What’s up everybody? Yesterday I went to a pond skimming event at the Taos Ski Valley. Pond skimming is a sport where people blow down a snow covered hill (either on skis or a snowboard) to a pond of ice cold water hoping to skim over it and make it to the other side. At TSV, the pond is 80 feet long but at other resorts the pond can be as long as 120 feet.  

Most resorts have these events to celebrate the final days of the ski season.

Anyhow, pond skimming is a tradition that loads of ski resorts host, but I did not find much history when researching where it came from or how it evolved. There were four judges at the event, all in pretty funny costumes, and they rated the participants based on style, costume, and how far they make it across the pond. I think that they were also open to some subtle bribery in the form of “lettuce (money that is!) and beer.”

  
There were many silly costumes such as, The Baconator (even though almost all of his bacon, which was real, had fallen off of him by the time we got this picture):
  
Good Cop/Bad Cop from the Lego Movie:
    
David Letterman:
  
And what would it be without the Hippie Hawaiian Guy with the blue hair:
  
There were just too many competitors to get pictures of all of them, but we did get quite a few:

Unfortunately TSV closes next weekend but I am looking forward to still heading up for mountain bike riding and hiking. Since yesterday was one of the last days of skiing, mom and I got a few runs in:

Also, I’ve been playing lots of soccer for the Taos Bears. I’m enrolling in a tournament in Albuquerque, NM in May.

    
Skiing (and maybe pond skimming when I am older) and soccer are two of many sports I like, and when you combine them, it’s awesome.