Winter Park ends Nastar

[puphat]

I knew it was coming. That's it folks. Make your racing plans somewhere else.

[ptimkey]

Same news at my ski area. We haven't even started skiing and I miss it already.

[jchjch]

I knew it was coming. That's it folks. Make your racing plans somewhere else.

Bummer. New WP CEO sweeping out legacy stuff. Will have to re-think season pass renewal season after this. WP only Senior Pass rates have spiked over time and without NASTAR might as well pick another NASTAR friendly area. WP NASTAR provided opportunity for me to move up to higher division. Local NASTAR hill just fine but two pacesetters all former National Champs made it tough to advance..WP won't miss my Senior P-ass. And no WP NASTAR finals redux..Oh well

[iSpeed]

I knew it was coming. That's it folks. Make your racing plans somewhere else.

Sad news. I thought the Nationals at Winter Park were terrific. The course layouts, the organization, the volunteers all combined to make it a great time for ski racing. The snow always held up with the high base elevation giving Mother Nature a helping hand. C'est la vie.

[patmoore]

Bummer. Shortsighted decision on the part of WP. Hope the howls of protest will give them reason to reconsider.

[JTBear]

Thanks for sharing Jackie. This is such a bummer...... I know how much you have contributed to the WP Program these past many years. I'm sure sad that we cannot look down course at Snoasis Lodge anymore.....

I look back on the old guy who used to run NASTAR at WP for years... I cannot remember his name. Maybe Spike? A legendary WP fixture and another HUGE Ambassador for our program.

I'm going to send a few professionally written "love notes" to the Leadership at Intrawest ULC, a Canadian corporation headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Hope to see you at Steamboat, Copper Mountain or Ski Cooper NASTAR!!

The Bear

[jchjch]

Conversations with locals including puphat indicated cost for WP to maintain course exceeded revenue--they were only open 3 days weekly (Thur thru Sat or Fri thru Sun) plus holidays. Starting house staffed solely by unpaid volunteers--don't know if pacesetters on WP payroll or not.. I rarely encountered line to enter course. WP has hosted big weekend FIS races for Juniors, USAA Masters races. And multiples days weekly WP Competition Center was maintaining race course off to side off Hughes into Lower Hughes. Plus their Sports Center for Disabled was maintaining race courses. And I saw at times training courses set off the Olympia lift. Nastar demise incongruent with WP rich racing tradition.

[jchjch]

Thanks for sharing Jackie. This is such a bummer...... I know how much you have contributed to the WP Program these past many years. I'm sure sad that we cannot look down course at Snoasis Lodge anymore.....

I look back on the old guy who used to run NASTAR at WP for years... I cannot remember his name. Maybe Spike? A legendary WP fixture and another HUGE Ambassador for our program.

I'm going to send a few professionally written "love notes" to the Leadership at Intrawest ULC, a Canadian corporation headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Hope to see you at Steamboat, Copper Mountain or Ski Cooper NASTAR!!

The Bear

New President of Winter Park is Sky Foulkes---Formerly COO Intrawest Denver. Aspen Ski Co bought Intrawest and now controls Steamboat & WP in Colorado plus others areas around the country..all this occurred around Spring 2017

[rcahill]

Corporate jerks, this totally sucks. I first skied NASTAR at WP and spend most of my NASTAR days there. For affluent middle aged folks like me I would guess we typically spend several times the entry fee on lunch, beer after racing, etc. I have brought multiple folks to WP to try it out and often meet fellow enthusiasts there year after year. This is a huge loss. With Vail pulling out in favor of their lame home grown version there are few resorts left in the Colorado front range to ski NASTAR. I hope JT and USSA can put some pressure on these fools to restore NASTAR racing there. I for one won't be spending as much money there as in the past.

[Monpick]

The WP folks are missing a great opportunity. They should look at the example at Steamboat. The Nastar racing program is very popular and is integrated with the Town Challenge Race Series and even the big Crescent Ski Council and American Airlines events in early December that bring a lot of folks to the area (in a typically slow time). I think the race crew up there does a lot more that just Nastar which helps justify the expense.

I live in the Miami area and the main reason I go to Steamboat multiple times every year is to get some gate training on the Nastar hill and to participate in the Town Challenge series. If it were not for the Nastar connection, I would probably find another Nastar affiliated area to visit because I really love the Nationals event every year.