hga1976,
That was a really good post with a lot of good points.
hga1976,
That was a really good post with a lot of good points.
I have been skiing Nastar & attending finals since 1998 and I have to say that this was the easiest set I have ever experienced at finals-and I was not the only one who mentioned it. Beaver Creek, Park City, Steamboat, & Winter Park were all much tougher.
While I was at Keystone I took a look at the former, and controversial, Nastar race venue. It was a completely fenced in, perfectly straight course down a very gentle pitch with about 8" of offset, using those balloon stubby gates. It was perfectly groomed corduroy around each gate and there was no one on it or lined up for it. Looked very much like a perfect set up for small children who had just learned to turn and maybe that is the customer that they were aiming for, but no seasoned Nastar racer would be motivated to take a run or two on it, and would probably be embarrassed to be spotted inside the fencing there. Epic Racing? I don't think so.....I should have taken a picture to post. It looked like a Birthday Party Game.
On another note many of the WI resorts do not have Nastar either, although there is league racing at a lot of them. Cascade and Tyrol Basin are the only ones I can find so far that operate a Nastar Course near enough to get to without staying overnight up toward Minneapolis and Duluth. Granite Peak and a few others don't run a daily Nastar just use it for posting League and Ski Team Race results.
The word should spread for the 90% of all Nastar Racers or better known as the "Vast Majority" that there is now a venue for them at Keystone.
Word from Afton is that as of right now they will be running Nastar next season, but no guarantee that could not change. Seems odd since their website says that they will be running Epic Mix Racing, hard to believe that they would do both but who knows.Originally Posted by chuckp7600
Clever. But, the truth is 90% of NASTAR racers aren't spending much time racing NASTAR. We'll see how that plays. OG
I heard a rumor that Winter Park Resort is finished with Nastar. That's a shame. I know many racers who go there specifically to race Nastar. Last year, was pretty bad. It seemed like the pacesetter times were not accurate. Sometimes the pacesetter was just an employee running the course, even just putting a time in that seemed right. Often the two courses had exactly the same time, yet one course was straight and the other had tighter turns, really? As a volunteer in the Nastar I got to overhear conversations through the headset so I'm not just guessing about this. Many folks just stopped going as their handicaps were way off. I got a season Nastar pass there last year and raced at least 3 days a week. Even with the goofy handicaps I still got the practice. I may not be able to race at all this year with no mountains close by that have Nastar. I have been going to Nationals for at least 6 years. This year I will not be going as I thought Snowmass did a less than stellar job. The banquet was even worse than the year, terrible food, small room, and when I got there all the food was gone. I was told that I had to wait 45 minutes for the next batch of food to come out. The picnic outside with no option of taking cover if it snowed was not good. Snowmass was expensive and it just seemed like there was no central place to gather. We were just scattered outside on the hill. It was very difficult to connect with the friends that I made at nationals, which along with racing, is my favorite reason to be there.
Last edited by puphat; 11-22-2014 at 02:58 PM.
Winter Park is on the 2015 resort list, Fri/Sat/Sun 11 to 3. Sad to see Copper is now league racing only. I guess Summit County is now off my trip list. The good news is here in the Midwest, Canaan Valley W Va. is back with the program. I hope it works out for them. They always had a great course, nice and long with the perfect pitch. I'll be making a trip over there for sure.
Daily Nastar is hard to find. Steamboat and Aspen Mtn are about it. Telluride would be nice but who can afford that place?
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Hopefully, all the Copper racers will come to Winter Park and I hope that Winter
Park does a better job on the race course this winter. I will be letting them know
my concerns. That's for sure.
IMO as an old timer this thread has little merit. We love Nastar at Holiday Valley.
We also hope everyone has a fun snowsport season regardless.
You are going to want click here http://www.holidayvalley.com/
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