A fallen race sign on the side of a hill at Black Mountain in Rumford, Maine, on Monday morning. All U.S. Nationals races were postponed until further notice because of heavy rain Sunday night.
RUMFORD, Maine — Due to significant rain on Sunday night, all races at U.S. Nationals have been put on hold until further notice. The freestyle sprint race that was supposed to begin Monday morning has been postponed, and the race jury will meet later today to revise the schedule in more detail.
Looking across the closed course at the lodge at Black Mountain in Rumford, Maine, where the U.S. Nationals competition was postponed until further notice because of heavy rain. Race officials canceled Monday's freestyle sprint early that morning and will meet about rescheduling Monday afternoon.
According to an email sent out by Media Director Craig Zurhorst at 6:17 am Monday morning, the manmade snow on the course had been completely saturated with water.
“Any use or grooming of the snow, until the water drains from it and temperatures fall, will result in loss of snow and/or compaction turning to boilerplate ice,” said Zurhorst.
Temperatures are supposed to drop over the next 24 hours to below freezing, and if the artificial snow can drain in time, the course can be regroomed.
Check back here and on the event website for more details throughout the day.
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Below is a preview video from Sunday, when few knew what to expect for Monday’s conditions.
And a photo gallery from a quiet Monday morning at Black Mountain:
A fallen race sign on the side of a hill at Black Mountain in Rumford, Maine, on Monday morning. All U.S. Nationals races were postponed until further notice because of heavy rain Sunday night.
Looking across the closed course at the lodge at Black Mountain in Rumford, Maine, where the U.S. Nationals competition was postponed until further notice because of heavy rain. Race officials canceled Monday’s freestyle sprint early that morning and will meet about rescheduling Monday afternoon.
Stairs down from race headquarters to the volunteers building (at right) at Black Mountain in Rumford, Maine, on Monday. Races were postponed early Monday morning because of overnight rain.
Race headquarters at Black Mountain were closed early Monday morning, shortly after race officials postponed U.S. Nationals races until further notice.
The stadium at Black Mountain in Rumford, Maine, where the U.S. Nationals were scheduled to kick off Monday, but canceled for the day early Monday morning. Overnight rain made the manmade course un-groomable, race officials reasoned..
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2012/01/IMG_1742.jpg" "Rumford, 2012 U.S. Nationals, postponed")
![](http://images.fasterskier.com/2012/01/IMG_1739.jpg" "Black Mountain lodge, Rumford 2012")
2 comments
Don Haering
January 2, 2012 at 2:08 pm
Hey Jessie, if you give me your number I’d be happy to “take you out” sometime 😉
patricia_c
January 2, 2012 at 9:20 pm
FasterSkier – thanks for the great update on the conditions. The video is really awesome to watch with all the participants in the background too!