Avon, CO – A top field of international alpine athletes will have a true 2015 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships test next week thanks to early season snowfall and premium snowmaking temperatures at Beaver Creek. Taking advantage of the ideal weather conditions, Colorado ski resort’s operations crews have successfully prepared the full length of the new Raptor women’s downhill for the inaugural Nature Valley Raptor Women’s World Cup Week.
The official announcement was made Thursday morning following careful analysis of overall mountain conditions and tremendous teamwork between snowmaking, grooming, race operations staff and volunteers. The Nov. 29-Dec. 1 races will feature downhill, super G and giant slalom on the 2015 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships women’s venue.
“Beaver Creek has time and time again proven to be the best in the world at building and executing the international standard for World Cup organization. The effort that went into making a true test of the 2015 World Championship venue possible has taken their committment to the legacy of alpine ski racing in America to a completely new level,” said Calum Clark, Vice President Event at the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association.
The new Raptor women’s speed course was cut over the past two summers in anticipation of the 2015 Championships. The downhill course incorporates portions of Beaver Creek’s Solitude, Peregrine and Golden Eagle runs, along with two new cuts that have been dubbed Kestrel on the trail map. The course, located skier’s right of Birds of Prey, will join the men’s course at the Red Tail Jump and then flow into the current finish arena. The U.S. women’s speed team was able to train on sections of the course last spring, but the inaugural training run on Nov. 26 will be the first top-to-bottom run on the brand-new venue.
The three-race series will be precluded by three downhill training runs, followed by the first women’s downhill of the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup season on Nov. 29. A super G is set for Nov. 30 and a giant slalom on Dec. 1.
Under the original scenario proposed for the Beaver Creek World Cup stop, the women were slated to run on a “hybrid” course comprised of the upper half of the new Raptor track and the lower half of the men’s Birds of Prey course. Optimal early season conditions have allowed the resort to not only complete the hybrid course, but to also open nearly triple the amount of acreage that was opened last year at this time, which is great news for mountain guests traveling to next week’s opening. The men will still utilize the hybrid course for their races the following week.
“It’s incredible they were able to get our full course up and running,” says Olympic gold medalist Julia Mancuso, of Olympic Valley, Calif. “We know how hard it is to prepare a hill this early in the season, so thanks Beaver Creek. Raptor will be difficult and a good challenge for the first race of the season.”
“Having the ladies be able to run their full course was the ultimate goal for next week’s races,” added Ceil Folz, president of the Vail Valley Foundation, which organizes the Beaver Creek races. “Hats off to our partners at Beaver Creek for making this happen. The World Cup ladies are going to be extremely appreciative of the tremendous effort that Beaver Creek Mountain put forth to make this a reality.”