Slush Cup 2010

This past Saturday was Nitehawk Ski Hill's 8th annual Slush Cup. Every year just before the ski hill closes, Nitehawk digs a hundred foot-long trench in their hill, fills it with water from the nearby river, and has a contest where people try to ski and snowboard over it. There's no winners or losers, no trophy, just an insane ski-hill activity that people ages 10 and up keep coming back for year after year.

"Thug Man" was the first person down the hill, and the first person to make it across the big puddle

This is my second year of it, and twice now I've been the MC. Which is fine with me since drinking beer, making bad puns about the cold, and watching people wearing silly costumes wipeout while in freezing water is the perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon.


I wanted to do the Slush Cup this year on skis, but the rental shop wouldn't hook me up with any equipment (understandable though, slamming skis into water repeatedly probably isn't good for them). I was really disappointed though, because I had even fashioned myself a set of wings to let fly as I made the big jump, and brought along my personal photographer to document the event.

But a fine compromise was made when they let me go down the hill on an inner-tube. For those who don't know, inner tubes are big inflatable donuts for sliding down icy hills.

I also took my shirt and pants off.

Not just because those are fun things to do in public, but also because soaking wet jeans are really really cold.



Here's an apology on my behalf courtesy of Disc Jockey Kristi Mingo to people of the ski hill.

The pictures are a little distant, but here's what's going on in each of them.

Here I've just hit the water:

Here I made it three feet on the tube before falling off:


And here I thought I'd swim and horse around in the water for laughs. But I quickly discovered that water below the freezing point isn't fun to swim in, and am scrambling as fast I can to get out and cuddle up somewhere warm.



Sidenote: They made me go back in after I had started to dry to get my sunglasses.

Here's a load of other photos of some great wipeouts and people who cruised to a finish.

This dude on the Forum board is actually wearing a Gumby Costume