By john Schultheis      All photos

We have finished another great Race Weekend at the Lodge! Ed Martin and newcomer Sandy Kiyomura led the weekend of food, fun and FAST!

A group of us came up Thursday night so that we could get some training on Friday. Assistant Race Director Austin Parlette set up a Friday Race Clinic at Northstar for Après and friends. We had at least 16 people participating in the clinic on Friday. We broke into two groups, with Ben instructing the Advanced and Intermediate racers, and Suzie leading the Novice classes. We had three hours of drills and running courses. We worked with stubbies and brushies and regular gates on the Masters course. (If you want to know what those all are, then you will need to ask one of the racers that was there. --*smiling*--)

Friday night we had a sumptuous meal featuring chow mein and teriyaki chicken wings, plus a spiral ham and all sorts of goodies prepared by Sandy and her volunteers. As the night wore on, the remaining weekend participants rolled in after long hard drives through the bowing snowstorm. Accidents and chain controls and heavy snow slowed everything. The storm dumped 4 inches of fresh snow at the Lodge during the three and a half hours that I was gone picking up Jim Sanchez from the Reno Airport. In addition to the regular crew of racers, we had some additional guests filling the remaining bunks.

Saturday started quickly with a hot breakfast and lunch fixin’s set out for everyone. The Après Lodge is now the proud owner of a new family sized Belgian Waffle maker. We headed over to Northstar for a Slalom race. We had 32 racers competing on Saturday, and they garnered 91 points (that is good) keeping us well in the lead for our seventh consecutive Open League Racing Championship.

Highlights of the day’s racing include Bryan Monroe and Sandy Kiyomura each taking first place and a Strike in their respective classes. Both of these are impressive because Bryan is on his way to becoming a Class 2 level racer, and because this was Sandy’s first race in her new class. In addition Randy Salzman continues his undefeated streak in Snowboard Class 4, and Warren Forest, Erick Karlen, Cheryl Lawson and Eric Linthorst each took first place in their respective classes. David Dippon, Ed Martin and returning racer Mike Stevens placed 1-2-3 in their class. Joe Giammarco continues to rule his class with another 9 points for a second place finish. Rookie sensation Sandy Saadi continues her strong run with a second place finish, closing in on a strike.

After the clinic and after their races, some of the people headed on over to Lookout Mountain to experience the spectacular soft bumps over there. Non-racers joined racers in sampling the great free skiing all over the place. We aren’t just about the races, we ski everything we can find!

Saturday evening back at the Lodge we had a variety of exotic salmon dishes prepared by Sandy Kiyomura and her assistants. One unusual concoction was her special Peanut butter and jelly salmon. Very tasty, and very unique. There was rice, and bread, and salad, and teriyaki chicken wings to fill up our plates. It was topped off with a couple kinds of fruit pie ala mode. (These race weekends really make it hard to lose those extra pounds!)

After dinner there were groups waxing skis in the tuning shed, and playing Hoopla in the Living Room. I suspect that there might have been some adult beverages consumed, but I have no record of any such thing. I do know that there were a lot of full bellies and happy people.

Sunday morning was cold and clear, and we started off with scrambled eggs and waffles and leftover ham. We all headed over to Sugar Bowl for the fifth race of the season. It was a little bit cold and windy in the morning, but the winds eased off, and it ended up being a spectacular day for racing and for skiing all over the mountain.

The race was a Giant Slalom (GS) on MacTavish, near the old Lodge. They have not yet published the results from Sunday’s race yet, but the highlights include another strong performance by Bryan Monroe, and great races by Randy McBeath and John Schultheis. I know that there are probably a bunch of first and second place finishes, but I don’t have any proof yet. The race courses were all set up on the same hill, with varying lengths and degrees of difficulty for each group. The Intermediates got a chance to run all the way from top to bottom, while the Novice racers got a taste of steep with a nice long run out at the bottom.

As always, my thanks go out to all of the volunteers that make this all possible, from my assistant Austin, to the Lodge Captains Ed and Sandy, to everyone that cooks, washes dishes and tends the fire. We couldn’t do it without all of you.