Polar Vortex to a Heat Wave... Come on, Mother Nature!

Over the past two weeks, we have had two winter extremes. The Polar Vortex of two weeks ago left us with some of the best conditions we have had all season. The snow guns were firing, Warm Up was as wide as it has ever been, and the snow surface was incredible. Fast forward to a week later, we saw the temps increase to 55 degrees! Couple that with overnight rain on Wednesday and Thursday, and things were looking drastically different. If you remember from my last post, the snowmaking team had buried Warm Up and we are so fortunate that they did because when the temps increased and the rains came, we were able to survive the meltdown.

B-Net game on point post meltdown!

We came into last weekend with a full day of training on the docket for Saturday with our U12's running GS next to a U16/19 SL for the morning session. The afternoon saw our MWC and U10 Kandahar teams join forces for continued skill development while our neighbors at ASF set up and apex SL course for their athletes. On Sunday, we hosted a U12 RVW Council Cup GS race on Warm Up. Over 120 athletes competed in the two run event on two different style sets. The conditions under the top layer were firm...to say the least. Some of the sections looked like a small skating rink by the end of day! Congrats to all athletes and to our WRF U12 team for representing us so well. Thank you to our coaches, staff, and to the amazing volunteers who made the day quick and painless. We were done with the race at 1:45pm and finished with awards by 2:30pm. It was a great day that wouldn't have been possible without the help of everyone involved. Thank you!









Our U14 Kandahar/Excelsior team was at Gore for the weekend participating in a SG skills and training camp on Friday and Saturday, followed by a race on Sunday. You can imagine how firm and fast it was for SG! In the words of Martin Biedermann, "the surface was World Cup." SG is arguably the most challenging event as you are having to make high speed turns, and when the surface is firm like it was, it makes things even more challenging. Our team had some impressive results throughout the weekend and gained valuable experience and knowledge as they continue to grow as ski racers. This was also the final regular season qualifier for U14 States and you can see the rankings via the links below. Athletes who did not qualify can still compete in the Horst Derby where they will take the top 5 from each gender to U14 States. Congrats and good luck!










We have another busy weekend ahead of us with MWC/U10K Race #3 on Saturday. We are looking for a few more gate judges so if you are planning on attending the race and haven't volunteered yet (or you have volunteered and you enjoyed it so much you want to do it again!) please go to the sign up sheet and add your name to list: CLICK HERE

We are flying through the season and it is easy to get bogged down in the "result." It is important to not lose sight of why we are all part of ski racing - we love to ski! If program ends at 2:30pm, that leaves enough time during the afternoon to take some runs as a family. It is not all about running gates or being coached. Taking the time to free ski is more important than you might think.  Taking the opportunity to unplug and ski with family often helps people remember how much they love to ski and reenergize for the remainder of the season. Get out there and free ski!

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