Squaw Valley will host the Elite FIS Astle Memorial on Jan. 17-20, 2017.

The FIS tech series is traditionally at Snowbird in honor of Bryce Astle, one of two U.S. Ski Team members who passed away in an avalanche in 2015. A field of nearly 100 men and 100 women will compete in two days of giant slalom and two days of slalom on the same course as the women’s Audi FIS World Cup event that will be at Squaw Valley this March.

The series, which is being utilized as a test event for the World Cup, will feature men with FIS points as low as 18.03 and women with FIS points as low as 30.23, all 17 years of age and older. This elite field includes athletes from 18 countries as well as all three USSA regions across the United States. Forty of the athletes come from the Far West region, which includes athletes from the Tahoe basin, nine of whom are on the Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows Ski Team. 

In addition to the race, Squaw will host a free Know B4 You Go avalanche awareness presentation hosted by the Nickolay Dodov Foundation on Jan. 17 at 5pm. This free event will be at the Squaw Valley Conference Center (1901 Chamonix Place, Olympic Valley).