Short finish corrals....

[patmoore]

Vertical Challenge races in the northeast are always fun and definitely informal.  You have a choice of which of two courses you want to run.  At Pico on Saturday I finished 14th overall of 175 skiers and 3rd overall of 26 boarders.  Yesterday I raced at Bromley.  Conditions were deteriorating rapidly at the south facing mountain so they moved the event to a different trail from where they normally race.

I told the Vertical Challenge staff at the start that the finish corral was way too short and they agreed but said the Bromley Mountain Ski Patrol wouldn’t permit them to extend it. After I blew through the netting ejecting skis I was not in a good mood. I‘ve been a course setter and pacesetter for 18 years and I’ve never seen a finish corral so dangerously short. A patroller standing at the finish refused to extend the netting saying they needed to leave enough terrain to bring through large equipment. Unless they were planning to haul a double wide trailer through there, there was plenty of room to move the fence at least a dozen feet. I guess she didn’t like my attitude and told me to act like an adult. We saw one father almost hit his son trying to stop in the small area. Her solution: brake BEFORE crossing the Finish Line!! It’s a race! I’ve always liked Bromley but I was appalled that the Ski Patrol wouldn’t allow the fencing to be moved to a safe location.

 

[Deuxdiesel]

Patrollers are just like the rest of the population- the overwhelming majority are hard-working and decent people, and then there are the others....   I patrolled for 17 years, and you deal with some pretty difficult people, so they do get a little brusk.  That's not an excuse for overlooking a safety issue, but worth considering.