Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
Gary Hughes, of Jemez Springs, New Mexico, skis on the giant slalom course at NASTAR national championships on April 7, 2021, at Snowmass Ski Area.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
A ski racer speeds through the giant slalom course at NASTAR national championships on April 7, 2021, at Snowmass Ski Area.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times.
Skier Tom Berkeley, of Clarkson Valley, Missouri, competes in the giant slalom race at NASTAR national championships on April 7, 2021, at Snowmass Ski Area.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
Snowboarder James Twark, of Denver, competes in the giant slalom race at NASTAR national championships on April 7, 2021, at Snowmass Ski Area.
Kaya Williams/The Aspen Times
There’s something about the muscle memory of riding a snowbike that makes the sport especially beginner-friendly, according to Mike Sparkman.
“For us, it’s been easy, it’s fun, it’s inclusive and retentive,” Sparkman said Monday after a warm-up slalom run at the National Standard Racing (NASTAR) national championships at Snowmass.
In other words, it’s a lot like riding a bike. Their gear includes two super-short skis with bindings for either ski or snowboard boots, plus a sit-down rig in which the “wheels” are two more short skis.
The “easy, fun, inclusive, retentive” tagline is almost a catchphrase for Sparkman, who competes at national championships this week with his wife, Donna Abner-Sparkman, and two other snowbikers, Anne Fields and Chris Marriott. Fields and the Sparkmans are based in Durango; Marriott hails from Dillon.
Challenge Aspen athlete Danielle Coulter and guide Zander Higbie race on the giant slalom course at Snowmass during NASTAR national championships on April 6, 2021. Kaya Williams/The Aspen Times
After taking a run Tuesday on the giant slalom course at Snowmass, Challenge Aspen athlete and alpine racer Chris Guay made a keen observation: “It’s not too often that you have professionals cheering you on.”
But that’s exactly the case at this week’s National Standard Racing (NASTAR) national championships, 41-year-old Guay said.
Along with a sizeable crew of Challenge Aspen staffers ringing cowbells at the finish line, Guay said he also felt support from U.S. Ski Team members Laurenne Ross and Paula Moltzan, who were on the course as pacesetters Tuesday morning.
Kaya Williams/The Aspen Times
A skier approaches the finish line during the slalom warm-up race at NASTAR national championships at Snowmass on April 5, 2021.
Kaya Williams/The Aspen Times
Staff prepare the race course before the slalom warm-up race at NASTAR national championships at Snowmass on April 5, 2021.
Kaya Williams/The Aspen Times
Tom Kennedy is something of a legend around these parts: The 69-year-old Aspen local is a regular at the long-running Aspen-Snowmass Town Race Series and has been competing in ski racing for nearly 50 years, he said at the base of the slalom warm-up course during the National Standard Racing (NASTAR) alpine racing national championships Monday morning.
Dave Camara/Courtesy photo
“Everybody has an opportunity to win” at the National Standard Racing (NASTAR) alpine racing championships Monday through Friday at Snowmass, according to organization director Bill Madsen.
And when Madsen says “everybody,” he means it: The largest grassroots alpine racing program in the world uses a points-based system that allows competitors of all ages and abilities to compare their scores apples-to-apples and compete on the same courses for the same prizes. More than 450 participants from across the country are registered to compete.
BREAK OUT THE CALCULATORS
Racers qualify for the national championships by earning a medal on one run on any NASTAR course on one or more race days this season.