Hosting the 2024 United Airlines Waterville Freestyle Cup
FEATURED IN THE FEBRUARY EDITION OF THE WATERVILLE VALLEY WIG WAG
Preparing to host the world’s premier freestyle competition is no easy feat. Inclusive of skier traffic, Waterville Valley Resort welcomed over 7,500 athletes, guests, and spectators over the World Cup weekend. The 2024 United Airlines Freestyle World Cup has so many moving parts. It’s a colossal event that requires months of planning and coordination, countless late nights, and early mornings, plus support from all departments.
One of our first major projects involved installing fiber optic internet on Lower Bobby’s Run. The Freestyle World Cup is broadcast live to millions of viewers, and TV production crews rely on fast, reliable internet to broadcast sporting events live. Over the summer, our teams built a large trench, traveling from the base area up Valley. We then installed a fiber optic cable running up the length of the trench. To avoid a potential live TV catastrophe, we secured a backup internet provider and installed a Starlink antenna atop the administration building in the base area.
The International Ski and Snowboard Federation, known as FIS, sets strict standards and specifications for freestyle moguls and dual moguls events. FIS freestyle moguls courses must span 200 to 270 meters in length, with an average slope grade of 26 degrees. Lower Bobby’s Run fits the specifications perfectly: 246 meters long (just over 800 ft.) with an average pitch of 28 degrees. Moguls are to be spaced approximately 3.5 meters apart, and the course must feature two jumps designed for aerial maneuvers.
Building a course to such rigorous standards is a multi-faceted process. First, we need a lot of snow. Our snowmakers worked their magic on Lower Bobby’s Run for over two weeks, creating huge whales. Once we established our snow base, we began the course build. We used a Prinoth Bison X to push out those giant piles. Building the mogul field is the trickiest part of building the course. We began by building up small bumps using a snowcat. Then, we used flags to mark the spine of each mogul. Advanced skiers — many of them BBTS and WVA athletes — descended Lower Bobby’s slowly and carefully, pushing snow toward the spines while hollowing out the troughs. This process is called “skiing in the moguls”; it is the most natural form of mogul creation.
Given the sheer amount of equipment, supplies, and infrastructure needed to execute an event of this caliber, our team began staging the World Cup arena early in the month. The largest and heaviest items were transported up via snowcat. Hitching a trailer to the front of a snowcat, we pushed these large items up the slope, including a large bathroom trailer, a 90 x 60 tent, Jersey barriers, and more. In total, our teams transported over 50 cat loads up to Lower Bobby’s. These hauls were all done after hours, during the mountain’s peak grooming window. Our grooming team was relentless in their efforts. They pulled out all the stops to transport everything needed for the World Cup, while also ensuring that each and every trail was groomed with perfect corduroy prior to opening.
As our food & beverage team prepared for an extremely busy weekend at our on-mountain dining outlets, we were also preparing to provide meals for everyone involved in the event, including 139 athletes, coaches, trainers, 200+ volunteers, 30+ TV production crew members, plus several other event officials. Some of these groups required simply boxed lunches, others had full-service catering for all three meals.
Waterville Valley is unique. When hosting events like this, event coordinators (in this case FIS) only needs to work with a single vendor on many aspects of event coordination, including the race venue and setup, lodging, food, conference facilities and more. This makes Waterville Valley an easy choice for integrated event planning, versus other mountains where they would be dealing with multiple entities for venue, food, etc.
Hosting the 2024 Freestyle World Cup is a testament to Waterville Valley Resort’s commitment to the sport of freestyle skiing. We understand the importance of community involvement in hosting such a momentous event. Local businesses, students, coaches, and local residents assisted with the preparation and execution of this event -- from providing athlete lodging to volunteering to help build and maintain the course. Our team is grateful for the support, and we thank you. Our meticulous preparations and strong community involvement are indicative of the resort’s dedication to making this event a resounding success.