Our ski season has started in epic fashion after an amazing week in Taos, NM. We had 20 SWA Ski Club members make it to Taos Ski Valley. If you weren’t one of those 20, you really missed out on some incredible conditions.
Here are the highlights from the week.
Here are the highlights from the week.
First of all, there was snow and lots of it. Monday through Wednesday, Winter Storm Iggy dumped 20″ plus on the Sangre de Cristo mountains. Sure, there were some high winds that went along with the storm front. But, hardly any of us were blown into the next county. And, those that were managed to make it back in time for Après Ski.
As is usual for our NAASF Ski Weeks, there was plenty of competition. Tuesday morning brought out the shredders for the Snowboard Slalom race. Our “ringer” from Nederland, CO., Kameron Troy bested the ladies with a commanding 4 second lead and another top of podium finish. On the men’s side, up and coming star Dan Caccia finished with a respectable 4th place finish. I raced too. Perhaps you saw me fall, twice on my first run. That was awesome.
Tuesday evening had us doing school bus karaoke into the town of Taos for our Team Dinner at Martyr’s steak house. We presented the restaurant manager with a model of “New Mexico One” as a thank you for hosting us for a second consecutive year. I hope we see it on display if we should happen to return to Taos.
Wednesday was slalom day for our skiers. Sadly, we had zero competitors on the B side. However, we do have Kameron Troy and Kellie McDonald taking the 5th and 6th spots respectively in the A group.
B slalom men’s had Fritz Moyer grabbing the 7th place finish. We’re happy to have you back from the dark side Fritz! Ken McKean took 13th spot out of the 36 competitors. In the A group, newly retired pilot and part time Grizzly Adams impersonator Bruce Powers was our lone competitor taking the 17th spot.
We packed into the Martini Tree Bar like a mini Sturgis meets Tour de France for the “Bikers and Babes” theme party on Wednesday night. There were lots of raffle prizes handed out too. I’ll just point out that your participation in the evening raffles fund the NAASF Foundation. A tax deductible 501(c)3 organization. Thank you!
Thursday brought out the giant slalom racers. I’d sure like to see more women compete in these events. We’re leaving Team points on the table with zero racers again in B GS. In A GS, Kameron and Kellie have a personal competition going with their 7th and 8th place finishes.
Men’s B GS had Fritz Moyer in 8th. Joined by James Tullos in 9th, and Ken McKean in 18th. Again, points were lost forever with no men competing in the A GS. (Ryan, H, Kris,…the brothers Vaughan), we miss you guys! We sure hope that you can join us again.
The season is just getting started, so it’s not too late to give these hot shots in the big legacy carriers some competition for the NAASF, Shredders and Bob Powers Cups at year’s end. I’ve said it before. You don’t have to be particularly fast, or even good to compete. You just need to finish the course as best you can. It’s a fun and exciting way to challenge yourself while having a great time.
I hope that you’ll consider giving it a try.
Normally, we’d have a final awards banquet on Thursday night. NAASF has reduced the itinerary to an open night on Thursday to save some money. We’ll have a final awards banquet at the spring Ski Week in Palisades Tahoe.
Thanks to all who attended. We’re wishing Scotty Coward a speedy recovery from his knee injury. And, I hope to see more of us attend the next NAASF Ski Week at Steamboat Springs.
I’ll give you all the details on that, plus other Ski Club news in my next email.
As is usual for our NAASF Ski Weeks, there was plenty of competition. Tuesday morning brought out the shredders for the Snowboard Slalom race. Our “ringer” from Nederland, CO., Kameron Troy bested the ladies with a commanding 4 second lead and another top of podium finish. On the men’s side, up and coming star Dan Caccia finished with a respectable 4th place finish. I raced too. Perhaps you saw me fall, twice on my first run. That was awesome.
Tuesday evening had us doing school bus karaoke into the town of Taos for our Team Dinner at Martyr’s steak house. We presented the restaurant manager with a model of “New Mexico One” as a thank you for hosting us for a second consecutive year. I hope we see it on display if we should happen to return to Taos.
Wednesday was slalom day for our skiers. Sadly, we had zero competitors on the B side. However, we do have Kameron Troy and Kellie McDonald taking the 5th and 6th spots respectively in the A group.
B slalom men’s had Fritz Moyer grabbing the 7th place finish. We’re happy to have you back from the dark side Fritz! Ken McKean took 13th spot out of the 36 competitors. In the A group, newly retired pilot and part time Grizzly Adams impersonator Bruce Powers was our lone competitor taking the 17th spot.
We packed into the Martini Tree Bar like a mini Sturgis meets Tour de France for the “Bikers and Babes” theme party on Wednesday night. There were lots of raffle prizes handed out too. I’ll just point out that your participation in the evening raffles fund the NAASF Foundation. A tax deductible 501(c)3 organization. Thank you!
Thursday brought out the giant slalom racers. I’d sure like to see more women compete in these events. We’re leaving Team points on the table with zero racers again in B GS. In A GS, Kameron and Kellie have a personal competition going with their 7th and 8th place finishes.
Men’s B GS had Fritz Moyer in 8th. Joined by James Tullos in 9th, and Ken McKean in 18th. Again, points were lost forever with no men competing in the A GS. (Ryan, H, Kris,…the brothers Vaughan), we miss you guys! We sure hope that you can join us again.
The season is just getting started, so it’s not too late to give these hot shots in the big legacy carriers some competition for the NAASF, Shredders and Bob Powers Cups at year’s end. I’ve said it before. You don’t have to be particularly fast, or even good to compete. You just need to finish the course as best you can. It’s a fun and exciting way to challenge yourself while having a great time.
I hope that you’ll consider giving it a try.
Normally, we’d have a final awards banquet on Thursday night. NAASF has reduced the itinerary to an open night on Thursday to save some money. We’ll have a final awards banquet at the spring Ski Week in Palisades Tahoe.
Thanks to all who attended. We’re wishing Scotty Coward a speedy recovery from his knee injury. And, I hope to see more of us attend the next NAASF Ski Week at Steamboat Springs.
I’ll give you all the details on that, plus other Ski Club news in my next email.
Thanks for reading. Have a great day!