STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
Sun Valley will sport the fastest skiing on the North American continent for four days this coming week. And Warm Springs Plaza and the Ketchum Town Square will turn into Party Central with live music, a sponsor village and a parade of athletes.
Olympians and World Championships gold medalists River Radamus and Tommy Ford will be among the athletes racing at the Toyota U.S. Alpine Nationals presented by Stifel April 2-5 at Sun Valley Resort. Others in attendance include Paula Moltzan, a top seven World Cup slalom skier and World Champion, and 2023 NorAm downhill title winners Erik Arvidsson and Lauren Macuga.
River Radamus, who just missed a giant slalom medal in the 2022 Winter Olympics, had a coming out party at the 2016 U.S. Alpine Championships in Sun Valley as he navigated a challenging race course that sent top veteran skiers like Steven Nyman careening off course. Radamus took first in the Junior Combined at that race, claiming a sack of spuds with his bouquet of flowers, and he missed out medaling in the Alpine Combined won by Ryan Cochran-Siegle by .03 seconds.
Three-time Olympian and nine-time national champion Tommy Ford grabbed gold in the Men’s Giant Slalom at the 2018 U.S. Alpine Championships in Sun Valley. And Radamus took a bronze in Men’s Super G, narrowly missing another medal in the Alpine Combined.
Fourteen Sun Valley skiers will compete at the Toyota U.S. Alpine Nationals.
Jack Smith, who recently finished second in the overall NorAm super-G standings, and Dasha Romanov and Ryder Sarchett are alumni of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation. All three currently race on the Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team. Marit Kaiser, also a SVSEF alum, is a sophomore racing for Colby College in Waterville, Maine.
Those with the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation FIS Team are Finnigan Donley, Colin Hanna, Nils Galloway, Kai Subith, Haley Cutler, Jessica Blackburn, Paige DeHart, Maya Lightner, Madison Vieara-McCarthy and Will Kogelman.
The championships will give them a chance to see how they stack up against current Stifel U.S. Alpine ski Team athletes
The racing event is the final competition on the hotly contended U.S. national ski racing circuit. And it pays homage to Sun Valley’s racing heritage, as the resort was the center of ski racing in North America in the early days hosting the Harriman Cup and the Pro Am Lange Cup, as well as the Diamond Sun.
Racers will race on courses similar to those created for the 2016 and 2018 championships, created by a USSA course designer who also designed Olympic courses. They take advantage of Bald Mountain’s pitch, which boasts one of the most impressive vertical rises of any U.S. ski resort with 3,400 vertical feet that plunge down Warm Springs without any flat spots.
To meet FIS standards, the men will not start Sunday’s Super G at the top of Warm Springs but rather nearly a third of the way down Warm Springs under International. They will ski a steep face before crossing a side hill to the top of Greyhawk where they will plunge down Greyhawk to the finish line and race arena.
Impressive poles towering along the edge of Greyhawk hold A-nets made of a couple layers of nylon feature an inertia system that will wrap around racers, slowing them down should they begin to fly off course.
Women will start the Super G closer to the cat track that carries them to Greyhawk.
Race course workers have been wetting the course down with hoses affixed to snow guns to create the hard surface that racers like.
But they will have their hands full, considering the nine inches that fell on Baldy Wednesday and a forecast that calls for another half-foot today followed by a foot on Saturday and Sunday (at least it's not the four feet Pomerelle Ski Area south of Burley got over two days this week, resulting in an avalanche that hit a car near the resort and skiers skiing out of bounds!) Some of the parents of youth racing at Junior Nationals at Sun Valley a week ago talked about how they had flown their children to ski resorts around the country to train because their home ski resorts had gotten too much powder snow for good race training.
All events are free to spectators, unlike some championships that charge spectators. Sun Valley Resort does offer VIP passes for those who want to up the ante (read on for more information). A viewing area for spectators will be provided at the bottom of Lower Greyhawk and there will be a giant screen/ scoreboard to enable spectators don’t miss a beat.
Practice begins Saturday and the racing on Sunday. A sponsor village will be set up at the bottom of Warm Springs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday through Tuesday.
The schedule:
SATURDAY, APRIL 1—
10:45 a.m. Men will practice for the Super G.
11:45 a.m. Women practice for the Super G.
2-5 p.m. Moonshine Schubert will provide live music at the Warm Springs Plaza.
SUNDAY, APRIL 2—
9 a.m.--The Men’s Super G Race starts on Warm Springs, encompassing a 2,122-foot vertical drop over a 6,003-foot course.
12:30 p.m. Women’s Super G race. It will start on Warm Springs just above the upper cat track leading into Greyhawk. It encompasses a 1,968 meter drop over 5,544 feet.
1-4 p.m. Clicquot in the Snow Party with DJ will be held at 1 to 4 p.m. at Warm Springs Plaza.
4-7:30 p.m. Opening Ceremony at Town Square in Ketchum. It will feature a Parade of Athletes led by the Twin Falls and Canyon Springs High School Drum Corps. Super G winners will receive their medals at the event, and a free concert by the all-horn Lowdown Brass Band of Chicago will follow. the band has opened for Bon Jovi and others and plays jazz, reggae and soul.
MONDAY, APRIL 3
9 a.m. Women’s Slalom Race No. 1 will start on mid-Hemingway before veering into Lower Greyhawk, a vertical drop of 1,312 feet.
10:30 a.m. Men’s Slalom Race No. 1
Noon—Women’s Slalom Race No. 2
1:30 p.m. Men’s Slalom Race No. 2.
1-5 p.m. Live music by Boise’s David Henry Band on Warm Springs Plaza. The band plays three-part harmonies with elements of country, folk and rock.
2:15 p.m. Awards for Men’s and Women’s Slalom on Warm Springs Plaza.
TUESDAY, APRIL 4
9:30 a.m. Women’s Giant Slalom Race No. 1 will start on Upper Greyhawk and veer off into Lower Hemingway before finishing up on Lower Greyhawk.
12:30 p.m. Women’s giant slalom Race No. 2.
1-5 p.m. Live music with DJ Marlin
2:15 p.m. Awards for Women’s Giant Slalom
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5
9:30 a.m. Men’s Giant Slalom Race No. 1.
12:30 p.m. Men’s giant Slalom Race No. 2.
2:15 p.m. Awards for Men’s Giant Slalom at Warm Springs Plaza.
A viewing area for spectators will be provided at the bottom of Lower Greyhawk.
VIP PASSES
Sun Valley Resort is offering a four-day VIP Pass that offers exclusive access to a VIP tent and patio area overlooking the finish line with views up the course. VIPs will also have access to a light breakfast of pastries and muffins and lunch buffet of salads and sandwiches, as well as such beverages as champagne, beer and wine.
The $900 VIP pass includes Sun Valley lift tickets with a chance to ski Bald Mountain before the mountain is open to the public. VIPs will also get priority for athlete meet and greets on Sunday, April 2, at Ketchum Town Square and Monday, April 3, at Warm Springs. And they’ll get a branded swag bag that includes gear from the U.S. Alpine Championships, Sun Valley and sponsors.
U.S. ALPINE SKI TEAM MEMBERS COMPETING:
Elisabeth Bocock, Mary Bocock, Keely Cashman, Katie Hensien, Kaitlin Keane, Lauren Macuga, Paula Moltzan, Dasha Romanov, Bella Wright, Erik Arvidsson, Bryce Bennett, Justin Bigatel, Sam DuPratt, Tommy Ford, Jared Goldberg, Jimmy Krupka, Kyle Negomir, Isaiah Nelson, Camden Palmquist, Jay Poulter, Cooper Puckett, River Radamus, Ben Ritchie, Ryder Sarchett, Jett Seymour, Jack Smith and Luke Winters.
PARKING? THERE IS NONE
There will be no public parking available at Warm Springs April 1-5. Spectators can park at the River Run lot and take a complimentary shuttle to the base of Warm Springs. Download bus schedule at https://www.sunvalley.com/images/uploads/general/MKT_USAlpineChamps_BusSchedule_Map_17x11in_Mar2023.pdf?utm_source=acoustic&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SV_TWISV_20230328&utm_content=&j=3308725&sub_key=00Q2M00001E0eiuUAB&spMailingID=3308725&spUserID=NDE2OTI1OTgwNzgS1&spJobID=1220273294&spReportId=MTIyMDI3MzI5NAS2.