Save a cowboy, ride a chair lift!
Nearly 60 professional rodeo cowboys and cowgirls from the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo journeyed into Steamboat 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. The event 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.
- Photo by John F. Russell Courtesy of Steamboat Pilot and Today
The best part of the day is 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.