Stowe Derby

I thought I'd put in a plug for a local race. I myself don't race, and
I have no connection with the organizers of the race. But I don't
recall any mention on this newsgroup of the Stowe Derby, so perhaps
there are people out there who are not aware of the race but who might
be interested in it.

The Stowe Derby is described as a combination downhill/cross-country
race. Of the 16 km race course, the first third is on an alpine ski
trail - an easy trail with some tight turns, the last third is virtually
flat, and the middle third is on rolling hills. The race is usually
held on the last Sunday in February, this year on February 26.

For more information, see:

http://www.mmsc-stowevt.org/stowederby/home.html

Registration form at:

http://www.skireg.com/events/register.asp?EventID=2053


Lew Lasher
Cambridge, Massachusetts and Stowe, Vermont

Love this race! And you can do it twice in the same day -- skate it
then hurry back up hill to do it classical. And you can use any skis
you want. Only you can't change skis along the way.

Registration fees go to support Mt. Mansfield Ski Club, which is great
organization.

It's wacky and fun.

Amen!! This race was the highlight of the year for me last
season...make that the last several seasons. There are wave starts,
with 5 people each 30 seconds starting off going down the Toll Road
beginner slope. You can see the locals setting up the lawn chairs on
the inside corners of the tight turns just to watch the carnage. On
the downhill, which can be more than challenging if it's a little icy,
there seem always to be slower people starting ahead of you, and faster
people starting behind you, and you just hope that someone doesn't wipe
out inside of you on that next corner, starting a chain reaction roller
derby style wipeout. Having said all that, it's exhilarating and fun,
and then you have a nice 10k ski on the flat. Only 1 real climb, so
it's a very easy ski once you've gotten off the mountain. Citizen
racing doesn't get any more fun than this.

sounds like a great race. I alpine ski about once a year to make
company to my friends, and I've always wanted to take my (nordic) skis
on the slopes with me. In fact I asked personell at lifts on several
occasions and always was given an arrogant 'no".

wrote:

sounds like a great race. I alpine ski about once a year to make
company to my friends, and I've always wanted to take my (nordic) skis
on the slopes with me. In fact I asked personell at lifts on several
occasions and always was given an arrogant 'no".

Huh???

Why ask?

As long as you can handle the slopen in the gear you're using, that's
the only thing that matters.

I've taken my Madshus skis up & down the Tryvann alpine slopes multiple
times, I've never even considered asking permission. :-)

Terje

--
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"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"

wrote in message
oups.com...
sounds like a great race. I alpine ski about once a year to make
company to my friends, and I've always wanted to take my (nordic) skis
on the slopes with me. In fact I asked personell at lifts on several
occasions and always was given an arrogant 'no".

The only thing the alpine operators should really care about is that you
have an arrestor of some sort to prevent runaway skis from skewering the
downhill meat. I use a bit of cord (shoe lace, actually) tied through the
binding and through my boot. If your nordic gear had an automatic brake, you
wouldn't even need the leash.

Bob
oh, and they like you to buy a lift ticket, too ;-)

Is Tryvann the lift assisted ski area near Holmenkollen? If it is, we
skiied across and down the ski slope where they build jumps and rails
for the alpine skiers/snowboarders, also without asking for permission
and nobody seemed to care. We could see the tower just up hill from
where we crossed over two ski runs before we could see the food service
hut.

A Norwegian friend told me how to get from the Ski Service at the
Voksenaasen tram stop to Tryvannstua. However, we made the mistake of
asking a Ski Service person if the first trail was the correct trail to
Tryvannstua. It was not and we realized that we were skiing across the
alpine ski area then down the alpine slope to get to the food service
on the lake below.

Not only did not one complain, none of the alpine skiers seemed to look
twice at skinny skis on the alpine slope. It must be common in Norway.
We did not have retantion straps on our skis.

Edgar

Bob, OK, next time we go to Sqaw together and you show me how you do
it.
Terje, yeah, I know everything is better in Norway, but it does not
help me.

Edgar wrote:

Is Tryvann the lift assisted ski area near Holmenkollen? If it is, we

Yes.

skiied across and down the ski slope where they build jumps and rails
for the alpine skiers/snowboarders, also without asking for permission
and nobody seemed to care. We could see the tower just up hill from
where we crossed over two ski runs before we could see the food service
hut.

A Norwegian friend told me how to get from the Ski Service at the
Voksenaasen tram stop to Tryvannstua. However, we made the mistake of
asking a Ski Service person if the first trail was the correct trail to
Tryvannstua. It was not and we realized that we were skiing across the
alpine ski area then down the alpine slope to get to the food service
on the lake below.

You skied across the new alpine slope, which connects the two older
areas, Wyller and Tryvann. The halfpipe is smack across the old
'Skomakerløypa' ("cobblers trail"). :-(

Not only did not one complain, none of the alpine skiers seemed to look
twice at skinny skis on the alpine slope. It must be common in Norway.
We did not have retantion straps on our skis.

So what?

Terje

Edgar



--
-
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"

wrote:

Bob, OK, next time we go to Sqaw together and you show me how you do
it.
Terje, yeah, I know everything is better in Norway, but it does not
help me.

That's not really true, but for xc skier, current Oslo conditions are
very close to optimal:

Blue extra wax, blue skies, (nearly?) all 2900 km of trails set. :-)

Terje
(going skiing tomorrow (actually later today) probably)

--
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"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"