TOP FIVE FRIDAYS: OCTOBER 21, 2022
Lead Image: Hey Siri, play “Eye of the Tiger,” by Survivor. Image: Mikaela Shiffrin on Facebook
#1: FIS Alpine Ski Racing is Back, With First Races of the Season Happening in Soelden This Weekend:
With a world of opportunity ahead of her and a seemingly renewed focus, Mikaela Shiffrin prepares to take the course in Soelden this weekend, kicking off the 2022-2023 FIS World Cup season. Image: Mikaela Shiffrin on Facebook
Hello, and welcome to Top Five Fridays, the October 21, 2022 edition! This week is a very special week here on Top 5 as it’s our unofficial annual winter kick-off edition! Every year, there seems to be one week where all of the sudden, it just feels like ski season again. This year, that just so happens to be this week as three out of four of our written topics cover return to snow activities, signifying the official start of winter. On that note, we’ll start this week in a familiar way: with FIS Alpine Ski Racing news.
Last week, we kicked things off by highlighting recent comments made by Mikaela Shiffrin in regards to the upcoming season. What we neglected to mention though, is that the season officially starts this week. More specifically, the 2022-2023 FIS World Cup Alpine Ski Racing season gets underway tomorrow, October 22nd, with a women’s GS race in Soelden, Austria. Then, a day later, the men will take the course for a GS race of their own. Perhaps just as exciting as this weekend’s races is the additional fact that once this year’s FIS schedule starts, it doesn’t stop. Traditionally, there’s been a 3-4 week pause in the action between the first and second stops. This year however, the FIS has strategically added a highly anticipated downhill race in Zermatt-Cervinia ahead of the Lech series for both the men’s and women’s circuits. This new race, which will take place for the men on October 30th and for the women on November 6th, perfectly fills the previous void in schedule and now the FIS tour features races every weekend from now through the end of March. In addition to being a perfectly timed addition to the calendar, the Zermatt-Cervinia race itself is incredibly exciting as the new downhill venue is the first course to cross international borders, with the starting gate located in Switzerland and the finish line in Italy. As exciting as this all is however, there is one small asterisk with this story: the event is at risk of being canceled due to low snow. The final call has yet to be made, and we’re hopeful that the show will go on, but as you might’ve guessed, we’ll be sure to keep you updated in next week’s Top Five.
Before we close out this highlight, we want to briefly mention how you can watch this weekend’s race, as well as the rest of the events on the FIS calendar. According to SkiRacing.com, there is a website being operated by Ski Austria that will be providing a live feed of the Soelden races, which you can watch here. Additionally, we’re told that NBC (Peacock) will also be airing this weekend’s action. Looking ahead, there are also a couple of other media outlets worth knowing about for the season ahead as they too will be airing plenty of FIS events. For all Canadian and European events (besides Austria), Ski and Snowboard Live will offer a subscription plan to stream numerous FIS disciplines, and is marketing itself as the most comprehensive outlet for FIS sports. Additionally, Outside+ will also offer domestic FIS events, in addition to their library of other outdoor media content. Finally, NBC Sports and CNBC will broadcast all domestic U.S. events, as well as those in Austria, including this weekend’s race in Soelden. In other words, for events in the United States and Austria, NBC / CNBC or Outside+ are your best bet, while events in other parts of the world will require a subscription to Ski and Snowboard Live. Regardless of how you go about finding streams of these events, we highly recommend doing so as FIS action is a great way to pass time on the couch throughout the winter months. You can learn more about your streaming options here.
#2: FIS World Cup Freeskiing is Also Back, With Big Air Event Currently Underway in Chur:
FIS Freeskiing is underway today, as athletes compete in the first Big Air event of the season in Chur, Switzerland. Image: FIS Big Air Chur Gallery on Smug Mug
In other World Cup skiing news, we’re excited to report that this weekend’s giant slalom races in Soelden aren’t the only FIS events taking place over the course of the next couple of days. For those of you who consider yourself an adrenaline junkie but prefer hangtime over speed, you’ll be pleased to hear that the FIS Freestyle calendar is also kicking off this weekend, with the first Big Air event going down right now in Chur, Switzerland. At the time of this writing, qualifiers have already occurred, and the list of finalists is now live. For us U.S. fans, you’ll quickly notice that Team America withheld our strongest competitors from this first event, with only five U.S. men making the trip, all of whom are on either the rookie or development teams. That said, it’s notable that U.S. Slopestyle team rookie Troy Podmilsak took the top place in qualifiers, earning a score of 94.00 in his first ever FIS World Cup event. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that trailing him are heavy hitters like Andri Regettli, Birk Rudd, Huge Burvall, Jesper Tjader, and more. While we have to keep in mind that these are simply qualifying results, and that it’s likely that the more veteran competitors put on a strategic performance in which they went for safety tricks in order to secure a spot in finals, it’s still impressive that a U.S. rookie team athlete qualified in first place in his first FIS World Cup event. With nighttime finals occurring later today, we’ll soon know how Podmilsak fared, and will be sure to provide an update in regards to his performance next week. For now, we’ll turn you over to the FIS website to learn more about today’s event.
#3: Minnesota Feeder Hill Claims Title of “First to Open in North America” for 2022-2023 Winter. More Snow On the Way:
Wild Mountain in Minnesota was one of three midwestern feeder hills that took advantage of the cold conditions, blowing enough snow to welcome back skiers and boarders for the first time this season. Image: Wild Mountain on Facebook
Next up in ski news this week is our third consecutive highlight that signals the start of ski season. This week, chairlifts spun for the first time of the season here in the United States. Now, most year’s a ski resort in Colorado is able to claim “first resort open in the U.S.” Last year it was Wolf Creek, and in 2019-2020 it was Keystone. Often overlooked however, are a trio of midwestern ski areas that occasionally steal the claim. In the 2020-2021 season, Wild Mountain, MN and Trollhaugen, WI were the first two resorts to open. This year, history repeated itself as Andes Tower Hills, a 290’ vertical ski hill in Minnesota, won the race to be the first ski area to open, as cold weather enabled them to blow enough snow on Monday, October 17th to open a day later on October 18th. Hot on the heels of Andes Tower Hills were Wild Mountain and Trollhaugen who also opened this week. While it’s unlikely that these resorts will remain open throughout the entirety of October and November, their efforts and commitment to local skiers is certainly laudable.
Next up in ski news this week is our third consecutive highlight that signals the start of ski season. This week, chairlifts spun for the first time of the season here in the United States. Now, just about every year, a ski resort in Colorado is able to claim “first resort open in the U.S.” Last year it was Wolf Creek, and the year before that was Keystone. This year however, a number of dark horse candidates from the Northern Midwest were amongst the first resorts to open as cold air provided the conditions needed for a handful of small resorts to make enough snow to give eager skiers and snowboarders their first taste of winter. Ultimately winning the race to open was Andes Tower Hills, a 290’ vertical ski hill in Minnesota. There, snowmakers began working early on Monday, October 17th, enabling them to officially open a day later, on Tuesday, October 18th. Joining them this week were two other equally dedicated resorts: Wild Mountain, MN, and Trollhaugen Outdoor Recreation Area in Wisconsin.In addition to these resorts actually opening and kicking off the 2022-2023 North American ski season, there was also plenty of snow in the news in other locations. To the East, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula received a considerable amount of snow, with some locations claiming up to 18”. While we’re not aware of any ski resorts in the area opening, locals certainly took advantage of the conditions with at least some skiers earning their first powder turns of the year. Of course, while the Midwest claimed the title of first to open this year, Colorado isn’t willing to let them keep the spotlight for too long. This weekend, the Aspen region is expected to receive its first significant snowfall, with higher resort elevations expected to see up to 14” of snow through Monday. From there, light snow is expected to continue, with the additional chance of a second storm popping up sometime around October 27th. Looking ahead, OpenSnow meteorologist Joel Gratz is hopeful that cold and snowy patterns could continue, ushering in a terrific start to the season for the region. To learn more about these predictions, check in with the Aspen Times. For the rest of us who haven’t been hit with snow yet, sit tight, get your gear in order, and as always, pray for snow.
#4: Crystal Mountain Offers New “Quiver Pass,” Providing Access to Unlimited Demos:
With Crystal Mountain’s new Quiver Pass, locals can explore a range of skis or elect to demo the perfect pair for the conditions on any given day. Image: Crystal Mountain on Facebook
Finally, we end this week’s highlight reel with a story that’s not new, just new to us. Still, while the announcement was made back on September 30th, we think this highlight is interesting enough that it’s worth sharing here on Top 5. A few weeks back, Crystal Mountain in Washington announced a new “Quiver Pass,” which gives guest access to unlimited demo skis for $399 for the year. Included with that price is access to, “67 models of skis from 10 different brands including Nordica, Atomic, Volkl, K2, Salomon, Armada, Line, 4FRNT, Blizzard, and Rossignol.” Being called the “quiver pass,” it’s our assumption that the target market for this program are skiers who want access to a variety of skis, enabling them to choose the right pair for that day’s conditions. It’s a pretty cool idea, as this allows skiers to experience the joys of a powder ski on a powder day without having to spend the money to own a pair that they might only enjoy a handful of days each season. Likewise, it also would give pass holders the option of demoing a ski they might never have tried before, like an expert level frontside carver. To us, that’s where the value of this program is. As you know, here at SkiEssentials, we’re all about demoing a variety of skis as we put on an annual ski test where our employees get to try skis from every category from dozens of brands. In addition to enabling us to record and share our thoughts regarding these skis in the form of our ski test, our staff also gains perspective on the full scope of options, helping them make the best recommendations possible for our customers. In doing this, we’ve gained a strong appreciation for demoing a wide range of skis as there’s no better way to find the right pair for you than to ski the spectrum and learn more about your preferences. With that in mind, the idea of a resort providing the same type of experience to its guests is admittedly exciting.
Of course, as always here on Top 5 Fridays, when a story like this comes across our desk, we also love to ponder the implications. In this case, the first question we asked ourselves was, “is this something that all resorts might start doing?” Honestly, it feels like a no-brainer as it’s a program that offers tremendous value to skiers and is a good way to earn more presale-esque revenue. From there, our second question was, “should we be offering this in the Stowe and Killington areas?” Which, great question. We’ll have to get back to you on that (but certainly let us know your thoughts in the comments below).
Finally, our third question was, “could quiver passes replace the need for people to buy skis?” To that, we’d consider it possible, although unlikely as being tied to an onhill demo center for all of your skiing access doesn’t feel like the right solution for a lot of people. For anyone with travel plans, skis multiple resorts, has a touring setup, or simply doesn’t want to deal with the hassle of stopping by the demo tent at the start and end of each day of skiing, there are still a number of practical reasons why owning gear is the right move. With that in mind, the Quiver Pass feels like a great option for two types of skiers: those interested in exploring the full range of available skis in order to make an informed decision on their next pair, and those who own a daily driver and desire access to different types of skis depending on the conditions on any given day. For those two demographics, the Quiver Pass concept is incredibly intriguing. To learn more about this, check out the Crystal Mountain website.