Nastar's New Chapter

So in the last few years, due to management decisions from the owners after Ski/Skiing Magazine media group sold it to Outside Inc. it really had a huge hit with the decisions seeming to be one after another unfavorable and the program took real step backwards. Paying an annual subscription to see results- historic as well as the most recent season was the first misstep- in the middle of a winter race season. Then resort franchise and rights fees increases that drove many resorts off the listing of participating resorts hosting Nastar racing reduced the Where to Race listings dramatically.

https://nastar.com/news/nastars-new-...singular-focus

Hopefully there is a turn around in the making. I hope it makes a comeback and has not taken too big of a misstep to not be able to recover.

nastar was huge when I was a kid, I can’t remember the last time I saw one of their courses set up at any place I was skiing at.

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Originally Posted by m2711c

nastar was huge when I was a kid, I can’t remember the last time I saw one of their courses set up at any place I was skiing at.

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My last memory of seeing a NASTAR course is from 1992 at Buttermilk Ma.

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Originally Posted by raisingarizona13

My last memory of seeing a NASTAR course is from 1992 at Buttermilk Ma.

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Telluride has one in 2010-2012.

Bill Madsen has been the only reason Nastar is still in existence since Ski mag sold it. That guy is tireless in his efforts to keep the dream alive, I hope he gets a golden parachute if he's not part of the new program.

Nastar is a great program, I hope some renewed focus on the user experience will bring a boost to competitor interest (and lower resort fees bring some more mountains back in to the fold), but no nationals this year is going to be rough for a lot of people. There's plenty of has-beens across the country that take nationals as the culmination of the entire season. Hopefully they get it back.

I can’t even guess how many decades it’s been since I’ve seen a nastar race. I’d def still do it again if I ran across one though

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Originally Posted by raisingarizona13

My last memory of seeing a NASTAR course is from 1992 at Buttermilk Ma.

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Bro you been smokin’ too much of that wheat- Jackson had NASTAR the whole time you were there.
btw that was the best on mountain job- if it snowed more than a couple of inches they wouldn’t open so one never had to work a powder day :yourock:

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Originally Posted by ZomblibulaX

Bill Madsen has been the only reason Nastar is still in existence since Ski mag sold it. That guy is tireless in his efforts to keep the dream alive, I hope he gets a golden parachute if he's not part of the new program.

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Agreed, he's also Mayor of Snowmass.

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Originally Posted by babybear

Bro you been smokin’ too much of that wheat- Jackson had NASTAR the whole time you were there.
btw that was the best on mountain job- if it snowed more than a couple of inches they wouldn’t open so one never had to work a powder day :yourock:

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Haha! I did say my last memory! I swear I can't remember seeing a nastar course at the Vill.

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Originally Posted by Shredhead

Agreed, he's also Mayor of Snowmass.

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He can ski a bit too. He is a Madsen after all. Great guy, NASTAR would be crazy not to keep him on board.

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Originally Posted by raisingarizona13

Haha! I did say my last memory! I swear I can't remember seeing a nastar course at the Vill.

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lol it was under the Casper lift and I don’t blame you for not spending much time there

Wait, can wheat get you high? Man, I've been doing this smoking thing all wrong, I guess.

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Originally Posted by babybear

btw that was the best on mountain job- if it snowed more than a couple of inches they wouldn’t open so one never had to work a powder day :yourock:

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Keep it down back there, this is my retirement job.

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Originally Posted by ZomblibulaX

Bill Madsen has been the only reason Nastar is still in existence since Ski mag sold it. That guy is tireless in his efforts to keep the dream alive, I hope he gets a golden parachute if he's not part of the new program.

Nastar is a great program, I hope some renewed focus on the user experience will bring a boost to competitor interest (and lower resort fees bring some more mountains back in to the fold), but no nationals this year is going to be rough for a lot of people. There's plenty of has-beens across the country that take nationals as the culmination of the entire season. Hopefully they get it back.

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Can confirm that "The Mayor" is a good due, solid skier, and all around advocate for NASTAR.

Best thing NASTAR did was make the racing portion free once you signed up. It went from a dead end at our local bump to lots of new faces, young and old.

He is a good dude, but they axed him. Hard to tell from a text, but he didn't seem thrilled about it. I really hope nastar doesn't shit the bed, kids and grownups need zero-stress training opportunities, not just for racing.

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Originally Posted by ZomblibulaX

...this is my retirement job.

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Oxymoron, or what?

Another shout out for Billy Madog who put a lot of time, energy, heart and soul into that program. If he's not part of its future, that's too bad. He's certainly a part of its past and that could be all that it has left.

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Originally Posted by Danno

Wait, can wheat get you high? Man, I've been doing this smoking thing all wrong, I guess.

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It was something a 13 yo said to my friend awhile ago so now we’ve adopted it [emoji1]

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Originally Posted by babybear

Bro you been smokin’ too much of that wheat- Jackson had NASTAR the whole time you were there.
btw that was the best on mountain job- if it snowed more than a couple of inches they wouldn’t open so one never had to work a powder day :yourock:

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Ha, my daily there was manning the Nastar booth (it's gone now--Djongo told me that he built it). It was a fucking awesome job in some ways. Just getting early ups was cool, whether it had snowed or not. I grabbed like fifty gold pins before I left and would hand them out to people randomly--was a pretty good way to meet girls (and none of the recipients really skied).

And I think on Wednesdays Jackson used to have a 'full length' Nastar course (most days it was maybe 12-15 gates?), which is something I've never seen elsewhere (a Nastar course that a fast skier would take longer than 25 seconds or so to finish). I will say I feel like I've come across a Nastar course somewhere over the past few years, but I may be imagining it. Last one I can say for sure was probably Okemo, maybe 10 years ago.

I worked for the Race Dept for 3 seasons in the early 2000’s. Maybe we crossed paths- Did you work for Nick or Margaret?
I have given out many medals myself but damn that could be a chilly job. I think I would drink a gallon of Casper hot cocoa on those days standing at the sign

I don’t think they run it regularly these days but Jackson just moved the nastar course to the AV side. I think they run it during Christmas weeks and when the odd ski club with a ski racing focus do group packages.

Fun times though.

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Originally Posted by babybear

I worked for the Race Dept for 3 seasons in the early 2000’s. Maybe we crossed paths- Did you work for Nick or Margaret?

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I don't remember Margaret, but I think I knew Nick. Missed you by a few years--I was either 97-98 or a year later.

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I have given out many medals myself but damn that could be a chilly job. I think I would drink a gallon of Casper hot cocoa on those days standing at the sign

I don’t think they run it regularly these days but Jackson just moved the nastar course to the AV side. I think they run it during Christmas weeks and when the odd ski club with a ski racing focus do group packages.

Fun times though.

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Yeah, when I was skiing around with Djongo a few years ago (first day back at JHMR since I was working that booth--wow, has that place changed) I mentioned the course and my job, and that's when I found out they'd torn the thing down and no longer set on...Sundog?? (I actually may not have known the trail name for sure even when I was working there.)

Definitely fun, interesting times.

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Originally Posted by Dexter Rutecki

And I think on Wednesdays Jackson used to have a 'full length' Nastar course (most days it was maybe 12-15 gates?), which is something I've never seen elsewhere (a Nastar course that a fast skier would take longer than 25 seconds or so to finish).

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That's how we run all our non-sanctioned races, just put everything through nastar and run a longer course. It's dead easy. Results are instantly available through live timing, then everyone can just train on the course all day after race runs and the data's all right there on the internet.

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Originally Posted by TurxSki

Oxymoron, or what?

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Just regular moron, thank you very much. :D

NASTATR still alive and kicking at my local PA bump. My daughters race team uses it weekly and many attend the nationals, usually Snowmass. I'm a bit torn on the no nationals part, but get that is a very small population pool.

Lots of other Poconos race teams utilize it for 2 night per week races.