McCall Idaho Headline News

The park will be the race venue for 1,222 racers from around the world for the event that runs from Feb. 28 through March 7.

2008 Masters World Cup McCall, Idaho

Tents are being put up at the park this week. Fencing and other preparations will begin as early as this weekend.

The event requires the park to have Nordic ski courses for race lengths of five, 10,15 and 30 kilometers.

The trail system has been updated in the past four years to accommodate the event, Assistant Park Manager Richard Taplin said. The park added the Lakeside Trail and numerous connectors to handle the racecourse demands of the event.

"The Masters World Cup has a list of criteria for trails," Taplin said. "We didn't have to change the flavor of the park to accommodate these courses."

The guidelines included distances, maximum height differences, and a range of total climb in a course as well as maximum climb grades for any hill in the course.

The goal was to create an undulating course for the skiers, he said.

It took 90 percent of the park's trail system to create the different racecourses.

Each course takes in parts of other courses. There are two 10 kilometer and 15 kilometer courses and one 5 kilometer course to accommodate the older skiers, Taplin said.

"It's a citizens race for all abilities and skills," Taplin said. Most of the trails are rated as moderate recreational trails. The park will have three trail groomers on hand to smooth out the courses overnight.

The courses will be groomed for three to four hours each night if the weather is good. If it snows, the groomers may be on the course for eight hours, Taplin said.

The park will try to finish all grooming two hours before any race.

The course will not be available for practice for skiers on race days, he said.

"On any one day, there are as many as 60 percent of the total skiers skiing," Taplin said. "That doesn't leave any room for anything else."

Skiers can practice at other Nordic ski trails in the area, such as Bear Basin, Jug Mountain Ranch, Tamarack Resort and The Activity Barn, Taplin said.

"We want to encourage them to get a flavor for McCall and its other ski areas," he said. "So they can appreciate how much good Nordic skiing there is in the valley."