 "Photo: Photo illustration by Dane Koch")
Three Chico State students will spend their Saturday screeching down the pristine Sierra Nevadas in a sled they built themselves. Wearing shark masks and bathing suits as uniforms, they will be holding on for dear life as they fly down the slopes.
This may sound like a weird dream or a creative scene from a movie, but it will become a fast-moving reality this coming weekend.
Crowds will gather at Alpine Meadows ski resort in Lake Tahoe on Saturday to witness this event formally known as a “Schlittentag,” which means “sledding day” in German.
The event is sponsored by Red Bull and is described as “daredevils willing to propel themselves down a snow-covered hill and over a jump on a sled they built themselves,” according to the Red Bull Web site.
Chico State students Brett Beresford, Danny Knapp and Kevin Walsh will represent the university, riding down the mountain in their self-made sled, dressed to accommodate their chosen theme, “sink or swim.”
Each team attending the Schlittentag chooses a theme to represent their team and identify with their school.
The Chico State team’s theme was inspired by the difficult course at Alpine and their dedication as fans of the San Jose Sharks.
The plans for the sled are to keep it simple and in order to bring some “Chico flavor,” they are using the black rubber tubes that are commonly used for floating down the Sacramento River, Knapp said.
“We basically want to get four inner tubes and tie them to a sheet of wood with the tubes on the bottom and our theme on top,” Knapp said.
Knapp and Walsh plan to wear full shark masks that cover their heads and show their faces through the jaws. Beresford is going dressed as a surfer with sunglasses, board shorts and a surfboard that he will be holding while attempting to stand up on the sled as they act out a shark attack for their theme.
All of this will be going on while moving at about 25 mph downhill.
Being half naked in the snow while flying down a mountain will be chilly, but Beresford is willing to take one for the team, he said.
“Well he’s got the best figure,” Knapp said of his teammate.
The event is open to all college students. Teams of three students from 15 schools all over Northern California will compete.
Steve Shearer, a Chico State student and former president of the Chico Snow Club, helped organize the team and has been helping prepare for the event, he said. There will be approximately 30 teams.
The event has been held in Colorado, Utah and Ohio and has official rules and regulations each team must follow, according to the Facebook event page. The only safety precaution is that all team members must wear a helmet.
This Saturday is the first time Schlittentag will be held on the West Coast, Shearer said. It has been held on the East Coast and in the Midwest a few times, but never in California.
There will be a cheering section for Chico at Alpine and there are even some alumni who are planning on coming, Shearer said.
They are really excited for the event and are happy to be representing Chico State, Knapp said.
Whether they return to Chico as winners of this year’s Schlittentag, the team plans to have a good time.
“Winning hasn’t always been the biggest thing at these events,” Shearer said. “I mean, we want to win, but as the Chico group we’ve always prided ourselves on having the most fun, so everyone else kind of relies on Chico State to bring the party.”
Meghan Brown can be reached at
mbrown@theorion.com
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