ski_it didn’t watch it, as I fell asleep on the couch waiting to… 🤣
Most slalom sets give just 1 set path to successfully negotiate the gates. There are certain types of combinations where a racer can choose whether to enter the combination from say either the right or left side (typically referred to an “on” or “off” entry). The reality is that most elite athletes will choose the same line.
The salted snow at times can be more of an issue as it can break down and create ruts “easier” than non salted snow, and those ruts, regardless of how much in race course maintenance occurs, can be rather inconsistent.
The course gets salted if the air temp is enough above freezing that the chief of the hill and the race jury anticipates soft snow, as the salt initially melts the top inch or 2 of snow, which then freezes up as it interacts with the colder snow pack below to create what will hopefully be a firmer, more consistent racing surface for all of the competitors
