Mannequins, Polar Plunges, and Spam

For over 25 years, Showdown Ski Area has flown junk on skis off their Mannequin Jump. Mannequins riding all sorts of ski-outfitted homebuilt contraptions, launch down a ramp and sail for distance. Successes make it the farthest, but some lacking flight qualities simply splat. What does owner George Willett do with the mess? "We just pick it up and haul it to the dump," he says. This year's event is on their closing day, April 7. Three resorts celebrate their closing weekends with slush cups: Lookout Pass on April 1, Big Mountain on April 7, and Big Sky on April 14. Costume-garbed contestants race down a slope to see who can skim across a frigid pond. Winners, if any, stay dry; losers get the polar bear plunge. But Red Lodge surpasses most others in ingenuity. Their annual Dash for the Pass awards tropical-costumed race winners with a ski pass for next year. Skiing down Mighty Mite is no problem, but you also have to eat gross and disgusting things, like spam, in record time.