Of all the things that we did on the slopes of Steamboat Springs, one of the biggest stories of our second NAASF Ski Week was what we didn’t do on the slopes. We didn’t ski or snowboard. We saw the high winds coming into the Yampa Valley on Tuesday night. On Wednesday morning, we woke up to 50mph sustained winds, gusts up to 80mph at the top of the gondola. And a wind chill of -40 degrees. After a few attempts to open, it was finally decided that the resort would remained closed. Everyone sort of did their own thing for the day. I finished my novel about the crossword puzzle I had just completed, all while day drinking. It’s coming out in paperback soon.
Tuesday morning was the Snowboard and Newcomer’s races. The snowboarding dynamo from Daytona Beach, Florida, Traci Farley took the top of the podium with another first place finish. That guy that goes by the name of “Woody” finished 12th in the men’s snowboard race. (I think he pulled a hammy). In the Newcomer’s, it was race the father/daughter duo of Team Ellingwood that had everyone shocked and awed with both of them posting incredibly fast times. Rumor has it that daughter Rianne is working on her commercial pilots license. She doesn’t know this yet, but she already has several letters of recommendation to go along with her application to Southwest!
We shared our Team Dinner with some friends from JetBlue. The restaurant was packed and loud. So, if you’re wondering if you missed any big announcements during Team Dinner, you didn’t. But, if you didn’t make it to the after party at Schmiggity’s in downtown Steamboat, you did miss some killer karaoke!
The Wednesday night Theme Party, “You gotta have heart” was just a continuation of the many parties that were already taking place for the entire day. There was lots of food and prizes, a great DJ and all of the fun that goes along with it.
With the off day on Wednesday, we were forced to get all of our giant slalom and slalom races completed in a single day. A ton of credit goes to the race crew from Steamboat as well as our NAASF technical directors for pulling off this feat. Our single woman skier was Camille Griffin with her 13th place finish in the B giant slalom, followed by her 14th place finish in the B slalom. For our men skiers, we had Kris Novak grab an 11th place finish in the A giant slalom. And Bruce Powers took the 19th spot. For the B racers, Jason Prickett is working his way out of that group and into the A group by taking the 3rd spot on the giant slalom podium. He was followed by Fritz Moyer in 6th, then Ken McKean in 13th. In the men’s B slalom, Jason Prickett tied for 1st place! Fritz Moyer took 4th and Ken McKean finished 8th.
It was a busy day for these skiers. They braved some brutally cold temps and high winds that still remained on Thursday.
Thanks to all who came out!
Moving on…
Our next big event is of course, the World Airlines Ski Championships in Tromso, Norway. We have 25 that are registered to attend. That’s way better than I thought we’d see for such a remote location. You still have time to join us. These “international ski weeks” are next level events. You’ll be glad you joined us half way through the opening ceremonies!
If you want to join us, just send me an email or message. I’ll get you pointed in the right direction.
Palisades Tahoe, Apr 9-14
The discounted lodging link is now available to book at The Village at Palisades Tahoe. Yes, you read that correctly…..Discounted lodging! The NAASF discount is slightly better than the amount offered to Ikon pass holders.
You can book lodging at this link.
The default selection is a one bedroom suite. You can change that by clicking on…wait for it….”change”. But, there is a little bit more. Once the pop up appears, click on the orange “package price” banner at the bottom to select a different room type.
Book your rooms now, or as early as possible. Registration through NAASF is not currently available. Once the event is unlocked for registration, I’ll let you know.
Recap….
So, in this email we’ve covered day drinking at Steamboat. Two first place finishes. A really fast skier that needs an SWA employee number.
An invitation to join us in Norway.
And, discounted lodging at Palisades Tahoe.
This season has seen some incredible snow totals from several different winter storms. It’s not fun to work in. But, we sure are enjoying it when we can!