Far West Skiing

First time was due to lack of snow, this time due to too much snow/rain.
With the snow that has come in, continues to come, and the possibility that a good amount of it will fall as rain there is not an opportunity to prepare a fair and safe surface for the athletes.

Further announcements about reschedule will be out in the next week.

Thank you, be safe and enjoy the storms!

Due to the postponement of the U14 GS's the following schedule adjustments have been made, addition of one day of racing instead of adding another weekend of racing.

February 8-10 will be at Nortshtar California: Feb 8th Parallel and Team Event, Feb 9th and 10th will be the make up GS events. The GS registration from Squaw Valley has been moved to Northstar so no re-registration for the GS portion is required. Athletes will need to sign up for the Parallel race being held on Friday, Feb 8th. Please follow all deadlines as posted on the race announcement. If you are not able to race in the GS portion then please contact Northstar, [email protected], to inform them of your request to pull from the event.
All three races are counted as U14 Qualifiers.
For information on the Parallel and Team event please see the document posted on the U14 Schedules page next to the Northstar Race Announcement.

Registration for the U14 Slaloms at Diamond Peak is now open, too.

During the Holiday Training Block all U12 families should have received their own copy of the Far West Development Initiative book from their Program Director or Head Coach. 

What is the Far West Development Initiative?
Mission: Support collaboration of divisional programs and coaches in the development of successful Far West ski racers, with the goal of being the best Division in the Nation.

The purpose of the Far West Development Initiation book is to be a valuable resource for each athlete/parent/coach. In it are the fundamentals of ski racing - the absolute basics that even the best World Cup racers come back to refine. It is a visual guide to see how the fundamentals are executed at the highest level. The guide is desgned to be used by the athlete and parent. At the rear of the manual are key concepts that are illustrated by photos.  A seperate 'Coaches Pocket Guide' was also developed to allow the coaches to use these key concepts and visuals on the hill, too!

The guide is designed to help the athlete, and includes a 'Parent's Corner' too.  A section devoted to parents on 'How to support your athlete', information on equipment needs, plus the National/Regional and Divisional Structure. A glossary of terms that the programs of the Far West agree will help all coaches, athletes and families speak in the same terms as athletes develop.

The book is a colaboration of Far West Program Directors and Head Coaches along with experts in the field to bring the best Development Initiative Book to each and everyone of you!

Is it avaialbe and usable by age classes outside of U12? Absolutely!
The Far West Development Initiative book is a valuable resource for all age classes and can be purchased on the Far West website by either visiting the FWDI tab across the top bar of the Far West website, or by clicking on this FWDI link.

This Development Initiative provided to each U12 family and U12 coach was funded by private donations as a valuable resource in the progress of each athletes journey in ski racing. If you would like to donate towards the Far West Development Initiative please click here.
Far West Skiing is a 501c3 California not for profit organization and all donations are tax deductable.

Questions about the Development Initiative? Contact the Far West Skiing Office, [email protected]

Two schedule changes:
U14 Divisional Champs will move up one day to March 7-10 to allow athletes the opportunity to attend school for a full week following the Divisional Champs.

U16 Divisional Speed Project will be moving to Feb 4-6 allowing the best speed training possible. This opens up more space for the project along with a faster turn around time for athletes to develop their skills.
Registration for this project will be open immediately following the first Wild West Series and will run through the Far West Office.

Welcome to the 2019 season and the racing ahead! Some general updates and specifics for each age class are included in this article.

General Items: 
Registering for races can be completed one race series at a time or for the entire season. The first item is to check the race announcement for the event to confirm registration cut off deadlines, series location, lift ticket prices and of course the extremely important liability form requirements. 
Next you can head to www.adminskiracing.com to complete your online registration. If you have not created an account yet, that will be your first stop. Once the account is created you will need to add the athletes you are registering to this account (if you have multiple athletes in your family racing you will only need to create one account and add all kids to that account!)

North/Central/South and California Challenge Series:
U10 and U12 North Series - programs include Tahoe Basin, Mammoth, Mt. Shasta, Northern Nevada
U10, U12 and U14 Central Series - programs include Bear Valley, China Peak, Dodge Ridge and Yosemite Winter Club
U10, U12 and U14  South Series - programs include Snow Summit 
California Challenge Series - North/Central/South athletese that are planning on qualifying for the U14 Regional Championships. These are scored races where the U14 races held in the Central and South Series are non-scored and do not qualify towards the U14 Regional Championships.

U10 Specific Items: Year of Birth 09 and 10

• U10's will utilize a Team Start order, and can be found on the U10 schedules page
• All U10 competitors are allowed to start the second run in their starting spot, including those that did not finish (DNF) or were disqualified (DSQ) in their first run.
• U10 Championships will consist of 1 Slalom, 1 GS, 1 one run Big GS with Skills Quest, 1 Parallel with Team Event

U12 Specific Items: Year of Birth 07 and 08

• U12 start order will be a random draw for the first run, second run will be in reverse order. Day two will start with the reverse order and second run will return to the original start order, ie ABBA order. SG training run will be in team order with a seperate random order per race.
• All U12 competitors are allowed to start the second run in their starting spot, including those that did not finish (DNF) or were disqualified (DSQ) in their first run.
• U12 Skills Quest will be run on the SG training day during the North Series SG weekend
• U12 Championships will consist of SG Training Run and SG race, 1 Slalom, 1 GS, 1 Parallel with Team Event
• U14/U12 Performance Camp brings togther top performing athletes from the Far West Division. U12 qualification: top 6 males and female (North 4M/F, Central 1M/F, South 1 M/F) selected from the U12 season long standings of SL and GS. Programs are required to send coaching staff to work this development project.

U14 Specific Items:

• U14 Races (YOB 05-06) are run as U.S. Ski and Snowboard sanctioned, scored, events. Start lists are based on U.S. Ski & Snowboard points, top 15 are a random draw, followed by points order, and a random draw for all 999.99 athletes.
  SG training runs may be run in team order.
• 2nd run is in bibbo order for the top 30, followed by athletes fastest to slowest. Athletes that DNF or DSQ in the 1st run will be allowed to take a 2nd run immediately following the final qualified competitor, unless decided upon by the jury at least one hour prior to the start of the race that post runs will not be allowed.
• The California Challenge Series is the qualifying series to the U14 Regional Championships
• Open Series start opportunities: December Tech Block, Far West Tech Finals and the Far West SG Finals.

If you have any questions please contact your coach or the Far West Skiing Office. 
Hope you have an amazing season!

Lucy Schram
Far West Skiing
PO Box 2664
Truckee, Ca 96160
530.559.4130
[email protected]