The Vertical Challenge is about giving skiers of all ages and ability levels the opportunity to enjoy ski and snowboard racing, even if they’ve never done it before. One thing we’ve noticed over the years is that when families come to a VC event once, they enjoy it and want to come back. That means that they have fun with us at least once a year every year, and it also means the more they race, the more they improve.
With that idea in mind, we’ve found a partner to help us help our racers make the most of their racing passions and talents. NASTAR (NAtional STAndard Race) has been around since 1968 helping to standardize ski and snowboard racing results and we’re excited to be using their scoring system this season.
What this means is that when you race at a VC event, your times will go into the NASTAR database, and those results count toward the ranking system they use to determine eligibility to compete for national titles. You (and your friends/family) will also be able to find your results on their website.
This addition doesn’t change anything about the Vertical Challenge experience. We’re still all about casual ski and snowboard racing and if you don’t want to be too concerned about your time down the mountain, you don’t have to be. We’ll still post our results at ski-vc.com and we’ll still select our VC Finals participants based solely on performance in Vertical Challenge races. But if you or your kids do decide you want to set some broader ski and snowboard racing goals, this affiliation will help you push toward them.
One of the reasons we wanted to partner with NASTAR is that it’s operated by U.S. Ski & Snowboard, the sport’s national governing body. As we got into discussions with them, we realized that we had a lot in common in terms of wanting to grow winter sports and help families realize the benefits of fitness and community that come through them. So welcome NASTAR to the VC slopes this season and let’s race!
Update: You can register for races by clicking through to the NASTAR links on the schedule page on this site.
