2008 NASTAR Nationals

One person's perspective

by Dr. Liz

“So, how was YOUR Nationals?”

Okay, the long-awaited post (well, by some….) on the Nastar Nationals. I know Gary will want me to keep interjecting about how he feels, and I probably will to some extent. But mostly I’m going to talk about MY experience. For a change! *grin.

The good

Lots of good things to say about this event, and this venue.

First of all, I don’t know if the Christie Peak Express is a new chair or not (if it isn’t… well… clearly I wasn’t paying very close attention 2 years ago… maybe it was there, but I don’t think it was a 6-pack), but this was a VERY useful chair, making all of the courses very quickly (and easily) accessible. This chair really got people up the hill in a hurry, allowing for lots of inspection/warm-up runs. This chair really is the deal maker for having Steamboat keep the Nationals for years to come – much better than Park City’s layout.

The courses were, in my opinion, very good, and reasonable for what you’d expect at the Nationals. I also REALLY like how they broke out the platinum/gold classes and put them on one hill, and the silver/bronze on another; while I only have my personal experiences (and the experiences of the people around me), it seemed like this worked out really well – no one was on a course that was REALLY over his/her head. Challenged, certainly, but completely on the wrong pitch? Not that I know of.

The snow conditions were also ideal. (Not that NASTAR has much control over that…. Unless Bill Madsen has Very Well Connected Friends, that is…) Holding the event earlier in March seems like it would help ensure generally better snow conditions, though. So, good call on making it earlier in the season.

Not starting at the same time from day to day; I started in the morning on Friday, and in the afternoon on Saturday, and again, I liked that, as I think it made it fair snow condition wise (true, your class all runs in the same conditions, regardless, but if there are variable conditions (i.e. really firm, or really soft snow), people who specialize in one or the other aren't favored).

Good course workers. On Friday, with some new snow, it was very encouraging to see crews of 7-9 people slipping the course before each run (and through groups). It was also good to see that there were plenty of extra inside and outside gates at the top of the course (complete with a drill – at least on my course), and several course workers ready to make repairs. Certainly, there were some delays with crashes (bound to happen at ANY event of this size), but it wasn’t because there weren’t available course workers, equipment and ski patrol.

The course sets. I don’t think this was true on all courses (I think that some people on Gary’s hill – See Me – felt that the courses didn’t flow), but frankly, my course sets were good. Tight and turny, but not excessively so. (Well… okay, the green course on Saturday was a little exciting because of terrain; there were two blind gates, and if you hadn’t inspected very carefully, it was really easy to get off course…. See my post about me being Stanley to Dr. Livingston…. But I think that was probably operator error; the courses were actually set quite well, in my opinion….) Anyway, my courses weren’t stupidly set, and if you had a pair of non-FIS legal skis (*cough*like the Progressors*cough), or were a really good skier (*cough*Brady Miller*cough), there were no issues negotiating the course. Certainly none of the tragic 13m radius turns of years past!

Restaurants. Given Gary’s level of incapacitation, we didn’t go out; I ordered in every night we were there, and while I didn’t try every place that delivered (there were a couple of Chinese places that I couldn’t convince Larry and Gary to get excited about) I’ve got two places I would recommend hands down: Soda Creek Pizza, and Beau Jo’s (Bistro, I think). Really, really good food; not the usual cheapo delivery quality stuff. Restaurant prices, but WELL worth it. The Bistro has this spinach salad that is To Die For. They also do these fantastic (and really BIG) toasted sandwiches. Mmmm.. I’d go back to Steamboat for these sandwiches alone! *grin.

The bad

This is a pleasantly surprisingly short list.

THE PARKING. Gah. Parking at Steamboat has always been an issue. But with the continued construction, parking is virtually non-existent. Which means that you’ve either got to take the shuttle from your lodging (fine, except on race day, when you’ve got a bag of gear and multiple pairs of skis), or pay $20 to park about 400 yards away (as the crow flies… this doesn’t include all the stairs and circuitous pathways you’ve got to take to get from the parking to the snow….. so it’s really about 1000 yards…. Which is no fun if you’ve got a broken ankle, bags of gear, and multiple pairs of skis). And you’d better get there early if you want one of these ‘prime’ parking spaces. Gah. If I’ve ever seen a ski area in desperate need of multi-level parking garages, this place is it.

I guess the other option is to stay at a ski-in/ski-out place. Hmm…. May have to look into that for the next time. Pricey for a condo, I’m sure, but probably well worth not having to hassle the nightmare that is parking there.

The Neither-Here-Nor There

This is more a not-bad, not-good, but left me scratching my head list.

First. Why didn’t we switch starting courses from Friday to Saturday. If you ran the yellow course first on Friday, you ran the yellow course again on Saturday. On my hill that was fine, as the green course had the lower par time on Friday, and the yellow course had the lower par time on Saturday, so it worked out. On Gary’s hill, not so much; the green course had higher par times both days, and since your best chance at a good handicap is your first run, the people who got stuck on the yellow course were at a distinct disadvantage. So, why didn’t we switch starting courses? It is my understanding from the schedule on the internet, that we would. Just curious as to why that changed. Bogie’s suggestion about having all of the people in one class run the same course would solve this problem, and even the largest classes (18 or so people) won’t be too adversely affected – certainly less so than the crap-shoot that is the handicapping system.

Second. The awards ceremony. A couple of things here. First, by adding Bronze as a separate class (and maybe they did this last year, not certain), things were slowed down a bit (1 extra class for pretty much every age group). I understand the desire to put everyone in their specific ability class – it makes it more fair, and more fun. Not a problem. But for those of us who are in the classes that ALWAYS end up near the end of the awards ceremony, it makes a long, cold evening longer and colder.

So, I’ve got a couple of suggestions about the awards ceremonies: 1) heating; either localized (i.e in drums) bonfires, or large portable heaters. It gets REALLY cold out there if you are just standing around. 2) make it more entertaining for the people who are waiting and waiting and waiting for their class to come around; more drawings for goodies, maybe some local restaurants offering discounted food, something. Certainly, better announcing. I’m not sure who was announcing this year, but if a recipient wasn’t a relative and friend, it was just a recitation of names, with fairly frequent calls for ‘more beer’. 3) since the people who attend the awards are generally just the people who are getting the awards, and they tend to leave as soon as they (or their kids) get their awards, published a schedule of the order of class awards; by the time the 40-44 year olds come around, most of the crowd has left anyway; if people know roughly when they are going to get their award, they don’t have to stand around for 2.5 hours freezing.

Really. I don’t know all the answers about how to make the awards ceremony better, but I’ve got to tell you, if I wasn’t proud of my second day performance, I wouldn’t have stood around (and dragged Larry along with me) for 2.5 hours.

Finally. Schwag. What happened? Is it the economy, lessening interest in recreational racing, or what? I remember when we got Gerry jackets, or even fleece vests. This year? Nada. Heck, Goode didn’t even give poles out to anyone other than first place finishers. And I thought all 2nd place finishers were supposed to get Swans goggles. By the time, Gary’s class came around, I think they ran out. Again, not whining, just curious. I just wonder if this a trend, or just a fluke.

Summary

The short story? I think the event was very well run (and On Time!), the courses were great, and the on-hill access was great. The parking was a bit of an issue, and there were certainly some things that I’d like to see addressed. But I had a ball. And it is the general consensus of MSR that with the facilities and management of the event, Steamboat should continue to host the event; the layout and venues are vastly superior to PCMR.

And me? I had a great second day, so I walked away very happy.

Oh yeah. And I met my ‘twin’!

And the MSR Teams made a very decent showing:

Gary Dranow Male 50-54 Platinum 14.685 2 out of 11

Steve Green Male 40-44 Gold 23.590 9 out of 12

Dan Ringeisen Male 55-59 Gold 26.105 5 out of 11

Elizabeth Green Female 11-21 Gold 26.395 4 out of 5

Laurel Moyes Female 45-49 Gold 30.575 2 out of 15

Mary Carillo Female 17-20 Silver 33.790 3 out of 3

Larry Stithem Male 50-45 Gold 34.145 12 out of 21

Dave Phillips Male 60-64 Silver 35.815 1 out of 9

Liz Dranow Female 35-39 Platinum 42.220 3 out of 3

Kevin Bohland Male 50-54 Silver 47.515 16 out of 17

Sandy Kaye Female 45-49 Gold 60.475 12 out of 15

Don Carillo Male 45-49 Platinum insf.

(BOLD connotates podium finishes.)

SO…. Enough about me. How was YOUR Nationals?