savaiusini Posted February 12, 2003 Share Posted February 12, 2003 This may not be the best place to post this, but oh well...Does anyone else out there find it a bit ridiculous that they're charging a $50 per person entry fee this year? And if that wasn't enough, they also make you buy a lift ticket! I think last year the fee was $25 or $30ish, plus a lift ticket .Now it seens to me that the whole things is getting a bit out of hand. Why would any backcountry skiers want to buy a lift ticket when they aren't using the lifts? I was considering doing one or both of the races this year, but at $50 (I have a WA Pass, so thank goodness I don't need to buy a ticket), Life-Link can go jump in a lake. I wont pretend to know what the operating costs of such an event are, but typically the staff is volunteer and the prizes are donated.My friend put it best: "If you want to go out and race me skinning, let's go...I won't even charge you!"So does anyone out there have any idea why they jacked-up the rate this year? There wern't that many competitors last year, so I'd think they want to attract more people rather than shun them away. Is the Life-Link Rally Race over-priced?Yes: I think it's crapNo: I think it is reasonable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave_Schuldt Posted February 12, 2003 Share Posted February 12, 2003 Will there be enough snow? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blight Posted February 12, 2003 Share Posted February 12, 2003 all most as ridiculous as requiring a shovel and probe to race in a controlled ski area. i think they should require one quickdraw hanging from each skiers pack too, just in case they need to clip a bolt along the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savaiusini Posted February 12, 2003 Author Share Posted February 12, 2003 Will there be enough snow? yes, I think there will be enough, but unless it starts snowing again, the conditions are bound to be pretty chossy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erik Posted February 12, 2003 Share Posted February 12, 2003 i wonder since they are charging so much if they are going to donate the proceddings to needy charities?? such as the ymca, ywca, boys & girls clubs and the such? i brought this up last year with this same event. i wonder if it will change? especially now since they are asking for more money. competition in solitary sports in my opinion loses the meaning of the sport. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savaiusini Posted February 12, 2003 Author Share Posted February 12, 2003 all most as ridiculous as requiring a shovel and probe to race in a controlled ski area. WERD! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savaiusini Posted February 12, 2003 Author Share Posted February 12, 2003 In defense of Life-Link, they do say that all races will benefit local avalanche centers. However, they did this last year too. Why the drastic increase? $50 bucks + a lift ticket is still ludicrous... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete_a Posted February 12, 2003 Share Posted February 12, 2003 I had been thinkin about entering this years race at Alpy or Stevens..but after I saw the cost of entering, forget about it. Maybe we need to throw together a 'dirt bag' backcountry rally...possibly revive the old Silver Skis race on Mt.Rainier...get a bunch of wacky cheapskates together and do the mass-start chaos of fifty people skiing from Camp Muir back to Paradise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregm Posted February 12, 2003 Share Posted February 12, 2003 I had been thinkin about entering this years race at Alpy or Stevens..but after I saw the cost of entering, forget about it. Maybe we need to throw together a 'dirt bag' backcountry rally...possibly revive the old Silver Skis race on Mt.Rainier...get a bunch of wacky cheapskates together and do the mass-start chaos of fifty people skiing from Camp Muir back to Paradise. pete_a hit the nail on the head. i would enter the lifelink race if a) it didn't cost more than $15 total and b) i wasn't doing some real bc or climbing that weekend. i think the silver ski race declined for safety reasons which i can imagine. also, i think the race should be round trip from paradise (or some other route). but anyway i think there is a really interesting idea here. especially the cheap/fun approach. maybe a joke trophy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattp Posted February 12, 2003 Share Posted February 12, 2003 Maybe we need to throw together a 'dirt bag' backcountry rally Ptor Spricenieks' rally in the Coast Range was a pretty cool idea. A multi-day traverse accross the ice fields.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete_a Posted February 12, 2003 Share Posted February 12, 2003 yeah, I thought it was odd that the Silver Skis race was only a race on the way down...a round trip from paradise to muir and back...thats a good enough leg burner...and a mellow enough pitch that for all but pan face you really don't have to worry about avy danger. So, perhaps a dirtbag rally is in order sometime this season. ...homemade trophy built from cans of rainier and h.c. mmmm! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Figger_Eight Posted February 13, 2003 Share Posted February 13, 2003 Absolutely...that would be a friggin' kick in the pants. Not to mention a great excuse to go skiing with your buds...not that you'd need any excuse at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billygoat Posted February 13, 2003 Share Posted February 13, 2003 Yeah! Of course, a proper Dirt Bag Rally would involve partying till 2 am the night before, sleeping on someone elses ratty couch, having an uncooked bagel with cream cheese and a landjaeger for breakfast, skiing some distance, chugging a beer and trying to light a damp bowl with a wet bic at the halfway point, and making it back before the bar closes, of course, in good style... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savaiusini Posted February 13, 2003 Author Share Posted February 13, 2003 I like where this thread is heading! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erik Posted February 13, 2003 Share Posted February 13, 2003 CC.COM BACKCOUNTRY SPRAY FEST AND BEER QUAFFING CONTEST. SPONSERED BY AMAZING CO. AND CC.COM I WONDER IF WE KNOW ANYONE WHO MAKES REALLY GOOD BEER?????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain Posted February 13, 2003 Share Posted February 13, 2003 AMAZING CO. leverages child labor in taiwan to make cheap climbing tights and redbull I want nothing to do with them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowell_Skoog Posted February 14, 2003 Share Posted February 14, 2003 A quote from Arnold Lunn, pioneer British ski mountaineer and inventor of the modern slalom: "I am by no means sorry that it is only piste competitions which are eligible for Olympic medal rewards, and that the mastery of real ski-ing on natural snow, with its exacting demands on the mind no less than the body, remains the monopoly of those for whom ski-ing is its own reward." And: "The highest form of skiing cannot, praise be to heaven, be tested competitively. Olympic medals are not and should not be awarded to ski mountaineers, for mountaineering is not a sport. It is a vocation." I have mixed feelings about rando rallies. I did the Alpental race last year and enjoyed it. I met some people and won a nice prize. But I think these races will become less fun for recreational skiers as time goes on--more oriented toward professionals, more competitive, and more commercial. I haven't decided whether to enter any races this year. I think it will depend on whether I've got anything better to do that day, and how full my wallet feels. The $70 fee ($50 to enter, $20 for an unused lift ticket) seems too high. The notion that some of the fee is donated to local avalanche centers feels like a ploy. I did some checking in old scrapbooks and I believe that the Silver Skis races were free to entrants. I'm sure that the first race in 1934 was. In those days the race sponsors actually sponsored the race. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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