2025.4.12. Bikini Downhill

4/12, Saturday. Crystal Mountain Ski Resort hosted Bikini Downhill, a fundraising contest for the Crystal Mountain Fire Department. Winner will receive an IKON pass. The chenanigan is scored in 3 equal measures of

• Style
• Speed
• Volume of Liquid in Stein

About 30-40 fun-loving contestants brave the wind and cold, brought the beach cheer to the snowy slope. One guy wore a neon green string (we dubbed him Borat), one guy wore a women's one-piece swimsuit, with nipples painted pink. One girl wore a waist band with many empty beer cans. One girl had a glissening mermaid tail. Two lifebuoy, one looks like a donut. Many colorful wigs. Yes, they had to hold a glass with some blue liquid while skiing/boarding down. It is fun to watch. However, even standing there in my 4 layers of clothing, I was cold. It even snowed a bit during the 1 hour activity (2-3pm).

We snowshoed up along the trail, and ventured a bit further up. On our way back, our trail was blocked by this event. Ended scrambling down through trees on somewhat steep hills. The main ski slope is barred to the snowshoers. Well, more interesting than following the trail down.

More spectators at the bottom of the hill. Music and drinks. There'd be an award ceremony at 3:30pm, which we didn't witness. Parking reservation is no longer needed (weekend before noon till end of March, $10). I saw at least 2 shuttle buses. But according to the website, it only runs mid-Dec to end-March.

Back in town ~5:30pm. Still early. After dinner, I went to Feathered Friends for the launch event of Creative Approach - a documentary movie. 3 young creative young women (a film maker and photographer, a painter, a pastry chef) teamed up, using their own money, to create art at the basecamp of Denali. Their combined gear totaled over 400lbs, including a 3 layered pre-made cake, a canvas as large as the wall in my apartment. 2 of them work as guides in Alaska. All experienced backcountry enthusiasts. Rose, the pastry chef, was present. She talked about the preparation, tests of recipes, and challenges of making their creations on frozen ice, and joy it brought to everyone there. Today she brought "crevasse bar" for us to try: broken white chocolates for crevasse, macademia nuts for boulders buried in the ice, blue cakey layer for the blue color you see into the crevasse. Pretty. The blue bottom is too sweet. The rest tastes perfect. Chewy, like a soft nougat. Kudo for their endeavor. The three of them still haven't thought of how to release this film.