pigo wrote:
I've found that the speed event are as you describe. But S and GS
have been pretty visible top to bottom when I've watched them live.

As with anything there is the air of excitement and festivity
attending a live event. The bonus with skiing is that you can see
every skier. On tv (in the US) they only show the top contenders and
Americans usually.

I guess it really depends on the layout of the course. At Breck, the
trail where they run the alpine events really isn't designed for
spectators. I've only seen the S and GS events there since they have
never run and DH or SG. The problem there is that the only good place
for spectators is in the middle of the course. The end of the course
has a left turn near the bottom so no one can see the finish and if you
want to be in the finish area you need to hike up a flat trail about
half a mile to be able to see it.

I have friends who have been to the Beaver Creek downhills and they
enjoyed it. But there's a much better layout there. You can see most
of the course from the bottom and the end of the race is near the mid
mountian lodge area so there are facilities there and it's easy to set
up scoreboards and video feeds. Breck just isn't laid out for the
spectators for speed events. Guess that's why they don't have them
there anymore. The only reason we used to have them was because we
could pretty much guarentee early season snow and we were usually the
first or second event of the season before they moved to Europe.

OTOH, all of the park/arieal events are right down at the base area.
Many times they are under the lights and they always attract large
crowds since getting there is easy and it's no problem to go inside if
it gets cold.

snoig