The snow they relied on nearly cost them the championship.
Brian Heydt and his three University of Colorado roommates — they make up a team called “No Tall T’s Just Short Skis” — walked off with top honors at Saturday’s Red Bull 1976 Games at Copper Mountain, a nod to the Olympic Games that never made it to the state that year.
But their team nearly didn’t make it themselves, as heavy snow blanketed the Front Range on Friday night just as the 21-year-olds left Boulder for what should have been a 90-minute drive.
Stuck when Interstate 70 was shut down, the foursome settled into one of three homeless shelters opened for stranded motorists and hoped for a better shot Saturday.
With little time to spare, the fellows hit the road early — and promptly got their car stuck in snow on the highway on-ramp. They rolled into the resort four hours later.
“It was fun and interesting, but took us 16 hours in all to get there,” Heydt said late Saturday.
The competition is a throwback to the days of Wayne “Wong Banger” Wong and Suzy “Chapstick” Chaffee, forcing competitors to dress in 1970s regalia while competing in two events: Snowbladecross and Old School Air. Teams from several states competed.
“We got there with just enough time to rent snow blades — shorter versions of snowboards — and race,” Heydt said.
He and teammates Micah Starkey, Matthew Schmidt and Mark Stover pulled off a first-place finish in Snowbladecross — a carnage-ridden race involving four skiers — and second-place in the air competition, where old-style tricks such as mule kicks and mobius moves were required.
First prize: a briefcase stuffed with 1,000 one-dollar bills.
“It was all an adventure,” Heydt said. “We almost didn’t get to do it.”
David Migoya, The Denver Post
