thoughtful. entertaining. random.

virtual advent: skiing santas!

Welcome to another stop in sprite’s Virtual Advent 2017! I love that sprite carries on this tradition every year – and I try to provide something unique to the mix every year.

This year I’m sharing the tradition of the skiing Santas. Many ski areas kick off their season in early December, and most of them have a skiing Santa to welcome skiers, especially the children.

But some ski areas go a bit further. Witness Sunday River, Maine, where the annual “Santa Sunday” brings out hundreds of skiers in full Santa garb (though the helmet is a new nod to safety). These skiers can ski for free on this day, provided they wear their full Santa regalia all day. Here is footage from this year’s Santa Sunday, which took place last weekend:

And because everything is bigger in the Alps (though the Alps are geologically younger mountains than the Appalachian Range, of which Sunday River’s peaks are part), Verbier, Switzerland, hosted over 2,600 Santas (and associates of Santa) for their annual “Santa Après Ski” festivities this past Saturday:

And because I really can’t wait for the beginning of ski season, here are two cheesy ski videos. First up: Hansi Hinterseer, former Austrian downhill racer, graces us with the latest rendition of his hit song (in Austria, of course), “Ski-Twist”:

And as Christmas for sprite and me is never complete without a bit of John Denver, here’s his video for “Dancing With The Mountains,” from his 1980 album, Autograph:

I’ll be back with more Virtual Advent later in the month – stay tuned!

The header image is a still from “Ho Ho Pro” – another fun video of a skiing Santa, this time at Telluride, Colorado.

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