Alpine Updates - November 2nd, 2020
Alpine Updates - November 2nd, 2020
Dear Team Summit Alpine Community:
Our first week of training at Copper has been phenomenal! Thank you to the entire Copper Mountain team for providing our Team Summit Ability Class and Age Class Teams with the opportunity to get on snow.
Thank you also to our athletes, parents, and coaches for being nimble, organized, and following Copper Mountain and Team Summit protocols.
Snow conditions have been excellent with hard manmade snow that requires well-prepared edges for successful training and skill acquisition. Please be sure that skis are properly tuned to take full advantage of the training opportunity. This week, we will be helping to put water on Upper Andy’s to make it an ice rink!
Below, you will read about an opportunity to receive a discount on the purchase of a Black Diamond edge grinder for home use to ensure that edges are maintained to a high standard for every training session.
I realize that all of you receive many messages and sometimes miss or lose these regular updates. Should you ever need to review and update, they can be found at the Team Summit website in the blog: https://teamsummit.org/member
The sign-up sheet to indicate intent for training the week of November 10-16 is open through next Sunday, November 8. The information follows below.
Finally, you will find the most recent information on training and competition this year to answer some of the questions many of you have about how the winter will look.
Please reach out to me or your program’s Head Coach with any questions.
Be well, stay healthy and happy!
Aldo Radamus
TEAM SUMMIT COLORADO
Alpine Director
aldo@teamsummit.org
970.390.4219
Contacts for your Head Coach or Administration:
FIS: doug@teamsummit.org
U16: aldo@teamsummit.org
U14: jared@teamsummit.org
U12: mia@teamsummit.org
U10: davidw@teamsummit.org
Devo: samantha@teamsummit.org
Conditioning: jack@teamsummit.org
Membership Services: lili@teamsummit.org
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In This Update:
- Early Season Training November 10-16 for Ability and Age Class Teams
- Equipment Preparation
- Training and Competition This Season
Early Season Training November 10-16 for Ability and Age Class Teams
IN ORDER TO BE ABLE TO PLAN FOR TRAINING EACH DAY, EVERY ATHLETE MUST INDICATE THEIR INTENT FOR EVERY DAY AND EVERY SESSION THAT IT IS POSSIBLE FOR THEM TO ATTEND ON THE SIGN-UP SHEET.
Responding to this survey is not a guarantee that you will have a spot in a session you have expressed interest in. If a session is not available, and you have not indicated other sessions during that day, you will not be scheduled for training. For this reason, it is important that you indicate your interest in EVERY session that you are available to train.
Once we receive our assigned training lanes for the day, we will assign groups in the most efficient way possible and communicate the detailed schedule in the nightly update.
The sign-up sheet for November 10-16 is open. The deadline for sign-up is the end of the day, Sunday, November 8. It will not be possible to make individual changes after the deadline. https://docs.google.com/sprea
Equipment Preparation
Equipment set-up and daily preparation is critical to a productive season. Having properly tuned skis for every day of skiing is by far the lowest hanging fruit for improving performance. Skis should be tuned to the same standard for every day of skiing whether training or racing. Consistent response from your skis leads to confidence and improvement.
In addition to periodic professional shop ski grinding and daily maintenance and waxing, it is recommended a handheld grinder is used to precisely maintain the edge bevel, sharpen and polish the edge.
There are several machines available with prices ranging from several hundred to several thousand dollars. The sweet spot for function and price point is the Black Diamond Innovation Ski Sharpener: https://blackdiamondinnovatio
This tool rests on top of the ski and easily glides along the base while sharpening the edge to a World Cup standard. With a little practice, anyone can learn to prepare edges like a pro!
Due to a special relationship with Team Summit, Black Diamond offers our members a $325 discount. Please contact Dave by e-mail at blackdiamondinnovation@gmail.
Refer to the October 26 Update for additional information about ski tuning programs available through our partner shops and information on the tools you need, setting up a workspace, and so forth.
Training and Competition This Season
TRAINING: Team Summit is truly privileged to have extraordinary support from our resort partners. Our Alpine Ski Racing programs train predominantly at Copper Mountain, Keystone, and Breckenridge with blocks of time at Arapahoe Basin. All of our host resorts have indicated their continued support of our training programs, access to the resort, and training venues.
Most importantly, there will not be a requirement at any of our resorts to reserve access for athletes during scheduled training days.
We realize that parents will also want to ski or ride at the resorts where their children are training as part of our programs. In order to help with planning, the training calendars will be updated by Monday, November 9th with the planned training locations for each age group throughout the season.
At Keystone and Breckenridge a reservation system will be in place for pass holders to secure access for their preferred days. This system is exclusive to Pass Holders from November 6 through December 7. PLEASE NOTE that TSC Alpine will not schedule any training at Vail Resorts’ properties during the highest demand days of December 24-31, January 16-18, or February 13-15. Details on the reservation system are here: https://www.epicpass.com/info
At Copper Mountain, capacity is being managed by a parking reservation system. The system will open for reservations on November 9. Details:https://www.coppercolorado.co
COMPETITION:
Racing will take place! Field sizes will be limited to 100, multiple races will be scheduled each day and scheduling will emphasize the possibility of day-tripping to minimize the need for overnight stays and restaurant meals.
USS Alpine Competition Guidance 9.1.20: https://usskiandsnowboard.org
In order to be able to race in RMD races, qualify for quotas or as Automatics, racers must be registered in RMD. If you are planning to race in RMD you must declare as an RMD athlete for the season and Team Summit as your club.
Overall Calendar considerations
Single day races will consist of 4 runs for each athlete or two 2 run races
Entry fee would be equivalent to a 2-day entry
SG races would have 1 training run and 1 race run in Age Class or two SG races in Ability Class
SL/PSL day would have 2 SL runs in the morning and 1 PSL in the afternoon
U.S. Ski & Snowboard COVID guidelines indicate max of 100 athletes per day
Every effort has been made to reduce the need for overnight stay at most locations
Ability Class
FIS Racing
- Racing split into Cup and Devo level FIS series
- Advancement from Devo series by qualification
- Automatics to Cup Series established at start of season
- Additional Cup Series automatics added by winning at Devo Series
- Quotas for National Championships, Junior Nationals and out of region travel are cut in half
- Racing outside of North America limited to athletes ranked in the first 350 in the world or qualified for a sanctioned USS National or Regional Project
- Racing begins Mid-December
U16 Racing
- Racing split into Cup and Devo level Sync Series
- Advancement from Devo series by qualification
- Automatics to Cup Series established at the start of the season
- Additional Cup Series automatics added by winning at Devo Series
- R/C Championships are confirmed March 1-5 in Steamboat
- U16 Nationals quota is cut in half, qualification from R/C U16 Championships
- Racing begins after January 1, 2021
Age Class and YSL
U14 Racing
- U14/U12/U10’s will race together divided by Club and Gender
- Council Cup will be split by gender and will consist of one 1SG, 2GS and 2SL.
- U14’s will have the opportunity to ski up into SYNC races in the following manner:
- RMD Team would be automatics to ski up into the SYNC Devo series for the first race only.
- 1st Age Class Open or Southern Series or U14 race will allow the athlete to compete in the next SYNC Cup Series.
- 2nd or 3rd in Age Class Open, U14 or Southern Series race will allow the athlete to compete in the next SYNC Devo Series.
- No U14 ski up in the U16 qualifier race or the Aspen Speed Series.
Qualifying U14s into Rocky U14 Championships:
Automatics
· Top 5 from each of the SG YOB
· Southern Series 4 spots, Southern Series athletes will be purged from SG results
· Adaptive spots to be considered by the Age Class Committee
· Leave 2 spots open for discretion, same method as prior years
Selection for remaining available spots will be selected from the modified World Cup points (200 points for 1st, etc.). Utilizing all ACO races and SG’s.
· Best 4 of 13 races will be used for the ranking list. All age class opens plus the SG’s will be considered (SG, GS/SL, GS, SL) as qualifying races.
Tiebreakers will go to the best result, then the next best race until the tie is broken, all races are available for tie-breaking purposes
· Foreign athletes will rank in with all RMD USA athletes.
Gender population split for the quotas will be made after the January GS ACO’s.
U12 and U10 Racing
U12 and U10 Finale will be split into an East and West Division and by genders to accommodate less travel and overnight travel
YSL
Every effort will be made to preserve Sunday racing for this group.
There will be 3 races, with 4 different sites with no Championships
Races will be 3 to 4 runs per day, split by clubs.
The calendar and assignment of sites is still under development. As soon as we have firm calendar information we will share it with all Alpine membership.
