Happy Holidays Freeriders!

It's almost 2012 and with a bunch of scheduled events upcoming it's time for an update. Snowfall has been marginal at best and the temps have not been ideal for continuous snowmaking but the mountain staff has been doing all they can to make the best of it. The snowmaking crews here especially deserve a big thank you for keeping the hill white when most are mainly brown. We are doing better than most mountains out there!

The USASA series had it's first event - the Deck the Halls rail jam - last Friday and the setup provided by the Park Crew was great! Congrats to snowboarders Dale Mortensen & Bekah Ashley and NYSEF skiers Nick Edwards & Coach Cari Verner for winning their divisions and earning the invite to the USASA Rail exhibition at X-Games 16 in Aspen this January. Hopefully they will be able to make it out to represent the ADK's!

The first scheduled USASA slopestyle event is coming up next Sunday Jan 8th. The plan is to get some more snow made in the park over the next several days so we can get some jumps built in time. The final decision will be announced on the www.usasa.org "Adirondack" region page by Wednesday Jan 4th so keep an eye on it. Also, the first SX/BX planned for the North Creek Ski Bowl, January 16th, is still on as snow is being made there in order to get the course built.

The Empire State Games comes back again this year with the addition of slopestyle to the now traditional skier and boarder cross event. Membership in one of the three USASA NY series is all that's required to sign up along with meeting the age class criteria. Classes include ladies' and men's, ski & snowboard 13-15, 16-18, and open class. Contact me for more info mikek@nysef.org .

Lastly, be sure to tune in to NBC at 5pm New Year's Eve to catch the World Cup Snowboardcross from Telluride, CO. Our own Derek DiCastro got his first start on the tour at this event a couple weeks back. Although he did not make it through qualifying he did get to wear the GoPro follow camera during all the heats so hopefully his footage will be included in the show.