Running Gates
 

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_ Well, my dad talked me into trying NASTAR[1] this season.
I finally managed to get one of the few places in CA that
runs it and it was actually kind of fun. It had been 30 years
since I'd run any gates and frankly there was a reason I
decided to concentrate on XC racing when I was 15. I chose
to use tele gear so I'd have an excuse for being bad....

_ If you're stuck someplace with boring terrain or poor
snow conditions, I suggest trying it. It's definitely a
different challenge from trying to ski stuff as steep
as you dare. For me the big difference was trying to
turn as little as possible and I never really figured
out how to power out of the turn like you can on alpine
gear.

_ Booker C. Bense

[1]- www.nastar.com

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Booker C. Bense wrote:

_ Well, my dad talked me into trying NASTAR[1] this season.
I finally managed to get one of the few places in CA that
runs it and it was actually kind of fun. It had been 30 years
since I'd run any gates

It's always struck me as a bit silly that you're allowed to hit the
gates with your body. I think they should set up a course through a bit
of sparse woodland using trees, and then see how close people were
willing to get to gates!

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

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In article ,
Peter Clinch wrote:
Booker C. Bense wrote:

_ Well, my dad talked me into trying NASTAR[1] this season.
I finally managed to get one of the few places in CA that
runs it and it was actually kind of fun. It had been 30 years
since I'd run any gates

It's always struck me as a bit silly that you're allowed to hit the
gates with your body. I think they should set up a course through a bit
of sparse woodland using trees, and then see how close people were
willing to get to gates!


_ That's how slalom racing originated long ago. After enough
broken shoulders, they started putting bamboo poles up.
Even in the bamboo pole era it wasn't always a great idea
to hit the poles.

_ I wasn't hitting any poles, the danger of hooking a tip
with plastic boots and non-releasable bindings seems a bit
too high for an 80 cent medal...

_ Booker C. Bense

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Booker C. Bense bbense+rec.skiing.backcountry.Feb.16.05@telemark. slac.stanford.edu wrote:

: _ I wasn't hitting any poles, the danger of hooking a tip
: with plastic boots and non-releasable bindings seems a bit
: too high for an 80 cent medal...

this exact scenario cost me a broken ankle last year. but an earlier run also
qualified me for Nastar Nationals- tele category is far underpopulated ;)

Booker C. Bense wrote:

_ That's how slalom racing originated long ago. After enough
broken shoulders, they started putting bamboo poles up.
Even in the bamboo pole era it wasn't always a great idea
to hit the poles.

Fair enough to avoid the broken shoulders, of course, but I don't see
why you're now allowed to hit them just because they don't bite! In
canoe/kayak slalom you get a time penalty for hitting a gate, so
requiring greater skill to cut the course as fine as possible. ISTM ski
slalom should do this too (not that that means it isn't fun in any case).

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

On Wed, 16 Feb 2005 16:43:12 +0000, Peter Clinch
wrote:

Booker C. Bense wrote:

_ That's how slalom racing originated long ago. After enough
broken shoulders, they started putting bamboo poles up.
Even in the bamboo pole era it wasn't always a great idea
to hit the poles.

Fair enough to avoid the broken shoulders, of course, but I don't see
why you're now allowed to hit them just because they don't bite! In
canoe/kayak slalom you get a time penalty for hitting a gate, so
requiring greater skill to cut the course as fine as possible. ISTM ski
slalom should do this too (not that that means it isn't fun in any case).

You want to set it up like fencing, with the electric scoring to
determine a touch?

Happy trails,
Gary (net.yogi.bear)
------------------------------------------------
at the 51st percentile of ursine intelligence

Gary D. Schwartz, Needham, MA, USA
Please reply to: garyDOTschwartzATpoboxDOTcom

Gary S. wrote:

You want to set it up like fencing, with the electric scoring to
determine a touch?

Would depend what level you want to take it at. There's lots of fencing
done without electrical scoring, and I think visuals are all that's used
in paddling slaloms. On a sprung pole it should be reasonably clear if
it's been hit by someone at any sort of speed on skis, at least at a
level that's acceptable outside "Very Serious".

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

[ Peter Clinch ]

Gary S. wrote:

You want to set it up like fencing, with the electric scoring to
determine a touch?

Would depend what level you want to take it at. There's lots of fencing
done without electrical scoring, and I think visuals are all that's used
in paddling slaloms. On a sprung pole it should be reasonably clear if
it's been hit by someone at any sort of speed on skis, at least at a
level that's acceptable outside "Very Serious".

Well, slalom skiers move pretty fast, so just the wind pressure would
probably make the poles swing a bit. They actually move so fast it can
be hard even to see if both skis where actually on the right side. And
if one went for touch sensors, what about snow being thrown up from
the skis? All in all I think it would be very hard to judge, and open
up for a lot of complaints, to have any rules beyond both skis at the
right side.


Martin
--
"An ideal world is left as an exercise to the reader."
-Paul Graham, On Lisp

Martin Thornquist wrote:

Well, slalom skiers move pretty fast, so just the wind pressure would
probably make the poles swing a bit. They actually move so fast it can
be hard even to see if both skis where actually on the right side. And
if one went for touch sensors, what about snow being thrown up from
the skis? All in all I think it would be very hard to judge, and open
up for a lot of complaints, to have any rules beyond both skis at the
right side.

I'm not particularly trying to push for the rules to be changed or
anything like that (especially as it's not a sport I take part in). It
just strikes me as a bit strange that a sport where dodging obstacles is
the basis allows you to whack them pretty hard without incurring penalties!
The level I run gates at (I'll see how I manage if there are some on a
piste as an exercise) it's just about fun and skills practice, and since
I don't want to shoulder-barge /real/ obstacles, I do my best to keep my
whole body clear, and I know if I've failed.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

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In article ,
Peter Clinch wrote:
Martin Thornquist wrote:

Well, slalom skiers move pretty fast, so just the wind pressure would
probably make the poles swing a bit. They actually move so fast it can
be hard even to see if both skis where actually on the right side. And
if one went for touch sensors, what about snow being thrown up from
the skis? All in all I think it would be very hard to judge, and open
up for a lot of complaints, to have any rules beyond both skis at the
right side.

I'm not particularly trying to push for the rules to be changed or
anything like that (especially as it's not a sport I take part in). It
just strikes me as a bit strange that a sport where dodging obstacles is
the basis allows you to whack them pretty hard without incurring penalties!

_ But, that's not the basis of the sport. Poles define where the
skis have to go. If you hit a pole in kayaking you are
technically out of the course, while in skiing you aren't.
The basis of ski racing is finding the fastest line through
the course, not hitting gates seems kind of artifical.

_ Of course, using a turn developed for edgeless skis and soft
leather boots in powder snow to run gates on a packed surface
is pretty damn artifical as well...

_ Booker C. Bense


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