National Standard Race (abbreviated NASTAR ) is the world's largest recreational ski and snowboard race program. It was founded in 1968 by SKI magazine and is owned and operated by Outside Inc.
56-582: NASTAR has a scoring system for assigning scores to ski and snowboard racers of all ages and abilities, using a handicap system . Since the program's beginning in 1968, more than 6 million NASTAR racer-days have been recorded. It has been available at more than 100 ski resorts in North America and 1 in Australia . Many U.S. Ski Team stars got their start ski racing in NASTAR programs. NASTAR uses
112-457: A plywood core. The design included steel edges (invented in 1928 in Austria , ) and the exterior surfaces were made of phenol formaldehyde resin which could hold wax. This hugely successful ski was unique at the time, having been designed for the recreational market rather than for racing. 1962: a fibreglass ski, Kneissl 's White Star, was used by Karl Schranz to win two gold medals at
168-399: A downhill skiing context. Backcountry skiing, also known as off-piste skiing, is any form of skiing done outside of ski area boundaries. Most of the time this type of skiing is done with alpine touring skis , or telemark gear, where skiers take advantage of climbing skins and a detachable heel, to ski uphill. When the skier reaches the top of the area they want to ski down, they take off
224-521: A free heel to facilitate walking. Styles of Nordic skiing equipment include: Ski poles are commonly used in tandem with skis in a variety of types of skiing. They are typically used as a mechanism to help skiers in most types of skiing, giving additional maneuverability with support turning, walking, and getting up after falling. Ski maintenance encompasses four facets: binding adjustments, waxing, edge shaping, and base repair. Binding adjustment : Safety-release ski bindings require adjustment to fit
280-659: A lot longer to melt than dry fluffy snow that the central Rocky Mountains are known for. Some ski resorts, like the small Cataloochee Ski Area found in western North Carolina, rely almost entirely on artificial snowmaking to stay open. With an average annual snowfall total of only around 35 inches (most of which occurs in January and February) Cataloochee is still able to open up around November 20 and maintain snow until March 25. Even in bad snow years thanks to heavy investments in snowmaking technology, Cataloochee can open with no natural snowfall and will often be open for months before
336-492: A means of travel over snow, skis have become specialized for recreational and competitive alpine and cross-country skiing . The word ski comes from the Old Norse word skíð which means "cleft wood", "stick of wood" or "ski". In Old Norse common phrases describing skiing were fara á skíðum (to travel, move fast on skis), renna (to move swiftly) and skríða á skíðum (to stride on skis). In Norwegian this word
392-613: A much wider tip and tail than waist. When tipped onto their edges, they bend into a curved shape and carve a turn. Cross-country techniques use different styles of turns; edging is not as important, and skis have little sidecut. For many years, alpine skis were shaped similarly to cross-country, simply shorter and wider, but the Elan SCX introduced a radial sidecut design that dramatically improved performance. Other companies quickly followed suit, one Austrian ski designer admitting, "It turns out that everything we thought we knew for forty years
448-486: A new design technology was introduced with an outer hardwood shell completely encasing an inner layer of lighter wood, successfully eliminating spontaneously splitting glue lines. This early design eventually evolved into an advanced laminating technique which is referred to today as single-shell casing technology. In 1950, Howard Head introduced the Head Standard , constructed by sandwiching aluminium alloy around
504-478: A sidecut that narrowed the ski underfoot while the tip and tail remained wider. This enabled the ski to flex and turn more easily. Skis traditionally were hand-carved out of a single piece of hardwood such as hickory or birch or ash . These woods were used because of their density and ability to handle speed and shock-resistance factors associated with ski racing. Because Europe's forests were dwindling, finding quality plank hardwood became difficult, which led to
560-409: A single long piece of suitable wood that is hand-carved to the required shape. Early designs were generally rectangular in cross-section, with the tip bent up through application of steam. Over time the designs changed, and skis were thinned out to the sides, or had prominent ridges down the center. In the history of skiing many types of skis have been developed, designed for different needs, of which
616-627: A time referenced against the national champion, corrected for the specific resort and course conditions and his/her level. Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze designations are based on performance in several races, relative to each racer's age, gender, and ability group. Championships are held near the end of the skiing season each year. NASTAR resorts possess the autonomy to determine the location and configuration of their NASTAR race venue, typically favoring visibility from high-traffic areas such as lifts or lodges . The resort retains discretion in choosing between single or dual courses. Each NASTAR course
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#1732780714961672-399: A variety of materials including carbon- Kevlar to make skis stronger, stiffer in twisting, lighter, and more durable. Ski manufacturing techniques allow skis to be made in one or a combination of three designs: Laminated skis are built in layers. Materials such as fiberglass , steel , aluminum alloy , or plastic are layered and compressed above and below the core. Laminated construction
728-563: A verb from the noun. Finnish has its own ancient words for skis and skiing: "ski" is suksi and "skiing" is hiihtää . The word suksi goes back to the Proto-Uralic period, with cognates such as Erzya soks , Mansi tåut and Nganasan tuta. The Sami also have their own words for "skis" and "skiing": for example, the Lule Sami word for "ski" is sabek and skis are called sabega . The Sami use cuoigat for
784-508: A walking stick to help the user maintain balance. Nordic ski technology was adapted during the early 20th century to enable skiers to turn at higher speeds. New ski and ski binding designs, coupled with the introduction of ski lifts to carry skiers up slopes, enabled the development of alpine skis. Meanwhile, advances in technology in the Nordic camp allowed for the development of special skis for skating and ski jumping . This type of ski
840-415: Is a period when skiing , snowboarding and other alpine sports are viable in a ski resort . The season corresponds to when ski lifts are running and lift passes are available. Depending on the latitude and altitude of the resort, the season will typically run from early to mid-winter until mid- to late spring. The snow season can change drastically from year to year and mountain to mountain. Ideally,
896-415: Is a quick and easy process that can be completed online from home via the NASTAR website. Upon registration, each racer is required to pay a small entry fee per race. The races are timed electronically using a mechanical lever for the clock start and an optical beam sensor for the clock stop. The race results are saved on a computer and uploaded by the resort to the central NASTAR database each race day. Once
952-408: Is essentially a modified Giant slalom (GS) course comprising 12 to 20 gates for racers to navigate. Gates are positioned with vertical distances of 18 to 20 meters between them and horizontal offsets ranging from 4 to 8 meters. Resorts are advised to establish a standardized course(s) with a target time of 23 seconds, ensuring that no course falls within 5% of the set time. The 'cap time,' representing
1008-464: Is less common for alpine and ski touring . During the 1980s, Bucky Kashiwa developed a new construction technique using a rolled stainless steel sheet forming three sides of a torsion box over a wooden core, with the base of the ski forming the bottom. Introduced in 1989, the Volant skis proved expensive to produce, and in spite of numerous positive reviews, the company never became profitable. In 1990,
1064-422: Is the most widely used manufacturing process in the ski industry today. The first successful laminate ski, and arguably the first modern ski was the Head Standard , introduced in 1950, which sandwiched aluminum alloy around a plywood core. The Dynamic VR7 introduced a new construction method in which a smaller wooden core was wrapped in wet fibreglass, as opposed to pre-dried sheets of fibreglass being glued to
1120-505: Is the tip, the middle is the waist and the rear is the tail. Skis have four aspects that define their basic performance: length, width, sidecut and camber. Skis also differ in more minor ways to address certain niche roles. For instance, mogul skis are softer to absorb shocks, powder skis are wider to provide more float and rocker skis bent upwards ( reverse camber ) at the tip and tail to make it easier to turn in deep and heavy snow. Skis have evolved from being made of solid wood to using
1176-420: Is typically set by a U.S. Ski Team racer or former champion. Runners-up establish handicaps against the winner by their lag time percentage. These 'traveling pacesetters' compete against pacesetters from each NASTAR resort at sanctioned Regional Pacesetting Trials before the start of the following season. These events enable pacesetters from each individual resort to establish their own certified handicap against
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#17327807149611232-538: Is usually pronounced [ˈʂiː] . In Swedish , another language evolved from Old Norse, the word is skidor (plural, pronounced [ˈɧîːdʊr] ; singular: skida ). The modern Norwegian word ski and the Swedish word skid have largely retained the Old Norse meaning in words for split firewood, wood building materials (such as bargeboards ) and roundpole fence . English and French use
1288-502: The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships . By the late '60s fibreglass had mostly replaced aluminum. In 1974 , Magne Myrmo became the last world champion (Falun, 15 km cross-country) using wooden skis. In 1975, the torsion box ski construction design is patented. The patent is referenced by Kästle, Salomon, Rottefella , and Madshus . In 1993 Elan introduced the Elan SCX model, skis with
1344-651: The Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA) voted to allow a NASTAR gold medal (equivalent to a racing time within 16% of the national U.S. champion for a male in his 20s) as one of the pre-requisites for future certification of a Level 3 Ski Instructor. The Rocky Mountain Division of the PSIA includes the biggest ski resorts in the U.S., such as Vail , Aspen , Steamboat and Taos and has 6,000 members, half of which are certified as Level 3,
1400-544: The 4th of July. One of the most well-known mountains in the US for almost year-round skiing is the Timberline Lodge ski area on Mount Hood . With a base elevation at 4,540 and a peak elevation of 8,540, it is not the highest elevation ski resort in the western United States. Its unique climate can bring an average of 400 inches of wet heavy snow, also known as Cascade concrete. The wet heavy snow on Palmer Glacier takes
1456-466: The Salomon S9000 took the same basic concept but replaced the steel with plastics, producing a design they called "monocoque". Now referred to as the "cap ski" design, the concept eliminates the need to wrap the core and replaces this with a single-step process that is much less expensive to produce. Cap ski construction dominates alpine ski construction today. The classical wooden ski consists of
1512-461: The cambered ski. This ski arches up in the middle, under the binding, which distributes the skier's weight more evenly across the length of the ski. Earlier plank-style skis had to be thick enough not to bow downward and sink in the snow under the skier's weight. This new design made it possible to build a thinner lighter ski, that flexed more easily to absorb the shock of bumps, and that maneuvered and ran faster and more easily. The design also included
1568-445: The climbing skins and make the necessary preparations to ski back down. Backcountry terrain can also be accessed with standard alpine equipment by riding a lift uphill at a ski resort and then leaving the resort boundary. However, this is more commonly known as sidecountry because of its immediate access from a ski lift. In Nordic skiing the skier is not reliant on ski lifts to get up hills, and so skis and boots tend to be lighter, with
1624-510: The core (essentially replacing metal sheets). The result was a torsion box , which made the ski much stronger. The VR7, and its more famous follow-on VR17, was the first fibreglass ski that could be used for men's racing, and quickly took over that market. Over time, materials for both the core and torsion box have changed, with wood, various plastic foams, fibreglass, kevlar and carbon fiber all being used in different designs. Torsion box designs continue to dominate cross-country ski designs, but
1680-412: The data is on the central database (usually by the end of a race day), it becomes publicly accessible, and racers can effortlessly view their performance history from different dates and resorts at any time. Every ski resort in North America is encouraged to participate in the NASTAR program. The NASTAR organization sends out presentations and questionnaires to all resorts in the off-season, to determine
1736-477: The end of the season, the 3 top Alpine Division performers of each resort in each of the 4 medal divisions (Platinum, Gold , Silver and Bronze ) are invited to compete in the National Championship . Those who choose to participate, compete against others in their respective category. Each racer is assigned a division in his or her appropriate gender and age group for the national race to 'level
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1792-487: The fastest possible time down the venue achieved by the local pacesetter without maneuvering around gates, serves as a benchmark. While the appearance of each race venue may vary, the aforementioned criteria, particularly the consistent par time established by the pacesetter, contribute to result standardization. This uniformity facilitates participants in comparing race times regardless of the location or timing of their races. NASTAR requires all participants to register, which
1848-528: The first year, but quickly gained in popularity, under the powerful direction of former U.S. Ski Team coach and pro skiing impresario Bob Beattie , growing to more than 100 resorts and 6 million skiers and snowboarders having participated by 2006. The program went through several national sponsors, the latest being Nature Valley . The National Standard is the Par Time or the "0" handicap which every racer competes against when they race NASTAR. The "0" handicap
1904-720: The following is a selection. Alpine skis, also called downhill skis, are skis designed specifically for lift-assisted resort runs. Ski design has evolved enormously since the beginnings of the modern sport in mid-19th-century Norway. Modern skis typically have steel edges, camber, side cut, and possibly reverse camber. During the 1990s side cut became more pronounced to make it easier to carve turns. Alpine skis typically have fixed-heel bindings. Specialised types of alpine skis exist for certain uses, including twin-tip skis for freestyle skiing , slalom skis , GS Skis , powder skis, telemark skis and monoskis . The following table shows different kinds of alpine ski types and their uses within
1960-470: The heavy hardwood skis made before. Although lighter and stronger, laminated skis did not wear well. The water-soluble glues used at the time failed; they warped and split along the glue edges (delaminating) frequently and rapidly. In 1922, a Norwegian skier, Thorbjorn Nordby, developed strong waterproof glue which stopped the problem of splitting, therefore developing a much tougher laminated ski. Research and design of laminated skis rapidly progressed. In 1933,
2016-402: The highest rating for an instructor. Ski Skis are runners, attached to the user's feet, designed to glide over snow. Typically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings , with either a free, lockable, or partially secured heel. For climbing slopes, ski skins can be affixed to the base of each ski to prevent them from sliding backwards. Originally used as
2072-528: The invention of the laminated ski. Beginning in 1891, skimakers in Norway began laminating two or more layers of wood together to make lighter cross country running skis. These evolved into the multi-laminated high-performance skis of the mid-1930s. A laminated ski is made of two types of wood glued together. A top layer of soft wood is glued to a thin layer under a surface of hardwood. This combination created skis which were much lighter and more maneuverable than
2128-565: The national champion's Par Time or "0" handicap. The resort pacesetters use their certified handicap to set the Par Time at their local NASTAR course each racing day, and in turn, give each participant who races at their resort a handicap that is referenced to the national champion. The Par Time is approximately the time the national NASTAR champion would have raced the course had he been there that day. Various allowances are then made for age group, gender, disability if any, snowboarders, etc. Every skier, regardless of ability or disability, can ski with
2184-454: The original Norwegian spelling ski , and modify the pronunciation. Before 1920, English often called them skee and snow-shoe . In Italian , it is pronounced similarly to Norwegian, but the spelling is modified accordingly: sci [ˈʃi] . Portuguese and Spanish adapt the word to their linguistic rules: esqui and esquí . In German, spellings Ski and Schi are in use, both pronounced [ˈʃiː] . In Dutch ,
2240-549: The pace for local participants in Chamois races. His time was not re-calibrated or speeded up, as in NASTAR, by the amount he lagged behind the winning time in the annual Challenge. The NASTAR idea of adjusting a local pacesetter's time to a national standard was introduced in France 20 years later, in the winter of 1987–88. SNMSF (Syndicat National des Moniteurs de Ski Francais) introduced Fleche, an open-gated giant slalom , during
2296-595: The plain and skinned short ski. Finnish names for these are lyly and kalhu for the long and short ski. The seal hunters at the Gulf of Bothnia had developed a special long ski to sneak into shooting distance to the seals' breathing holes, though the ski was useful in moving in the packed ice in general and was made specially long, 3–4 meters, to protect against cracks in the ice. This is called skredstång in Swedish. Around 1850, artisans in Telemark, Norway, invented
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2352-510: The playing field'. After the competition, for each gender and age group, the fastest 3 racers are awarded Gold, Silver and bronze medals. Gold medal winners then compete in a final "Race of Champions" competition to determine the overall champion based on handicapped time, along with the fastest 3 racers based on 'raw' time qualifying them. The non-Alpine Divisions (for the purposes of NASTAR championship racing classification) are Telemark , Physically Challenged, and Snowboarders. For each division,
2408-527: The principle of time percentages to calibrate a skier's ability, a concept pioneered by France 's Ecole de Ski Nationale Chamois program. For certification, a ski instructor had to perform well enough in the Ecole's annual Challenge to earn a silver medal and be less than 25 percent behind the time recorded by the fastest instructor. The Chamois was a regular slalom race course with hairpins and flushes. A certified instructor, back in his home area, could set
2464-407: The resorts eligible for participation during the coming season. Participating resorts then receive a NASTAR kit and instructions that allow them to upload daily race data into the central NASTAR database. They also must have certified NASTAR pacesetters that can perform a pacesetting run on the designated course each racing day, to calibrate the handicap for the course conditions on that day. Prior to
2520-522: The same winter that NASTAR began, though unknown to NASTAR's founder. Paul Chalvin, former Director of the SNMSF. John Fry , who became editor-in-chief of SKI magazine in 1964, adapted this percentage-of-time system to a program for recreational ski racing in the United States, calling it the 'National Standard Race'. Fry, who in 1969 became editorial director of Golf Magazine as well as SKI ,
2576-486: The season will be over before the thaw begins. A typical ski season has three stages, and therefore three levels of lift ticket pricing: The introduction of artificial snowmaking with snow guns in the late 1950s revolutionized the ski industry, drastically changing the ski season for every climate. Snowmakers became a popular investment for large ski resorts in the 1960s, enhancing the ability to maintain snow in places where snow didn't naturally occur very often. By
2632-541: The snow, especially during icy conditions. The angle from the plane of the bottom of the ski is set, depending on the type of skiing anticipated, as follows: Edge shaping may be done daily with carborundum or diamond stone to remove imperfections. Tuning the edges requires a series of applications of sharpening tools and stones, working at approximately right angles along the metal edge. Base repair : Ski base repair has three levels: cleaning, filling imperfections, and surface preparation. Ski season A ski season
2688-613: The start of the 1970s, snowmaking technology had progressed far enough to see ski resorts remain open in places that can regularly see less than three feet of natural snowfall a year. Ski resorts tend to rely on artificial snow making even more as climate change shortens the window for natural snowfall. Typically, in the United States , a ski season lasts from late November to early April, however some larger resorts in Colorado and California are known to continue skiing as late as
2744-521: The top 100 performers during the season in their respective age and gender group are invited to compete in the National Championship. After the competition, Gold, Silver, and bronze medals are awarded to the fastest 3 racers by handicap in each division, gender and age group. The National NASTAR Championship brings together over one thousand participants from the United States and Canada, of all ages and ability groups. The 2006 Championship
2800-453: The verb "to ski". Skis appeared before the wheel , with the oldest wooden skis found in Russia (c. 6300–5000 BCE), Sweden (c. 5200 BCE) and Norway (c. 3200 BCE) respectively. These early skis were not designed for recreation, transportation, or speed; their sole purpose was to keep the user on top of the snow while hunting or when at war . Early skis were generally accompanied by
2856-405: The weight and height of the skier. Annual maintenance assures that settings continue to be correct. For rental skis, such an adjustment is required for each change of customers. Waxing : Most ski wax minimizes gliding friction on snow. " Grip wax " promotes grip on snow for cross-country skis. Wax may be applied in three ways, melting on, rubbing on and as a paste. Edge shaping : Edges engage
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#17327807149612912-901: The word is ski and the pronunciation was originally [ˈɕiː] as in Norwegian, but since approximately the 1960s changed to [ˈskiː] . In Welsh the word is spelled sgi . Many languages make a verb form out of the noun, such as to ski in English, skier in French, esquiar in Spanish and Portuguese, sciare in Italian, skiën in Dutch, or Schi laufen or Schi fahren (as above also Ski laufen or Ski fahren ) in German. Norwegian and Swedish do not form
2968-763: Was driven by the idea of creating in skiing the equivalent of par in golf. The program, to which Fry applied the acronym NASTAR, was introduced in 1968 as a means to compare the performance of recreational ski racers at resorts across the United States , and later, for a time, in Australia , Canada , Scandinavia , Switzerland and Italy . NASTAR courses are simple, open-gated giant slaloms on mostly intermediate terrain, allowing skiers of all abilities and ages to experience racing. Just as in golf's handicap system , skiers can compare their times and compete with one another regardless of where and when they compete. It takes into account varying terrain and snow conditions. The program started with 8 participating resorts and 2,297 skiers in
3024-562: Was held in Steamboat Springs and included 1,337 racers of ages 3 to 86, from 44 U.S. states and Canada . Traditionally, ski instructor certification was based more on subjective assessment of form and technique rather than objective clock-based performance. Lately, this has been changing, as a result of the wide availability and growing popularity of NASTAR. On August 8, 2004, the Rocky Mountain Division of
3080-556: Was used at least in northern Finland and Sweden until the 1930s. On one leg, the skier wore a long straight non-arching ski for sliding, and on the other a shorter ski for kicking. The bottom of the short ski was either plain or covered with animal skin to aid this use, while the long ski supporting the weight of the skier was treated with animal fat in similar manner to modern ski waxing . Early record of this type of skis survives in works of Olaus Magnus . He associates them to Sami people and gives Sami names of savek and golos for
3136-469: Was wrong." Line Skis , the first free-ski focused ski company inspired the newschool freeskiing movement with its twin-tip ski boards in 1995. The first company to successfully market and mass-produce a twin-tip ski to ski switch (skiing backwards) was the Salomon Group , with its 1080 ski in 1998. Described in the direction of travel, the front of the ski, typically pointed or rounded,
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