June 04, 2015 (Denver, CO) – The Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association Thursday released the 2016 schedule, with Utah, Montana State, New Mexico and Colorado all hosting one regular season meet while Denver will host the RMISA Championships and the Buffaloes will play host to the NCAA Championships.

For the third straight season and fifth time this decade, the RMISA season will begin in Utah, where the alpine teams will kick the season off January 4-6 in Park City at the 2016 Utah Invitational. Monday, January 4 will be the season opener for both genders in slalom action. The GS races will then take place Jan. 5-6, first with the women then the men as part of the Bryce Astle Memorial Series.

The Nordic teams will be competing at the United States Cross Country Championships in Houghton, Mich., while the alpine teams kick the season off, so they will immediately travel from nationals to Soldier Hollow to get their season underway on Sunday, Jan. 10 with the 5k women’s and 10k men’s freestyle races, followed by a 10k women’s and 15k men’s classic mass start on Monday, Jan. 11.

While that’s going on, the alpine teams will have made their way from Park City to Big Sky for the 2016 Montana State Invitational from Jan. 9-11 with an extra GS qualifier slated for Saturday, Jan. 9 and then GS races on Jan. 10 and slalom on Jan. 11 as part of the meet.

The Nordic teams will close out the MSU Invitational on Jan. 16-17, with 5k women’s and 10k men’s freestyle races on Sunday, Jan. 17 and 15k women’s and 20k men’s classic set for Monday, Jan. 18 with all races held at Bohart Ranch.

The two disciplines will then match up for the rest of the season, beginning with the 2016 CU Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational in Steamboat Springs on Jan. 22-24. A night slalom at Howelsen Hill will get things underway on Friday, Jan. 22, at the meet and then the alpine teams will head to Mt. Werner on Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 23-24, for two GS races, the second of which will be an RMISA Qualifier race.

Meanwhile over at Howelsen Hill, the Nordic teams will compete in a 5k women’s and 10k men’s freestyle race on Saturday, Jan. 23, and a 15k women’s and 20k men’s classic mass start on Sunday, Jan. 24.

With approximately 60 percent of the season complete in those first three weeks of January, the teams will then have nearly a month off before heading to Red River, N.M., for the 2016 Jade Enterprises New Mexico Invitational. The UNM meet will consist of a pair of slalom races on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 20-21, while the Nordic details are still to be determined.

Teams will then immediately embark upon the post season where Denver will host the 2016 RMISA Championships, which double as the NCAA Western Region Championships. The alpine action will take place at Beaver Creek with GS races on Friday, Feb. 26 and slalom on Saturday, Feb. 27 while Nordic action will take place at nearby Minturn, Colo., with 5/10k freestyle races on Feb. 26 and 15/20k classic races on Feb. 27.

The season will conclude back at Steamboat Springs where the Buffaloes will host the 2016 NCAA Championships starting Wednesday, March 9 with men’s and women’s giant slalom action at Mt. Werner. Thursday, March 10, the Nordic teams get underway with the 5k women’s and 10k men’s freestyle races at Howelsen Hill. Alpine action will remain at Howelsen for a night slalom on Friday, March 11, and the championships will conclude on Saturday, March 12, with the 15k women’s and 20k men’s classic races.

The host Buffaloes are the defending NCAA Champions having won the program’s 20th NCAA Championship in Lake Placid last season. The Pioneers will be attempting to continue a couple of streaks of their own and look for the program’s 23rd NCAA Championship being the last team to win in the west two years ago in Utah and they were also the last team to win in Steamboat Springs in 2010.

The Buffs and Pioneers have won seven of the last eight NCAA Championships dating back to 2008 (and nine of the last 11) and five RMISA schools have combined to win 27 of the 33 national championships dating back to 1983 when skiing went coed. In that time frame, Utah (9), Colorado (8) and Denver (8) have won 25 of those 33 championships.
2016 RMISA Schedule

University of Utah Invitational
Jan. 4 Slalom Utah Park City, Utah Park City Mountain Resort
Jan. 5 Women’s Giant Slalom Utah Park City, Utah Park City Mountain Resort
Jan. 6 Men’s Giant Slalom Utah Park City, Utah Park City Mountain Resort
Jan. 10 Freestyle (5/10K-I) Utah Midway, Utah Soldier Hollow Resort
Jan. 11 Classical (10/15K-M) Utah Midway, Utah Soldier Hollow Resort

Montana State University Invitational
Jan. 9 Slalom Montana State Big Sky, Mont. Big Sky Resort
Jan. 10 Giant Slalom Montana State Big Sky, Mont. Big Sky Resort
Jan. 17 Freestyle (5/10K-I) Montana State Bozeman, Mont. Bohart Ranch XC Ski Center
Jan. 18 Classical (15/20K-M) Montana State Bozeman, Mont. Bohart Ranch XC Ski Center

RMISA Alpine Qualifier
Jan. 11 Giant Slalom Montana State Big Sky, Mont. Big Sky Resort

University of Colorado Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational
Jan. 22 Slalom Colorado Steamboat Springs, Colo. Howelsen Hill
Jan. 23 Giant Slalom Colorado Steamboat Springs, Colo. Steamboat Ski Resort (Mt. Werner)
Jan. 23 Freestyle (5/10K-I) Colorado Steamboat Springs, Colo. Howelsen Hill
Jan. 24 Classical (15/20K-M) Colorado Steamboat Springs, Colo. Howelsen Hill

RMISA Alpine Qualifier
Jan. 24 Giant Slalom Colorado Steamboat Springs, Colo. Steamboat Ski Resort (Mt. Werner)

Jade Enterprises University of New Mexico Invitational
Feb. 20 Slalom #1 New Mexico Red River, N.M. Red River Ski Area
Feb. 20 Nordic TBD New Mexico Red River, N.M. Enchanted Forest XC Ski Area
Feb. 21 Slalom #2 New Mexico Red River, N.M. Red River Ski Area
Feb. 21 Nordic TBD New Mexico Red River, N.M. Enchanted Forest XC Ski Area

RMISA Championships/NCAA West Regional
Feb. 26 Freestyle (5/10K-I) Denver Minturn, Colo. Maloit Park
Feb. 26 Giant Slalom Denver Beaver Creek, Colo. Beaver Creek Resort
Feb. 27 Classical (15/20K-M) Denver Minturn, Colo. Maloit Park
Feb. 27 Slalom Denver Beaver Creek, Colo. Beaver Creek Resort

NCAA Championships
March 9 Giant Slalom Colorado Steamboat Springs, Colo. Steamboat Ski Resort (Mt. Werner)
March 10 Freestyle (5/10K-I) Colorado Steamboat Springs, Colo. Howelsen Hill
March 11 Slalom Colorado Steamboat Springs, Colo. Howelsen Hill
March 12 Classical (15/20K-M) Colorado Steamboat Springs, Colo. Howelsen Hill
Note -RMISA Qualifiers at Montana State and Colorado will not count for team scoring. Both RMISA Qualifiers will be giant slalom races to offset the two slalom races as part of the New Mexico Invitational.