All credit to powder.com for the article...... and doglotion.com for the video.
haha this is hilarious.
GAPER DAY: If you live in a ski town you deal with them everyday
By Justin Broglio
Gaper Day Goes Off
If you live in a ski town, you deal with them everyday. If you own a season pass, they're destined to get in your way. And, if you only ride a few times a year, you might be among their ranks.
They’re the people in neon one-piece suits and rear-entry boots standing in the middle of the run, taking pictures of the resort. They’re the people who refuse to buy fat skis and Gor-Tex-enhanced clothing. To you they might be known as Uncle Phil and Aunt Bunny, but to most people they’re known as gapers.
On most slopes these doers of fashion faux-pas are laughed at and avoided, but in Whistler they not only provide comic relief, but also inspire the most ridiculous day of the year.
“It’s super fun,� says Holly Walker, who proudly celebrated this year’s Gaper Day in furry earmuffs, a bright red one-piece, Gucchi sunglasses, and a pair of balloon-sized fake boobs. “Each year we dress up as the biggest idiots we can and ride skinny skis on dirt, rocks, and grass.�
Ten years ago Whistler locals Jamie Bond, Leif Zapf-Gilje, Chris Axel and Bob Kitchen returned from a season in Chamonix with a new-found love for skiing in jeans and a creative way to celebrate the end of the season.
“We just had this idea to dress up in jeans and act as silly as we could,� says Bond. “We originally called it Ski-In-Jeans Day, but over the years it has evolved into much more than that.�
Every year when Whistler announces its closing date a group of locals gathers up all the retro gear they can find to invade the slopes and prove that skiing isn't as serious as some make it out to be. Besides entertaining tourists—and other gapers—participants also shred grass and poach rock drops and grinds otherwise invisible during the season. The perennial favorites are the grass-to-grass creek gap and the parking lot gravel tow-in.
“We’re celebrating the birth of hot dogging and freestyle skiing,� says Les Manley, a rookie gaper who attempted his first-ever grass turns at this year’s event.
Mother Nature usually cooperates with the annual shindig, but this time around a June storm almost wrecked the party.
According to Bond, attendance was down due to the harsh weather conditions. “It was the ultimate,� says Bond. “In all we had about 50 people show up and it turned into Extreme Gaper Day because we were skiing in a full-blown blizzard on grass and rocks.�
Although Gaper Day started with just a small group of friends, it has slowly grown into a local phenomenon. The Whistler community continues to get a kick out of the antics, and so far these gapers-for-a-day haven’t managed to piss anyone off. “It’s not quite big enough to get people mad,� says Bond. “But, hopefully it will be next year.�
and for the video
http://powdermag.com/av/gaper_04/
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