Ski Racing - September 19, 2011

U.S. Ski Team, NASTAR
Join Forces

In an historic joint event, officials will stage both
the U.S. Alpine Championships and the NASTAR Na-
tional Championships simultaneously from March 22
to April 1, 2012, at Colorado’s Winter Park Resort.
Called “The Championships presented by Nature
Valley,” the finale will mark the first time the two tra-
ditional season-ending events will have been held to-
gether . The combined event is expected to attract
more than 2,000 competitors from recreational racers
to such Olympic champions as Ted Ligety, who is also
a new NASTAR ambassador and spokesman.
“Both NASTAR and the U.S. Alpine Championships
have great reach, but The Championships provides
stronger growth and offers a consumer marketing op-
portunity with the potential to impact the 16 million
sport participants in America,” said USSA Chief Rev-
enue and Marketing Officer Andrew Judelson. “This
is the type of season-ending marketing pillar that can
help to build real scale for our sport and a meaningful
engagement opportunity for our partners.”
The combined 10 days of action will kick off with the
Nature Valley NASTAR National Championships on
opening weekend. A new series of mutual participa-
tion events will bridge through to the Nature Valley
U.S. Alpine Championships, which will continue dur-
ing the week and into the second weekend. The event
will be broadcast nationally on NBC, Versus (NBC
Sports Network) and Universal Sports.

Winter Park, which hosted the 2010 U.S. Alpine Championships, will stage an even bigger finale this season.

2010 NASTAR National Champion Robbie Zeher.

Gold Pass, Blue Box

Tiffany & Co. produces 2011-12 gold pass for USSA donors

At a “Breakfast at Tiffany” event at the eponymous New York City jeweler on Sept. 13, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) announced a new multi-platform partnership. Olympic and X Games medalists helped unveil a new Tiffany-produced USSA Gold Pass, offering donors skiing or snowboarding at resorts across the USA.

Four hundred Gold Passes are produced annually as part of a fundraising program that requires a minimum annual contribution of $10,000. The fully-transferable pass — which will now arrive in the signature Tiffany blue box — provides unlimited skiing and snowboarding at resorts, as well as invitations to special events.

On site to help reveal the new Gold Pass partnership was Olympic silver medalist Lindsey Jacobellis, Olympic bronze medalist Andrew Weibrecht, Olympic champion Donna Weinbrecht and five-time X Games medalist Jen Hudak.

Tiffany & Co. will continue its partnership through other fundraising initiatives with the USSA.

For more information on donating to the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team Foundation, including specifics of the Gold Pass, visit www.ussa.org/foundation.

In other USSA partnership news, the organization announced last month that USANA Health Sciences will provide supplements and other nutritional products to ski and snowboard athletes. It’s an eight-year partnership that will extend through two Olympic Winter Games.