Quirky Colorado

More Reasons to Love the Mile High State

I love Colorado.  I think that is apparent by now with the plethora of posts I’ve written about it.  Colorado has always been a little alternative to the rest of the union; that’s part of why I love it.  Here are just a few of the quirky things I encountered on my last trip to Colorado.

Adventurous souls ride homemade contraptions down this schlittentag course.

Schlittentag

Schlittentag means sledding day in German.  In the US this activity is typically conducted at ski resorts in the spring when conditions are less than optimal anyways.  We went to Rebull Schlittentag at Keystone resort two weekends before they closed.  In this event brave participants ride manmade sleds, usually ridiculously large and un-sled like in nature, down a steep ramp.  To finish the entire team including at least one part of the sled must cross the finish line.  I say a part of the sled because many of the sleds do not survive one of the three jumps that span the run. 

This teddy bear sled and its occupants got some air over this jump.

Watching the schlittentag I could only marvel that some of the sleds survived jumps I would not attempt on my snowboard.  Adding to the difficulty, snowboards can be piloted unlike any of the man made sleds.  A few of the sleds survived the jumps only to turn sideways and, to their rider’s horror, rollover.  The slope is not an easy one either, but the steeper portion of a blue run converted for the event.  In typical après style most of the onlookers drank a beer or smoked a joint, making them applaud even harder at the absurd event.  It was so much fun.

This mural is near the baggage claim in Denver International Airport.  Fun.

Denver International Airport

An airport may seem like a weird item to appear on this list, but the Denver International Airport (DEN) is the center of much controversy, at least among conspiracy theorists.  These sleuths claim that DEN is home to a secret bunker that in times of crisis will protect the president and other important government officials.  I am not saying I believe this just that this hypothesis exists and there are some interesting reasons to their belief:

(1) DEN is in the middle of the country and not as long as a coast to coast flight to get to from any point in the US.

(2) DEN is much larger than it needs to be.  I have noticed that taxiing at DEN takes longer than most other airports, because some of the runways are very far from the gates.

(3) There is some really weird art in the airport.  In one of the terminals for example is a Mayan ball court replica.  Why would a Mayan ball court replica be in a US airport so far from where any Mayans lived?  Is it a hint of the end of the world?  More noticeably near the baggage claim there are some murals that show Nazi like figures attacking the children of the world, metaphorically showing evil trying to subdue good.  I’ve only ever seen two of these murals in person.  Supposedly there were more, but they were so controversial they were painted over, very quirky.

Another weird mural near the baggage claim.  The large dark portion is a sword, with its owner offscreen from this shot.

Pond Skimming

Back to a lighter note, this last quirky activity has to do with another ingenious use of a melting ski slope.  Pond skimming is an event also often conducted in spring when adventurous skiers and snowboarders ride down a steep ski slope and then using their momentum try to ski or ride across a man made pond.  Most do not make it.  Skiers and riders with especially wide skis and boards are more likely to make it across, but still have a high failure rate, especially when they try to land the jump into the pond. 

A rare snowboarder who actually made it across the pond.

Since most participants know they will not make it across they try to go for the best costume category instead.  My personal favorite was the wacky wavy inflatable arm man, who when he sunk undertook the typical wacky wavy inflatable arm man dance.  Children are not excluded from participating.  Far from it, they even have a child’s size pond of their own to attempt. 

A run down the pond skimming slope.

I say this activity occurs in spring, which is true.  That does not however mean the water is not just above freezing, which it is.  The pond built up above the run has snow for walls and bottom.  The ski patrol even had special lassos and poles to fish out participants too cold to swim or wade to the side.  Watching pond skimming was out last activity in Colorado before we flew home, and I still can’t help but smile when thinking about it.

A skier vaults into the pond in an attempt to skim.