Cowboys Lasso the Slopes of Steamboat

Bulls are much bigger and scarier, so the cowboys in Steamboat’s Cowboy Downhill had no fear when it came to riding a snowboard, or hitting a jump on a pair of skis. The 38th Annual Bud Light Cowboy Downhill hit the slopes of Steamboat again with the regular yeehawing and chap slapping fun.

Nearly 60 professional rodeo cowboys and cowgirls from the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo journeyed into the mountains from the show in Denver for their annual couple of days on the slopes. The members of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association or the Professional Bull Riders came from the United States, Canada, France and Australia.

A snowboarding cowboy catches air in the 38th Annual Cowboy Downhill at the Steamboat Ski Resort.  Photo by Larry Pierce. Courtesy of Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp.

The event was started nearly 40 years ago when Steamboat’s Director of Skiing, Billy Kidd, invited six-time All-Around World Champion cowboy Larry Mahan up to Steamboat for some skiing. Three-and-a-half decades later, the Cowboy Downhill has become one of the most popular and unique events on a ski slope.

A cowgirl cruises down the slalom course in the 38th Annual Cowboy Downhill at Steamboat Ski Resort. Photo by Larry Pierce. Courtesy of Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp.

The Cowboy Stampede is the highlight of the day when all of the cowboys and cowgirls line up at the top of Steamboat’s Headwall run, have a mass start, and then see who makes it down the hill fastest. It’s typically chaos at the bottom with cowboy hats, skis, chaps,and cowboys flying in every direction.

Blake Knowles of Heppner, Colo., was designated as the fastest cowboy in the west by making it down first. Evan Jayne, a bareback rider from Marseille, France, won the best wreck of the day on the slalom course. The dual slalom winner was Dakota Eldridge of Elkno, Nev.

Jerad Schlegel (Bib #38) of Burn, Colo., battles Travis Edwards (Bib #32) of Perth, Australia, in the dual slalom course of the 38th Annual Bud Light Cowboy Donwhill in Steamboat Springs. Photo by Larry Pierce. Courtesy of Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp.

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