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Alpine Officials Education & Resources

Alpine officials ensure that U.S. Ski & Snowboard competitions run efficiently and fairly by the rules. 

A comprehensive certification program has been developed by the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Alpine Officials Working Group and is in place on a nationwide basis. The program recognizes officials at six different levels and in a variety of categories or specialty areas.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard Alpine Official Resources for the 2025 season are published on the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Alpine Official Educations page.

Download the 2025 Alpine Study Guides archive to find the study guide for each type of alpine official. 

 

COMPETITION OFFICIAL (CO)

The CO certification serves as the foundation for your entry into officiating at an alpine event. 

Competition Official (CO) certification is a prerequisites for certification for the other specialty areas. Completing this certification does not require attendance a clinic--all you need to do is review the study guide and complete the quiz.

NEW! You can now complete the CO certification on the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Sport Education Academy. Registered with the Sport Education Academy at the Bronze level (this level is free). Find the "Alpine Competition Official" section under the "Coach Certification". Here you'll find a study guide and an online quiz. 

JURY ADVISOR (JA)

Jury Advisor is the USSA designation for the certification required by the Start Referee and the Finish Referee. These two officials supervise their area of the competition arena, and communicate with the Jury about activities that require input from the Jury.

The same study guide is used for both the Jury Advisor and Referee certifications.

CHIEF OF COURSE (CC)

The Chief of Course is responsible for the preparation of the courses in accordance with the directives and decisions of the Jury. The Chief of Course must be familiar with homologation of the course and the conditions on the terrain concerned. 

Timing & Calculations (TC)

The chief of timing and calculations is responsible for the coordination of timing personnel at the start, finish and in the timing building. They will oversees the operations of the timing equipment and the preparation of the Timing and Data Technical Report (TDTR) .

CHIEF OF RACE (CR)

The Chief of Race oversees all preparation of the competition and supervises the activities in the technical area. The Chief of Race summons meetings for consideration of technical questions and leads the team captains’ meetings after consultation with the Technical Delegate.

Referee (RF)

The Referee represents athletes and coaches as a member of the Jury. The Referee checks, signs and posts the Referee’s Report on the official notice board at the end of each run, and at the end of the race, including a list of disqualified competitors, the gate numbers where the faults occurred, the name of the relevant gate judge of judges, and the exact time of posting.

Race Administrator (RA)

The Race Administrator is responsible for all secretarial work for the technical aspects of the competition and amongst others for the preparation of the draw. Additionally,

  • they prepare the official results
  • are responsible for the minutes of the technical officials, the Jury and team captains’ meetings,
  • ensures that all forms for start, finish, timing, calculations and gate-judging are well prepared
  • facilitates the calculation of results by appropriate preparation and ensures that they published after the completion of the competition

Technical Delegate (TD)

The duties of the Technical Delegate include

  • ensuring the rules and directions of USSA are followed
  • advising the organizers within the scope of their duties
  • being the official representative of USSA

Last updated November 14, 2023