Photos, Race Results & Team Standings from First Week of SMARL's 2016-17 Season

fixe_0855 — Sugar Mountain Adult Race League’s first race of the season took place on Monday. Here participants get ready to shred the slopes. Photo by Ken Ketchie

By Jesse Wood

The first race of the 2016-17 Sugar Mountain Adult Race League (SMARL) took place amidst perfect winter weather conditions. With a base of about 24 to 70 inches of snow, Sugar Mountain Resort received 11 inches of natural snow over the weekend.

Always in the upper echelon of the results, Team Sugar, on the skiing side of things, and Sugar Ski School, on the snowboard side of things, stand in first place through the first week of SMARL.

Banner Elk Cafe and Ski Country round out the top 3 in the skiing category, and Edge of the World and Team Southeast (formerly Rustic) round out the top 3 in the snowboarding category.

SMARL, which takes place on six Mondays in January and February, is now in its 14th year as an after-work, “beer league” for local skiers and snowboarders in the High Country.

The camaraderie-filled league is capped at 100 participants and sells out very quickly each fall when registration opens at Ski Country Sports in Banner Elk.

See individual results, team standings and pictures from Week 1 below:

Team Standings After Week 1

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