Gate Protection

I just watched the entire second run from the Men's WC opener in Soelden and it was awesome! It was a close race (as they all are in ski racing) with some great skiing by American Ted Ligety and the Swiss legend Didier Cuche. The coverage and streaming video speed from Universal Sports www.universalsports.com appears to be better this season which made my couchbound spectating a lot more enjoyable.

As I watched the athletes shred some steep glacial GS this morning I was reminded of one often overlooked factor in ski racing -- personal protection. As the sport has progressed, both in terms of the technology and athletic performance, the lines that can be skied have moved from "around" the gate to "through" the gate. As the line that can be (or should be) skied has tightened as well as the overall speed the need for protection has dramatically increased. Helmets are now mandatory in all events and the amount of padding that is being worn on the even the WC level is much higher than in decades past (notice how 80% of World Cup athletes are now wearing plastic forearm guards).

Padding and personal protection is perhaps even more critical for young racers. Good technique will minimize the impact of striking the gate; however, anyone who has raced without padding (especially "skin to win") will tell you it is a little painful. Fear of gate impact will negatively effect technique, slow you down, and distract from a positive learning experience when training. Therefore those young athletes that are begining to progress to aggressive "through the gate" skiing should have sufficient personal protection.

There are a lot of different options these days for helmets, shin guards, forearm guards, etc. If you are uncertain about what kind of gate protection you need, just ask one of your coaches who will be happy to set you on the right track. Our club is also able to get discounts from certain suppliers so make sure to contact Roy before you buy.

Check out the following links for some info on protection (Note to parents: young ski racers think these make great holiday gifts!)

http://www.artechski.com/gateprotection.aspx

http://www.reliableracing.com/protectivegear.cfm

http://www.skiracingdevelopment.com/departmentproductlisting.aspx?did=253

Showcase of the Chefs

The Flathead Valley Ski Education Foundation and I would like to invite you to attend and support the “Showcase of the Chefs” here in Whitefish on Dec 3th. The Showcase is a longstanding tradition and one of the premier social functions here in the Valley. Held at the well-known Grouse Mountain Lodge, the event enjoys a pleasant and innovative dining set-up that actually does showcase 5-6 chefs from the best restaurants in the Whitefish area. Each Chef and their representative establishment, set up a station that serves their own trademark menu item, complete with complimentary wine matching their represented cuisine. Dinner guests may ‘roam the room’ and graze from one or all the buffet tables as they wish. It really creates a fun atmosphere that provides some great food and an atmosphere that promotes mingling and fun social interaction with the whole attendance. Tickets are $75.00 per person. Because of the need for planning, tickets are not available for sale at the door.

As you might guess, we see and visit with a lot of old friends. We all think you would enjoy the occasion.

Tied to the event are a silent auction and a live auction that always has great items available. The selection of premier items and the timing of the event always make for great Holiday shopping.

Of course the Showcase is a fundraiser to help the Foundation with its mission of supporting competitive skiing and snowboarding teams here in the Flathead Valley. As you know our programs give kids quality programs that help them set healthy goals and make good lifestyle choices.

If you are unable to attend there are other ways that you can support the Showcase of the Chefs. Of course you can buy tickets even if you are unable to attend. Our ticket sales are very important to our outcome. Additionally our auction can always use items for both the silent and live auctions and donations are tax deductable. If your family or Company would like to participate as a Corporate Sponsor, in return for a $500 donation, we will display your Company Banner and supply two dinner passes for your enjoyment. If a company or a large group would like to reserve a table we are also able to reserve that table and 10 tickets for $750.

We know you will consider your evening at the Showcase to be a wonderful social outing, but also know that your support of our programs will be even more lasting.

Thanks for the help and we hope to see you at the Showcase.
Please contact Roy Loman (406) 730 2759 or royl@skiwhitefish.com for tickets

Some Awesome News!

Annie Jobe on left, Austin Oberlitner center, Erin Tabish on right.

The Western Region of USSA announced Tuesday that Erin Tabish (Whitefish) and Annie Jobe (Kalispell) have been invited to attend the Topolino Shootout. The Shootout is an event designed to select a team to participate in the international Topolino event held in Italy each year. This year marks the 45th year of the event, sponsored by the Disney Corporation.

The two Whitefish Mountain Resort Race Team girls will compete in hopes of being named to the team that travels to Italy for the prestigious event. Whitefish Mountain Resort coach Roy Loman said “These girls totally deserve this honor. They are so fast, and they could be right there with anybody in that race. We love the fact that we have two of the best girls in the Shootout. Our program is small and there is no program in the Western Region that has anymore girls qualified to the Shootout than we do. Either one of our girls could be in Italy to carry the flag for our country.”

Ski Swap a Success!

Thanks to everyone who worked to make the event at the Saddle Club a success. It was nice to see and meet everyone as we move into our winter mode.
We made a lot of progress settling our families equipment needs. I know there are still families that need equipment and families that have equipment they would like be sure gets back into the cycle of use. Let me know what you need or have and I will try to keep the network working for us all.
Tuesday the 13th, 4:30 pm, the Tecnica boot/Blizzard Ski representative will be at the Becker's garage at 1650 Voerman. He will help us with selection and ordering of new Tecnica and Blizzard gear. If you have interest in this equipment, do stop in. Thanks to both the Becker's for the space and to Justin Harvey from Tecnica/Blizzard for making this opportunity come together.
Thursday, 6-8 pm we will be at the Resort Base Lodge to meet w/the Rossignol and Volkl representative. They will help with selection and ordering for their respective companies. Payment for equipment is due at the meeting and equipment will be shipped to us. Note there will be not credit card facilities at the Becker's.
The Big Mountain Ski Club Ski Swap is in early November and as I get information I will relay that to you.

A Reflective View of our Mt. Hood Camp

This is a reflective view taken by Madeline with her cell phone, then sent to her email address. It shows the surroundings from the snow field as reflected in her goggles.
Our camp finished with great weather, snow conditions and real progress by all of our campers. They seemed to soak up the progression we presented and just kept building their skills with every run. My hat is off to them for their work and progress.
This camp is over and most are returning to home. Today is the arrival day for the Jr. 4 and 5 camp and we are looking forward to working with them over the next session.

The First Day of Summer?

We experienced the first day of Summer at Mt. Hood 2009 and it was snowing. The chair rides were uncomfortable with a strong and cold wind in our face the whole length of the chair. However the snow surface was was quite good and though we were a bit uncomfortable on the chair we were able to accomplish a good deal today.

Please check out this video of Madeline William freeskiing on June 20th at Mt. Hood.

Greetings from Mt. Hood. We are in our second day of a technical camp for our Jr. 3and older racers. The crew arrived by train (Amtrak) and I picked them up in White Salmon, Washington about an hours drive from Mt. Hood. The weather has been good to us and the snow was particularly good for us this morning, having frozen nicely last night. We have seen a lot of other teams here and there are some great high level camps taking advantage of the snow here. It is fun to see the elite skiers involved. It is also rewarding to see athletes of that level working on excatly the same fundamentals and progressions that we are. Our group is working hard and responding well to the training. Tomorrow is day three on snow and our plan is to ski for 4 days,(2 more) take a break for a day then train again for 2 more days. We will keep you posted...