Gary Sandholm and I skied the race course in the pouring rain this afternoon with our GPS to plot the minor revisions to the course we plan for next year. The net result is a course that is 5.00k exactly. The revisions will be as follows: The new start and SE diagonal. Then no changes until at the bottom of the long NW downhill we will swing to the east a bit further N to allow a broader turn at the base of the last downhill. After the second long downhill, we go deeper S into the valley, and replace the extremely steep N hill with a long traverse along the side of the hill then East to the top of the hill. Finally, we added some distance to the loops just north of the clubhouse entrance road and the loop that goes out from the chokepoint to the big flat before the last downhill. Then to avoid the icy area under the big tree going up to the finish we took that stretch out 20' west.
For those who liked our course before, trust us, the changes are minor. The new finish line will be 10 feet from the start, so a 10k (or Matt's 50k) will be easy.
P.S. My GPS has elevation, and I will attempt to measure and report approximate vertical rise and fall if the course remains skiable.
