It was a big weekend for me. On Saturday morning I helped put on the 25th Annual Colorado Teen Literature Conference. I helped set up the tables and introduced Lauren Oliver who was our morning keynote speaker. I was around for the first session but had to leave early for my next activity, taking Ellie, Kohlton and Britt (Kohlton's mom) to the Winter Park Wipeout. It was a blast.
It was an urban adventure race put on by the Fraiser Valley Rotery Club to raise money for the family in crisis center in their town. Racers completed 13 challenges. There was also a costume contest. The racers were given a map and had 2.5 hours to complete as many challenges as possible.
The kids started out with Hammerslaughin' in which the person hammers a nail into a coin of wood. The catch is that you have to spin around fully between each hammer blow. Some of the younger kids got dizzy do it.
Next up was quaffing where one person slides a pint glass full of a beverage (water or beer, depending on your age) to the person at the other end of the table. That person must catch the glass after it has left the table and gulp the beverage.
Next up was Sling Shot Alley and a maze with obstacles.
The next station was a hands free speed eating contest. They local media put them into their videos:
Here's another one:
From there they took on the Giant Jenga game.Each racer had to move 3 pieces without causing it to fall. You can only use two fingers to do so.
Next up with the wipeout zone where the racers had to use a series of challenges.
Standing there taking photos felt like being in a serious rainstorm due to the snowmaker going.
I missed the next two challenges where the kids when "fishing"with magnets tied to a pole for metal fish parts (a head, a middle and a tail). That was followed up with a wild ride in snowtubes being pulled by a snow mobile. I am including a video here that does not feature the kids. I want you to be able to see how cool it was.
They were with a team of crazy guys who called themselves the Flaming Iron Cheetahs. They were joking and cannonballing into the deep puddles. Ellie and Kohlton joined in. Ellie, who has a talent for getting hurt, managed to hit her knee on a large, sharp rock. Today it is bruised, hurts and is hard to bend.
They were soaking wet and covered with mud for the remaining challenges. It was kind of a sad sight, but they kept going. At the next challenge you are given two foam fish which you chuck into the pond below. One racer was walking by the pond with a drink in his hand. Ellie accidentally peg him with the fish. Everyone, including him, laughed.
The final challenge was to find 6 clues to give you the answer that you shared with Waldo.
At each station you earned party beads which were used to see how many raffle tickets you would win. There were awesome prizes, things like a huge TV and a Never Summer snowboarding package. The kids did not win, but they were fine with that.
After doing their raffle tickets we headed to the condo where we were staying. Ellie won a certificate for a one night stay during one of the Epic Singletrack races last year. It was a great little place with two fireplaces, two bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen. It was a bit retro and very ski town comfy. Once the kids changed into dry clothes and were clean they were good again. We spend the evening relaxing.
During the night it snowed about 4"-5" and was cold. We knew it would be a big contrast to how it would be in Denver so we took at photo at the top of Berthoud Pass.
When we arrived home we found evidence that Ethan and Larr had a bit of muddy fun, too. Ethan says that when he was driving around in his muddy truck people would smile and do the "Yeah, you were having wild fun" nod. It made him happy.
