Onstage cutoff down  in the am and pm.

Sunday:​Mountain Vertical Dew Challenge all day

Interclub will be racing at Blandford.

​​Tri-State U12-14’s will be racing GS at BEAST

Tri-State U16’s will be training GS  on Lower Alley Cat, and may be sharing a course with Ridgefield High School and a handful  of Yorktown racers. The kids and coaches will have to pull down and store BNetafter training so that mountain ops can make snow later in the week later in the week.  We ask that U16 parents share in this effort. Please look for Sonia to ask her for the time when the nets will be pulled.

Tri-State U19’s will be racing at Sundown.

We appreciate your understanding of the issues that we are facing and the challenges that confront us all as we devised these training plans. Despite the uncooperative weather, we are in the midst of  a fantastic race season. We love being out on the hill with all of you and love to see the steady improvement and fun that you are all having.  

Let’s all THINK SNOW (REALLY HARD) 

See you all Saturday. 

Thanks.

Bruce & Colin

​​

MLK Weekend Plan (SAT1/18, SUN1/19, and MON1/20)

Dear Parents and Coaches,

After a couple of years hiatus the Catamount Team Social at the pub is back by popular demand!!

Saturday, 1/18, 8:30a-2p Tristate training, 9a-2p Devo and Interclub training. 2p-3p Tristate and Interclub Coaches clinic.

3:00-5:00pm – Team Social for Parents/Coaches (and kids who don’t want to ski) Following training and coaches clinic join our race coaches and parents at the Catamount pub for some grub/drinks, conversation and live music!Ian Campbell will be playing covers from your favorite songs and there will be night skiing for the kids. Please join us if you can! If you have any questions about the “Social” please email Coach Sonia (statlock@unixrealm.com).

Sunday 1/19, Open Mountain Training, Tristate racers (830a-3p), Interclub Raers (9a-230p) Tristate U14 away at eagle brook.

Monday 1/20, Gate training for Tristate racers (830a-3p), Interclub Raers (9a-230p)

Bruce and Colin

Tri-State weekday training options

John Borwick (Head Coach for Berkshire School) is planning weekday training at Catamount and wanted to know if any of our Tri-State racers were interested.

The current plan is for training on Alley Cat on Monday and Tuesday March 11th and 12th (3/11-12). Training would go from 9am to 11:30am and would require athletes to help set and breakdown. Plans are also in the works for March 18th, 19th (and/or 20th), again morning sessions.

The postseason is a great time to work on polishing those skills acquired throughout the season. Everything is fresh in your mind, there is less pressure and everyone is in great skiing great shape.

Please email Pat and I so we can relay the information to John and Steve ASAP. They will finalize plans.

— Charles.

Catamount Race Team Jackets (Last Call!)

Last call for Catamount Ski team jacket orders! SYNC order will be finalized Monday morning, get yours today!

Steps on how to use the store:

  1. Navigate to: http://teams.syncperformance.com/teamlogin/
  2. Use this password in the “Organization Members” field on the right: catamountski
  3. Place your order and it will be shipped to your home!

If you are wondering about sizing – you can find the size chart here: https://www.syncperformance.com/pages/size-chart

If you need more info about specifics for each item, you can check out their main website for the items you are interested in: https://www.syncperformance.com/

Sorry for the inconvenience and thank you!

NOTE: If you have any questions about your order please contact Tara Mann: mann.tara@gmail.com

Catamount Race Team Jackets (Reminder)

Last reminder , Get your Jacket Orders in ! Thursday, November 1st. Final deadline

Steps on how to use the store:

  1. Navigate to: http://teams.syncperformance.com/teamlogin/
  2. Use this password in the “Organization Members” field on the right: catamountski
  3. Place your order and it will be shipped to your home!

If you are wondering about sizing – you can find the size chart here: https://www.syncperformance.com/pages/size-chart

If you need more info about specifics for each item, you can check out their main website for the items you are interested in: https://www.syncperformance.com/

Sorry for the inconvenience and thank you!

NOTE: If you have any questions about your order please contact Tara Mann: mann.tara@gmail.com

Catamount Race Team Jackets (Reminder)

There were technical issues with the “SYNC Performance store” and some parents had problems finalizing their orders.

These issues have now been resolved and to give everyone ample time to order, the deadline has been extended to Thursday, November 1st.

Steps on how to use the store:

  1. Navigate to: http://teams.syncperformance.com/teamlogin/
  2. Use this password in the “Organization Members” field on the right: catamountski
  3. Place your order and it will be shipped to your home!

If you are wondering about sizing – you can find the size chart here: https://www.syncperformance.com/pages/size-chart

If you need more info about specifics for each item, you can check out their main website for the items you are interested in: https://www.syncperformance.com/

Sorry for the inconvenience and thank you!

NOTE: If you have any questions about your order please contact Tara Mann: mann.tara@gmail.com