« October 2007 | Main | December 2007 »

November 2007

November 28, 2007

Freeride Team: Try Before You Buy

BSSEF is offering a "Ski with the Coach Day" with Freeride Team coach Liz Welles to all interested 12 to 17 year olds this Sunday, December 2nd, at Big Sky Resort from 9:00AM to 3:00PM.  This is a great, no obligations, way to learn about Liz and this unique program.

Here's how it works:

  • Download, print, and complete the BSSEF release form (14.6K). Be sure to have your parent or guardian sign it. Bring the form with you on Sunday to give to Liz.  You can't participate without a completed, signed form.
  • Purchase your own lift ticket.
  • Bring a lunch (or lunch money).
  • Meet Liz at 9:00AM at the BSSEF race shack, which is located next to the Ramcharger lift in the base area.

In order to participate, you should feel comfortable skiing advanced, off-piste terrain such as that accessed by the Challenger lift and the South Wall at the end of the Turkey Traverse in the bowl.

November 26, 2007

Fun with Technology!

HangmansClick on the image at left to see an annotated photograph of BSSEF's Hangman's race course taken from space, courtesy of Google Earth.  That's pretty cool.  What's even cooler (at least for us geeks) is the image has imbedded GPS data.  That makes it easy to calculate that the vertical drop of GS setup on Hangman's is 250 meters, which is within USSA requirements.  The average slope of the course is 19 degrees (31%), which—according to SkiStats—makes Hangman's an upper-intermediate slope.  For the sake of comparison, Lenin (off the Tram) is as steep as 50 degrees and has an average slope of 37 degrees.

November 24, 2007

Parents: USSA Officials Clinic on 12/8/07

The BSSEF and the Northern Division needs all parents with kids in the YSL, Buddy Werner, and Junior Development programs to get their race official certification!  Competitions give our kids the chance to test their skills, and they serve as key fund-raising events for the BSSEF—which helps to keep program fees down.

There will be an officials clinic on Saturday, December 8th.  Programs and tests will be offered throughout the day from 9:00AM to 5:00PM.  (BSSEF Program Director Jeremy Ueland is working on a way to resolve the conflict between the clinic and programs scheduled at Big Sky that day.  Stay tuned to this space for more details, as they are available.)  The clinic will be hosted at RightNow Technologies in Bozeman:

View Larger Map

Sessions will be offered for Competition Official, Referee, Timing & Calculations, Chief of Race, Technical Delegate, Chief of Course, and, possibly, Race Administration.

To participate:

  • Contact Jeremy Ueland before December 3rd.
  • Download and print the Alpine Update and Review 2007-2008 and the Study Guide(s) for each of the classes you are taking and bring them to the clinic.  You can find them here.
  • You'll also need to bring your copy of the Alpine Competition Guide* to the clinic.  (Or, you can download and print Chapter 8 - Alpine Competition Regulations, which can be found here.)
  • If you are attending the Technical Delegate or Timing & Calculations sessions, bring your own calculators.
  • All clinic participants should bring their own writing instrument(s) and note paper.

For safety's sake, the USSA, which sanctions junior alpine competitions, is requiring that all race volunteers be licensed.  There is a valuable role for you to play in the success of your child's participation in BSSEF—even if you have never stepped foot on a race course.  Please consider participating in this clinic.

*If your child has an active USSA membership, he or she should have received a copy of the complete Alpine Competition Guide in the mail.

Devo Team Kicks Off Season

Madison_sylvie_melissa The Junior Development Team started its season today—the first day of skiing at Big Sky Resort.  It was a spectacularly beautiful day, and the conditions were as good as one can reasonably expect for this early in the year.  Happy New Season!

November 22, 2007

New BSSEF Google Group

In order to facilitate discussion among members of the BSSEF community, we've created a new BSSEF Google Group—an online discussion forum that puts its members in control of whether, when, and how they are notified of new posts.  It offers the functionality of an e-mail list without the spam.  Think of it as a free-form complement to the BSSEF.COM website and weblog.  To view the most recent posts to the group, click here.

Impression of Lone Peak

Big_sky_impressionismIt looks as if the cold brought an inversion this morning.  The fog below and sunshine on the peak made for a beautiful, if fleeting, effect on the resort cam—Claude Monet paints Lone Peak.

After 14 inches of new snow earlier this week, Big Sky is reporting 24 inches at mid-mountain and 30 to 40 inches at the top of the mountain.  Resort spokesman Dax Schieffer said, "Saturday is shaping up to be one of the best opening days we've seen in my short 10 years here."

November 20, 2007

Devo Program to Start on Saturday, November 24th

Because Big Sky Resort has pushed back its opening day, the Junior Development Team will have its first meeting this Saturday, November 24th, at 9:00AM at the race shack.  Head Coach Jeremy Ueland noted:

We'll plan on meeting Saturday and Sunday, which will give the kids time with their families on Friday for the Thanksgiving holiday.  The skiing probably won't be all that great, so we will have plenty of classroom time on Saturday and Sunday.

Big Sky to Open Saturday, November 24th

Big Sky Resort has pushed back its opening day to Saturday, November 24th.  See the Big Sky website for more.

Nordic Family Excursion on Saturday

Snow permitting, the Nordic Team is organizing an informal family ski excursion to West Yellowstone this Saturday, November 24th.  Meet at the Gallatin Alpine Sports parking lot at 8:45AM.  For more information, call Melissa Cronin (406-995-4136) or Denise Wade (406-995-2237).

November 16, 2007

Big Sky Targeting Thanksgiving Opening

Bigsky111607 Although the top of the mountain is covered in white, the reported snow depth mid-mountain is a meager eight inches.  Nevertheless, per the resort web site, Big Sky still anticipates a Thanksgiving opening:  "Right now, the plan is to get open for Thursday.  As soon as temps drop again the snow guns will fire up and we'll try and get as much terrain open as we can."  Stay tuned for news regarding the first day of training for the Junior Development Team, which is currently scheduled for next Friday, November 23rd.