Few ski areas have history and tradition like Steamboat. With its deep snow and wild west energy, every weekend at the mountain means something new. Like this past Monday, when Steamboat held its Bud Light Cowboy Downhill for the 49th time despite high winds and lots of snow.
The Bud Light Cowboy Downhill, for those who don’t know, is a series of races designed for the gun-slinging, horse-wrangling, ski-riding cowboys and cowgirls of this world. Like many ski races, it starts off with riders passing through a dual slalom course. Unlike most ski races, it keeps going after the slalom course. Competitors go over a jump, lasso a person, saddle a horse, and then cross the finish line.
According to the Steamboat Pilot & Today, winners of the slalom race included bareback rider Wyatt Denny from Nevada in the men’s division and Miss Rodeo Arizona Haley Olsen in the women’s. Brice Patterson of Bozeman, Montana, won the Stampede, where a crowd of cowboys are sent down the trail all at once.
“You know everybody’s going wreck, or come up behind you, so you don’t want to be in the back or behind somebody. I just skated as fast as I could until I got down to the bottom” – Brice Patterson
Piper Schirm, Miss Rodeo Washington, won the best wreck award after just barely failing to land the jump. 2023 Bareback Riding World Champion Keenan Hayes, of Hayden Colorado, made the trip to the competition. Charles Sampson, a bull riding world title holder from 1982, first attended the Cowboy Downhill in 1983. He was in attendance on Monday as well.
“I had never been skiing before, and all the other cowboys said, ‘Charlie, they have this skiing event in Steamboat and invite the cowboys up here every year during the Denver National Stock show. I told them I had never skied before, and they said, ‘It’s alright, they’ll teach you how to ski’ and needless to say, I’m still trying to learn how to ski.” -Charles Sampson
Related: Steamboat Holds The Record For World’s Largest Firework (2,797lbs)
Image Credit: Steamboat Resort via Instagram