ussa masters contacts

USSA Masters Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . .

The VISION of the USSA AlpineMasters is to provide adult skiers with alifelong opportunity to enjoy the chal-lenges and rewards of alpine ski racing.

The MISSION of the USSA Alpine Masters is to make this vision a reality by developing,promoting, organizing and coordinating the highest level of alpine ski racing throughout

snow country in the United States and internationally, and to fulfill our passion for and loveof nature, the outdoors, mountains, freedom, self-challenge and accomplishment.

P.O. Box 100Park City Utah 84060

National Masters ChairmanSteve Slivinski

tel: 208.726.3442email: [email protected]

USSA Masters ManagerBill SkinnerP.O. Box 100

Park City, UT 84060tel: 435.647.2633fax: 435.649.3613

email: [email protected]

DIVISION CHAIRPERSONS

Alaska: Gary Randalltel: 907.243.4259


Central: Ryan Fullertel: 612.501.3268


Eastern: Bill McCollomtel: 802.234.9561


Eastern/New England: Nadine Pricetel: 802.746.8850


Eastern/New York: Jack Eisenschmidtel: 585.288.4554


Eastern/Southern: Horst Lochertel: 540.856.2121fax: 540.856.8567


Far West: Mark Mirvisstel: 530.583.6971


Intermountain: Amy Lanzeltel: 435.649.5751


Northern: Toby Chapmantel: 406.541.0866


Pacific Northwest: Ann Ozunatel: 509.455.7944


Rocky Mountain: Jennifer Kaufmantel: 720.855.8427


2012 Major EventsIf you ever have a good year,

2012 would be the time to have it.Skier’s Edge Masters Nationals

Park City Mtn Resort, UT, Mar. 19–23SC/SG/GS/SL

USSA Western ChampionshipsVail, CO, Feb. 2–4

SC/SG/GS/SL

USSA Eastern ChampionshipsKillington, VT, Feb. 10–12

SC/SG/GS/SL

USSA National DownhillSki Cooper, CO, Mar. 10–11

3DH

Skier’s Edge FIS Masters World Criterium Mammoth Mtn, CA, Mar. 26–31

SG/GS/GS/SL

We miss you, Vickie.

Non profitU.S. Postage

P A I D4753

Salt Lake City

USSA Masters 2012238 sanctioned races on homologated venues in 18states, with Nationals at Park City and WorldChampionships at Mammoth. It doesn't get anybetter than this year!

Skier's Edge FIS Masters World ChampionshipsMammoth Mountain, CA, Mar. 26–30SG/GS/GS/SL

Once every six years, the world of Masters rac-ing comes to America. This time around,Mammoth Mtn. has the honor of hosting the2012 World Championship the last week ofMarch. The last time this event was held in theU.S., 200 Europeans attended. This is ourchance to take on the best adult racers in theworld on a venue we have raced many times.Let’s show the world the depth of Americanadult ski racing. You must be 30 years old andhave a current FIS Master license.

Skier’s Edge Masters National ChampionshipsPark City Mtn. Resort, UT, Mar. 19–23SC/SG/GS/SL

Masters racers will be gathering this year inPark City for a four-event National Champi-onship. Park City Mtn. Resort, 2002 Olympicvenue and Masters Nationals venue, will fea-ture an SC and SG event for all groups onracer-friendly Payday; younger A/B men thenwill move to CB and Picabo for GS and SL.The ladies and senior men compete in allevents on Payday.

autumn 2011www.ussa.org

These companies support Masters Ski Racing

USSA Masters Downhill ChampionshipSki Cooper, CO, Mar. 10–11TrDH/DH/DH

Ski Cooper will be hosting the NationalChampionship DH for the second year in arow. Cooper is a very nice Masters speedvenue. A race camp, training runs, the Na-tional DH and a Molecule F Speed SeriesDH will be held. Registration will be onlinethrough the Rocky division web site. Checkthe schedule in this newsletter under“speed series.” Check the Rocky site andUSSA Masters web site under “events” forthe latest info.

USSA Regional ChampionshipsWestern: Big Sky, MT, Feb. 2–5SC/SG/GS/SL

Northern Division will be hostingthe Western Championships in2012. Big Sky racing, frequent hostof our Nationals Championships,is welcoming all Masters to thispremier venue. Big Sky is offeringgreat room rates at their famousHuntley Lodge, Summit Hoteland ski-in ski-out condos. Thelodge and hotel include the greatdaily breakfast buffets. Remember,overall class winners will be named tothe Western Region team and receiveembroidered Region Team jackets.

Eastern: Killington, VT Mar. 12–14SC/SG/GS/SL

Killington and Pico ski resorts will be host-ing the 2012 Eastern Championships. In achange from the traditional schedule, thechampionship events will be held Feb.10–12. The change was made to take advan-tage of mid-winter conditions, and giveMasters a chance to recharge their batteriesbefore the NEMS and NY State Finals, aswell as the National Championships inMarch. The scheduling also gives Mastersthe opportunity to race on the challengingterrain offered by Killington and Pico.Killington’s Needle’s Eye will be the site ofthe SG and SC. Non-stop rolls and terrainchanges will challenge racers in the SG,

which will be followed by a one-runslalom to form an SC. The technical

events will be held at Pico over theweekend with separate A/B andC/D courses in SL for men andwomen. All four events willcount toward the overall EasternChampionship scoring. The SG is included in the Molecule F

National Speed Series.

Complete info on all events can be found at

www.ussamasters.org

Jennifer Hurdcarillo

Lindsey Vonn

and Ted Ligety,

Sölden GS

winners

CO

NG

RATULATIONS

Photos in this issue byErika Krainzand Lisa Densmore

Skiing on Autumn Leaves by Steve Slivinski, Masters National Chairman

My fellow Masters racers, it’s the anticipation timeof year. A new white circus season is just around thecorner. Get out the boots, and skis and dust themoff and get them ready for another wild ride. Thisyear is a pivotal year for me. Like a lot of Mastersracers, I moved up to a more mature age class. Iwould say that on the whole I won’t miss butting

my head against Pepi Neubauer, Knute Olberg, or Bob Sarchett.However, as most of us realize, the competition doesn't get any eas-ier as you move on. It’s sort of a Darwinian thing of survival of thefittest. Now I’m in a class of as-old-as-dirt survivors. These peoplehave more metal in them than the Brooklyn Bridge; they take morepills than they have in the Mayo Clinic; and they know the résuméof every orthopedic surgeon this side of the Mississippi. They don’tcall this the Viagra generation for nothing. They grew up on stiffstraight wooden boards, leather boots and bamboo poles. Thetrouble is, they all ski better today than they did 40 years ago. I’m

looking forward to the competition; however, unfortunately, I willtruly miss skiing behind the young ladies.

This year promises to be a banner year. We have the Nationals atPark City, the National Speed Championships back at Ski Cooper,and this year, after an absence of six years, the FIS World Criteriumat Mammoth Mtn. All three venues are very racer-friendly, and do asuperb job of putting on races. A change that everyone shouldnote: there will be online registration for the Nationals this year,and no division quotas. So pay attention to this fall’s newsletter onhow to register for each event. Finally, I want to thank all of you foryour support of USSA Masters ski racing. We are an organizationthat relies on a lot of hard work from volunteers like you to make ithappen, both on and off the hill. I would also like to express mygratitude to all of our race sponsors. They are extremely importantin making our races quality events, and affordable. So if anyoneknows potential sponsors, let Bill Skinner or myself know. Remember, keep those ski tips pointed downhill and go fast.

News & Info of the Alpine Masters Page 2

Masters Membership Newsby Bill Skinner, USSA Masters Manager

We have a full schedule of Masters races for thecoming season. All has come together due to theefforts of your fellow Masters racers, the volunteersfrom across the country that do the homework togive you a full plate of racing. A special thanks toour National Chairman, Steve Slivinski, and toyour local leaders that field my frantic calls about

info deadlines. In no particular order, they are: Gary Randall (AK),Ryan Fuller (CN), Bill McCollom-Nadine Price (EA) Jack Eisen-schmid-Jim Spillane (NY), Horst Locher (SO), Mark Marviss (FW),Amy Lanzel (IM), Toby Chapman (NO), Ann Ozuna (PN), Jen-nifer Kaufman (RM), Barbara Brumbaugh (NY), Deb Lewis (CA),and Debi Davis (CO). Each of these leaders are supported by ahost of friends and Masters fanatics that keep our sport alive.Thanks to all!

• Your USSA Masters membership supports our sport and the U.S.Ski Team. Congrats to Ted and Lindsay for their opening races; weare all a part of their support group. In these tight economic times,USSA has streamlined our organization. Membership fees for Mas-ters have held steady since 2008 and will remain the same through2013. There are no National head taxes. We have run a tight shipeven as insurance and event liability insurance has increased.

• This newsletter is being sent to over 9,000 NASTAR platinum andgold medalists inviting them to join us and attend a Masters race.USSA and NASTAR are working together to promote ski racing forall ages and abilities. If you see a new racer at an event, pleasemake them welcome. Find friends and bring them to a race. Winor lose, share the experience—someday they will thank you.Maybe it will be the beginning of a lifetime rivalry!

• Registration for the Nationals and World Championships will beonline this year starting Dec. 1. Check our web site. Field size lim-its will be in place, so sign up early. An FIS Masters license is re-quired for Mammoth. Check www.fis-ski.com.

• USSA Masters website is updated. Go to www.ussa.org, click“News” then “Masters” for our 2012 Master Comp. Guide, com-plete with rules and national, regional and international eventinfo. You can connect to all division websites through the “Divi-sion web links” under “Masters News.”

Sponsors: For the past nine years, Masters racing has been supported by theSkier’s Edge Company as our title sponsor for major events. Thisyear they are the title sponsor for the Nationals and Criterium. Aspecial thanks from all of us to Joel Loane and his great people.Their machine has made a difference in my skiing and will inyours, too!

Molecule F is back titling our National Speed Series. A specialthanks to Jimmy Ruscitto and Bill Tabar. NSS belt buckles andmedals are the carrot at the end of the speed venue stick. Checkout Luke's great article on this year's races.

Thank you EZ Pak for supporting our NASTAR membership drive.

I hope you have a great racing season and will see you at the start of a Masters race!

John and Toni Bloomberg Athletic Lounge at the Center of Excellence.John is on the U.S. Ski Team board of trustees, a longtime Mastersracer and multiple-time Masters national champion. Thanks, Johnand Toni!

Training Tips

Th e Skier’s Edge will help you train hard all year long so you can rip turns right out of the gate this race season!

Here are a few training tips to help you get in top condition for the podium this year.

1. Do 5-6 high-speed one minute sprints, at 4 minute intervals during a 20 minute aerobic session on your Skier’s Edge. Th ese high-speed sprints should be at 100 turns per minute. Th is will rapidly develop your anaerobic tolerance, give you a great cardiovascular workout, and improve your coordination, balance and strength.

2. Try to increase your workouts by 100 turns per day.

3. One-legged squats: Do 5 squats on each leg. Bend no further then 900 while holding each squat for 30 seconds. Repeat set 4 more times.

4. Spend 10-15 minutes stretching and allowing your muscles to cool down. Th is helps prevent injuries.

5. Make sure you’re maintaining a regular exercise routine to stay in shape and feeling great!

It’s that time of year again and it’s exciting that both the World Criterium

and National Championships will be held close to home. The Skier’s Edge Master’s National Championships are March 19th–23rd in Park City, Utah and the FIS World Criterium will be held in Mammoth, California, March 27th–31st. The Skier’s Edge Co. is proud to be the Title Sponsor for the ninth year in a row. This is the perfect year for you to commit to racing in both Nationals and Worlds, and experience competition with top racers from around the world.

The secret to racing success lies within the racer’s determination and hard work.

it will take your training and racing to the next level, all before you hit the slopes. With the Skier’s Edge you’ll gain balance, coordination, stamina and

race. You’ll also improve your timing,

rhythm and edging. With World’s and National’s so close to home this is a golden opportunity to have a racing year you won’t forget. Last year the Skier’s Edge Masters Team earned multiple gold, silver and bronze medals

Skier’s Edge.

We look forward to another amazing year of great Master’s racing. See you at the races!

To get training tips and tricks, sign up for our eNewsletter! Plus, get special Master’s Discounts!

Sign up at SkiersEdge.com/488

800.225.9669 ext.488www.SkiersEdge.com/488

“I use my World Cup Plyometric Power to build the endurance I need and to simulate the movement patterns in skiing for the season…”

TOlympic Gold Medalist,

US Ski Team

Racing at Your Best!™

Expect Extraordinary!™



Contact Bill Skinner atbskinner@ ussa.org forlicense and entries. Inorder to participate inFIS races, you must beover 30, belong to theUSSA and have a validFIS license. Travel med-

ical insurance is inexpensive and recom-mended.

More info at www.FIS-SKI.com.Go to “Masters Calendar,” then click thePDF file link at the bottom of the page.

Valle Nevado and La Parva, ChileSept. 15,16,18, 2011: SL, GS, two SG’s. Allthe North American teams train down herein Sept. so you can rub elbows with Lind-say Vonn and many elite racers. The Skin-ner Bros. run a great race camp each yearprior to the race dates. The resort is abovethe tree line with beautiful, dry snow andmany sunny days. 2:20 hrs from Santiago.

La Parva, Chile, Sept. 17, 2010 (20point penalty): SG race on Sat. Adjacentand connected to Valle Nevado, so you canski over. The site of a notorious BBQ wheremany Pisco Sours have been known to beconsumed.

Sestriere, Italy, Dec. 10, 11, 2011: SL,GS. Has hosted both the World Cup andthe 2006 Winter Olympics. You race onthe run where Ligety won gold. The townwas built by the Agnelli family, who werethe founders of Fiat automobile company.2:50 hrs from Milan, MXP. www.sestriere.it

Maria Alm, Austria, Dec. 17, 18, 2011:SL, GS. A quaint Alpine village with excel-lent accommodations and well-run races.This is at the “Christkindl” (Christmasmarket) season, which is particularly spe-cial in Salzburg. 1:10 driving time fromclosest airport, Salzburg, SZG.www.bergflex.com.

Les Houches, France, Jan. 6–8, 2012:SL, GS, SG. Located six kilometers fromChamonix. Home of the “Kandahar” fa-mous World Cup downhill run, which willbe used for the Masters race. Book yourhotel early for this popular resort. 1:00 hrfrom Geneva, GVA and 2:34 hrs. fromMilan, MXP. www.leshouches.com .

Kaprun, Austria, Jan. 14, 15, 2012:two SG’s. Between Innsbruck and Kitzbue-hel. Mild race course for a SG. 1:10 fromSalzburg, SZG, and three hrs from Munich,

MUC. www.kaprun.at Bischofswiesen, Germany, Jan. 21, 22,

2012: SL, GS + an additional GS on Sat. forthe Open Bavarian Championships. Beau-tiful area close to the Austrian border. Nearthe site of Hitler’s “Eagle’s Nest” WWIIhide-out. Known for intense competitorsracing on rock-hard ice. Closest airport isSalzburg, SZG, less than a one-hour driveaway. www.bischofswiesen.de

Veysonnaz, Switzerland, Jan. 28, 29,2012: SL, GS. Race on World Cup runs. Ifyou don’t get into the two top hotels slopeside, the accommodations are a bit rustic.No après ski to speak of. Near Verbier. 2:30hrs. from Geneva, GVA. 3:00 hrs fromZurich, ZRH and Milan, MXP.www.veysonnaz.ch

Kalpalinna, Finland, Jan.28, 29, 2012(40 point penalty): two SL’s. Unique expe-rience with Russian, Scandinavian and Es-tonian skiers. No Americans here, so youwill be a novelty. Eino Kalpalla is your gra-cious host. One hr. from Helsinki, HEL.

Rokytnice nad Jizetou, Czech Republic,Feb. 4, 5, 2012 (40 point penalty): SL, GS. Notes: Nearest airport is Prague, PRGwhich is 67 miles away.www.roktnice.com.

Megeve, France, Feb. 10–12, 2012:SL, GS, SG. An Aspen-like resort withprices to match. You race on the WorldCup run. Very popular with Europeans sobook early. Did not have much snow lastwinter, but hoping for better conditionsthis season. 1:10 hrs. from Geneva GVA.www.cssportmegeve.com. Race link iswww.kandahar.org.uk.

Zagreb, Croatia, Feb.17, 18, 2012. SL,GS. The Croatians are a jovial and welcom-ing group. They know how to throw agood party after the races, too. 3:50 hrsfrom Venice, VCE. Go to www.FIS-SKI.comand click the Zagreb link on Masters Cal-endar.

Piancavallo, Italy, Feb. 24–26, 2012:SL, GS, SG . Well-run races, lots of sun andthe one of the best SG courses on the cal-endar. Women’s World Cups have beenheld here. 1:10 hrs. from Venice, VCE.www.piancavallo.it

Tahkovuori, Finland, Mar. 2–4, 2012(40 point penalty): SL and two GS’s. Thevery hospitable Finns would be thrilled tohave some North Americans attend. 37

miles from Kuopio, KUO this is reachedby Finnair connection through Helsinki,HEL. www.tahko.com.

Pec Pod Snezkou, Czech Republic,Mar. 3, 4, 2012: SL, GS . On the Polish bor-der. Used to feel very “East Bloc” here, butnow receiving good reviews. 2:40 hrs toPrague, PRA. www.pecpodsnezkou.cz.

Cerkno, Slovenia, Mar. 17, 18, 2012(40 point penalty): SL, GS. Highest piste isat 4,000 ft. so watch the snow conditions.3:20 hrs. from Venice, VCE. www.ski-cer-kno.com.

Mammoth Mtn, California, USA FISWORLD CRITERIUM, Mar. 27–31, 2012:SL, two GS’s, SG. After a seven-year dryspell, the FIS World Masters Criterium re-turns in a big way to North America!Challenge yourself against the world’sfinest Masters Racers right here in yourown backyard. Beat Hupfer is the Directorof Mammoth’s Race Dept. and he knowshow to put on an event of this size with-out a hitch. It’s never been easier to flyright in to Mammoth Airport from con-nections through LAX, SAN, or SFO. Cri-terium info at www.FIS-SKI.com; click on“Mammoth” on Masters Calendar.

Abetone, Italy FINALS, Apr. 14, 15,2012: double FIS Masters Cup points forSL, GS. Abetone has hosted the FIS WorldMasters Criterium a couple times and isvery experienced at putting on good races.This race is being held quite late in the sea-son so watch the weather/snow condi-tions. 1:30 hrs. from Florence, 4:30 fromMilan, MXP, 4:14 from Rome, FCO.www.abetone.it.

Anne Nordhoy Update: Many of you havethoughtfully asked about American AnneNordhoy’s recovery from an injury sus-tained at Megeve last winter. Anne hasbeen a tireless advocate of Masters ski rac-ing and has been the official U.S. FIS rep-resentative for many years, attending racesand meetings worldwide as well as writingthis column every year. She is progressingwell and is currently doing a lot of hiking.She plans to be playing tennis, then backto skiing and racing as soon as she is able.Until then, she would love to hear fromfriends at [email protected].

2011/12 FIS Masters Cupby Bob Davis


The 2012USSAAlpine

Masters NationalSpeed Series,sponsored byMolecule F, con-sists of a series offourteen SG andDH speed events,with races heldaround thecountry in six di-

visions (Far West, Intermountain, Rocky,PNSA, Northern, and Eastern). The seriesconcludes with the finals at the NationalChampionships in Park City, UT in March.

Park City Mtn. Resort, SG, Jan. 6, 2011This SG opens the year on Payday run. It ison the same course as nationals, so it’s agreat way to get some experience on thenational SG hill. The race is followed by aGS and SL on Payday as well. For the Cand D groups, this is an exceptional op-portunity to get race experience for nation-als, with all races on the same runs. It isalso a fairly gentle hill so a great first SGall in all. Park City is also one of the clos-est ski areas to a major airport at 45 min-utes, so a very easy race to attend.

Insider’s tip: Rental cars can be as low as$20 per day including fees and taxes fromhotwire or similar sites.

Mammoth, 2 SG, Jan. 20, 21This is the fastest SG on the circuit whetherit be down Fascination or Terry’s Run. Thecourse starts on somewhat of a flat and thepitch slowly starts to increase and so doesthe speed. You reach the final pitch at over50 mph and it’s all high-speed turns untilyou reach the finish line. Now you have tocatch your breath, as the finish arena isabove 8,000 feet in elevation!

Insider’s tip: Mammoth is very high, with apeak elevation of over 11,000 feet. Come aday early to get acclimated. They also usu-ally have training on the Thursday beforethe race, so look into it.

Big Sky, SG, Feb. 2, 3Western Regionals SG. Last year they had abig jump at the top of the pitch where youhad the option of going off or around thejump, which was an awesome addition! I

hope they can repeat this for regionals, orat least have the younger men’s course useit and the older class can go around it,using the other side of the hill.

Insider’s tip: If you want to ski off the toptram, bring a beacon, shovel, and probe.Ski patrol requires them and will checkyou for them as you exit the tram. Also,Big Sky is full of sharp rocks all season sowatch those race skis when free skiing!

Killington, SG, Feb. 10With only one speed event east of Denver,I highly recommend attending this raceand gathering support for more speedevents out East.

Insider’s tip: Eastern Speed skiers need togroup together and get some support forSG and DH races before they all disappear.

Soldier Mountain, 2 DH, Feb. 13–15A true downhill with big jumps, long flats,uphill sections, and big turns. The closestplace to stay is in the tiny town of Fair-field, ID, so book early. The resort is onlyopen to racers during this race, so you areable to free ski as fast as you want!

Insider’s tip: Speed on the course, notthrough Fairfield, or you will get a ticket.On the course, in really long sections, picka point 3 or 4 gates down the hill and aimfor that spot while trying to ride the flat-test possible ski, rather than focusing onstaying near the gates, which causes the skito edge harder.

Aspen, SG, DH, Feb. 18–20This race used to take part on the slowestlift ever. I believe if you had to take thecombo of Tiehack lower and upper to getto the top the total time would be around23 minutes. A brand new express lift willserve the course this year! The new lift willreplace both upper and lower tiehack,making the total trip 7 minutes! I can’t sayenough about this improvement. Thecourse is great too: long flats on top, fol-lowed by an open rolling section, thendropping down a fairly steep pitch into thefinish arena.

Insider’s tip: Booking straight to Aspen in-stead of Denver can be less than $200extra and you don’t have a 4-hour whiteknuckle drive down I-70. Rental cars atAspen airport are under $20 a day.

Schweitzer, 2 SG, Feb. 23–24A great entry-level SG. Gentle, rolling ter-rain and fairly slow speeds make this agreat course to get started on. This racealso features full-course SG training on the22nd, GS race on the 25th, and an SL onthe 26th. There is a great banquet up at theresort on Friday night as well.

Insider’s tip: Stay up at the mountain andrelax in the alpine atmosphere. The racetakes place on the backside of the moun-tain which only has a very small lodge atthe bottom. It also lacks cell service on theback side so be prepared to spend extratime at the top of the course. That meansbring a few extra layers.

Ski Cooper, 2 DH, Mar. 10–12 The National Championship downhill. Aglider’s course for sure, make certain youbring fast skis! A great course for thenovice downhiller—come out and giveDH a try. Lots of practice runs available be-fore the race. It features long flats, a fewrollers, and long corridor-type turns withtop skiers touching 70mph. Thanks to theWolfs, they have the best start haus in thecountry. It even has a warming room forthe racers that fits 10 or so.

Insider’s tip: Look to stay in the fall lineand in your tuck. Being aerodynamic andclean is more important here than beingtight on the gates. Bring extra clothes forthe slow ride up and stash them at the fin-ish line.

Park City Mtn. Resort, SG, Mar. 21The National Championship SG. This willrun down Payday, like the first one of theseason. But the competition will surely bemuch more intense. This is what it allcomes down to, so make sure to lay it allon the line.

Insider’s tip: Do not get late coming ontothe last pitch, as you will be fighting theline all the way to the finish. Two bed-room condos 5 minutes from the slopecan be had for as little as $200 a night.

After being runner up in 2010, Luke was the2011 National Speed Series Champion. Hismotto is, “Practice speed to be good at speed.”

2012 Molecule F Masters National Speed Seriesby Luke Keenan


The Nature ValleyNASTAR NationalChampionships andthe Nature ValleyU.S. Alpine Champi-onships will be com-bined to create “TheChampionships,”presented by Nature

Valley at Winter Park Resort, March23–April 1. NASTAR and the U.S. Ski andSnowboard Association (USSA) havejoined forces to bring recreational racersand U.S. Ski Team members together for aski racing festival that will celebrate thesport of alpine racing. The 10-day celebra-tion will include the Nature Valley NASTAR National Championships, the Re-turn of the Champions Family Challenge& U.S. Ski Team reunion, the U.S. SkiTeam Pro-Am, and the Nature Valley U.S.Alpine Championships.

The Championships are designedto rally American alpine racers and the industry around one event. Recreationalracers and fans of the sport will have theopportunity to meet, race and competewith current and former U.S. Ski Teammembers. There will be live music, WarrenMiller film screenings, parties, sponsor

demos, race video, and more.NASTAR racers must qualify for the

Nature Valley NASTAR National Champi-onships within their age category, divisionand discipline at any NASTAR resort. Thereare more than 120 resorts that offer NASTAR racing, and a top-five ranking (asof Feb. 21) at any of them qualifies racersfor the Nationals. The overall champi-ons—fastest male and female—will earnforerunner positions for the Nature ValleyU.S. Alpine Championships GS and a tripto a U.S. Ski Team training camp.

The Return of the Champions Fam-ily Challenge & U.S. Ski Team reunion is ateam race where family members can com-pete as a team against other family teams.In addition, the event is designed as a U.S.Ski Team reunion so that alumni can bringtheir kids and their parents to the eventand compete with their families. Teamsmust have a minimum of three family

members and each team member willscore points for their team within their ageand gender group. Family Teams do notneed to qualify for the race, but pre-regis-tration is required, as space is limited.

The U.S. Ski Team Pro-Am is a teamevent where race league teams and teamsof friends from across the country cancompete for a National Championshipteam title. To add to the excitement, eachteam will add a U.S. Ski Team member totheir roster. Team captains will select theirU.S. Ski Team member the night beforethe race at a welcome reception. Each teammember will score points for their teambased on the best handicap they earn intheir age group. Each team must have aminimum of six team members.

The Nature Valley U.S. AlpineChampionships will include Men’s &Women’s SL, GS and SG. Don’t miss theaction!

10 Days of Pro-Am Nastar CompetitionPresented by Nature Valley and Billy Madsen

Young adults havebeen using sites likeFacebook and Twitterfor years, but recentlythe largest growthsector has beenadults over the age of55. Social media is

not a fad. Just like oversized tennis rac-quets and titanium golf clubs, they arehere to stay.

In 2008, I started a Facebook groupcalled “USSA Masters Alpine Ski Racing,”whose sole purpose was to promote oursport, get people involved in their organi-zation and with each other, and to helpspread information through the ranks. Al-though the idea of social media was in itsinfancy, the group took off and now hasover 900 active users across the spectrum,including current and past World Cup rac-ers, Masters racers from all over the world,

coaches, and ski industry representatives.There are Facebook groups and

pages serving most of the divisions ofUSSA. That has been enormously success-ful in helping to get racers to buildstronger relationships and friendships andget to know each other better. Rather thanjust hit or miss at occasional nationalchampionship events, people are commu-nicating in the off-season to a greater de-gree. Most people strive to be “connected”in some manner, and Masters ski racers areno different. Everyone has an opportunityto participate in sharing ideas within oursport, and the social media are an avenuewhere individuals can have immediate im-pact and quickly get access to information.

With social media as a driving forcein the growth of our sport, Debi Davis(Rocky Mountain) of 3D Communicationsjumped on board recently and with herbusiness knowledge and helped USSA cre-

ate a comprehensive strategy to improvecommunications, increase racer participa-tion and grow membership by promotingour image as a family of skiers, racers andsupporters. Debi also introduced Twitter toadd to the ease of communication (@ski-masters). As an interactive group, we canreach out and draw in interested peoplewho may not be aware of Masters ski rac-ing, as well as to those who are not surewhat the next step is to participate. Cluband area leagues, NASTAR, high schooland collegiate racers, and other independ-ent race leagues are a great sources for re-cruitment into our racing community.

Go ahead, go towww.facebook.com, join the USSA MastersAlpine Ski Racing facebook group, andgive Twitter a try as well. If you need helpor have questions, feel free to contact Debiat: [email protected] or Barb at: [email protected].

March 23–25 The Nature Valley NASTAR National Championships

March 26 Return of the Champions Family Challenge and U.S. Ski Team reunion

March 27 U.S. Ski Team Pro-Am Team Race

March 28–April 1 Nature Valley U.S. Alpine Championships

Masters on Facebook: Info, Ideas and CommunityBarbara Brumbaugh


CentralRyan Fuller, chairwww.midwestmasters.org

Once again this season, Midwest Masterslooks to “take it to the next level!” We’vebeen working hard in the offseason tocontinue to improve the foundationof the program. We will be continu-ing our use of the SkiRaceReg.com tomanage all race registration, and wewill also be hiring a new program di-rector to help bring more focus toour members. We have some newblood and new roles within ourboard membership, and are findingwe have more energy than ever tocontinue growing and improving.

Here are some quick high-lights for this season:• New Program Director!• New bibs and new bib sponsors!• More awards, free stuff, free photos, and

recognition!• New venue: Blackjack Ski Resort in

Bessemer, MI!• No increase in Race Fees or Membership

Fees!This year, Midwest Masters is hosting

38 races at many of the same venues wehave visited in the past, including AftonAlps, Buck Hill, Mount La Crosse, Mont Du

Lac, and Spirit Mountain. We also have ourfirst visit to Blackjack in the UP of Michiganas mentioned. We plan to continue the useof our “ability class” scoring system which,in addition to tracking results by age class,tracks results by ability classes, which group

users by ability based on an FIS-like scoringsystem utilizing managed seed lists and racepenalties.

Midwest Masters continues to striveto increase membership throughout theCentral Division. Last year, a partnershipwith CMSC at Marquette Mountain yieldedexposure to several new ski racers. We hopeto see many of those members racing withMidwest Masters this year at Mount La

Crosse and perhaps at other venues. Mid-west Masters will also be sending racers toother races being run by other adult ski rac-ing leagues to help spread the word of USSAMasters racing within the division. We willalso continue to try to communicate with

these leagues in an effort to buildmore excitement for USSA Mastersski racing:

• In Michigan, the MACC group(Michigan Alpine CompetitionCouncil) continues to run adultleague races within the Central Division and will hold races atBoyne Mountain and Searchmont(Canada) this year over four week-ends. Visit www.maccracing.org formore information on MACC. • In Chicago, the CMSC group(Chicago Metropolitan Ski Coun-

cil) continues to run adult racingevents in the Chicagoland area. Visitwww.skicmsc-racing.com for more informa-tion on CMSC.

Please visit www.midwestmasters.orgor for more information on Midwest Masters.

We are excited for another great sea-son in the Central Division, and are expect-ing great representation at Nationals in ParkCity. We’ll see you there!

Division News

skiracereg.com willbe providing onlinerace registration forUSSA Masters SkiRacing again thisyear. Our first seasonwas a huge success,with the vast major-

ity of racers in each participating race se-ries opting to register online for races. Thisyear skiracereg.com will be providing on-line registration for both USSA RegionalChampionship events as well as the USSAMasters Nationals.

Racers that take advantage of skirac-ereg.com can sign up for races as well ascancel their registrations up to the dead-line for online registration. You save timeand effort using skiracereg.com as on theday of race, you don’t need to deal with

registration at the hill. Race administratorssave time with every online registration,leaving them more time to help put on abetter race for you. These advantages makeyour account on skiracereg.com a win-winsituation.

Using skiracereg.com is easy. Newmembers simply click on “Sign Up” andfollow the instructions to create their newaccount. Renewing members just log inand follow the instructions to renew theironline account. Once you have a currentaccount, you only need to log in and click

on a check box to register and cancel registrations for any race hosted by skiracereg.com.

I personally thank everyone thatused skiracereg.com last year and encour-age anyone that doesn’t have an accountwith skiracereg.com to create one. It’squick, it’s easy and it’s free.

Best of luck with your racing this season,Doug [email protected] and creator of skiracereg.com

Race Registration Online—Now Quick and Easy!

A pretty womanand shiny trophy

draw Masters recruitsto the Minneapolis Ski Show.

Afast time in a race course isachieved by the ski racer that hasthe highest average speed fromstart house to the finish line. Toachieve this, there are critical tech-

nique keys will assist you in skiing fasterthis year. These keys revolve around simpletechnique adjustments that can be incorpo-rated from day one.

Technique has two purposes. First, itneeds to allow you to stay in balance; andsecondly, to make available a body postureor position so you can negotiate a fast paththrough the gates.

Balance in a race course is con-stantly challenged by speed, line, and thesnow surface. To create a balanced stanceyou need some key elements in your stance.This will endow you with a technique tocope with turns of different size and radii,while being in balance on any snow surface.

We will briefly look at five aspects ofgreat stance and technique. Your ability toachieve these on a consistent basis will bereflected in your results.

Ankle Flex Figure 1Keeping fore and aft precision comes fromthe ankles. Hands forward and pushing thehips forward are nice, but the real move-ment of your center-of-mass comes fromthe skis in which you are levering from. Thereal key behind “ankle flexion” is not justthe position, but the tension in the musclesof both ankles. The look of a flexed ankleis important, but the muscle tension iswhat is necessary to keep fore/aft balance.You can feel this tension at home. Walkaround the room on your heels only. You

should eventually feel a warm or evenburning spot on the front of your shins.This is the muscle that creates the ankleflexion. This is what you want to be firingmaking you ready for action while on therace course.

Even though we are outside-skidominant, we should be reminded thatankle flexion needs to be in both ankles.Ideally you want to be creating a similarangle in both ankles.

Ski Lead Figure 2“Ski lead” is one ski being slightly ahead orfarther forward than the other ski. The up-hill ski will always be the one forward.Since we are constantly going from right toleft with our ski turns, the uphill ski will

By Ron Kipp Photos: Getty Images

Ron Kipp is the USSAAlpine Sport Education

Manager. He has workedwith the U.S. and

Norwegian Ski Teams.

Figure 2 U.S. Ski Team’s Lindsey Vonn shows how her body angles match the angles created by her

ski lead on the way to winning the women’s first GS of the 2011–2012 season in Sölden, Austria.

5 Keys to

change from right foot to left foot everyturn, which means the ski lead will alsochange for each turn.

Ski lead is dependent upon the pre-viously-mentioned ankle flexion. Masterankle flexion in both ankles, and your skilead will fall into place.

With one ski farther forward, the cor-responding knee, hip, shoulder, and possi-bly even the hand should be at a similarangle forward. This technique characteristicwill leave you in a biomechanically efficientposition. You can now create usable angula-tion in the hip and will be better able tohold the edge at the end of the turn.

Since ski lead is constantly changingthroughout the turn, be sure to mimic thischange up the entire body. The larger the

Figure 1 U.S. Ski Team’s Ted Ligety, 2011 World Cup GS Champion,

demonstrates flexed, tensed, and equal ankle angles while winning

the first GS of the 2011–2012 season in Sölden, Austria.

To feel this forward movement, skate acrossflat terrain or to the ski lift. As you becomebetter at skating, try skating down a veryslight incline and then after the skate makea small turn. Moving forward and then onto the new edge are the skills you want tomaster.

Perpendicularity Figure 5We live most of our lives in a horizontalworld. People even get anxious when a pic-ture on the wall is a bit tilted. Indeed beingstraight-up vertical is part of our makeup.

Meanwhile, the world of ski racing isperformed on a slope. Since race coursesare not level, we must adapt.

Being in balance in the off-kilterworld of ski racing requires the same per-pendicular attitude we have in our nor-mal daily world. The only difference is,we must now get perpendicular to the skislope.

Making the ski flat against the snowat turn initiation is best accomplished bythe reorientation of our body such thatwe will be at right angles with the slope.At this critical moment of linking turns,the entire body more or less will be verti-cal relative to the slope.

The fore/aft balance challenge andthe reason we get in the backseat is also aresult of this tilted world of ski racing. Ifwe remain upright or vertical relative toour normal horizontal world we will bein the backseat when we are referencedto the ski slope.

To be perpendicular requires thesame ankle tension we mentioned as thefirst key to skiing fast. This now takes usfull circle with our five keys. Incorporat-ing these into your repertoire will findyou speed in the race course this year.

turn the slower this will be, while gates settighter will require a quicker adjustment.

Hip Flexion Figure 3Achieving the correct amount of edge iscritical for making the desired turn radius.Since going fast involves a tight or small ra-dius turn, we usually are looking for higherdegrees of edge angle with the outside ski.The outside ski is the ski that is on theouter perimeter of the arc and is the onethat can resist the greatest forces due to ourbiomechanics. To allow the outer ski toachieve this needed high edge angle re-quires that the ski racer move the inside skiand leg out of the way. Flexing at the hipand concurrent knee flexion will allow thebody to create an angled body po-sition (angulation).

To become proficient atthis position requires precisepressure control of the skis.While increasing weight to theoutside ski, feel the inside skiget proportionally lighter.When this is mastered you willbe able to change the rate andtempo at moving the hip inwhich is not only fast in itselfbut will allow the outside ski todo its job.

Moving Forward Figure 4Ending up in the backseat is acommon problem. The solu-tion is not to stay out of thebackseat, but knowing whenand how to move forward to re-center.

After the gate, we beginto flatten the ski so we canchange edges. This flattening-out period is a critical momentfor the ski turn. If performed ef-ficiently, the ski racer has plenty

of time between gates. If not—we’ve allhad this feeling—the gates will seem tocome way too fast.

It is at this flattening-out momentthat you want to move forward onto theball of the foot to initiate the new turn.This forward movement will also make itpossible to rotate or steer the ski if youneed a bit of adjustment to arc the remain-ing part of the turn. This is a strong posi-tion biomechanically and mechanically.Biomechanically, we are very agile whenour center-of-mass is above the ball of ourfoot. This also positions us over the middleof the ski, making it very efficient mechani-cally to rotate the ski as needed.

This Year

Figure 3 Ted Ligety achieving a high edge angle, possible due to

hip flexion allowing his inside leg to get out of the way so he can

create angulation during his winning run in Sölden this year.

Figure 4 Ted Ligety moving forward to start the

new turn during his winning run in Sölden this year.

Figure 5 Lindsey Vonn is perpendicular to the slope while switching edges between turns by moving her

body forward and down the hill. Below: Bode Miller is perpendicular in a fore/aft plane in Sölden this year.


New England MastersNadine Price, chairwww.nemasters.org

At this time last year we weretalking about an early start tothe ski season after a cold,

wet spell and quite a lot of early snow.What a difference a year makes! The worldhere changed on August 28th when Irenemade her devastating foray through thestate. She was “downgraded” from a hurri-cane to a tropical storm, but wind wasn’tthe issue. Nearly 15 inches of rain in about12 hours was. I will never forget the sightat the foot of our road. All that remainedof Route 100 was a few hundred yards ofpavement. On either end, brown and filledwith trees, televisions, trucks, chunks oflumber that used to be walls or roofs, evena freezer, raged violent torrents. When thewaters began to recede, much of the land-scape was unrecognizable. At least 270bridges and hundreds of miles of roadwere gone and countless structures weredamaged beyond repair or carried awaycompletely. The parking lots at Killingtonand Pico were a mess: deep gouges, pilesof rocks and feet of silt. Some of the baselodges were partially filled with silt and asizable piece of the main base lodge atKillington had been washed away. So therelatively mild fall has been good newsthis year, making the recovery efforts a lit-tle easier! The state and local communitieshave risen to the occasion and performedmajor miracles. Most of the roads are nowopen, the ski area parking lots and lodgesare repaired and we are all looking forwardto what we hope will be a great winter!

For the fourth year, thanks to thehelp of USSA, we will be jump starting theseason with a New England Masters boothat the Boston Ski Expo. Each year we havesigned up a pretty good number of newracers at the show. This is a good venue inwhich to reach people who might be curi-ous about racing or maybe raced in thepast. It is continually amazing how manypeople we talk to at the show have neverheard of Masters or thought that we areonly for former national team-level ath-letes. So we will be there with banners andgiveaways and prizes and games and every-thing else we can think of to get attention!

We have a terrific lineup of racesthis season. We’ll be kicking things offwith two mid-December weekends of rac-ing. First, we will be at Killington for oursecond-ever joint venture with ASRA, a skiracing organization with races in Vermont

and points a little west and south. Eventswill include an SL, the season’s first Rock-port Mortgage Corporation GS Series raceand a Saturday evening party at MountainMeadows Lodge. The following weekendwe will be visiting a new favorite venue,Cochran’s, for a Friday GS under the lightsfollowed by a party, and on Saturday, anSL. After the holidays, we will be visiting asmany of the favorite venues as we could fitinto the season, plus a new one. We will bechecking out Blackwater, for an SL, fol-lowed by, of course, a party! Regionals willbe hosted by Killington, where we will berunning SG on their newly-homologatedhill, Needles Eye, which promises to be afun and exhilarating ride. The schedulewill also include an SC, an SL, a GS and, ofcourse, the usual complement of parties.This season, we will be heading to Okemofor our Finals. This venue has hosted Re-gionals a number of times in the past andis always terrific. We look forward to a fab-ulous weekend of racing and parties. Satur-day’s Banquet, already a tradition,promises to be as epic as ever. And in anew twist, we have decided to count thelast race, Sunday’s GS, in our final SiseCup standings, so it could make for an im-portant and exciting day. And of course itis an excuse for one last party!

For a variety of well-considered rea-sons, the board of New England Mastershas decided to reorganize our organizationand assume more responsibilities previ-ously carried out by our executive director.Sadly, this means that we are saying good-bye to our executive director of the last twoyears, Jim McKeon. We want to thank Jimmost sincerely for all his hard work, espe-cially with respect to getting us up andrunning with our new scoring and registra-tion systems. We wish him all the best andhope that he will have time to come playwith us a bit this winter!

This fall we welcome two newboard members, Katie Georgeand John Lussier. BothKatie and John have been with us for quitea while and have already given generouslyof their time and skill. We are delightedthat they both accepted our invitation andwe are already trying to take full advan-tage of them!

We are also fortunate towelcome Lucy and Kip Blake asthey fill the role of Race Ad-ministrator. The Blakes havebeen involved in our com-munity for many years

and have a vast wealth of experience in theareas of race organization, administrationand officiating.

Another noteworthy change is thenew Social Committee. (You may have no-ticed the party theme!) We have long rec-ognized the importance of the socialaspect of our beloved sport and have atlast decided to institutionalize that knowl-edge. We hope to never again miss any op-portunity for a party!

The New England Masters Founda-tion is getting closer to fruition. The pur-pose of the Foundation is to assist aspiringyoung athletes and to help bridge the gapbetween Masters racing and racing at alllevels by supporting and promoting alpineracing at all levels.

As always, our series is made possi-ble and enhanced by our sponsors. Our GSseries has been generously sponsored byRockport Mortgage Corporation. We wishto thank them most sincerely. Our endur-ing gratitude goes to Artech, for its gener-ous and continued support. And we thankSkier’s Edge, Booster Strap, Swix,SkiChair.com, Denby and EasyOn for theircontinued support. When you have needor use for any of the products or servicesour sponsors provide, we hope you willvisit them first.

Division News

Alphonse Sevigny — 81 years oldand still tearing it up.


AlaskaBy Gary Randallwww.alyeskaski-club.org

Snow is comingdown the moun-

tains and we are getting readyfor another great season of skiracing.

As usual, we will be hav-ing four SL races and four GSraces.

We hope to have 50 to 60competitors in the program thisyear, and are striving to get asmany as we can into USSA.Last year at Copper Mountainwe had eight competitors; thisyear we hope to send 10, if notmore, to Park City, so we canchallenge for the Division Cup.

Last year, we had the “oldman on the hill,” Paul Crews, work-ing with us midweek for race training. Heretired as administrator for Alyeska SkiClub this year, but we are hoping he willcome back as our midweek coach. Our an-nual Master sign up is November 18th andat that time we are going to try and sign upand collect the fees for USSA. Alyeska isscheduled to open on the weekend of No-vember 25 and 26, depending on snowconditions. I know all Masters will be outthere trying all their new equipment.

Hope all have a great year and I willsee you at Park City!

Northern Division Masters By Toby Chapman, chair

In case you haven’t noticed, Rick Murphyhas stepped down as Northern DivisionChair. I would like to thank him on behalfof all of Northern Division for his hardwork, dedication, and enthusiasm towardsthe sport. Thanks, Rick!

Due to low participation and to in-crease the number of races, Northern divi-sion will once again have a joint raceschedule with PNSA and Intermountain.The Whitefish race in January and theLookout Pass race will be the lone divi-sional races, with the rest being joint races.Western Regionals will also be held at BigSky this year in February, so mark it onyour calendar!

Hopefully, Northern can have evena bigger contingent of racers this year, withNationals being at Park City, UT and West-ern Regionals being at Big Sky, MT. Major

events do not get much closer than thesetwo venues for Northern Division partici-pants!

Gate training opportunities forNorthern racers are available around thedivision, but I would like to extend a per-sonal invitation for training opportunitiesnext season at Lookout Pass and Snow-bowl. Weekday and weekend training willbe available. Contact Toby Chapman fordetails: 406-370-8052 or email: [email protected].

Look forward to seeing you all thisseason!

PNSABy Ann Ozunawww.PNSAmasters.org

The 2011–2012 season is al-most upon us, with snow inthe high country and skiers

from the California border to north Idahoeagerly awaiting the most ambitious raceseason ever. There is a race somewhere justabout every weekend. Last year we hadthree racers who made every event; theywill be hard pressed this year!

Do you need to be an expert to raceor a retired junior racer looking to make acomeback? Not even – we welcome anyblue-run skier who wants to challengethemselves in a longer course, improvetheir skiing, and enjoy the camaraderiethat is Masters racing. Oregon racers now have two additional

areas participat-ing in Masters rac-ing: WillamettePass, near the Cal-ifornia line, hasopened its PeterLorincz Cup tothe over-19 set inFebruary and theBend Ski Clubwill host its first-ever SL races atHooDoo in Janu-ary. Mt Hood’sMasters Mania re-turns the firstweekend inMarch. Mt Bache-lor will host thePNSA Masters Fi-nals to wrap upthe season inApril. Year-long

results will be tallied and PNSA champi-ons crowned in each age class.

Seattle area racers can start the sea-son at the Summit at Snoqualmie with aGS on January 7/8, then head down toCrystal Mountain the next weekend formore GS racing. SL gate bashers will enjoythe Over the Hill races at Alpental in Feb-ruary. Stevens Pass offers SL, GS and twoSGs in March to prepare racers for Nation-als.

Got a need for Speed? Head toEastern Washington/North Idaho in Janu-ary to perfect your SG at 49 Degrees Northfor a training camp followed by three racesat a racer-friendly hill and area. Return toSchweitzer for five days of SG training, SGraces—part of the national Molecule Frace series—and then stay for tech eventson the weekend. Stop by Lookout Pass, onthe Idaho/Montana border, on the way tothe nationals for a GS/SL weekend at asmall, friendly area.

This is the perfect season for join-ing Masters as the Western Region races arenearby at Big Sky Montana the first week-end in February, and Nationals are in ourbackyard at Park City, UT.

Registering for all these races willbe easy, as PNSA is joining the digital agewith online registration this year. You canalready like us on Facebook and check onthe details of our schedule at www.pn-samasters.org or contact our membershipchair on the webpage to join our emaillist. See you on the hill!

Division News

A group of very happy American Masters celebrate winning the Nations Cup at ValleNevado, Chile, this summer. Victory is sweetest when accomplished with friends.


Division News

Rocky MountainJennifer L. Kaufman, Vice President and Division Chairwww.rmmskiracing.org

Ski season is already well underway in Col-orado and most of our racers have takenadvantage of good early-season snow con-ditions to make some turns. This year, wedelayed the start of our races until after theBirds of Prey World Cup weekend so every-one can take advantage of watching theworld’s best battle it out on the frozenslopes of Beaver Creek. The RMM calendaris finalized and we will launch our2011–12 season kick-off weekend at Love-land in mid-December.

Our annual Fall Party took placethis past weekend and as usual, those inattendance had a blast. Many thanks toour sponsors and supporters that joined usfor the event including: FUXI Ski Racing,SKS, A Racer’s Edge, SKINS and SaucerWax. A special thank you also goes out toLori Hamilton from Swissam for her gen-erous prize donation.

Our highly successful Sponsor-A-Race program continues this year and wewere able to sell approximately 90% of ourrace inventory during the Fall Party. Thisprogram helps offset our race administra-tion costs and is a vital part of our annualfinancial plan. We would like to thankthose who have already committed tosponsor a race this season—there are still afew left, so act soon!

IT projects were the primary focusof our off-season work this year. In a fewweeks, we will be rolling out our brandnew RMM website. We thought it was timefor a new look, and we hope everyone en-joys it. If you like it, we would be happy torefer the company that built it for us! Wealso are making some improvements to

better integrate race registration whichhopefully will ensure smoother race daypractices and results generation.

As always, we have all Alpine disci-plines on the calendar this year, includingplenty of downhill for the speed freaks!We also incorporated SC for the first timethis season and we are hoping to addother such events going forward.

We are looking forward to a greatseason, and welcome new racers as well ascompetitors from other divisions at anytime. Please check us out at www.rmm-skiracing.org!

New York State Snow Masters SeriesBy Jack Eisenschmid, chairwww.nymasters.org

Welcome to the 2012 season!With winter fast approaching, it

won’t be long before we get back on ourskis and do what we all like to do best…race! This will be the 40th season for theNY State Masters and we once again willhave a great race schedule. This year wewill have a total of 24 races and 12 racedays. We also have a very nice blend ofraces consisting of 12 GS, 8 SL, and 4 SGto test all abilities!

This year we will begin the seasonagain with a GS and SL at Swain on Jan. 8.Swain always does a great job, and we’repleased to be able to begin our seasonthere, as we have done in the past. AfterSwain, we will head to Labrador for a GSand SL race on Jan. 14 and then return tothe Rochester area for a two-race GS atHunt Hollow on Jan. 22. The followingweek we return to the Syracuse area for acombined weekend at Toggenburg for avery challenging two-race SL on Jan. 28and then to Greek Peak on Jan. 29 for atwo-race GS. Rockett and the Greek Peakrace crew always do great job! Also, as wehave done the last two years, the GreekPeak race is dedicated to Joan Skiff, a well-known ski racer and golfer in CNY for over50 years. She won many eastern, national,and international ski races as well as manystate and local club championships. It is agreat honor that we continue to name theGreek Peak race in Joan’s honor. The fol-lowing weekend we are very pleased tohave a combined GS and SG weekend atWhiteface on Feb. 3 and 4. It has beenmany years since the Masters have been toWhiteface, and we are excited to return!

We are also changing up the timingof the Eastern Regional Championshipsthis year by moving it to Feb. 10–12. This

year’s event will take place at Killington/Pico. After the Easterns, we return to SongMountain on Feb. 18 for a GL/SL race, andto Bristol Mountain on Feb. 24 for a two-race SG, and then again back to Bristol thefollowing week for a two-race GS. We willonce again close out the season at Swainon Mar. 4 with a GS and SL.

The Masters will then finish the2012 season with the Nationals, takingplace at Park City, UT Mar. 19–23.

As always, the NY Masters will havea great day of racing getting in two-runraces by 2:00. This leaves time for free ski-ing, as well as fun après race parties. Thisyear, similar to every year, we are hoping toincrease our race attendance, so we wel-come any new—as well as any past— Masters racers.

Check out our website at www.ny-masters.org for the 2012 schedule, con-tacts, and registration information. Wehave also added a NY Masters Face Bookpage for everyone to access, as well. Wealso ask that you please visit the links toour many sponsors that help make our se-ries great.

Make sure to check the NY Masterswebpage & Facebook page for any updates& changes to schedules! We recommendall NY Masters to join Facebook, for bestup-to-date information.

See you at the start!

Southern MastersBy Horst Locher, chairwww.sararacing.org

In the first week ofOctober, the TVweatherman men-tioned that snow fellat higher elevations at

Snowshoe, West Virginia and Sugar Moun-tain, North Carolina. Well, I assume this isa good omen for the mid-Atlantic andsouthern region to have a good racing sea-son. Actually, I realized this could apply tome, too. Dealing in the last ten years withnew hips, taking yearly sciatica injectionsand finally, this spring, three vertebraswere fused to one mighty rigid one, I hopethat brings me back to the racing circuit.

Due to our limited attendance ofMasters in Virginia, West Virginia andNorth Carolina, we have to mix our Mas-ters races throughout the season with theyounger folks. Every year, I hope we canincrease the number of Masters, but it isdifficult to lure them away from NASTARracing. We just cannot increase the quan-

In DH at Nationals.

Don Johnsonfinds some air


tity of racers who would like to race abovethe NASTAR level. But again, you neverknow, this could happen one time. At leasthere at Bryce Resort, Kathy HurdCarillo gotseriously hooked to Masters racing.

In the past two years, Kathy Hurd-Carrillo—who travels weekly from BryceResort to Washington, D.C. to give ice skat-ing lessons, dancing lessons—spends heroff-time slicing turns with grass skis on theski slope. She set the goal seven years agoto become a true Master racer. In the lasttwo years, she approached the Masters Na-tionals at Sun Valley and Copper Moun-tain and she came back smiling, becauseshe was able to get medals in her agegroup, 40 to 44 years. It shows what moti-vation and termination can do for an ath-lete. If you see a lady at an event who isvery helpful, talkative and is full of energy,it is probably Kathy.

This year, Sugar Mountain, NorthCarolina, will start the season with a Masters racing clinic Dec. 9–11. KimSchmidinger, 1989 World Junior Cham-pion in GS, is organizing this event andher idol, gold medalist Diann Roffe, willbe a guest coach with Keely Kelleher, whotook the 2010 national title in SG.

Far WestBy Mark Mirvisswww.FarWestMasters.org

Well, it’s almost ski season again here inthe Far West. In fact I know a few of ourfolks hiked and skied the three feet offresh powder that fell here at Squaw Valleyduring the first week of October. It wasalso an “Endless Winter” here as the snowsurvived from last season intothis upcoming season.

Big news here in theFar West region, we are host-ing the FIS World CriteriumAlpine Masters at MammothMountain Mar. 27–31. Thisis the firsttime an

international Masters event has been heldin North America in quite some time. Ithink this will be a great opportunity toshow the rest of the ski racing world howmuch we support and enjoy this sport. In-formation regarding this event can befound at ussamasters.org.

In addition to the World Criterium,Mammoth is also hosting five SG racesJan. 20–22. This will be part of the Na-tional Speed Series, so I hope to see lots ofparticipants from outside of our region.

For those of you wanting to partici-pate in some early-season racing, we willhost five races over a three-day period Dec.2–4 at Mammoth Mountain. Please seefarwestmasters.org for details on thisevent. It will be preceded by a weeklongtraining camp put on by Mammoth Moun-tain race department, running Nov. 28–Dec. 1.

I’m looking forward to seeingeveryone on the slopes this winter!

Intermountain MastersBy Amy Lanzel, chairwww.intermountain-masters.org

The mountains arefilling up with snowearly here in the In-

termountain West in preparation for anupcoming season that is shaping up to beof our best ever.

Plans are well underway as we getready to host the Nationals at Park CityMountain Resort in March and our West-ern Regional races at the gorgeous Big Skyresort in February. In addition, we have afull lineup of local races to appease eventhe most select racers. Our division con-tines to encourage newmembers and will con-tinue our program lastyear of race comps for

volunteer hours. The most exciting newsthis year will be the awarding of our “Skiwith a Legend” scholarship for $5,000. Wealso will be introducing a “Sponsor ARace” opportunity for our members andbusiness partners to get a more beneficialexperience with Intermountain Masters.This program allows racers and businesspartners to “buy” a race and comes withnaming rights as well as special recogni-tion at postrace parties and entry into thehero’s tunnel! This new program is yet an-other portal for membership engagement.

New this year is the introduction ofDr. Phil Davidson as the official orthope-dic consultant and full sponsor for Inter-mountain Masters. His experience andknowledge in sports medicine will be avaluable addition and added benefit toour members. He not only will offer im-mediate access to orthopedic care but willalso be providing seminars on ACL preven-tion during the early part of the year.

We are also pleased to announcethe continued support from Jans Moun-tain Experts in sponsoring our yearlongJans Cup races series held at local resortsin Utah. Jans will be amping up their in-volvement this year with more specials onrace skis and tuning specials. Look forgreat opportunities and specials comingout soon. In addition, we will be welcom-ing back Atomic, Cofer Chiropractic andEZPAK sponsorships. We hope to addsome new partnerships, as well. Look forannouncements soon.

Check out our race schedule andstart planning your fun. Our season kicksoff this year with the Loritz Cup in earlyJanuary and just keeps rolling from there.We are particularly excited about TheCanyons ski resort being on the schedulethis year. Our complete race schedule willbe posted on our website at intermoun-tainmasters.org. You will also find links to

our online raceregistration,

skiracereg.com.Please check back

frequently for up-dates and don’t for-

get to visit ourfacebook page: Inter-

mountain Masters. As always, we

welcome Masters fromother divisions any time!

We look forward to seeingyou on the slopes.

Division News

Class IV GS medalistsJennifer Kaufman Jessie McAleer Kathy Hurdcarillo


It isamazingthat inan era ofsuch en-viron-mental,technicaland sci-entificadvancesthat poornutritionis com-

mon in theUnited States, as well as other industrial-ized nations. This is directly related to ourtaste for processed foods, while virtuallyignoring fresh fruits and vegetables.Healthcare professionals are recognizingthat it is not enough to encourage health-ier food choices, it is also necessary to rec-ommend supplementation as an adjunctto improving health. Levels of nutrient in-take at or slightly above the RecommendedDietary Allowances (RDA) may be neededto help individuals achieve a more com-plete and balanced intake of vitamins,minerals and trace elements. However, forsome patients, higher doses in excess ofthe RDAs are needed.

Nutrition science is showing thatour nutritional needs vary with age, levelof physical activity, levels of stress, geneticfactors, medication usage, toxic burdens,and disease processes. While RDA levels of

intake may prevent overt nutrient deficien-cies, people with chronic insufficienciesmay experience altered metabolic activi-ties, leading to distinctly modern healthproblems. Increasing intake of vitamins,minerals and amino acids helps improvefunctioning of interrelated enzyme sys-tems, cellular energy metabolism, hor-monal regulation, and detoxificationpathways that are critical to maintaininghealth.

Over the past decade, abundant sci-entific and clinical literature has demon-strated that dietary supplements play animportant role in promoting health andreducing disease. National surveys showapproximately one half of adult Americansinclude the use of vitamins, minerals, andamino acids (supplements) on a dailybasis. The Council for Responsible Nutri-tion reports that approximately 50% of allhealthcare professionals routinely takesupplements, with multivitamin and min-eral supplements being the most widelyused.

When choosing vitamin supple-ments, consider their quality, so you aretaking something that will be easily ab-sorbed. This is critical to their ability to en-hance the metabolic processes thatsupport a healthy system. Supplements ob-tained from the United States, Scandinaviaand Western Europe are considered “puresource.” Products manufactured in the U.S.follow nutraceutical guidelines for qual-ity—increasing your chances of receiving

complete vitamin, mineral and amino acidassimilation by your body. EZPAK Nu-traceuticals (www.ezpaknutrition.com)meets and exceeds all of the above criteria,including clinical trials for effectiveness(250 patients taking EZPAK for threemonths saw a 31.3% increase in serum lev-els). Purchasing the least expensive prod-uct you can find means you may beswallowing something your body may notbe able to process well enough to give youthe health benefits you’re seeking. There isa reason they are cheap!

You have spent a lifetime maintain-ing your health and fitness; you are worththe investment in keeping it that way. To ORDER through the web site, enter theMasters code “USA1” for the racer dis-count.

Dr. Steve is a Fellow in Anti-Aging, Regenera-tive and Functional Medicine, Masters Racerand a former Special Forces Medic in Viet-nam. He has spent the past decade on researchinto debilitation of women as they age. Dr.Steve’s research has shown that the lack ofamino acids, hormones, minerals, and vita-mins contribute to a decline in quality of lifeissues and increases the propensity for diseaseand disease processes. Dr. Steve is the formula-tor of EZPAK Nutraceuticals (www.ezpaknu-trition.com) and the co-formulator of GenEpic(www.genepic.com), a natural protocol that iscurrently part of ongoing research into rapidcell proliferation.

Are Recommended Dietary Allowances Enough?Dr. Steve Osguthorpe, N.D.

The Alpine Masters Series newsletter is designed and copyedited by Jim Hayes (a Master in age only) in Salt Lake City.Visit www.CenozoicDesign.com. For more photography by

Erika Krainz, see ErikaKrainz.smugmug.com.


2012 Alpine Masters SchedulesAlaska Alpine MastersJan. 7 . . . . . . . . .Alyeska . . . . . . . . . . . . .GSJan. 28 . . . . . . . .Alyeska . . . . . . . . . . . . .GSFeb. 25 . . . . . . . .Alyeska . . . . . . . . . . . . . .SLFeb. 26 . . . . . . . .Alyeska . . . . . . . . . . . . . .SLMar. 3 . . . . . . . .Alyeska . . . . . . . . . . . . .GSMar. 10 . . . . . . .Alyeska . . . . . . . . . . . . . .SLMar. 24 . . . . . . .Alyeska . . . . . . . . . . . . . .SLInfo. Gary Randall 907.242.2927

Central Alpine Masters Dec 10–11 . . . .Buck Hill . . . . . .2SL/2GSDec 17–18 . . . .Afton Alps . . . . .2GS/2SLJan 7–8 . . . . . . .Mt La Crosse . . .2SL/2GSJan 14–15 . . . .Buck Hill . . . . .2SL/2GSJan 28–29 . . . .Afton Alps . . . . .2SL/2GSFeb 4–5 . . . . . .Mt DuLac . . . . . .2SL/2GSFeb 18–19 . . . .Blackjack . . . . . .2SL/2GSFeb 26 . . . . . . .Buck Hill . . . . .SL/GS/SCFeb 27 . . . . . . .Buck Hill . . . . . . . . .SL/SCMar 5 . . . . . . . .Buck Hill . . . . . . . .GS/SCMar 10–11 . . . .Spirit Mountain 2GS/2SLInfo: Ryan Fuller 612.501.3268 www.midwestmasters.org

New England Masters/Sise CupDec. 10–11 . . . .Killington . . . . . . . .SL/GSDec. 16–17 . . . .Cochrans . . . . . . . . .GS/SLJan. 7 . . . . . . . . .Blackwater . . . . . . . . . . .SLJan. 8 . . . . . . . . .Sunapee . . . . . . . . . . . .GSJan. 15–16 . . . .Middlebury . . . . . . .SL/GSJan. 21 . . . . . . . .Bromley . . . . . . . . . . . . .SLJan. 22 . . . . . . . .Stratton . . . . . . . . . . . . .GSJan. 27 . . . . . . . .Cranmore . . . . . . . . . . .GSJan. 28 . . . . . . . .Black Mt . . . . . . . . . . . . .SLJan. 29 . . . . . . . .Cranmore . . . . . . . . . . .SLFeb. 4–5 . . . . . .Ragged Mt. . . . . . . .GS/GS

Eastern ChampionshipsFeb. 10–12 . . . .Killington . . . .2SG/SL/GSFeb. 25 . . . . . . . .Loon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .GSFeb. 26 . . . . . . . .Cannon Mtn. . . . . . . . . .SLMar. 3 . . . . . . . .Waterville . . . . . . . . . . . .SLMar. 4 . . . . . . . .Suicide Six . . . . . . . . . . .SL

Sise Cup FinalsMar. 9–11 . . . . .Okemo . . . .SG/SC/GS/SLInfo: Bill McCollom 802.234.9561www.nemasters.org

New York MastersJan. 8 . . . . . . . . .Swain . . . . . . . . . . . .GS/SLJan. 14 . . . . . . . .Labrador . . . . . . . . .GS/SLJan. 21 . . . . . . . .Hunt Hallow . . . . .GS/GSJan. 22 . . . . . . . .Holiday Valley . . . . .SL/SLJan. 28 . . . . . . . .Toggenberg . . . . . . . .SL/SLJan. 29 . . . . . . . .Greek Peak . . . . . . .GS/GSFeb. 3–4 . . . . . .Whiteface . . . . . . . . . .4SG

Eastern RegionalsFeb. 10–12 . . . .Killington . . . .2SG/GS/SLFeb. 18 . . . . . . . .Song . . . . . . . . . . . .SG/SGFeb. 24 . . . . . . . .Bristol . . . . . . . . . . .SG/SGMar. 2 . . . . . . . .Bristol . . . . . . . . . . .GS/GSMar. 4 . . . . . . . .Swain . . . . . . . . . . . .GS/SLInfo: Jack Eisenschmid 585.288.4554www.nymasters.org

Southern Masters (SARA)Dec. 27 . . . . . . .Bryce Resort . . . . . . . . .GSDec. 29–30 . . . .Sugar Mtn. . . . . . . . .SL/GSJan. 16 . . . . . . .Wintergreen . . . . . . . . .GSJan. 21–22 . . . . .Bryce Resort . . . . . . .SL/GSFeb. 4–5 . . . . . .Snowshoe, WV . . . .SL/GSFeb. 11–12 . . . . .Timberline. . . . . . . .SL/GSFeb. 25–26 . . . .Sugar Mtn. . . . . . . . . . . .SLInfo Contact: Horst Locher 540.856.2121www.skisara.org

Far West MastersDec. 2-4 . . . . . .Mammoth . . . . . .2SL/3GSJan. 6 . . . . . . . . .Heavenly . . . . . . . . . . .2SLJan. 7-9 . . . . . . .Sierra at Tahoe . . . .SL/GSJan. 20-22 . . . . .Mammoth . . . . .trSG/5SGFeb. 2-5 . . . . . . .Big Sky, MT .SC/SG/GS/SLFeb. 11-12 . . . . .Northstar . . . . . . . . . .3GSFeb. 25-26 . . . . .Mt. Rose . . . . . . . . . .SL/GSMar. 10-11 . . . . .Squaw Valley . . . . .2SL/GS

FIS Masters CriteriumMar. 27–31 . . . .Mammoth . .SG/GS/GS/SLApr. 10–12 . . . .Northstar trDH/2DH/2SGApr. 13–15 . . . .Sugarbowl .GS/SL/dual SLInfo contact: Mark Mirviss 530.583.6971www.farwestmasters.org

Intermountain Masters/ JANS Cup Jan. 6–8 . . . . . . .Park City . . . . . .SG/SL/GSJan 13–15 . . . . .Sun Valley . . . . .SG/GS/SLJan. 21–22 . . . . .Snowbasin . . . . . . . .SL/SLJan. 28–29 . . . .Snow King . . . . . . .GS/GS

Western RegionalsFeb. 2–5 . . . . . .Big Sky . . . . SC/SG/GS/SLFeb.13–15 . . . . .Soldier Mtn. . . . . .DH/DHFeb. 24–26 . . . .Wolf Mtn. . . . . .GS/SL/GSMar. 3–4 . . . . . .Canyons . . . . . . . . . .SL/SL Mar 9–11 . . . . . .Snowbasin . . . . .SG/GS/SL

National ChampionshipsMar. 19–23 . . . .Park City . . .SC/SG/GS/SLInfo: Amy Lanzel 801-808-3089www.intermountainmasters.org

Northern MastersJan. 13–15 . . . .Whitefish . . . . . .GS/GS/SLJan. 20–22 . . . . .49 Degrees . .trSG/2SG/SGJan. 28–29 . . . .Snow King . . . . . . .GS/GS

Western RegionalsFeb. 2–5 . . . . . .Big Sky . . . . .SC/SG/GS/SLFeb. 13–15 . . . .Soldier Mtn.trDH/DH/DHFeb. 22–26 . . . .Schweitzer . . .4SG/3GS/SLMar. 10–11 . . . .Lookout Pass . . . . . .GS/SLInfo: Toby Chapman 406.541.0866

Pacific Northwest MastersJan. 7–8 . . . . . . .Snoqualmie . . . . .trGS/GSJan. 14–15 . . . .Crystal Mt. . . . . . . .GS/GSJan. 20–22 . . . . .49 Degrees N. . .trSG/3SGJan. 28–29 . . . .Hoodoo . . . . . . . . . .SL/SLFeb. 11–12 . . . . .Alpental . . . . . . . . .2SL/SLFeb. 18–19 . . . .Willamette . . . . . . .GS/GSFeb. 22–26 . . . .Schweitzer . . . .4SG/GS/SLMar. 3–4 . . . . . .Mt. Hood . . . . . . . . .SL/GSMar. 9–12 . . . . .Stevens Pass . .SL/GS/2SGMar. 17–18 . . . .Lookout Pass . . . . . .GS/SL

(Subjectto change)

Apr. 5–8 . . .Mt. Bachelor . . trSG/2SG/GS/SL Info: Ann Ozuna 509.993.2283www.pnsamasters.org

Rocky Mountain MastersDec. 10–11 . . . .Loveland . . . . . . . . .GS/SLJan. 7–8 . . . . . . .Copper . . . . . . . . . . .SL/SLJan. 14 . . . . . . . .Ski Copper . . . .trDH/DHJan. 21–22 . . . . .Winter Park . . . . . . .SL/GSJan. 29–31 . . . . .Vail . . . . . . .SL/GS/SG/SGFeb. 4–5 . . . . . .Keystone . . . . .trDH/2DHFeb. 11–12 . . . . .Ski Cooper . . . . . .DH/DHFeb. 18–20 . . . .Aspen . . . . . . . .2SG/2DH

National Downhill ChampionshipsMar. 10–11 . . . .Ski Cooper . . .trDH/3DHMar. 24–25 . . . .Aspen Highlands . .SC/GSMar. 31–Apr. 1 .Loveland . . . . . . . . . .SL/SLInfo: Jennifer Kaufman 720.855.8427www.rmmskiracing.org

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP EVENTS

Skier’s Edge Masters National ChampionshipMar. 19–23 Park City, UT SC/SG/GS/SLBill Skinner 435.647.2633

USSA National Downhill ChampionshipsMar. 10–11 Ski Cooper, CO trDH-DHBill Skinner 435.647.2633

Skier’s Edge FIS Masters World CriteriumMarch 27–31 Mammoth, CA SG/GS/GS/SLBill Skinner 435.647.2633

USSA Western Region Championships Feb. 3–6 Big Sky, MT SG/SC/GS/SLMeri Stratton 541.490.5888

USSA Eastern Region Championships Feb. 10–12 Killington, VT SG/SC/GS/SLBill McCollom 802.234.9561

Summer Fun NationalsJuly 20-22 . . . . .Mt Hood,OR . . . . . .GS/SLMeri Stratton 541.387.3674

Molecule F National Speed SeriesJan. 6 . . . . . . . . .Park City, UT . . . . . . . .SGJan. 21 . . . . . . . .Mammoth, CA . . . .SG/SGFeb. 2-3 . . . . . . .Big Sky, MT . . . . . . . . . .SGFeb. 10 . . . . . . . .Killington, VT . . . . . . . .SGFeb. 13–15 . . . .Soldier Mtn., ID . .DH/DHFeb. 18–20 . . . .Aspen, CO . . . . . . .SG/DHFeb. 23–24 . . . .Schweitzer, ID . . . . . .2SGMar. 10–11 . . . .Ski Cooper, CO . . . . .2DH Mar. 21 . . . . . . .Park City, UT .SG (Finals)

Masters adult racing: Age class competitionfor skiers 18 years and older. For more infor-mation contact USSA’s Bill Skinner at435.647.2633 / [email protected] subject to change. For completeinfo on Masters Racing visit www.ussa.organd click “Masters.”

ussa masters contacts

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