Changing with the times – the evolution of ski racing at Alyeska Resort
GIRDWOOD, ALASKA – March 31, 2009 – As ski racing has evolved over the years so has Alyeska Resort—which continues to stay at the forefront of alpine competition by utilizing state-of-the-industry technology.
The first national competition to be hosted at Mount Alyeska was in 1963, when 70 competitors hit the ski slopes for the 1963 National Alpine Championships and Olympic Trials. At that time, lift access on the mountain was serviced by Chair1 exclusively.
“This was before trams and snowcats,” said Brian Burnett, mountain services manager at Alyeska Resort. “Without grooming equipment, the course had to be manually boot-packed and slipped.”
Army soldiers from Fort Richardson, Alaska, came in to help ready the course by walking up and down the race trail arm-in-arm packing down the snow.
Paul Crews, director of the Alyeska Ski Club and first Alaska athlete to qualify for the U.S. Ski Team, was present at the 1963 event. He remembers how the course conditions really affected the competitors.
The 1963 National Alpine Championships was the first time an electronic computer was used to record times in a national race. Fortunately, race officials had hand timers for backup because the new technology failed to record several of the finishers’ times. Even though the competitors were on wooden skies without any of the high-tech gear available today, the finish times were only seconds slower than current results.
Today, Alyeska Resort has five snowcats available to groom the course and two winch cats to access pitches that are too steep to free groom. There are now nine chair lifts, including one high-speed detachable quad, three fixed quads and a 60-passenger aerial tram.
Modern course set up includes analysis of spill zones to allow for a greater safety margin for athletes, as well as the use of B nets, netting placed in high incident and high crash risk areas throughout the course. Their function is to absorb energy and decelerate a falling racer.
Timing systems have also come a long way in the last 46 years. Today, racers open a timing wand at the start gate—which starts the clock—and at the finish cross an infrared beam automatically stopping the clock. Hand timers are still used as back-up in case technology fails.
In 1963, army members were the primary event volunteers. Now, at the 2009 Nature Valley U.S. Alpine Championships, more than 200 community volunteers lend their time to pitch in wherever they are needed. Something that hasn’t changed over nearly half a century, are the individuals that are eager to lend a hand and vital to the success of large-scale events.
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