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What’s in a name?

by Dan Thomas

Heavenly Ski Resort makes it clear: Nobody ‘palmed’ three ski and snowboard cross events on the resort for the next two weekends.

“Once we built the Swatch/Palmer-Cross course two weeks ago, our phones began ringing off the hook with requests for some sort of a skier-rider-cross competition,” said Heavenly vice president of mountain operations Malcolm Tibbetts. “We decided to take advantage of all the snow we’ve received this last month, rebuild the course to competition specs and add the tree events.”

What’s in a name? Just call it the Palm Three. The events kick off on Saturday with a snowboard cross, and continue March 18. The third event is an invitation-only grand finale March 25.



Heavenly’s association with Palmer, and the South Shore all-equipment, all-terrain dominator’s association with the American Ski Company made naming their cross courses an easy choice. Heavenly’s Swatch/Palmer-Cross course is located on the Comet run, off the upper Nevada side of the resort. The course features high-banked turns and a series of rollers and hits.

“All of our boardercross courses at the American Ski Company resorts are Palmer-Cross courses,” said Heavenly communications director Monica Bandows. “We call ours the Palmer-Cross Swatch trail, and that’s how Palmer comes into the picture.



He could come into focus that’s even clearer. While nothing is certain, the mini-series namesake could make an appearance.

“He may show up because he’s kind of that way, but you never know,” Bandows said.

Heavenly limits each day’s competition to 150 skiers or riders. The resort encourages preregistration with Heavenly’s race department ((775) 586-7000 ext. 96208) or at the Boardinghouse shop on U.S. Highway 50.

“Last time we had a USASA boardercross up there, we had 200 people,” Bandows said.

Representation from local teams and other interested skiers and riders could push the registrants to 150 quickly. The prizes up for grabs don’t hurt either.

“In Tahoe, it travels fast – kind of word-of-mouth thing, especially among snowboarders,” Bandows said.


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