NASTAR - Standard NASTAR Course

Standard NASTAR Course

Participating NASTAR resorts are allowed some leeway in determining the location and set up of their NASTAR race venue but typically it is visible from a high traffic lift or lodge. The resort can decide whether to have single or dual courses. Each NASTAR course is essentially a modified Giant Slalom (GS) course with anywhere from 12 to 20 gates that racers must maneuver around. Gates are set with 18 to 20 meters distance between gates vertically and 4 to 8 meters of offset. Each resort is encouraged to standardize its course(s) to have a par time of 23 seconds and set courses so that no course is within 5% of the cap time. The "cap time" is the time it takes the local pacesetter to tuck from the start to the finish of their course without going around gates, and is the fastest possible time down the venue. Although the look and feel of each race venue varies, the above constraints, especially the nearly fixed par time by the pace setter, will tend to standardize the results. The overall standardization allows the participants to compare race times wherever and whenever they race.