Inside Edge: Finally, a storm cycle

Here it comes! — It looks like our prayers may be answered. A three day system arrived last night, promising a maximum of 43 inches of the white stuff. The “low ball” estimate is 20 inches, but we’ll take anything.

Ladies’ World Cup Speed — An interesting week for Mikaela Shiffrin. She narrowly missed the gold in super-G at St. Moritz, settling for the bronze. She was followed by Alice Merryweather in 20th and Alice McKennis in 29th.

Shiffrin “sat out” the parallel slaloms to prepare for an upcoming giant slalom. The only U.S. racer in parallel was Nina O’Brien, who earned points with finishes of 14th and 24th.

Shiffrin skied to a disappointing (for her) 17th in the giant slalom at Courchevel in France. Her worst finish in a number of years. Naturally the analysts prognosticate that the train may be off the rails. It’s the same with everything, isn’t it?

Men’s World Cup — Twenty two year old Luke Winters created a stir in the slalom at Val d’Isere, France, placing second in the first run. He kept his nerves under control, made some nice recoveries and scored his first World Cup points with a 19th place finish. Hmmm, sometimes 19th in the world on any given day is pretty special.

Junior Race Series sign-up — Fliers for the January Independence Junior Race Series are at the local ski shops. This popular series features free coaching, lots of prizes, lots of kids and lots of fun!

Racers meet four Friday evenings in January from 5:30-7 p.m. No excuses — come join the fun! Historically we get an 80 percent participant return rate, so you better register now. Forms are at the Alpine Shop and Sandpoint Sports or can be downloaded at independenceracing.com.

Nice Turns Free Trial — The second Nice Turns free trial will be Sunday from 1-3 p.m. Check at the learning center for details.

Santa hits the slopes! ­— Ski with Santa on the 23rd and join his balloon parade on the 24th. Check with the activities center for details.

Potpourri — **Watch for race camps on the mountain next week. Lots of kids about.** Any comments, recommendations or contributions to this column may be sent to Shep Snow by email at shep@thesnowschool.com. Negative feedback should be sent to someone else.