So ... was the WMA formed, and they established the 30 as the start of
master classes, prior to the USSA establishing this categorization?

I know that USSA masters alpine racing, masters starts at 30. This
makes sense to me ... it seems like it takes a lot of surgeon bills to
keep alpine elite racer knees going until this age. So I was wondering
if the USSA once pushed a "one size fits all" concept: that everyone
past 30 is a master, whether alpine or cross country skier?

I understand WMA's desire to keep ex nat-team skiers in the game. But
the 30's age categories, especially the M1 category seems like the
"identiy crisis" category. Often ex-natl teamers say: "Why race M1 at
masters nats, when same age guys race are racing the big time in the
senior nationals." (I know I used to think this way.) Ex nat'l
teamers usually avoid this "identiy crisis" these days. They join a
vendor team and race marathons where they compete against all ages.
Today 30-40 year olders don't rely on masters racing categories in
USSA/AXCS to keep active - they have marathons galore to choose from.

Like I said, I'm a "newbie" to masters ski racing. So I ask some
"dumb" questions about things in the masters skiing game that seem,
well ... kinda dumb to me. Like why, at the World Cup in Quebec in
2002 for instance, are there M1 women's categories with 4-5 skiers? Or
why at AXCS nationals only see several M1 men, like in 2003? Where at
the same time all age categories at 40 and above are have brutal and
deep competition.

I don't have any answers on how to make the M1 and M2 "bridge"
categories less of the "identiy crisis" categories. But is seems this
strange aspect of age category racing in our sport should continue to
be a source of debate. But then again, who knows ... in 10+ years when
all of us baby boomers are over 50 and no one is racing in masters
between 40-49, and Carl Swenson is winning World Cup races at 44 - the
topic of this debate will again change!