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Aspen World Cup course is ready for practice runs |
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Tuesday, November 15, 2011 07:19 |
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Photo by Janet Urquhart, The Aspen Times
By JANET URQUHART, THE ASPEN TIMES
The Aspen Mountain World Cup course not only holds enough snow already to virtually assure racing will go off as planned on Thanksgiving weekend, it has enough to accommodate the U.S. women's team for two days of training later this week.
“It looks awesome. We've got plenty of snow. We're so far ahead of the game right now, as far as snow goes,” said the Aspen Skiing Co.'s Pat Callahan, chief of course, who was on the slopes surveying the progress early Monday.
Local slopes received perhaps 3 inches from a weekend storm that was expected to pack a bigger wallop, according to forecasters. But the race course on the Lift 1A side of Aspen Mountain is, by design, a man-made affair. Snow guns already have been moved to other places on the mountain to prepare for opening day to the general public on Nov. 24, said chief of race Jim Hancock.
“As far as the actual course, we have enough snow to go right now,” he said.
The mountain will host a women's giant slalom on Nov. 26 and a slalom on Nov. 27, but the U.S. team has been invited to practice on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 18-19. No racers are allowed on the course for five days before the race, Hancock said.
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