Big Sky Ski Team

Images from Junior Racing

Here are some images of the Junior Development Team at Whitefish and Red Lodge this season.  (The background music pays homage to the team's Guitar Heroes: Jeremy Ueland and Graham Foster.)

How to Tune, Wax, Repair Your Alpine Skis

Jack Moore, the founder of Tognar Toolworks, wrote a nice "how to" article in the February 13, 2008 issue of Ski Racing magazine.  You can find a wealth of information about ski repair and tuning offered by Moore here.

Overall Results from Red Lodge Slalom Races

The Junior Development team traveled to Red Lodge this past weekend for the Stano Memorial Slaloms, which brought together athletes aged 13 to 24 years old.  Held on a tough course befitting the level of competition, Sunday's races were made even tougher by a county-wide power loss.  Most of the racers had to hike up the mountain for their second run!

The Big Sky kids did well.  On Saturday, 51 women and 70 men started.  Bridget French paced the girls with a 3rd overall finish.  Melissa Wells was 20th, Madison Bildahl 28th, and Sylvie Henry 30th.  For the boys, Graham Foster finished 12th overall, and Connor Lunt was 14th on a course that half the field failed to finish.

As a group, the Big Sky girls did a little better on Sunday: Bridget placed 6th overall out of 51 starters; Madison was 14th; and Melissa and Sylvie placed 22nd and 23rd, respectively.  Graham finished 20th overall in the men's race, and Connor joined nearly half of Sunday's 60 starters with a DNF.  (He still ended up hiking up the mountain.)

See the USSA and Northern Division web sites for additional details.

Showdown Weather Forecast

The National Weather Service is forecasting chilly, breezy, and snowy conditions this week for Showdown.  Dress accordingly, YSL team members.

Board Meeting on January 29th

The next BSSEF board meeting will be held next Tuesday, January 29th, at 5:00PM in the meeting room on the main floor of the First Security Bank building in Big Sky.

How to Record a Gate Fault

Here is a short video on how to record a gate fault when you are serving as a Gate Judge.  Download the sample Gate Judge card for more.

Judging Correct Passage

As noted in an earlier post, the Gate Judges's primary responsibility is to ensure that each racer passes through each gate correctly. Although the Gate Judge instruction card helps explain correct passage, the following excerpt from a USSA video illustrates the concept in a bit more detail:

Attention Big Mountain Freeride Team

Coach Liz Welles has asked that you do the following before this Saturday:

• Check out the video of the finals from last week's competition at Red Mountain.
• Make sure you know how to put on, turn on, and use your avalanche transceivers—before you get to practice this weekend.

In addition, remember that there will be a mandatory snow safety clinic classroom session on Saturday, February 9th, after practice (location to be determined).  That will be followed by an on-snow session from 9:00AM to 3:00PM at Moonlight Basin on Sunday, February 10th.  Stay tuned for details.

Nordic Team Practice Postponed

Due to the cold, the today's time trial has been postponed.  In addition to Thursday's scheduled training, there will be training on Saturday at 9:00AM.  See the calendar of events for details.

The waxing clinic tonight at Gallatin Alpine Sports will be held as originally scheduled.

Found: Items in Mammoth Room at Big Sky

We found the following items on 1/20/08 in the Mammoth Room at Big Sky following the YSL races:

• Spyder brand garment
• Radio
• Backpack (and contents)
• MP3 player

Please send Dave Bayless a detailed description to claim your lost item(s).