Week of November 18

We are getting close to winter time and excited to meet all our skiers!

To get started, we will host our Meet & Greet for all Intro to Ski Level Development and Ski Level Development skiers and parents!  Coaches will be there to help review gear needs, check gear, talk about expectations and what’s needed to have the best ski season possible =)

• Wednesday Dec. 18th, 5:30-6:30pm
• Hickory Hills Lodge
• **Bring skiers skis, boots and helmet to Meet & Greet

Please mark your calendars and see you there!

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We are in November!! Time to get fired up for cold weather to roll in!!!

SKI PASSES – yep, it’s time to start thinking about our ski passes:

• Hickory Hills Passes: Now available online through the City of Traverse City website! Most families opt for the season pass over a daily pass, but this is your choice.
  • https://www.traversecitymi.gov/government/city-departments/hickory-hills/season-passes.html
• Crystal Mountain Passes: MSRT practices at Crystal on Wednesday only and get a discount on a single day Crystal Mtn Racer pass.
  • MSRT –  To purchase a Wednesday-only ski pass, $105, call Megan Farfsing at Crystal Mountain, 231.378.2255

MSRT MEET & GREET – Dec 10 @ 7:30pm at Hickory Hills. Please mark your calendars and check your TeamSnap MSRT calendars for details.

• We hold an MSRT Meet & Greet each year to help our skiers and parents better understand what the season ahead is going to look like: bussing, practice schedules, race schedules, gear needs, etc.
• It’s also a great opportunity for families to meet the coaches and ask questions!
• Parents and athletes, please join us on Dec 10 @ 7:30pm at Hickory Hills.

While ultimately we want to plan ahead, we all realize that the wild card variable out of our control for alpine skiing is weather and snowfall. This can severely limit available ski venues allowing us to train.  We planned to stay local last year, and climate change forced late openings at most (all?) local ski resorts.  This made us have to adapt last minute – and us skiers had to tuck and roll north, or simply not have training. We all agree it’s not ideal to travel further – it costs more for lodging, gas and pass purchases (and we CERTAINLY all agree we buy enough passes and it was really unfortunate to watch our Nubs passes sit mostly-unused last early season!!) – but when travel north is the only training option we have – we will offer that to our GTSC families and allow everyone to make their choices on what’s the best for their situation.

• We all agreed that staying local to train around the holiday season is ideal.
  • However we also recognize that Hickory and Crystal Mtn may not have snow / be open for us to train at (same as last year).
• If HIckory and/or Crystal are not open or will not allow training – Nubs Nob was a preferred alternate location for training.
  • However we also remember that last year Nubs was not open for us to train at over the holidays and a lot of January either due to lack of snow.
• If we can offer local training – we certainly will!!! And we will also do our best to offer training/racing opportunities further north if/when needed.

Race time is nearly here!!!  In general, it’s helpful to remember that:

• USSS Race registrations open approximately 1 month prior to a race event.
• Race registrations are thru SkiReg again in 2024/25 – so the same system as last year:
• USSS late fees kick in if you do not register by the Tuesday prior to the race date.
• We do not believe there will be any quotas in place for the races on our GTSC USSS calendar – however some qualifier races can have them work skiing out of region.
• Reminder that all USSS racers are responsible to register themselves for each USSS race they want to participate in – this fee, nor process – is included/completed by GTSC or coaches.
  • https://www.skireg.com 
• Since our first USSS race is Dec 14 at Searchmont – registration is now officially open!!!
• Reminder that all USSS races outside the lower peninsula do incur an additional coaching fee to athlete whom chose to attend – this fee is to cover additional travel costs for coaches only and is charged following event.
• To register for races – below is what it will look like when you get into your skireg account. Simply find the race you are interested in and register =)

USSS TOUCHDOWN MEETING: 

Join us for a quick virtual touchdown meeting to chat prior to our first training and/or race weekend!  We will walk through registration questions, logistics, where to meet, etc.!

Thursday Dec 5th at 6:30pm

Via Teams – link below:

________________________________________________________________________________

Microsoft Teams Need help?

Join the meeting now

Meeting ID: 230 518 272 91

Passcode: yr6NG3pc

Dial in by phone

+1 352-374-3246,,784898525# United States, Gainesville

Phone conference ID: 784 898 525#

Our goal is always to try and set families up for success! Especially if you are a new family – the jump to USSS can be a big one – so reach out anytime with questions!

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