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Racing and Timing
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Granite Peak Ski Area
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| Hill Top - Start Tunnel |
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Welcome to the ‘Timing and Racing’ section of Granite Peak Ski Team’s (GPST) web site. In this section we would like to tell you a bit more about the races we offer at Granite Peak as well as describe our timing and communications system we have put together.
Out primary race run at Granite Peak is Exhibition Run. Granite Peak Ski Area (GPSA) and GPST both run NASTAR Races on that run. The Wausau Area High Schools also host their ski meets on that run too as well as Badger State Games Alpine Events. Exhibition is well suited for Slalom, Giant Slalom, Super Giant Slalom as well as NASTAR Races. The run is suited for dual courses but GPST is working with GPSA to use Sundance Run for larger races. Granite Peak Ski Area has a vertical drop of 700 feet. The race area, on Exhibition, has been measured, from the start ramp to the finish area, and has a vertical of just over 350 feet and a length of over 1,500 feet. Relocating the finish area further down the hill, which will also increase the vertical slightly, can increase the length of the race run. The finish area and the finish building are located on the upper portion Spruce Glen.
GPST has all the gates and safety equipment to set up for any race that is desired. GPST also has the knowledgeable staff, and coaches, to set Slalom, Giant Slalom and Super Giant Slalom courses. The Slalom and Giant Slalom will be set to USSA standards. NASTAR courses can also be set and the NASTAR courses will be set to the NASTAR standards. Some groups have requested race clinics before their racing events. GPST can provide those race clinics but those clinics need to be scheduled ahead of time so the appropriate staff and hill facilities can be arranged. If a ski group desires a race clinic, that is generally arranged for when you book your group and your group’s race with Granite Peak Ski Area.
The race facilities, on Exhibition, will provide a memorable race experience. The Start Area is located next to the unload area of the Prancer Double Chair Lift. We have a start ramp set up for snowboard racing which doubles for skiers if a dual course is set. The main start ramp is located in our Start Tunnel. The start tunnel keeps about 5 racers out of the wind just before they are to race. The starter uses wireless headsets, connected to the VoIP units, to communicate with the finish building. We also have paging, from the finish building, as well as an electronic display board so that racers at the start can both hear and see what time their fellow racers just received. The finish area is located by the finish building located on the upper portion of Spruce Glenn. The finish building has a set of boards so that times can be recorded, on paper sheets, and viewed by the racers and spectators. Racers can get to the racecourse by using the Prancer lift, if it is running that day, or by using the Comet Lift. Comet is the high-speed detachable six-place chair lift.
GPST is proud of their state of the art timing system. GPST is also proud to use ALGE timers, start wands, finish eyes and the wireless links. We have enough ALGE Wireless units for two complete and independent racecourses. The starts and finish signals are received in the finish building over the ALGE Wireless Units. GPST uses VoIP for the communications from the finish building up to the starts. VoIP is also used to get the paging from the finish area up to the starting area. There are also ALGE Display Boards that are used for our races. There is one display board at the finish and the other at the start area. The start area is connected to the finish area via an Ethernet Network that we send data and VoIP over. That network is comprised of wireless Ethernet as well as fiber optic cable links. The network also has network storage devices which all of our race times and results are stored to. We do have groups that connect directly to our network so they can access those race results as soon as the race is completed. The groups can then massage the results to the format that they desire. GPST staff can also e-mail the results to an e-mail address or store the results on to a thumb drive if that is desired. Unless the timing staff is told otherwise, all NASTAR Race Results are immediately downloaded to the NASTAR Web site right after the race is complete as we do have internet access in our finish building.
GPST is constantly looking at ways to improve our race facilities as well as our timing infrastructure. We are currently exploring the use of ‘Live Timing’ for our races. Live Timing is a service where, as the race is running, the times are posted to a web site where anyone may view the current race results of the race being run at the hill. The results would not be official but they will give you a good idea of what your racer is doing in comparison to the other racers. We are also looking into installing a printer at the start area so that current run orders can be sent and printed for the starting officials. Another project that is on the books is to provide web cams on the race course. Those cameras would be viewable down in the chalet on large screen monitors. There is even some talk about seeing if those cameras would be viewable on a web site. GPST is also working with GPSA to use Sundance Run for large races. We have some infrastructure to put in place for that to happen and have started the ball rolling to make it a reality in the near future. These projects are just in the planning stages and we will provide updates on this site as new things are added to our system.
We hope this give you a brief overview of the race facilities GPST and GPSA offers. We are proud of the progress we have made and are continuing to make to have some of the premier race facilities in the Midwest. If you have any questions about racing at GPSA or questions about GPST, our timing facilities or the equipment used, please drop us an email at; timing@gpst.org.
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| The Start Gate |
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| Finish Building |
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