Christopher Decker felt a small pang when he attached his skis from the 1993 U.S. Speed Skiing Championships to a La-Z-Boy chair.
But the pain vanished when he and partner Pyper Lund won second place, and $1,500, with their contraption at the 2008 Vail Dummy Gerlunde Derby Demolition competition.
The derby, part of Vail’s annual Snow Daze early season festivities, is an eccentric racing event that sends dummies down a ski jump on devices judged for flair, speed, distance and crowd appeal. Last year’s competitors included the Decker-Lund effort, a ski-mounted bicycle with a blanket-wrapped E.T. in its basket, a vast Jagermeister bottle that exploded colorfully upon impact, and a Santa-themed entry.
“We had Santa beat by a good 20 meters on the jump,” Decker said, “but of course, this close to Christmas, Santa won.”
Still, the Decker-Lund entry, which featured a dummy wearing Decker’s florescent green speed skiing suit from the same 1993 competition as his skis, made an exceptional debut. Decker and Lund refuse to disclose details about their 2009 entry.
“We paid much more attention to design this time,” Lund said.
“We thought of it in terms of the biggest dummy of the year,” Decker said.
They are weighing whether or not to bring the 2008 winner as a safety entry. Decker’s thinking about bringing that recliner — “Still functional!” he points out — expressly to watch the competition.
Snow Daze Dummy Demolition Derby: 5 p.m. Dec. 10, Golden Peak, Vail Mountain Resort, Vail
