Nationals 2016 - Broadside Harbor

[unksskis]

For many, this will be the first trip to Caldwell. Please post any recommendations in regards to the site and town.

 

How is the parking? Long walk to dock? Good restaurants nearby?

 

Thanks.

[ALPJr]

Get the parking right first. Good call @unksskis

[Mateo_Vargas]

Don't stop your car on the train tracks.

[Rpc29]

Downtown Boise is pretty awesome. I go a pretty decent amount for work so here's a short list of my favorite restaurants:

Bittercreek Ale House

Red Feather Lounge

Bardenay

Goldy's Breakfast Bistro

Barbacoa (full disclaimer, I haven't been here but have heard nothing but great things)

The Matador

[walleye]

Anybody have information on whitewater rafting in the area.

[bigskieridaho]

Hey! I live in meridian and ski at a different site, but the parking isn't too far I don't believe at broadside. Not sure if you are camping or if you are staying in a hotel? Caldwell is not the greatest place at all, but Meridian is great, and Boise as well. You can find nice places in Nampa also. And yes, Barbacoa is a must, my favorite place by far. The whitewater rafting on the north and south fork of the payette is awesome depending on what you want, but the fires in IC are putting a damper on the south fork side. Message me if you would like to know more.

[sunvalleylaw]

Though I live in Idaho, I am not particularly familiar with the site, so cannot advise on parking. For good eats, I would travel the half hour to Boise, where there are many good options. There is a very nice walking district downtown with tons of restaurants and things to do. Not a ton out in Caldwell. In addition to the good list above, I would add the 10 Barrel Brew Pub (out of Bend, OR, but a great place), and/or walk around the Basque district downtown. I also really like Bardenay. And there are lots of other really good places in the walking district as well. Plus a great used record store, lots of art, music, and etc.

[jmvana1]

I just took my practice set and they are running practice very efficiently! Beautiful site! Very nice people!

[sunvalleylaw]

@walleye , whitewater rafting is up on the Payette, or the Salmon. The day stretch of the salmon is a nice day/half day. It is a little further than the payette rafting. Check out White Otter rafting. WhiteOtter But, there is a big fire up near Lowman now and Highway 21, so travel up there might be tough. EDIT: sure enough. You can't get up to Stanley easily from the Boise side due to fire. Pioneer Fire Info/Road Closure The Payette is closer to the Boise area than the Salmon and might also be an option for you. You would need to call to see if they are operating, or if they are closed because of the fires up in those mountains. See here: HalfDayPayetteTrip

 

If you wanted just to cool off and chill out, there are places to rent tubes and just float the Boise River for fun. Not whitewater though. BoiseAreaTubes

 

I am currently out of town in the Gig Harbor area, so don't have the full scoop. But the fires are up in the mountains well east of the site, so the smoke should not be an issue for Nationals. It is affecting Sun Valley and Stanley (and unfortunately Redfish Lake) more. So no worries for you participants.

 

 

[Jody_Seal]

Wow!What can I say. Been here a day and a half. Had 4 ski rides. Beautiful facility and very accommodating people. Plenty of parking , great viewing. Thank you broadside harbor group. Can't wait to get the event under way.

[MrJones]

Bumpy flight into Boise this afternoon and now stopped at a steak place on the way north for river rafting. Even if you're not rafting I'd strongly recommend driving north on ID 55 through the Boise National Forest. It winds along the Payette River and is beautiful

[MrJones]

Follow up. The Salmon River is absolutely awesome. If you get the chance go

 

Also. The people I have met here so far are super nice. Having cool weather is also a bonus vs the normal August Nats where you are roasting all day. My wife commented that the weather reminded her of skiing fall collegiate tourneys back in the day.

 

Only suggestion is that we need to introduce Tony Cachere's seasoning to the area for us Louisiana people!

[sunvalleylaw]

Yes, ID 55, and the Payette are awesome. To me, highway 21, and over to Stanley and the middle fork of the Salmon are also amazing. Maybe even better, due to the proximity of the Sawtooth Mountains. Plus you can check out Redfish Lake (high and cold) where a lot of us ski. Glad you got that experience! It has been fun to have so many ballers come to Idaho. Glad the weather was nice and cool. It can get hot over there in that area of the state (where the tourney is) this time of year.

[Edbrazil]

Not bad following it online. See: here

and select the event, then you can follow an event, most of the time just a few minutes

delayed.

 

But, wondering why the scorebook isn't updated. Last update about 3:30pm yesterday,

local time. See: here

 

This is just short of 8am Eastern today.

[ScarletArrow]

I would just like to compliment Broadside Harbor on a well run tournament. There are always hiccups when putting on a major even like this that can affect individuals (me included), but in my 3 days there I had a good time. I would like to see them host again.

[GK]

I agree, Broadside Harbor did a fantastic job and I would not be disappointed to go back! Great job to all involved!

[Edbrazil]

Sure would have liked to see the Open Divisions competition look more like Open division.

Other than Open Men SL. Disappointing that an injured Nate couldn't ski.

 

Also disappointing that only some of last night's jumpers participated today. If the Nationals

can't produce a better Open showing, why hold the events?

[ntx]

@Edbrazil the only thing I can figure is that they are afraid of the risk of injury. Malibu is next week, and they firgure if they get hurt this week going for a medal, they might miss out on a payday next week. M1 overall should have been the Open Men overall. The top six or seven should have all been open overall.

[Jody_Seal]

Sitting in a Mexican restaurant in Tremonton Utah with Steve. Winding down and reflecting back on probably the best National championship I have ever been too. Last night's jump event capped off a week of championship watersking at its finest! The Crew and owners of Broadside Harbor hit the grand slam out of the park!! Today's jump and slalom events were full of thrill of victory and agony of defeat yet each and every athlete today as well as all week defined the greatness of this sport. This is what our sport is supposed to be!

[Horton]

@Jody_Seal Wow that is saying something.

[kc]

I second what @Jody_Seal said. Broadside Harbor did a super job! Sure hope they'll invite us back!

[Dirt]

I agree with Jody and kc! The whole Broadside Harbor Crew worked from early morning until late night every day since before the Western Regionals.

 

That is probably what will keep them from doing it again. Too much work for too few people.

[ntx]

Regional and nationals in the same year is brutal. Completely understand the reluctance to do it again. Same thing happened a few years ago with San Marcos in Texas. Horton talks about ROI for the competitors. What about ROI for the hosts. THANKS TO THE PEOPLE OF BROADSIDE HARBOR for all your work.

[MrJones]

Has Broadside declined Nats for next year, or are they just not sure? I do wish that there were enough competitors to need 3-4 lakes to host, but if it can be done on 2 then they have the perfect set up.

 

Relatively short walks to parking, great weather, and best of all you could sit on the levy right in the middle of the lakes and watch every event with a great view. Plus that grass was awesome!

 

Hope they decide to skip regionals and host Nats again. They did a great job.

[brettmainer]

Western Regionals are at Wet Set next year.

 

And yes, the Broadside Harbor team did an outstanding job. I would be thrilled to go back next year.

[jetpilotg4]

Where will 2017 be held? When will they announce?

[Ilivetoski]

I've heard if broadside declines it will be at west palm (this could be wrong, just what I've heard from a few Florida skiers)

[skidawg]

Please Please -1 more year out west

[santangelo]

@Ilivetoski , there has been no bid put in by Ski Club of the Palm Beaches.

 

I too have heard nothing but great comments about Broadside Harbor. Sounds like an incredible site with a great crew. Congrats to Broadside.

[Horton]

@Edbrazil Long links

http://media.tumblr.com/fe497dd337d9af8479bb6398b9565d16/tumblr_inline_mg6n5ltl6X1rxe4lt.gif

 

[Rpc29]

I went to Broadside this week as a spectator. A couple of things:

1. The tournament was run very efficiently, there was almost zero downtown between events, boats were in and out of the water very quickly.

2. OM scores were a little low given the perfect conditions, which obviously leads to everyone on site to start wondering about the driving, lets just put Chad Scott, Chris Eller, Tommy Harrington, or Jeff Gilbert behind the wheel for the open skier events and call it a day.

3. Broadside is an awesome site as a spectator, very easy to watch both lakes at once. They had a couple of food trucks and even a mobile bar on site.

4. Night jump was a great event. No need to change anything here, the even just plain worked and was fun for everyone. Only thing that could make it better would be inviting non USA skiers like Dodd and Schipner. Def don't need to add slalom or trick to the event to make it drag on longer.

5. I would love to see it back in Boise next year!

 

[disland]

@horton was hoping there could have been some flashing lights at the end of the lake so there would be a re-ride controversy to break the internet and blow up the forum again

[munsgearski]

The run off in open men was awesome. Thanks T winter and Chris Rossi for showing up!!! The OM and OW who didn't show up get with it you owe it to the level 8s to be there!

[bigskieridaho]

Yes please! Bring Nationals back to us! Great job by the crew and everyone that worked so hard.

[mmosley899]

@Rpc29 1. I agree 2. All the slalom scores were a little low. The drivers you listed are great drivers, but not the only ones capable. 3. I agree as a spectator, but I thought the food choices were limited. 4. Awesome event, but don't need non USA skiers at a US Nationals event. Slalom & trick, maybe, but only a short event. 5. I agree!

[unksskis]

@disland there actually was a kart driving along the bank, but it didn't phase the jumper

[MrJones]

If you aren't going to make it the US Open.... then I agree with keeping the pro section for US skiers. It was nice to see some of the young guns like Sam Greenwood get a shot at the big boys. I think it's great for the other "kids" to see one of their own out there.

 

 

[eleeski]

 

Visiting Broadside again this weekend for some high quality training. Chad (who was out of town), Mark and Danny let us use their new Nautique so we could get the same boat as Spain. Don and Sareeya hosted us. How cool!

 

The Broadside people are wonderful. The docks are full of supportive coaching and cutting edge tinkering. The weather is perfect as is the water. The lawns are almost recovered from the Nationals.

 

The sport needs sites and people like this. I'm loving it!

 

Eric

[sunvalleylaw]

I need to get over there. I did not realize they had instruction available.