Week of February 2, 2026
Next week, we’ll continue building on these fundamentals by working on edge angles. We’ll also begin introducing hockey stops, and over the next few weeks you may see messages from your coaches about the possibility of introducing poles.
Parents – We are so grateful for this awesome group of helpful parents continuing to show up and help out with Assignments!
We have a new “box” for parent volunteers in the door labeled ‘Staff’ – this includes yellow vests and instructions for radios to both Parking Lot Drop off attendant and Lodge Parent- thanks!
These roles are both VERY important on Mondays and Wednesday for SLD – so thank you for helping!!
Thanks all!!
This week we had a productive race clinic with one day of slalom training and one day of GS training. We also spent time reviewing some important race rules with the athletes.[p/
We’re excited to share that we’re now able to start using the “Buck Training Complex”!!! Buck is the hill that is in the back by the “old Hickory Lodge”.
Looking ahead to next week, weather permitting (and if it’s not too cold), we’re planning to incorporate video review into our training sessions.
See you soon!
We’d like to clarify expectations for MNRC and WNRC participation.
Both MNRC and WNRC are designed to be add-on programs to our Tuesday/Thursday race clinics, not substitutions. While athletes do gain valuable experience in gates—including tactics and course awareness—gate training alone does not develop strong skiing fundamentals. All athletes become better skiers through focused drills outside the course, which are only offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
For athletes participating on Monday and Wednesday nights, the following expectations apply:
- Athletes must be able to use the bathroom independently and return to the group without assistance.
- Athletes must be able to ride all tow ropes independently, without coach assistance.
- Athletes should be very independent skiers and motivated to improve as ski racers.
- These sessions are training-focused. We do not have the staffing capacity to supervise or “babysit” athletes.
- If an athlete chooses to free ski instead of training, that is their decision; coaches will not be chasing athletes around the hill.
Athletes should arrive ready to train, stay engaged, and take advantage of the opportunity to get extra runs and focused work in.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation as we work to provide a productive and effective training environment for all athletes.
We hope the kids who tried racing for the first time enjoyed it and sign up for the remaining season!
We will continue reviewing race rules with our athletes this coming week including when and how to properly hike if a racer misses a gate.
Racers may hike in slalom until they are overtaken by the next racer.
Thank you to all who volunteered for this weekend’s race. Since we’re now able to start the U10+ race earlier on Tree Side while the U8’s are finishing on Rope Side, look for further guidance and clarity coming soon in Team Snap regarding when U10+ volunteers should be in place on the hill.
