FIRST
TRACKS
CROSSING OVER
VERMONT RESORTS BRING `CROSS TO THE MASSES.
Former U.S. downhill racer Daron Rahlves does it. Olympic
silver medalist Lindsey Jacobellis does it. X Games icon Shaun
Palmer does it. And now, so can you.
Skiercross and boardercross are hot stuff on the slopes these
days. In a ‘cross race, four to six skiers or snowboarders race
down banked, humped courses, diving into bobsled-like turns
and sometimes flying by each other in mid-air. Boardercross
(SBX) made its Olympic debut in 2006, and skiercross (SX)
will also be part of the upcoming 2010 Games.
But this kind of crazy fun isn’t just for Olympic-caliber athletes.
Several Vermont ski resorts now have relatively easy courses that
are proving to be popular playgrounds for kids and adults alike.
And you only have to race head-to-head if someone dares you.
Bromley Mountain was one of the first to create a boardercross
course for the masses. Open for the past five seasons, the
course—called Unforgiven—came about after mountain
manager Bill Cairns and Scott Palmer, who organizes the USA
Snowboard Association’s Southern Vermont Snowboard Series,
were looking to increase traffic on one of Bromley’s out-of-the-way trails. Palmer suggested an SBX course.
The result? “The Unforgiven boardercross park has taken an
underutilized trail and made it a family favorite,” Cairns says.
When kids discover `cross, they’re usually hooked for good.
Jordan Harmon, 12, who lives in nearby Danby and skis
6 skivermont.com
Bromley every week through her school’s junior program,
first skied Unforgiven when she was 8. “I like how there are
different kinds of jumps, bigger and smaller too,” she says.
“And you don’t have to go off them if you don’t want to.”
At Okemo, a course was created on Lower Tomahawk last
season ostensibly as a training run for the resort’s new
snowboard ambassador, Olympic gold medalist Ross Powers,
with his eye on the 2010 Olympic boardercross. Called the
FamilyCross park, its banked turns, rollers, and snow mounds
quickly became more than Powers’ private stomping ground.
“It was one of our most popular trails,” Okemo spokeswoman
Bonnie MacPherson says. “It’s the kind of thing people can do
with their kids. With the banked turns, you feel like you’re
doing something different.”
Known for its progression of terrain parks—from the Burton
Kidpark to the large tabletops and rollercoaster rail on Suntanner—
Stratton also has a low-key ‘cross course on East Meadow. Nine-year-old skier Ronan Limroth prepared for the `cross action by hitting a
jump in the Old Smoothie terrain park last winter and launched 16
feet in the air. Or so claims his cousin.
“I tucked straight into the jump and went flying off,” recounts
Limroth, who participates in the resort’s Synergy Program for
kids 7-16. “I thought I was going to die. Then I landed and I
was like, ‘OK, that was weird.’ Then I wanted to do it again!”
— Peggy Shinn
