On the piste and on course for a birdie

The notion of skiing in the morning and golfing the same afternoon usually reflects wishful thinking — or the convenience of a private jet. For a brief window in mid to late spring, however, weather conditions can converge in mountain spots to allow this elusive combination, and some resorts take advantage of it by holding annual ski-and-golf tournaments. The entrants vary in skill level and competitive drive, but all are in search of the ultimate day of recreation.

"We get interest from people all over the country," said Doug Fish, whose marketing firm has organized Race and Ace ski-and-golf events in the Pacific Northwest since 2003. "They take pride in the fact they can do both in one day. It's something they like to tell their friends about."

Race and Ace combines a dual giant slalom ski race (two runs) with an 18-hole scramble golf tournament. Race times and golf scores are ranked and then added together, with the lowest score winning.

There will be two Race and Ace tournaments this spring: On May 5 in Oregon, at Mount Bachelor and the Meadows course of the Sunriver Resort; and two weeks later at the Tamarack Resort in Idaho, which has both a ski area and a Robert Trent Jones Jr. golf course.

At the Mission Ridge ski area in Wenatchee, Washington, about three hours east of Seattle, the Steve Burchett Memorial Ski and Golf Classic on March 31 starts with a slalom race and continues with golf at the Highlander Golf Club in East Wenatchee. March usually favors both skiing and golfing, said Taylor Everett, the assistant ski patrol director at Mission Ridge, though last year, the vagaries of spring weather scuttled part of the tournament. Twenty centimeters of new snow blanketed the mountain, but the golf course, 1km feet lower than the race course, was too rain-soaked to play, the first time part of the event was not held in its 12 years.

Spirits weren't dampened, though. The event simply became an all-day ski fest. Not surprising, since these tournaments generally resemble spring break, not hard-nosed competition.

At the Burchett Classic, competitors wear costumes, and the winning team dons pink blazers in a sly nod to the green jackets awarded to the champions of the Masters golf tournament. Participants at the yearly ski-golf tournament at Big Mountain in Whitefish, Mont., come out in Hawaiian shirts or retro ski wear.

Still, Fish of Race and Ace said, some competitors are serious. "They'll show up to race in speed suits," he said, "and we get some scratch golfers."

Bryan Paligo, 33, of Bend, Oregon, has won the elite individual division in three of the five Race and Ace events he's entered. A former ski coach and a dedicated golfer (with a two handicap), he admits he takes the event "a little more seriously than most people."

And with a good possibility of firm spring snow on a May morning at Mount Bachelor, which Paligo calls "ideal race conditions," coupled with a sun-drenched afternoon on the greens, who can blame him?

On the other hand, Ian Griffiths, 32, a self-described hacker on the golf course who has played in several of the Whiteface tournaments, said: "There's a lot of trash talk going on in the beginning. But some of the better golfers are not very good skiers, so everyone really has a chance."

Ski-golf events are rare in the East. A late-April event the last three years at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, with Bode Miller as host, is being transformed into a skiing-only event a couple of weeks earlier to take advantage of better snow.