World Cup Is Coming To Squaw Valley, USA!

Claire Weiss |
Squaw Valley, Tram Face. Photo credit: Claire Weiss

You may even notice few tracks on Tram face!

The FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, the top international circuit of alpine skiing competitions, is coming to the home of Snowbrains!

Are you the one who is counting days till this historic event? Did you already take a few days off  to be able to come to Squaw Valley on March 9th?

Longines countdown. Image credit: longines.com

Yes, this March FIS World Cup Ladies Slalom and Giant Slalom will be held at Olympic resort! 

Some history:

It was a Thursday the day when it all began: Thursday, January 5, 1967 was staged the first race of the Alpine skiing World Cup history. There were 84 participating athletes.

It all started in 1966 in Portillo Chile, when a group of visionary friends which included French journalist Serge Lang and the alpine ski team directors from France, Honore Bonnet, and the USA, Bob Beattie, had the idea to create a Tour, gathering different resorts and different disciplines and award a title to the Overall winner. It was soon backed by International Ski Federation president Marc Hodler and became an official FIS event in the spring of 1967 after the FIS Congress at Beirut, Lebanon. On 5th January 1967, the first race was held in Berchtesgaden (Germany) and the World Cup history began.

–nieveyalgomas.blogspot.com

Jean-Claude Killy of France dominated the men’s competition, winning each of the three disciplines and the overall title. Nancy Greene of Canada won among women athletes.

Jean-Claude Killy. Photo credit: LeFigaro

The 2016-2017 season marks the 50th anniversary of the FIS Alpine World Cup. 3188 races were held in the past 50 years!

Look how skis were changing during the past years!

Evolution of skis. Image credit: National Geographic

FIS World Cup by numbers:

Most FIS World Cup Victories Overall

  • Lindsey Vonn  – 76
  • Ingemar Stenmark – 86

Most FIS World Cup Victories Downhill:

  • Lindsey Vonn – 38
  • Franz Klammer – 25

Most FIS World Cup Victories Super-G:

  • Lindsey Vonn – 27
  • Hermann Maier – 24

Most FIS World Cup Victories Slalom:

  • Marlies Schild – 35
  • Ingemar Stenmark – 40

Most FIS World Cup Victories Giant Slalom

  • Vreni Schneider – 20
  • Ingemar Stenmark – 46

The race is set up on iconic Red Dog trail.

“Red Dog is a spectacular race course! Red Dog has four primary sections: No Name Face, Dog Leg, Coaches Corner and Red Dog Face. The Giant Slalom course covers all four sections. From the starting gate, athletes gain speed across No Name Face. Athletes then drop into Dog Leg where each turn gets steeper. Then, from relatively flat to extremely steep it’s quite challenging for athletes to create a rhythm due to the technical terrain. After the upper portion of the Dog Leg, there’s a false flat at the top of Far East Express. From there, athletes are forced to tackle a big change in direction at Coaches Corner. The course bends to the left and through a saddle before entering Red Dog Face, the start of the Slalom course. At this point, athletes will be able to see straight to the end of the course.”

Travis Wagner, Snow Surfaces Director, US Ski and Snowboard Association

Race course map. Image Credit: squawalpine.com

You can find this map on Maprika application.

The ticket price starts from $30 (grand standing area) to $450 for VIP 2-day path. But there will be also free standing area.

You can also take either Far East chair lift or ski down from KT22 to the top of Far East and watch the race from there 🙂 Hope it won’t be closed and the weather will cooperate!

Squaw Valley, Fingers. Photo credit: Claire Weiss

Mikaela Shiffrin, Veronika Velez Zuzulova, Wendy Holdener, Frida Hansdotter,Nina Loeseth, Petra Vlhova and many others are coming to compete in Slalom and Giant Slalom.

There will be two races 10am and 1pm on Friday , March 10th and Saturday March 11th.

American Mikaela Shiffrin competes in the women's slalom at the World Ski Championships in St Moritz on February 18, 2017 (AFP Photo/Dimitar DILKOFF)
American Mikaela Shiffrin competes in the women’s slalom at the World Ski Championships in St Moritz on February 18, 2017 (AFP Photo/Dimitar DILKOFF)

SnowBrains will be covering this historic event. Don’t miss it!


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9 thoughts on “World Cup Is Coming To Squaw Valley, USA!

  1. “Iconic Red Dog Face” Riiiiiiiight…….

    Exactly what comes to mind when I think of Squaw Valley. KT, Tram face, Pallisades…Red Dog?

    World’s best skiers test their meddle on… upper intermediate terrain.

    More people, more traffic, more stoke.

  2. Thanks Snowbrains. It is great that World Cup Ski Racing is coming back to Tahoe. Mikaela races like a demon with big margins of victory. Go watch her, it’s worth the effort.

  3. Thanks SnowBrains for the article. It is great that the Tahoe area will host World Cup ski racing again. Everyone should do themselves a favor and head to Squaw to watch these ladies ski, it is truly impressive.

  4. Awesome! I can’t wait for Squaw to be more of a shitshow than it already is. Have fun waiting in traffic trying to get there and being told to go home when there is no parking.

  5. Just saw ‘free standing area’. How do I edit my post? I can afford that! Site not easy to use. Didn’t really expect to post my name.

  6. Awesome conditions to play host. Awesome post from snowbrains. Seems tahoe locs not getting how cool this is. Seems kinda quiet on the local stoke front. Bang the cowbells! Wish I could afford ticket.

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