Cascade Mountain Ski Team is a race team. For regular ski lessons please visit www.cascademountain.com. We train and race on North Wall (black diamond) and Ptarmigan (blue). Ptarmigan is also used for NASTAR races. We strongly encourage you to sign your child up for a NASTAR race before considering joining the race team: www.nastar.com. Skiers need to be at least six years old to join the race team, be able to ski intermediate hills in control and get on and off the chairlifts independently.
The regular program has a weekday practice evening ( Tue or Thu) and Saturday practice which will include Saturday afternoon Nastar.
There is extra training available for an extra weeknight and Sunday morning. We also a have USSA training program.
This is for additional training and practice and comes with additional cost.
Lift Tickets
Lift tickets are not included in the fees for the Race Team.
Racers will need to purchase their own season passes. You will need a paid ticket for the two race days at our home Cascade Race in February. It is cheaper to buy a season pass. See the Cascade Mountain website for current prices: www.cascademountain.com. Racers are responsible for purchasing their own lift tickets for races held at other resorts.
WIJARA Races
WIJARA races are held four times each season. Teams from Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri compete in fun, yet challenging races. Younger racers compete on less difficult slopes and the older racers compete on challenging courses. WIJARA holds races for males and females in two-year age classes. These classes are U-8 for kids under 8, U-10for kids under 10, U12 for kids under 12, U14 for kids under 14, U16 for kids under 16, U18 for kids under 18 and U20for kids under 20. Age is determined by the age on Jan 1st of the current race season. Racers accumulate points for finishing in the top ten in any race. Racers and teams with the highest points receive special recognition.
The races are generally held at Chestnut Mountain near Galena, Illinois, Sundown Mountain near Dubuque, Iowa, Tyrol Basin near Mount Horeb, Wisconsin and at CascadeMountain. The team reserves a block of motel rooms for the out-of-state races, where families may choose to stay. Parents are responsible for getting their athletes to the races. Racers may attend as many or as few races as they like. GS races are held on Saturdays and Slalom races are held on Sundays. Parents are expected to be at the races. All teams are assigned various duties for the races. All parents should dress appropriately for the cold and be prepared to spend at least a portion of one day each race weekend volunteering alongside a race course.
WIJARA Waiver Form
Each racer planning to compete at WIJARA meets needs to have the waiver forms signed through the online WIJARA registration system. This fee is separate from the team registration fee.
Parent Volunteers
The team fees only cover coaching fees and the use of the race course. Parent volunteers do other duties to keep the cost of the racing program as low as possible. All parents are expected to help with activities. Cascade team parents try to do as much of the non-coaching work as possible to free up our coaches to coach. On WIJARA race days our team is required to supply gate judges. Gate judges do not need to be skiers and training is provided. Parents of WIJARA racers are expected to be a gate judge at a minimum of one race each year. Other volunteer positions that need to be filled each year include:
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Timers for practice days and race days
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Starters
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Course workers (help carry equipment, slip courses and replace gates)
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Hotel reservation organizer
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Social function organizer
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Tee shirt and trophy
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Annual cleaning of Rob’s Roost, the team’s clubhouse.
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Organizing gatekeepers for race days
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Waiver form organizer
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Workers at team fundraisers
*Note: Allowances to deadlines can be made for racers joining the team for the first year.