Pam Cruickshank, marketing director at Okemo, Vt., knows firsthand about the racing resurgence at some U.S. ski resorts. “We had an 80-year-old woman win her division last year in our adult innkeepers’ weekly race series,” Cruickshank said. “She’s my mother-in-law. For Christmas this year my husband and I are surprising her with a pair of racing skis.”
Cruickshank, who arranges her own work schedule in order to participate in the Tuesday afternoon race series, said recreational racing is “huge” at Okemo. “One gal takes every Tuesday off from work to drive up from Rhode Island to race,” Cruickshank said. “Back in the 70s and 80s, racing and NASTAR were very popular. But then interest in racing seemed to slow down a bit. Over the last five years we’ve seen a real revival in racing across all age groups and among both men and women.”
Okemo now has one of the largest junior racing programs in the country with 350 participants. About 250 adults race faithfully every week and, new this season, Okemo seniors are challenging their counterparts at sister resort Sunapee, N.H., in a seasonal race series.
On the other side of the country at Sugar Bowl, Calif., racing is a line item in the budget for the first time.
“We’ve definitely upped the emphasis on racing,” said Bill Hudson, a member of the 1988 U.S. Olympic team and Sugar Bowl’s sales manager. “But we’re also trying to get kids and adults involved, too. We realize that if we can get young kids interested in skiing they’ll be skiers for life, and offering racing opportunities helps build that interest.”
In the Midwest, Crystal Mountain, Mich., last season broke into the top 10 in the nation for NASTAR participation. Racing is an integral part of what the mountain offers its guests said Joan O’Neil, public relations manager.
“Offering racing opportunities for our guests is another way to add variety to a day on the slopes,” O’Neil said. “Especially in the Midwest where there aren’t as many slopes or as much vertical.”
Sometimes interest in racing adds to part of the lore of the mountain. “I think this mountain with all of its history and ex-Olympians on the ski school induces people to want to get involved in racing,” said Jack Sibbach, director of marketing and public relations at Sun Valley, Idaho.
Sibbach said every group and ski club that books into Sun Valley wants the area to put on a race for them. Sun Valley includes a race in its popular theme weeks, runs a season-long master’s race clinic, holds NASTAR races and a weekly adult race series.
At Cranmore, N.H., interest in racing is also part of the area’s lore. “Because of the legacy of Hannes Schneider and our ski school, there has always been a lot of interest in racing in the North Conway region,” said David Evans, Cranmore public relations manager. “There was a time when interest dropped off a bit, but we’ve seen an increase in racing in our junior program, in our local adult race series and NASTAR. We book a tremendous number of groups and events in our NASTAR course. In fact, it’s booked every weekend.”
At other areas, the upsurge in racing interest is simply demographics. Rick Certano, executive director at Spirit Mountain, Minn., began his ski career 25 years ago putting on NASTAR races at Keystone and Arapahoe Basin, Colo.
“Back when the baby boomers were growing up, racing was very, very popular,” Certano said. “But we saw a decline in youth interest and participation in racing with the X generation and even more so with the echo boomers.”
But today, Certano said aging baby boomers are helping to revitalize ski racing, at least in the numbers of participants in the area’s weekly adult league racing and other events. “But nobody’s watching,” Certano said. The spectators are all watching the Xers and echo boomers in snowboard and freestyle ski competitions and events.
“They put on such a show we’ve got spectators watching,” Certano said. “You don’t see that with ski racing.”
While recreational racing and other types of competitions and events are increasing at some areas, other resorts report little interest in racing among their guests. “We’re targeting mainly intermediates and beginners,” said Brad Moretz, general manager at Appalachian Ski Mountain, N.C. “There’s very little interest in racing. It’s not something we do much of here.”
Cataloochee, N.C., doesn’t offer guests individual race opportunities, but last season did begin a weekly corporate ski challenge. “We had a good response and are planning to offer it again this season,” said Tammy Brown, public relations director. Cataloochee also hosts a weekly interscholastic race program on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings for local middle school and high school youngsters. “That’s grown each of the last three years,” Brown said. “There’s about 100 to 150 kids who race each night. It also gives us a lot of exposure during less busy times of the week.”
It’s going to be interesting to see if the resurgence of recreational racing felt by some areas will spread further. Now that NASTAR has become an official part of the whole U.S. Ski Team, that program may well experience a comeback of its own and further reestablish the recreational racing scene on North America’s ski slopes.
