[FWM News] Mammoth GS Races

[Far West Masters news]

We had a good turnout for our GS races last weekend at Mammoth.  We don't ordinarily schedule two 
events in a row at the same area, but we thought it was worth trying this season since Mammoth is 
one of the few areas that can reliably offer sufficient terrain for a GS event early in the season.

Our race schedule is on holiday break now for the Christmas-New Year's holiday period - may 
everyone have a good holiday with family and friends, and hopefully some skiing as well!

Our next event is the Viva Italia Cup at Heavenly on Fri-Sat-Sun Jan. 5-7.  On Friday we will be 
racing SL on the World Cup race hill at the California base area.  On Saturday and Sunday our GS 
races will be at a new race venue on the Emily's-Stagecoach run.  Racer checkin will be at the 
Stagecoach base lodge, up at the top of Kingsbury grade (NV SR 207) on the Nevada side of Heavenly, 
with lift access from Stagecoach Express.  Should be a fun weekend, Heavenly is a welcoming host 
and looks forward to our masters event every year!


Mammoth GS Races
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Our second event of the 2018 season returned to Mammoth Mountain for a pair of GS races on the 
weekend of Dec. 16-17. After several weeks of excellent weather and skiing conditions, the race 
venue on Andrea's Double Gold (ADG)) was firm and consistent - an outstanding racing surface for 
the entire field. A small front moving through at the start of the weekend brought Saturday weather 
with moderate winds, although less than expected, and a chilling fog, quite unexpected! 

The low visibility on Saturday was a major challenge to all competitors, with the fog thicker on 
the second run and some competitors struggling with freezing moisture on their goggles. Tough 
conditions! And a disappointing end of the day for first-run leader Brian Welch, who went down on 
the second run and headed home with a knee injury. We all send good wishes to Brian and hope for a 
good recovery.

Sunday flipped the switch to gorgeous, with bright sun and warming temperatures that made for 
spectacular racing conditions. Jodi Melton made her 2018 season debut with a pair of smoking runs 
to dominate the women's field. On the men's side, Chris Adams and Doug Fulton clearly enjoyed the 
conditions, nudging aside Saturday winner Jeff Anderson to join leader Mike Braun on the podium.

Many thanks to the Mammoth Race Department for hosting another outstanding event for us, and 
congratulations to everyone who competed!! Complete results are posted on the Race Results page 
along with the updated Season Standings rankings for 2018. 

http://farwestmasters.org/raceinfo/2018/results
http://farwestmasters.org/raceinfo/2018/standings