Basecamp podcast: Tenney Mountain ready to host World Pro Ski Tour

The World Pro Ski Tour will be stopping at Tenney Mountain with racing on March 15-16. (World Pro Ski Tour)

The World Pro Ski Tour, which was recently revived after a more than 20-year hiatus, will be making its only New England stop of the season March 14-16 at Tenney Mountain in Plymouth, N.H.

Tenney owner Steve Kelly and general manager Michael van Eyck stopped by the Basecamp podcast recently to discuss what it means to be hosting a pro ski race.

Following qualifying on Friday to set the bracket for the 32 men and 16 women for Saturday’s bracket, every matchup will be run over two legs to give each skier a turn on each course. The winner of the first leg will get a head start by the amount they won, with the maximum difference of 0.80 seconds. Whoever crosses the finish line first in the second leg advances to the next round until there is a winner. Sunday’s bracket is set up based on the results of Saturday.

It is a super slalom course, a hybrid of slalom and giant slalom with a couple of short jumps thrown in for good measure, something you don’t see on the World Cup circuit.

“I encourage people, whether they understand what ski racing is or not, this is a chance for people to come out, see world class athletes in an environment that they just, they just don’t visit that often,” van Eyck said, likening it to an NBA team scrimmaging at Plymouth State. “This is extremely unique, not just to Tenney, but to the Northeast in general.”

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They will be using the Shooting Star trail with the finish just in front of the revamped base lodge.

The tour stopped in January at Aspen, where Denver University’s Christian Soevik of Norway won both races to pocket $15,000 for the weekend. On the women’s side, Sweden’s Sara Rask, who also skies for Denver, earned the win on Saturday and Norway’s Kaja Norbye, the 2019 Europa Cup season-long giant slalom winner and now skis for University of Utah, won on Sunday, and they each took home $7,500.

Kelly, who is in his second season of owning Tenney, was at Aspen to get a lay of the land and get a hint of what to expect when the WPST arrives in Plymouth.

“I got an introduction to Chris Neary, he’s the new CEO of the World Pro Ski Tour. At the time he was just an investor, but he talked to you about his vision of the World Pro Ski Tour,” Kelly said. “How he wants to take it over and then kind of put a little bit of a new leadership team together and bring it back to where it once was, in the ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s. It was all over the world.

“To a degree, it’s similar to a tiny mountain. They’re both resurrection stories, right? You’re bringing something that was once great and putting some fresh energy and talent and enthusiasm into it.”

Kelly said there are risks involved, but called himself a high adrenaline guy and is looking forward to showcasing Tenney to people who wouldn’t normally be exposed to the mountain and he hopes it can be a catalyst to the mountain’s growth.

Tenney will remain open for skiing on race weekend and watching the races is free and there will be VIP opportunities available.

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