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4ster

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I wish I could have seen ASL ski today on that snow. My better judgment wanted to pick her but even though Holdener made a big mistake today, I think she felt really good about her skiing and will be pumped going in to tomorrow
 

James

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Yeah bummer about the start. It was pretty windy, and cold, standing on the side somewhat above the level of the finish for the first run. I made it through all 60 first run and was frozen. Of course there's kids body sliding on the snow down the pitch the whole time.
E82BA7C8-A56E-4DFA-8936-532E5F65E34F.jpeg

Side of the trail before 1st run. Cold!

In between runs there’s there’s the area with tents with stuff and food. Or the lodge which is jammed. I took off to eat down to Snowshed by shuttle. A KMS van happened to be dropping their people off when we were walking to the stop. He very nicely gave us a ride down. Most down at Snowshed were skiing. I’m sure many had no idea what a wcup is. Very limited terrain down there today, but lots of beginners. Prob snow making was committed to the wcup.

Up at the venue, walking through the tent area.
61916C54-A014-4F63-BF5A-4D4469164B2A.jpeg


Nokian Tires had a tent and this bike fitted with studded Haakas :
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People kept coming in for the second run, many in ski boots. It was much warmer if you were in the sun. Lots of them trekked up the snow for the view and sliding/snow playing kids.
6333D9C6-207D-4C21-B2E3-67A04FE8A5C8.jpeg


Saw these Augment skis in the restricted area below the finish coral. Left of the Marcus Caston looking dude.
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This is the first time I’ve been on Saturday. More people than I’ve seen before. Parking lots were full everywhere. Getting there late, I parked down on rte 4 at the Skyeship gondola. Then hopped on the school bus shuttle that took us all the way up to the venue. Getting out is easy.

Killington did a great job again this year, esp building a new base lodge at the same time.

Because of the storm expected tmrw afternoon/night, I wouldn’t expect the crowd to be big.
 
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Swede

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I wish I could have seen ASL ski today on that snow. My better judgment wanted to pick her but even though Holdener made a big mistake today, I think she felt really good about her skiing and will be pumped going in to tomorrow

I think this hill will be very good for ASL, not that steep. Shiffrin always good no matter what. Don’t know about Vlova. Holdener a podium contender.
 

Rudi Riet

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BTW, I bet that the Killington Mountain School is not loving the constant mention of Burke on NBC. KMS has a very good program, and they have done a lot to help this race go off. Just saying.

Hear hear! The entire "Mikaela went to Burke!" meme will not die. Yes, she attended BMA, but only for a year and change before joining the USST full time.

And KMS does a ton of work for this event. They do get the short end of the stick in NBC's coverage. If I see Porino this morning I'll ask him if a shout-out can be done.
 

Rudi Riet

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FYI, folks: the PugSki coverage of the Killington Cup is over here. Comments are open, so if you want to discuss... discuss!
 

DocGKR

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Shiffrin crushed it on the first run--1.13s faster than Vlhova and 1.74s ahead of Holdener. The rest of the American women did not fair so well...
 

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Thread Starter
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4ster

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:hail: Someone can ski ice :micdrop:

Sad for Holdener but good on ASL for the podium & nice skiing from Loseth & Ackerma.
E9F0F8D1-358A-4028-BC02-43DC6C856FB0.jpeg
 

James

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That’s four in a row at Killington for Mikaela. At some point, something in the Superstar trail area might have to be renamed. Even if it’s just the final pitch where she usually makes a lot of time.
 
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4ster

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That’s four in a row at Killington for Mikaela. At some point, something in the Superstar trail area might have to be renamed. Even if it’s just the final pitch where she usually makes a lot of time.
I had a similar thought :ogcool:
 

karlo

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What happened in Run 2? Looks like everyone, including MS had trouble, with turns that appear to dump speed. The course set? Deteriorated conditions?
 

Noodler

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What happened in Run 2? Looks like everyone, including MS had trouble, with turns that appear to dump speed. The course set? Deteriorated conditions?

Broadcast mentioned that the 2nd set had more offset. No one looked pretty in their second run. Definitely seemed to be more challenging.
 
Thread Starter
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4ster

4ster

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What happened in Run 2? Looks like everyone, including MS had trouble, with turns that appear to dump speed. The course set? Deteriorated conditions?
Mostly I think it was a case of a really challenging snow surface both days. Coming down 30th is rarely going to be smooth sailing. With conditions that can easily send you out of the course, defensive skiing begins to creep in.
If you are comparing it to Levi, along with more challenging snow Killington is also a much tougher hill. The snowy spindrift blowing down the hill was also a factor.
Sometimes it comes down to who sucks less. Shiffrin sucks less, ... a lot less!
 

BrianB

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:hail: Someone can ski ice :micdrop:

Sad for Holdener but good on ASL for the podium & nice skiing from Loseth & Ackerma.

I watched the end of 2nd run inspection. Holdener was the last racer off the course, staying what seemed like at least 2 to 3 minutes longer than anyone else. Maybe it was not exactly that long since there is a hard cutoff when inspection ends. Anyway, after, she had a long discussion with a coach just outside the course exit above the finish, did a fist bump, and then spent a long time by herself hunched over her poles, apparently doing extra visualization. I expected her to have a big 2nd run and probably surprised the people next to me when shouting “Noooo” as she straddled the 2nd gate. Very bummed for her, but happy to see Shiffrin win by a large margin.
 

JTurner

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Any insight as to why they decided to inject the course? With the cold weather, wouldn’t they have been confident in good hard snow conditions without injecting?

It obviously created more difficult course conditions than the women are used to, and made for some less than “pretty” skiing.
 

James

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Well Porino mentioned Killington being the “hardest” on the tour. This was during the slalom. Unclear whether it was “the hardest” or just “hardest” and also what he meant as in degree of difficulty or surface hardness.

No idea why they decided to inject. Thought it was standard if cold enough. @Primoz would know. Last year it rained the Sunday of slalom.
 

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