Guest tdinardo Posted January 1, 2006 Report Share Posted January 1, 2006 I've been digging around looking for snowboard specific racing options in WA/OR and I'm coming up pretty dry. USASA "Inland NW" shows two events in January and that's it (and those events aren't exactly close to Seattle...). There're plenty of Masters ski racing stuff out there, but I'd rather get some gate time on the board. I'm trying to avoid NASTAR and the other ski specific courses on my board if possible. Is there other stuff available or is the scene that dead? If the scene is dead, are there any folks interested in trying to resurrect it? Might be too late to organize something from scratch at this point, but maybe we could plan something for next year.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slim Posted January 1, 2006 Report Share Posted January 1, 2006 Does your local area have a snowboard/ski club to help young athletes train? That'd be the first place I'd look. Next I'd call USSA and USASA to see if there are any suitable snowboard race training programs in the area. Good luck. Go fast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted January 1, 2006 Report Share Posted January 1, 2006 Pretty slim pickens around here. City League is an option but they dont use stubbies or starting posts and you have to deal with the skiiers. there have been a few attempts to start some teams but I dont know where that ended up. It has been hard to get the Washington carvers in one place for a little session but it seems that about once a week there is another new member here from the area so if the numbers continue to increase, who knows. I for one, would be interested in some gate training. Keep March 25/26 open and get down to Crystal for the NORAM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tdinardo Posted January 1, 2006 Report Share Posted January 1, 2006 I checked into the local training stuff and it's all ski oriented. :( I'll keep the Crystal date open. The problem is it's hard to go race when there is no official training anywhere. It's a real bummer. I'll crack open a poll and see if maybe we can get enough people interested in running gates one day a week that we could interest one of the training clubs in letting us leverage their club dates and get a snowboard only course going. Most of the ski clubs I've found seem to charge $200-400 for 1-2 days of coached/video'd gate training. If we had enough people to make it economical for them to do it, they might be interest. Worth a shot at any rate.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timinor Posted January 1, 2006 Report Share Posted January 1, 2006 Back in the 90's there was a snowboard city league at Mt. Bachelor. It died from lack of interest. Also at Bachelor they had Nastar and a coin-op course up every day. I used to get a coin-op season pass and ran gates almost everyday. It was great and I had a ball but the coin-op and Nastar also died from lack of interest. Recreational racing, even drawing from skiers and boarders, has very little interest and doesn't pencil out. 2/3s of the racing hill got incorporated into the park and...dare I say it...inner tube hill. The short lift that served the race hill was taken out. Unfortunately, the Mt. Bachelor story is indicative of the total lack of interest that currently exists in racing...for boarder or skiers. Yes, there are those of us that love running gates but too few to make it economically feasible. If you go back east or to the midwest, you'll find racing to be popular because the hills are small and the snow conditions are...uh...not as much fun as out west. People get bored and want to run gates. Out west...the snow is great, the mountains are big, the terrain is varied...no one wants to stand around at the top of a course for 2 hours waiting for their run. If you go to the area or race department with all the enthusiasm and the "build it and they will come" ideas about snowboard racing, they will look at you and smile but they know that racing is just not popular. Even ski racing is on the decline and struggling for survival. It is hanging on only because it is such a part of the heritage of skiing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tdinardo Posted January 1, 2006 Report Share Posted January 1, 2006 Back in the 90's there was a snowboard city league at Mt. Bachelor. It died from lack of interest. Also at Bachelor they had Nastar and a coin-op course up every day. I used to get a coin-op season pass and ran gates almost everyday. It was great and I had a ball but the coin-op and Nastar also died from lack of interest. Recreational racing, even drawing from skiers and boarders, has very little interest and doesn't pencil out. 2/3s of the racing hill got incorporated into the park and...dare I say it...inner tube hill. The short lift that served the race hill was taken out.Unfortunately, the Mt. Bachelor story is indicative of the total lack of interest that currently exists in racing...for boarder or skiers. Yes, there are those of us that love running gates but too few to make it economically feasible. If you go back east or to the midwest, you'll find racing to be popular because the hills are small and the snow conditions are...uh...not as much fun as out west. People get bored and want to run gates. Out west...the snow is great, the mountains are big, the terrain is varied...no one wants to stand around at the top of a course for 2 hours waiting for their run. I see your point, but man is that sad.... Hard to build new world champions when apathy rules the day. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timinor Posted January 1, 2006 Report Share Posted January 1, 2006 I bought a bunch of those little brushy training gates which are perfect for snowboarding. Guess what? No one wants to run with me and no area will allow me to stick them in the snow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tdinardo Posted January 1, 2006 Report Share Posted January 1, 2006 I bought a bunch of those little brushy training gates which are perfect for snowboarding. Guess what? No one wants to run with me and no area will allow me to stick them in the snow. That stinks! Have you tried talking to any of the racing clubs that run on your mtn to see if they would let you join and set gates an adjacent run? Might take some negotiating, but if they are making more $ they might be open to it. Additionally, it would only require an additional course setting on days when they're running GS gates if you don't mind running in the ski ruts. I wish you were a little closer to me. I'd definitely run gates with you a few nights a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STP Posted January 17, 2006 Report Share Posted January 17, 2006 THe only racing that I can find in the Seattle area is City League. You race head to head with either a skier or border in GS ski gates. Very competitive and pretty difficult depending on the conditions. It is amazing how two edges can recover after a slight mistake, i.e. get back on line with less slow down than us single railers. It is competitive racing. I saw many soft booters for time trials last week. We'll see how they can run the course. If you want to cruise the snoqualmie summit area any night let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tdinardo Posted January 19, 2006 Report Share Posted January 19, 2006 I looked into City League but decided against it since it was mixed, but it you think it's decent I might reconsider my decision. :) Won't be able to head out there for a couple weeks due to some hand surgery and a road trip from VA that I need to make. Thankfully I should be able to make stops in UT and ID enroute to WA, so it won't be totally painful. I'll try to hook up with you when I get back into town during the week of the 31st. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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