It's a balancing-act between time, audience fatigue, providing skiers with their money's worth, and trying to create excitement for the sport. Here are my suggestions:
- 4 passes for everyone (regardless of number of falls), with the exception that if the last pass was a full-pass at that's skier's shortest line length (for that set), they be permitted a 5th pass.
Yes, this format will mean more time for the "newbies", but aren't we striving to get those newbies into the sport? This format would also make everyone think twice about their starting line length. As a spectator, that first pass or two for most skiers is a "yawner". Limiting pass count to 4 (and 5 for some, as noted above) would keep the tournament flowing (from a time perspective), and create more "strategy-buzz".
I know a lot of excellent skiers that don't participate in tournaments. They don't differ much from the newbies. They aren't going to drop a $50, $75, or $100 entry fee (plus time and travel costs) for a one-and-done format.
On a final note, I can appreciate that those skiing above the 35-off level are in a different stratosphere than rest of the world, and that's where a lot of spectator eye-balls are focused. Perhaps skiers in that range be given a choice between the current format and the format I'm proposing---providing additional intrigue/strategy.
My idea might seem hair-brain, but the definition of insanity is "Doing the same things over and over, and expecting a different outcome". Relatively speaking, there are simply too many "gray-hairs" in the sport (relative to other age groups), and it would behoove the sanctioning body (which includes "us") to assimilate all the ideas addressed within this post, and start experimenting sooner---rather than later. By the way, I'm a "gray-hair" (lol).