Event

Tuck It: Pointed into the New Year at Magic Mountain, VT

Long skis, tight clothes and bombing down the local mountain with the reckless abandon of a kid? If there’s a better way to start a new year, we can’t think of it.

This New Year’s Eve, Vermont’s Magic Mountain will hold its inaugural TUCK IT event, which employs a simple enough concept: to indulge the repressed longings of skiers everywhere by allowing them to point it as fast as possible along the length of Magic’s 1468 vertical feet, with a radar gun at the base to prove once and for all who is really the fastest skier on the mountain.

“We always strive to do events that fit our personality and we remembered the old speed events that used to test how fast people could go, usually on a long, wide-open course out West, so we thought why not do a fun version of that in the East,” says Geoff Hatheway, president of Magic Mountain, about the inspiration for the TUCK IT event.

The TUCK IT event will be judged not in time but speed, so participants should come prepared to make as few turns as possible with their longest skis and most aerodynamic clothes. Sponsor Cornerstone Risk Management — who actually helped come up with the idea for the event, according to Hatheway —  will also be on hand in the event that racers need some risk management consulting while attempting to go faster than they’ve ever gone on skis.

For the $40 entry fee, participants will get a t-shirt, two timed runs and a legitimate reason to turn ‘em and burn ‘em (low on the turning, heavy on the burning). The top three participants will walk away with some sizeable prizes: the winner will take home $500, while a pair of Silo Skis and a Magic Mountain season pass are also on the line. With such high stakes, Hatheway suggests racers begin practicing early.

“Everyone should practice their tuck position because this is going to be a thigh burner,” he says. “I’d also recommend wall sits while holding a beer.”

For Vermont skiers—or any skier that wants a reason to go as fast as possible—it’s time to dig up that race wax and unearth the old downhill sticks. Because while the years come and go, some things will never change.

“As kids growing up, to race our friends down a small hill in a tuck was something we’d do naturally on our own, with nothing but the ‘King of the Hill’ title at stake,” Hatheway says. “This is an old-school and thrilling way to say goodbye to 2017.”

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