Uncertainty going into a race is something skiers are used to, as weather conditions can change a course at any time. But going into the 2021 high school season, athletes have already faced more questions than usual.
After long deliberation, Colorado High School Activities Association assistant commissioner Bethany Brookens released an Alpine ski schedule to district athletic directors Tuesday. The schedule took tireless work to build in cooperation with Colorado ski areas that host races.
It will be a challenging season with participation restrictions in place related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Some mountains will allow only 75 athletes to compete per race, while Steamboat Ski Resort will allow up to 150 athletes for the meet it will host Jan. 28.
“Everything is harder this season, and we know we have to be prepared for changes,” said Durango High School alpine ski coach Leah LeSage. “We have to be prepared for cancellations at any time. But that is inherent in the sport of ski racing. It’s not always going to go as planned.”
Teams are scheduled for up to six regular-season races before the state championships, which are tentatively scheduled for March 11-12 at Loveland Ski Area.
Brookens is conducting a survey of participating schools to discuss the possibility of a virtual state championship to be held at multiple ski areas. That could allow more athletes to compete at state given the cap on participation numbers at individual locations. A final decision will be announced no later than Feb. 5.
“It’s a really good way of thinking outside the box,” LeSage said. “It would be a challenge for us, specifically, because we don’t have the infrastructure other teams and ski areas do. We don’t own our own timing equipment. For us to run a state meet on our own would be challenging. I understand how it could work, but I am hoping that is not the case.”
Some high school girls swimming meets will take a virtual approach in 2021. LeSage noted it will be easier for a sport such as swimming to go virtual than it would be for skiing.
“In swimming, it’s all the same length, same temperature of water. In skiing, there are a lot of differences there between what a course looks like and what the conditions are,” she said.
Durango is currently on the schedule for three races before the state championships. The Demons will start Feb. 3 at Ski Cooper, where there will be a 100-athlete limit. The next event is slated for Feb. 18, again at Ski Cooper. Then, DHS will travel Feb. 26 to Aspen.
Other teams have pending requests in with Beaver Creek, Copper Mountain, Keystone Resort and Loveland Ski Area to add additional regular-season dates. Summit High School coach Karl Barth has urged fellow teams to consider Aspen, Durango, Middle Park, Nederland and Steamboat Springs first if additional races are scheduled.
“We are going to try to get another race based on where the mountains are and who is able to host,” said Durango School District 9-R Athletic Director Ryan Knorr.
Athletes must complete at least one race to be eligible for state. Alpine ski racing through CHSAA is limited to giant slalom and slalom events only.
Knorr indicated the district could approve one overnight travel trip as well as an overnight stay for the state championships. Fall sports at Durango were not allowed hotel stays aside from state travel because of coronavirus health guidelines in place by the district.
Knorr said help will be needed from parents to facilitate more overnight stays, as was the case during fall sports seasons. LeSage said single-day trips to ski races are not feasible.
“I don’t know if we will be able to do up-and-backs, to be honest,” she said. “Ski racing starts at 8 a.m. and doesn’t finish until 3 or 4 in the afternoon. We would have to leave at 2 a.m. and return after midnight. I don’t know if the district would approve of that, either.”
Durango will go without a Nordic ski team for a second consecutive year. Last season, the Nordic team was disbanded because of a lack of participation numbers and the inability to solidify a head coach.
“Coming into this year, I was told we had to continue to make cuts. We barely scraped by last year not having Nordic,” Knorr said of the athletics budget. “Once we kind of get the budget figured out, we will look at bringing back Nordic. We will never take that off the table.”
LeSage has only two seniors on this year’s squad after a senior-laden team from 2020. She is excited about the participation numbers and the interest among underclassmen coming up in Durango’s fifth year since it brought back a school-sponsored alpine ski team.
The Demons will return last year’s giant slalom state champion in Toby Scarpella, who also placed third in slalom last year as a freshman. Harry LeSage also will look to build upon his strong showing with a 12th-place finish last year in the giant slalom.
After a winter storm delivered seven inches of snow to downtown Durango on Tuesday, coach LeSage is hopeful the team can return to practice soon. Practices were allowed to begin Monday. However, DHS has used Hesperus Ski Area for night practices, and Hesperus has yet to open because of a lack of snow.
“Snow helps,” coach LeSage said. “The last several years, we’ve been training at Hesperus because Chapman Hill is so busy. We haven’t been able to get over there yet, but maybe this snow will help the situation for us to get back out there. Hesperus has been super helpful for us the last couple of years.”
Regardless of what a 2021 high school season looks like, coach LeSage said any racing will be welcome to athletes who have been itching to get outside with their classmates after a year of online learning and constant uncertainty.
“We thought that even if we didn’t have any kind of official season that we would still do something with just our team,” LeSage said. “I have two teenagers myself, and they are really struggling and need some activities and friend interaction. If we need to run our own ski races, we will. The team is picking up speed, and kids want to be part of it.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
