Join the fun at the annual Santa Ski Crawl at the Crested Butte Mountain resort and you could become a part of history. There are three things you need to do to help become part of history and set the world record.
First of all you need to register for the event. This is something you can do on Ski Crawl day or online.
Second, you need to put on a Santa suit. Wearing a beard will add to the overall effect. Wearing a beard is required to purchase a lift ticket at a discount, but is not mandatory on the slopes, and you may choose to defer if it interferes with your skiing ability.
The third thing you need to do is bring along your skis, snowboard or rent some. The goal is to be the largest group ski in history where all the participants are wearing Santa suits. If you choose not to hot the slops you will not become a part of history, although you can still have lots of fun, Santa suit or not, as there is more to the Santa Ski Crawl than the downhill run.
Other Santa-Related Records
The Gunnison-Crested Butte Resort features a number of events, both summer and winter. The Ski Crawl will happen in the midst of the featured winter events and is scheduled for December 13 in 2014. Crested Butte is not the only resort to hold a ski crawl of this type, but it is bound and determined to show the rest of the skiing world what a truly large, world-record, Santa-suit ski crawl looks like. Take a peek at a previous event on YouTube (type in Crested Butte Ski Crawl) and you’ll see how impressive moving red suits against a white backdrop can look.
Guiness lists a number of world records for Santa-suit events. Several years ago, 10,001 (give or take a couple) dressed in Santa suits in Derry, UK, or that was the goal, but they still set the record at that time for the largest gathering of its kind (the Australians apparently set a new record of over 14,000 a few years later). 10,001 skiers (give or take a couple) would make the Crested Butte resort owners happy but would result in unpleasantly long lift lines, and photographing the downhill run could present some challenges. In another event in the UK, 142 ice skaters dressed as Santa set a record for the longest line of people wearing Santa suits while skating on ice.
Earlier this year, Los Angeles Angels baseball fans set a record for the largest gathering of people wearing Santa hats. Had they all been wearing Santa suits to the game it would have been more impressive however.The Ice Bar by the way is the first stop on the Pub Crawl so feel free to have your first drink there if you wish. The Pub Crawl continues once you’ve reached the bottom.
If you don’t plan to ski, you can purchase a Santa suit for $20, or bring or rent your own.
It’s not all that clear just how many have to show up at Crested Butte on the 13th of December to set a world record. If the number of participants is high enough, there will be good cause to celebrate during the pub crawl later in the day. If the record is not broken, there may be some tears shed in some beers, but planning for next year’s Santa Crawl will probably be underway before the festivities are over.