TETON VILLAGE, Wyo. — Beers were flying and costumes were styling at the 18th Annual Gelande Quaffing World Championships on Wednesday.
Buckrail photographer Nick Sulzer was in Teton Village to capture the festivities. As always, the competition kicked off at 4:20 p.m.
For the uninitiated: Gelande Quaffing is a tradition that was invented by a group of legendary skiers called the Jackson Hole Air Force, chronicled in ski documentary “Swift. Silent. Deep.” The story goes that members of the group were waiting for the lifts to open at a Teton Village bar. A bartender slid a full beer to a skier at the end of the bar — the beer flew off of the bar, but was caught and promptly chugged.
Now, teams of four compete to see how many beers they can slide to each other and consume in a 60-second period, with escalating rules and points for new tricks each round.
Gelande Quaff Commissioner Ben Skelly told Buckrail Team ULLR took top honors this year, rising to the top of the 16 competing teams and winning 45-43 in the finals. Jo Paine, Luke Ledwell, Wyatt Hughes, Julian Lacourse were coached by Orion “Big Tex” Hatch.
“ULLR edged forward with tricks like ‘The snowboard launch,’ ‘Neo,’ ‘The Dude’ and ‘The Karate Kid,'” Skelly said. “Paine completed ‘The Double Claw,’ creating possibly the biggest crowd reaction. Team ULLR had choreographed theatrics, hyped the crowd, drank beer, and caught handles. Julian skewered a mug by the handle with a pool stick.”
Teton Village Sports came in second place, deploying such tricks as the “Boot Chug,” the “Helmet Chug,” the “Quaffski,” the “Keg Bazooka” and the “Triple Lutz Doobie Roll to Standing Double Barrel Chug,” Skelly said.
Way Wetter Than You finished in third, and Montucky Moose Knuckles finished in fourth.
“Uniforms were dialed and stylish,” Skelly said. “Sometimes people need to party. DJ Hot Snakes bumped tunes, MC Jeff Moran kept a close eye announcing, not missing a single slide.”
Until next year, quaffers!
