bobdea Posted January 24, 2006 Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 I realize that the high speed events are gone from alpine on the world cup but what the hell someone needs to set up a snowboard SG or even a DH, I for one would love to see one. Just wondering if anyone else feels this way. would any of the people involved with racing care to set one up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MapofTaziFoSho Posted January 24, 2006 Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 Do you think the demand is there!??! By demand I mean $$$$ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vlad westervaeld Posted January 24, 2006 Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 You sure you don't just mean US worldcup? Typically, even in ski Racing, there was far less emphasis on DH in The US because of our litigious culture. DH and SG are both higher-casualty events than Sl and GS, so They were always more scarce in US comp. This Underwriter-driven displacement is what sent so many of us DH Specialists to Europe in the early 90s, as a DH specialist couldn't make enough in a season to buy a sandwich, back then. Probably not much better these days. US Ski racing has always suffered a deficict in DH training and comp, by contrast to the Euro teams... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vlad westervaeld Posted January 24, 2006 Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 any $ demand is offset by the potential risk of litigation due to casualties, or the evnt cost to underwrite a DH here in the land of the free, home of the ambulance-chasing litigant.... y'all should do yourselves a big favour and spend yer winters in europe, if you wanna try DH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobdea Posted January 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 these events are high casualty but probably no higher than BX I think that a big part of it is that its not a big spectator sport and no one hosts them because they don't bring in the money. If litigation was the only issue there would be no motocross races, no skate competitions or any other "high risk" sports competitions. Also there would be none of the speed competitions that a bunch resorts hold, the ones where anyone can enter and you just straight line it and hope you stay on the ground. What I am asking here is who wants to see speed events and if so who is willing step up and make it happen, I would do it myself if I had access to all the resources need but I just don't know the first thing about any of that stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinecure Posted January 24, 2006 Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 ralann, There's a SG this weekend at Northstar at Tahoe. Its run by Sierra League. I think anyone can enter. I did it two years ago and had a blast. Its run with ski gates, but you can armor up in case you hit any. They run it down Challenger which has a long flat in the middle that tests your tucking ability. I think I ran it in about 1:20, but I could be wrong. I can't do it this year. :( Its a long drive, but its driveable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vlad westervaeld Posted January 24, 2006 Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 these events are high casualty but probably no higher than BX I think that a big part of it is that its not a big spectator sport and no one hosts them because they don't bring in the money. If litigation was the only issue there would be no motocross races, no skate competitions or any other "high risk" sports competitions. Also there would be none of the speed competitions that a bunch resorts hold, the ones where anyone can enter and you just straight line it and hope you stay on the ground. What I am asking here is who wants to see speed events and if so who is willing step up and make it happen, I would do it myself if I had access to all the resources need but I just don't know the first thing about any of that stuff. Trust me, DH boarding (& skiing) are far and away more casualty-ridden than MX or Speed Skiing/boarding. In speed skiing/boarding, the competitor follows an absolutely straight plane in the fall line on a steep, hard surface...falling in such an event brings a much lower incidence of injury than a DH because the competitor merely continues sliding in a mishap, and the accumulated force continues, with the competitor, down the slick hill, as opposed to driving through the skeleton of the competitor in the case of a yard sale across the fall line onto snow which may be softer than that of the course (thereby slowing the competitor and transferring many of the cruel forces to his/her frame. MX (which I competed in as a teen, and which the SB Racing foundation wiith whom I trained was involved in) occurs considerably lower speeds than a DH, and competitors are routinely separated from their machine sin mishaps, whilst garbed in considerable armour. trust me, litigation IS the reason. Just hit the US and Euro circuits and you'll notice a wildly diametric difference. Oddly, you state that DH and SG are not big specatator sports....that couldn't be farther from the truth. Super-G was created during the late TV age as a spectator sport, many athletes showed disdain for the media-driven/invented event in it's early days. Supr-G exists as a spectator sport (and still one of the easiest alpine disciplines to follow on the small screen). No offence inteneded, but your last sentence spells out exactly the danger of DH here in the US. Please- take my advice: get into GS racing, hit the steep, technical stuff with an actual racing foundation, freeride freeride freeride then head across the pond (orbitz.com for zurich flights are typically your best bet) to Europe and beg, cajole, bribe your way onto some DH courses as a forerunner, and then decide if you reeally want to do it. I assume you will love it, and you'll likely find it so exhilarating that you'll sepnd your season as an expatriate DH specialist. I'll be heading up a program there next season, (for the first time in 4 years-illlness) look me up;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philfell Posted January 24, 2006 Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 If you held a SG on a weekend that didn't conflict with another event and it had a cash purse for the top 5 or 10 you would get a huge turn out. The easiest way to do it would be to hold it under USSA or USASA, since then all the insurance would be in place. I wouldn't do it with FIS because it would cost more money and wouldn't really be any different, SG Fis points wouldn't be worth anything. I would then look into local resorts and see when they are planning on hosting a ski speed event and try to piggyback your event with theirs, work out an agreement where they do the set up and hold their event, then you come in and do your event two days after (one day for training and one for the event) then you do the clean up and tear down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kent Posted January 24, 2006 Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 As far as I'm concerned.......the AST events of the mid 90s are the way to go. Duel SL GS SGS Easy enough. PGS is silly.......and only makes for reality TV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobdea Posted January 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 I agree, I guess that was my point, in the mid 90s I remember seeing races other than the current format that is being pimped by the powers that be Vlad, I was not saying I wanted to be speed demon, I was saying that I would love to see some of the types races I grew up seeing. there are speed events here in the US that are not just straight shots most of which snowboarders can't enter. Do skiers not litigate? I am not saying that litigation is not a issue but I am saying that it can't be the only thing stopping these events from happening. Is litigation the reason there is only BX at the US open now? Heck, I remember GS, SG and SL at the US open in years past, now there are none of those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vlad westervaeld Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 that's a great point.... litigation or not, SG and DH should still be a presence at big events like the open. maybe it's just the corporate types noting that all the fashion-conscious, wannabe-ghetto baggy-pants trustafarians who abscond with mom and dad's plastic are all about soft set-ups, and these groms are the demographic from whence the money comes. maybe it's because i've been a part of the industry form it's early days, but I know of no other model of a freedom-driven recreation being so ravenously shanghied by john q. public and his/her 2.5 fashion plate exemptions (ummm..."kids"). The scraping away of the more healthy husk and bran of our sport, in order to devour the bland, white core of 'slopestyle' (in all definitions baggy) is a disease which defies explanation. might be nice to start an alpine competition offshoot of 'bomberonline'....maybe something like "The Bomber Series US Alpine Nationals" to drum up support and respect for our most kickass of sports..... l Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 The Aspen Town series is having a super G on the 10th of February and a downhill the 11th-12th. Coincides perfectly with the SES. I know I'll definitely be trying them. They run down racers edge at Buttermilk, and it should be a blast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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