<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><title></title><style type="text/css">p.MsoNormal,p.MsoNoSpacing{margin:0}</style></head><body><div>Read in your web browser: <a href="https://farwestmasters.org/#northstar-squaw-report">farwestmasters.org/#northstar-squaw-report</a><br></div><div><br></div><div>February turned out to be... interesting! Twenty competitors from Far West took to the road
to start the month by joining over 100 other competitors from around the US along with some
foreign athletes for the FIS Masters Cup/Western Regional championship races at Aspen Highlands CO.
Temperatures were cold, but some excellent performances were posted. A highlight of the event
was the celebration with family and competitors of Gate de Mattei's 90th birthday. Incredible milestone
for a guy who's still out there skiing hard and looking for sped on the race course!<br></div><div><br></div><div>Aspen FIS Masters results on <b>usalpinemasters.org</b>:</div><div><a href="https://usalpinemasters.org/2019/fismasters">usalpinemasters.org/2019/fismasters</a><br></div><div><br></div><div>At home in Far West, the month turned into a record-breaker as multiple storm trains rolled through and
dropped massive amounts of snow throughout the Sierra. We finally got a weather break the week before our
scheduled races at Northstar and Squaw on Feb. 22-24. Faced with fresh snow depths in the double-digit feet
and cold dry conditions all week, the race crews at both venues faced a daunting challenge to pack and
prepare the race venues, reset safety fences, and generally dig out the race arenas.<br></div><p>The decision was made early in the week by the Northstar race organizers and Far West Masters that it would not
be possible to safely prepare the race hill by Friday, so the scheduled Friday SG races were cancelled.
Even with the extra day, the Northstar crew had an enormous amount of work to do, but by Saturday morning racers
were greeted with warming temperatures, partly-sunny skies, and two fun runs of GS.<br></p><p>On Sunday competitors moved to nearby Squaw Valley for the Buck Thys Memorial GS on Exhibition,
a long and challenging race hill which is one of our best GS venues. The race surface was still relatively
soft, compared to the usual "firm" conditions that are often encountered on Exhibition, but good course work
by the Squaw crew and good coursesetting on both runs added up to two good runs of GS for a satisfying race day.<br></p><p>The competition was enlivened throughout the day as MC John Haines shared stories of Buck Thys and the skiing Thys family.
It was a pleasure to be joined by several of Buck and Nina's children, Beatrice and US Ski Team alums
Edith and Barry. Edith also foreran both runs on her home hill.<br></p><p>Adding to the Squaw heritage, Sunday's race was also scored for the Bernard Cup trophy. The Bernard Cup
is a perpetual trophy awarded annually at our Squaw event to the top man and woman racer using an age-handicap
formula. Over the years competitors of all ages have won - Buck Thys was the 2002 winner when he was competing
in the 70's class.<br></p><p>The men's trophy was won handily by Kurt Beldon (M08), who was third overall in the men's results. The
women's trophy race was wide open, with competitors of nearly all ages in the running. Overcoming some spectacular
skiing from defending champ Andrea Levy (W01), 3rd overall on the day, the women's title went to Carol Levine (W10).<br></p><div>Complete results are posted on the farwestmasters.org Race Results page along with the updated Season Standings rankings for 2019:<br></div><div><a href="https://farwestmasters.org/raceinfo/2019/results">farwestmasters.org/raceinfo/2019/results</a><br></div><div><a href="https://farwestmasters.org/raceinfo/2019/standings">farwestmasters.org/raceinfo/2019/standings</a><br></div><div><br></div></body></html>