Granite Chief Far West Masters

Open Winter Meeting

February 26, 2005

An Open Meeting of the Far West Masters was held Saturday, February 26, 2005 at Northstar Ski Area.

President Don Smith called the meeting to order at 3:30PM. 

He asked for any comments from the members present.

The following points were discussed::

Ryan Ritchie raised the issue of the cost of lift tickets at some areas.  Especially noted was Sugar Bowl at $42 for a short GS course.  He asked if there was any way to negotiate ticket prices.  Rees Palermo informed us that he always asks for the lowest prices and is usually told we will be given their group rate.  Many people felt that the GS at the beginning of the year at Sugar Bowl was way too short and wasn’t worthwhile for a $42 lift ticket.  There was discussion on whether we could hold our early season races somewhere else or just have 2 slaloms at Sugar Bowl.

Pierre Jeangirard stated he would like a later date for the first race at Mammoth.  He felt that the racers did not get enough gate training in before the first race since it was so early in the season. Many people stated they enjoyed coming to Mammoth early for the Race Camp that is held there before the first race.

It was asked if we could score on FIS points instead of race points.  There really was no reason for us to change except to compare points at National events.  Deb Lewis reported it would be more difficult to format than the way it is done now.

Don Smith asked if everyone was happy with the Open Seed.  A resounding yes. 

There was discussion on 5 yr age groups vs. 10 year age groups.  For the amount of racers in Far West, 10 yr increments work better.

Discussion on running second run slowest to fastest racers or vice-versa.  Rees Palermo stated he was going to the National Committee to recommend they take at look at the way we do it.  It seems much fairer for the slower racers and also keeps them coming back to races.  If they were always running last on rutted courses, we would never get them to return.

Ara Papazian suggested we have one race for First Time Racers where they were allowed to go first on the smoother courses.  Everyone felt that was a good suggestion.

Linda Crowell suggested we have someone at each race, possibly at registration, that can talk to any first time racers and explain the workings of Masters to them.

It was suggested that we have warm-up courses set for us before the races to do a few gate warm ups.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:00PM

Respectively submitted by:   Linda Crowell, Secretary