Chris Smith at Nastar Nationals 2003

Bode Miller fresh off a race and another Gold, took the time to attend the 2003 Nastar Nationals at Park City and pace set for the competitors. Here Bode poses with Christopher for a quick snapshot after he signed Christopher's race bib and photo.

Picabo Street told Chris she liked his "racing form" .

Meagan Brown enjoyed visiting with her fans of Skier X a fairly new form of events for racing.

Christopher experienced hiking into the "back country" and skiing the powder.There are many more photos of his trip and National Race experience to share.

The out of bounds sign didn't prevent this group from pushing the limits. They were escorted and supervised by an experienced back country and extreme skier who took them on an adventure they will never forget. Pictured left to rightChris, Scott Czarnecki and his sister Lynn.

There are no lifts to get you around in the out of bounds areas or back country. You must hike. Chris came home with huge blisters on his heels from hiking to the peaks in his ski boots. Skiing back down in otherwise un-skied areas was well worth it he proclaims!

Unlike previous years where a regional race was held to determine eligibility, if you finished in the top 3 at any given participating resort you earned your invitation to the Nationals. Christopher finished the season in first place with a 9:09 handicap at Crystal Mt. Resort in the 15-16 yr. male division. Others from our high school team that qualified but opted not to attend the Nationals this year were: Kaylie Mathieu 1st place 17-20 female division, Stephanie Griffin 2nd place 13-14 yr female, Erica Jach 2nd place 15-16 yr female, Coach Dale Miller 1st place **-**yr male division :).

The resort ranking is your single best handicap recorded for that resort. State Rankings are earned by racing at least 2 different days and your best handicap from your second best day is used. Christopher finished the season with a 2nd place State ranking with a handicap of 10:61 only 00:10 away from first. National rankings get slightly more complicated. To be ranked Nationally one must race at least 5 different days. Your best day and worst day are thrown out and the next 2nd, third and fourth days are averaged ,giving you your handicap. Ties are broken by numbers of days raced. Christopher saw himself in first position for quite sometime. High school racing started and he concentrated on that racing. He slipped to 12th and bounced around in the top 10 towards the end of the season. He finished the regular season in 9th position Nationally. To read more about Nastar and find out what it is, how the handicaps work and what they mean you may go to http://www.Nastar.com

The weather was warm when they got out to Park City Utah, but mother nature provided over 2 1/2 feet of new snow on the Mountain before race day. With the courses groomed and set, the National competitors hit the lifts. USA Ski Team Star, AJ Kitt was the pacesetter for the 11-16 yr. olds. The 15-16 year male division were the last group to race in the morning. Racers all noted how by the time that many people had raced, the courses were very icy. This is how it played out for Christopher.

Christopher banked on his very first run on the first day of racing and ended up taking out both gates with his knee, but managed to still finish the course. On course 2, still in pain, he played it cautious and skidded around some of the gates instead of edging. He did this to SLOW himself as he was gaining what he says was almost uncontrollable speed. He ended the day in 10th place. Not bad considering all the trouble he was having...The courses ended with a very steep finish , not your usual nastar courses, and with not much run out area. A Lot of the people had to fall to stop.

Day two, he conquered the very course that he had all that trouble on, getting a GOLD. It was enough to give him a final combined standing of 7th overall for the 2 days of events...:) Christopher placed 7th OVER the top 2 in the national rankings. They placed 9th and 10th at race end.:)

He was able to get autographs and pictures taken with each and every Olympic and world cup racer there. There were many! Including, Picabo Street, Bode Miller, AJ Kitt, Eric Schlopy..Olympic Free Style Skier Meagan Brown, Doug Lewis. He visited with the US SKI TEAM Coach and PICABO! He had to wait 2 1/2 hours each, for Picabo the first day and Bode the 2nd day and he said he would do it all over again! People were complaining that Picabo took too much time with her fans, and that she enjoyed visiting with each one way too much. Christopher did not see a problem with this and was glad that she took the time to care about her fans and said it was worth the wait to have all of them critique your style, give advice and just plain chat.

All of them signed his racing bib, a professionally taken photo of himself on course racing. His skis, hat and GS suit were also signed by the various stars of Ski Racing. Chris's race bib and photo of Chris racing on course that is signed by all the stars will be sealed and framed to preserve them. His runs were all taped and will be overlayed with the pace setters runs to see where he can improve.(Like they show on the Olympics) AJ Kitt was his pacesetter both days. Bode Miller was pacesetter for the afternoon races.

It wasn't just 2 days of racing for Chris. He was able to free ski the entire mountain for 6 days,including the peak that sports an elevation of just under 12,000 feet. There were days when the clouds were parallel with his hips at the peak. That's what they must mean by get your head out of the clouds! He hiked into the back-country with a few friends and did some minor "extreme" skiing as well as skied the powder that at times was knee to hip deep.

Chris attended 2 reception dinners that were exclusively for the National competitors and World Cup Racers. Here, they ate and mingled with the ski stars and got autographs from them if they had not yet met them on the mountain. The entire experience is one he is sure to never forget.

Skiing the back country powder in your GS race skis rendered some problems from time to time. Here Chris finds himself stuck!, but makes do. Powder or "fat" skis are the preferred skis for this type of skiing, but he didn't let that stop him from enjoying the entire mountain while there.

Here, the kids are standing at the very edge at the peak. Clouds were all around their heads, other mountain peaks could be seen below them, behind them...a straight down drop off. Lynn is pointing with her thumb that they are going to ski down RIGHT HERE!, and that they did!, giving themselves the ultimate challenge of a lifetime in the sport of skiing.

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