0800 hrs - Vail, CO

Anyone in the freeheel world looking to have a good time and find a new set of shredding comrades should seriously consider heading out to the next USTSA Sprint Classic event, which just happens to be coming up here rather soon on January 21 at Sunlight Resort, CO. Details can be found HERE.

www.ustsa.org

Vail Mountain School hosted the latest USTSA event last Saturday at Vail Mountain. Good times were had by all. This event was unique in that most of the Colorado’s high school teams were in attendance. The turnout pumped the field up to over 50 competitors — most of them under the age of 18. Teams with a presence included VMS (that’s a given), Colorado Rocky Mountain School, Steamboat, Crested Butte and the brand new team from Telluride. Oh, and the US Telemark National Team was there; let’s not forget that some of the nation’s fastest freeheelers were in attendance.

The course was a real thigh-burner that took the top competitors nearly a minute and a half to finish. The obligatory and always entertaining staples of the Skate Classic were splattered throughout the course. These consist of 3 sets of gates, a jump, a nasty Reipeløkke (pronounced wrap-a-looche) and a skate finish. Did I mention you have to run it twice? Let me put it this way: if running a sprint classic doesn’t elevate your pulse, you’re a zombie. If this is the case, you won’t be allowed to race, because zombies are not allowed to enter USTSA events — thanks for the interest though.

All in all, this event was a great way to spend Saturday morning. And let’s be honest, the racecourse probably had the best snow on the mountain. I can’t help but compare these events to their alpine counterparts, and I feel blessed to be on this side of the fence. These events have none of the attitude but all of the talent present in other disciplines. So get on the interwebs and plan your attendance at the next event. You’ll have a good time, I guar-on-tee it.

-Cody Smith