[FWM News] Mammoth season opener this weekend

Far West Masters news news at lists.farwestmasters.org
Tue Nov 30 07:09:49 PST 2010


The 2010-2011 race season opens this weekend at Mammoth.  Pavel Bosin 
has sent info about a Carving Cup race on Dec. 12 at Northstar, an open 
weekend between our Mammoth and Squaw December races.

Mammoth Season Opener
---------------------

After a Thanksgiving holiday weekend blessed with abundant early-season 
snow and great weather, all areas in the Sierras are open with good 
snow and plenty of skiing. Definitely something to be thankful for!

Our opening race weekend of the 2011 season is coming up with weekend 
with 3 GS races at Mammoth Mountain. We'll be holding 1-1/2 races each 
day - the first run of GS #2 will be held on Saturday following the 
completion of GS #1, with the second run going off on Sunday morning 
and followed by both runs of GS #3. (Note adjustment to original plan 
of 2 races on Saturday - after discussions with the organizers we 
decided to split the second race across 2 days, as 4 race runs on a 
single day for the first event of the year is lot to tackle for our 
warmup event).
Saturday afternoon's post-race party will be held from 4-6pm at 
Giovanni's (in the Von's plaza in town). There'll be plenty of pizza 
for all and chance to relax with old and new friends, so don't miss 
this!

You can enter our races online this season at http://skiracereg.com. 
This is fast and easy - there's no charge to open your account and no 
additional fees for race entries - just the standard entry fee. Race 
entry charges are processed when the event is held, so you're free to 
enter or cancel with no penalty up through the close of race 
registration.

There's been some confusion about opening your account on 
SkiRaceReg.com for race entries - the site signup says you're 
"renewing" if it recognizes you as an active Far West Masters 
competitor, but this is NOT related to our FWM membership dues - 
membership is sent to membership VP Marcie Pettigrew (see the How To 
Join page for info and application form). SkiRaceReg.com does NOT know 
anything about our FWM membership, it just provides race entry 
services. If you have any difficulty getting your account open or have 
questions, send a note to raceadmin at farwestmasters.org and we'll do our 
best to get you set up.

Carving Cup at Northstar
------------------------

For those of you in the Tahoe and Bay areas, Pavel Bosin has provided 
information about a Carving Cup race that Sierra League is holding on 
Sunday, Dec. 12 at Northstar. This is a "off weekend" on the Far West 
Masters race schedule, so this is a chance to check out a different 
kind of racing.

Here are the links to some videos, which will give you an idea of this 
race format.
	∙	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zj7fkilZLohttp://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg298/TheEpicSnoCone/Snowboarding/?action=view&current=P1261791.mp4

What makes Carving Cup different from other Alpine disciplines? A lot!

First, the course: It is set with buoys instead of gates. Think of 
water slalom. But in every turn there may be from one to three buoys. 
In every turn you make a choice which bouy to ski around. Blue is 
usually is an inside one. Red is outside, which makes you ski wider. 
Yellow is in between.

Second, the scoring.: It is not just the time of your run, but also 
points. When you clear a Blue buoy, you get 3 points. A Yellow buoy 
nets you 4 points and a red 5 points. All the points in each turn are 
added to your total points value. The winner has the smallest ratio of 
time divided by total points. If you ski wider, it takes longer, but 
gives more points. Figure it out! In the two runs race the best run 
counts.

Third, the equipment.: You don't need speed suits, protective gear, and 
poles. Actually all of these are not allowed on the course, j ust ski 
in your comfortable ski clothes.

The start order will be the following: Legends women, Jr women, Vet 
women, Open women, Legends men, Jr men, Vet men, Open men. There will 
be no class levels nor snow board vs skier class differences. The start 
order within each class will be based on registration order. Register 
earlier - get earlier start.

Registration in the Northstar Village from 7:30 till 8:30 am. The cost 
will be $15 per racer for 3 runs: practice run and two race runs. 
Sierra League awards will be given at the lodge after the race Training 
course will be set during Masters Clinic on Saturday Dec. 11.



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