25 Nov Big Mountain comp overview, signup procedure, etc.
Competition Sign Ups
For those interested in competition, here is my best attempt to summarize how things work. Sorry if it’s longs winded, but our registration process is not the easiest one out there, we have nearly 3000 athletes in north America, and this is an ever evolving process.
We have two main categories of events we will compete in within the International Freeskiers Association, regional and national. Regionals are further split into Under 12 and over 12. All of our regional events are part of the Rocky Mountain Freeride Series. These regional events are the place to “dabble” in events, they are more cost effective, generally easier to get into, and offer a great way to get a feel for the sport. For our more committed athletes, National events offer our athletes a great way to experience a higher level of competition in some great locations around North America. Good results in multiple events can lead to an invitation to the North American Championships, held in April, roughly the top 8%
An athlete may signup and participate in no more than 3 regional and 3 national events. Generally the regional events are 1 day events (there are a few exceptions) and nationals are 3 day events, combining multiple runs for a final score.
The event we are hosting at Telluride this year National level event, and we are stoked to have it. Unfortunately, however, this is not the event to do as your first ever big mountain event, unless you have previous competition experience in other disciplines AND plan to compete in a number of other events. We are attending events at Arapahoebasin, Crested butte, Breckenridge for older athletes, as well as Monarch and CB for younger athletes.
Signing up: Sign up can be a very confusing time for uninitiated families. Because of a high level of demand, registration is very structured.
National registrations happen first, and is detailed immediately below. If you are only interested in regionals, skip towards the bottom, still have some time before that happens in mid December, date TBD.
First, the prequalified athletes (top 3% or so from the previous season) get a shot to sign up, Eli, congrats buddy. This is in early December.
Next there is a registration window for Team Quota spots. This is a limited number of spots for each event, given to the team, ensuring we have enough participants at each event to make team travel feasible. We don’t know how many of these spots we will get yet, and I will not receive our spots until early December, at which time I will pass them out to our lucky skiers. That registration window is from December 6th to 8th. If you would like to be considered for one of these spots, please indicate your interest in the comp signup form hosted on google docs…https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wA_pErE-Nx86ybaDX2ZtW6pWKV-dnqHt1QgQ-d2Y1l0/edit?usp=sharing
The final phase of national registration is open registration, where the bulk of our registrations happen. This is the time when it’s up to YOU to be on it, computer ready to go when registration opens, and make it happen. The events open in a staggered fashion, with a few each night. Below is the schedule for those registrations, remember that we plan to support Telluride, Taos, Snowbird and Big Sky as a team.
Regionals are all an open registration process, much like the nationals, beginning on a specific date in mid-December. I do not yet have that date but will let you know as soon as I do.
We will have some time on snow with all athletes before regional registrations, and I, along with other coaches are here to help get a plan going for everyone.
If you hope to ski nationals, and are feeling completely lost, get in touch with me in the next few days I can try to help with any questions.
You can check out http://www.freeskiers.org/ and http://www.rockymountainfreerideseries.com/