As some of the Ski & Snowboard Club Vail (SSCV) community help prepare the Birds of Prey course in Beaver Creek this weekend, others were at Golden Peak competing in their first USSA race of the season.  Putting on the BOP race requires a tremendous amount of manpower, some of which is supplied each year by SSCV staff and volunteers. SSCV has 40 volunteers a day for 10 days to help prepare the World Cup Course.

The Smartwool Series, hosted by Ski & Snowboard Club Vail (SSCV), took place this past Saturday and Sunday on Golden Peak. U16 athletes, 14-15 years of age, and older are eligible to compete in the Smartwool series. 63 male athletes and 63 Female athletes competed in the Smartwool Series. The race brought a wide range of competitors from near and far.

Competitors from Buck Hill Minnesota made the trip out to compete, as well as the University of New Mexico. The University of New Mexico came out here looking for the win and it certainly showed. The women’s podium consisted of three University of New Mexico athletes with Mary Hostetter in first, Courtney Altringer in second, and Anne Brusletto in third on Saturday. The New Mexico male athletes came out just as strong on Sunday and swept the podium with Michael Bansmer in first, Sean Horner in second, and Chriss Salbu in third. But lets not forget the locals.

SSCV has been training on this slalom hill for the past few weeks and the athletes made the course look easy. Skylar Chaney placed 2nd out of the women’s U16 division on Saturday, which gave her a 6th place overall finish. Followed closely behind her, Camilla Trapness placed 8th overall and 4th for the U16 division. “The conditions were really good today and the course was great to ski on. My first run I skied more conservatively and just wanted to finish, but then second run I just went all out. I’m pretty happy with how I placed,” says Chaney. Unfortunately Chaney had a bit of a bobble in Sunday’s race and took a fall halfway down the course. Trapness performed well on Sunday and earned an 11th overall place. Rachael Desrochers and Megan McGrew raced well on the second race day beating older athletes and ending up in 7th and 8th place overall.

Quick times came out of the male division in the Smartwool race, with local athlete Logan Martin placing 1st for the U16 division and 3rd overall in Saturday’s race. Just like with World Cups, or any other race, a little inner team competition can fuel the desire to improve ones overall score. “Jack Keane and Tagert Mueller are good competition for me and are fun to ski against,” says Martin. Keane placed 2nd just behind Logan Martin in the U16 male division on Saturday. Incredibly enough, Keane and Martin tied for 10th place on Sunday both with a combined time of 1:13.05. The best male performance came from SSCV athlete Danny Fowler who placed 4th overall on the second race day.

For official results of the Smartwool Series click here.