NASTAR Nationals

March 27th-29th 2009 was NASTAR Nationals in Steamboat.


What is NASTAR?

"Developed by Ski Magazine in 1968, NASTAR (NAtional STAndard Race) is the largest recreational ski and snowboard race program in the world. Our mission is simple - to provide a fun, competitive and easily accessible racing program that, through the development of a handicap system, allows racers of all ages and abilities a means to compare their race results to other competitors across the country regardless of when and where they race. This is accomplished by establishing a National Standard for all races. The National Standard is the Par Time or the "0" handicap which every racer competes against when they race Nature Valley NASTAR. The "0" handicap is set at the Nature Valley NASTAR National Championships and is the fastest time possible on a Nature Valley NASTAR course. Each time a participant races Nature Valley NASTAR, they earn a handicap which represents the difference between their race time and the Par Time expressed as a percentage."

Thursday night many participants made an appearance in Gondola Square long enough to get their free nachos and soda. They then disappeared to warmer locations- a wise decision in my opinion because nachos are way too messy to eat while wearing gloves and 19 degrees is just too cold to be glove-less. There was also a movie screening of a ski movie and a musical performance by Citizen Cope.

Friday morning 1,040 ski and snowboard racers between the ages of 1 and 99 took over Steamboat Resort. While it may have been a bit disorganized for racers that had never been to Steamboat before, it was by no means a disaster. I was on the "Lower Bashor" course which was conveniently served by a little-used double chairlift. My first run of the day I got a DNF (Did Not Finish) which meant that I went through the wrong finish gate. However, I was not the only one who made this error. My second run was not my fastest run ever, but I was thrilled to just make it through the correct finish gate in order to receive a qualifying run. I was done within an hour of the start of the race which meant that I had over 5 hours to snowboard wherever I pleased.
"While this is a National Championships, a race for which every racer had to qualify, it's acually a racing party. There's little pressure, but a lot of fun. People make deep friendships, and wait all year to see their friends again; and spend their time talking of wax and ski lengths. Participants feel just like a U. S. ski team racer, but without the fear of losing a race."

Saturday was much the same as Friday. Only Saturday my first run was good and my second run I missed a gate and got a DSQ (Disqualified). That afternoon, we joined a free clinic put on by Billy Kidd. The half-hour clinic told us how to be Olympic skiers. While taking the clinic did not automatically make us Olympic-level skiers, it did improve our ability a little bit. I am a snowboarder, so the clinic was not as relevant to me as it was to the rest of the group, but at least I can say that I rode with Billy Kidd! Me and several other NASTAR racers had Billy sign our jerseys and several people took pictures with Billy. Pointers from Billy include:
- Ski with your legs slightly apart. "Beginners ski with their legs together but Olympic skiers ski with their feet slightly apart". Spreading your feet apart allows you to have better balance which translates into fewer falls.
-Plant your poles and turn around them. You are also supposed to keep your poles ahead of your body rather than behind you because when your poles are behind you, you shift your weight back.
-We also got informed of what to say when we win the Olympics. It involved thanking our sponsors and then thanking our parents for funding our skiing habit.

Saturday night there was an award ceremony. I won my age division for female snowboarding, so I got a 1st place medal, a nice Accutron watch, and an invitation to compete in Sunday's "Race of Champions". Afterwards, competitors got to take a free gondola ride to the top of the mountain for a party in a mid-mountain lodge. There was live music from a local group called SunDog. There were also "heavy hor'd'ourves" which translated into pretty much any food served on the mountain was cut into little pieces and we were allowed to eat as much of it as we wanted. I then had the great thrill of being in the gondola on the way down the mountain at 10:30pm when it suddenly stopped. It's bad enough when the gondola stops during the day, but at night when it's pitch black it's a million times worse, especially when you start swinging around.

Sunday morning was the "Race of Champions" which I was quite tempted to not compete in because I knew I was not going to win the trip to train with the U.S. Ski team. I'm glad I decided to compete though. I had the great fortune of being the first one down the course (luckily I had slipped the course earlier that morning so I was aware of it's extreme icyness) and I was just thrilled at the bottom of the hill to have made it around all of the gates. Since I was the first one down, I automatically got to be in 1st place. Then I stayed in 1st place and stayed in first place and stayed in first place until the telemarkers came through and then they put me at 4th place Female Non-Alpine... but I was 1st for women's snowboarding, so I was still happy. The female ski racers then competed followed by male non-alpine, and male alpine. By the time the men were done, the hill was becoming a bit slushy.

I think one of the best parts of NASTAR Nationals is that the pacesetters are former and current US Ski Team members. That means that Daron Rhalves, AJ Kitt, Heidi Volker, Diann Roffe, and Doug Lewis were skiing alongside the 2 year old skiers whose parents were just thrilled to see them make it down the hill, even if it took them 2 minutes compared to everyone else's 20 seconds, and the 85 year olds who managed to really put it to the rest of us at times. There was also supposed to be a snowboard pacesetter, but they never made it, so Daron Rahlves filled in. How they expected any snowboarder to get down the course at the record fast speed of Daron Rahlves, I don't know, but we did our best.

The male and female with the fastest times in Sunday's "Race of Champions" won a trip to train with the U.S. Ski Team this summer in South America along with a U.S. Ski Team uniform.


As far as class work goes, Events Management is now over and the SAO students that were gone for their co-ops are now back in Leadville. In Ski Patrol class we have all begun to panic because we have a big project due in a few weeks, and most of us have not made quite as much progress as we should have by now. In Public Speaking we just finished giving presentations about our Spring Break (or our ideal Spring Break). The ORL kids are starting to leave for their off-campus classes (also called "out" classes).

In other news, Leadville has been getting dumped on for the past two weeks. While all of this powder is exciting, some people are a little impatient with it because it has thrown a kink into their plans. For example, Climax (which is between Leadville and I-70) is supposed to get 8 inches of snow overnight. While this is during the night and does not directly affect most people, it does affect the people that are set on going to Frisco, Breck, Silverthorne, Dillon, Denver, etc. tomorrow or coming back. Oh well, what do can you expect when you live in the mountains. It is also hard to believe that it is Spring and we get out in a couple weeks when it's snowing like it's January.

Registration for summer classes is in progress along with pre-registration for fall classes. If you are coming to CMC next fall, I highly recommend pre-registering if at all possible because at least with SAO, many of the classes were full when we arrived here, which meant that some students are about a semester behind because they were unable to take classes 1st semester due the the classes being full.