[FWM News] January Wrapup; Northstar training info

[Far West Masters news]

So... January 2017 has been an INTERESTING month in the Sierras! The storm train fired up early in 
the first week of the new year and threw wet weather systems at the west coast with few breaks for 
the next three weeks. Our Heavenly race weekend on Jan. 6-8 was cancelled as a massive storm system 
pounded the coast and mountains with copious precipitation in all forms over the weekend and into 
the following week. There was a short break over the weekend of Jan. 14-15, with epic bluebird 
powder days, but the following week yet another storm series rolled through and forced the 
cancellation of the Mammoth DH/SG speed races on Jan. 19-22. More powder days, and massive 
snow-removal challenges for ski areas and mountain residents as many broke January snowfall 
records. 

As a result of the historic snowfall of #JanuBuried, there was not much racing accomplished! Both 
the Heavenly and Mammoth races were cancelled prior to the scheduled start of those events. 
Ordinarily we do not cancel events ahead of time, recognizing that mountain weather forecasts can 
be highly variable and believing that decisions on race conditions should be made at the event site 
by the race jury. In exceptional cases, however, when forecasts are definite that probability of 
racing is low and there are legitimate concerns about travel safety getting to and from the event, 
Far West Masters and the race organizer may make a cancellation decision early to allow competitors 
to adjust travel plans. Both of our January cancellations were proven to be good decisions - there 
was no possibility of racing either weekend and travel throughout the Sierras was difficult and 
dangerous. Sometimes the best plan is #StayHomeStaySafe. 

Far West scheduling director Mike Braun is working with Heavenly and Mammoth to reschedule some of 
the cancelled races. We have a tentative agreement with Heavenly to reschedule two SL races of the 
Viva Italia on Friday Mar. 3, prior to the weekend McKinney Cup races at Mt. Rose on Mar. 4-5. With 
the substantial snowpack guaranteeing a long spring ski season, we are exploring spring dates for 
rescheduling the Mammoth races. Details will be announced as soon as plans are finalized. 

Racing in February shifts to Park City UT for the FIS Masters Cup races on Feb. 3-5. A large group 
of Far West racers is planning to compete and will be greeted by a large field of competitors from 
around the US along with nearly two dozen international competitors.

Our next Far West event will be a 3-day weekend at Northstar on Feb. 10-12, with two SG races on 
Friday and GS races on Sat-Sun. We will be racing on the frontside race venue of Loggers 
Loop/Surprise, which has good access from the Vista express lift. There will be SG training 
available on Thursday afternoon with inspection at 1pm; we expect to be able to get in at least 3 
training runs for everyone. There will be one inspection and access to the speed venue will be 
strictly controlled, so you must arrive on time to participate!! Racer lift price is $66 ($50 for 
age 65+) and training cost is $25. 

Far West Masters season Schedule page:
http://farwestmasters.org/raceinfo/2017/schedule

Online race registration on SkiRaceReg.com:
https://www.skiracereg.com/fw