Montana’s March Madness Pinhead Classic Brings Fun-Seeking Skiers To Bozeman

Theodore Seuss became America’s poet laureate of children’s literature by transporting minds, both young and old, into a world of mischievous fancy. But what would the good doctor of Who-ville think about turning his rhyme-uttering protagonists loose on a Montana ski slope?

For one very wacky Saturday three weeks from now, nearby Bridger Bowl Ski Area will by hijacked by March madness when the Grinch, Cat in the Hat and other assorted Seussians descend upon the 17th Annual Montana Pinhead Classic.

Unparalleled for its sheer alpine audacity, the pinhead festival is a surreal mixture of classic Scandinavian telemark skiing and Halloween, with a pinch of Mardi Gras thrown in for good measure. It is an afternoon that deliberately turns the competitiveness of downhill racing on its noggin, and nobody walks away a loser.

After all, where else in the Rockies can you join Sam I Am for a plate of green eggs and ham? Or watch the Sneetches snurching snugly across a snazzy snow bound slope? Or join Yertle the turtle hunting for Aunt Myrtle’s neon lycra girdle?

“This race has slowly evolved to the point that it’s not even a race anymore,” confesses Lisa Tuckerman of the Montana Telemark Corp., who organized the festival with her husband, Russ. “In the beginning, it all started as a simple telemark festival to recognize the approaching spring. But now people come from all over the region just to ski in costume. It’s a blast.”

Last year, nearly 200 telemark skiers from across the West made a pilgrimage to Bridger Bowl dressed in attire from the Wizard of Oz. Other years have celebrated everything from the Grateful Dead to rodeo cowboys and superstitions.

Here, stopwatches are cast aside and participants ranging in age from 3 to 80 are rewarded not for their dexterity in carving fast turns through slalom gates, but for taking dramatic spills, catching air and baring the most flesh (within reason, of course, since this is a wholesome family event).

The hallmark, however, is just daring to abandon one’s standard downhill equipment to join the fraternity of three-pin bindings. During the last two decades, Bridger and the vast array of skiable public lands in the greater Yellowstone region have emerged as a telemark Mecca.

To understand the growing appeal of the pinhead fest is to know, foremost, that telemarkers in the U.S. and Canada pride themselves as being a breed apart from the usual variety of North American resort skiers.

Telemarking is a sport unto itself, imported to this country more than half a century ago from northern Europe, where cross-country skiers developed a specialized technique for traversing steep slopes and eyebrow-deep powder.

With free heels and a simple binding system that uses three pins to clamp the skier’s toes onto metal-edged skis, a telemarker appears to genuflect on one knee through turns. The methodical nature of the sport is undeniable, and can be graceful to watch.

While the Pinhead Classic is an obvious exercise in levity, the quality of its participants is actually no joke, and has attracted attention from a handful of national ski magazines. Expected to mix it up this year on Bridger Bowl’s NASTAR course are some of the premier telemarkers in the world.

The 1998 Pinhead Classic happens to fall between the U.S. National Telemark Championships in Whitefish, Mont., this coming Thursday through Sunday and the World Championships in Salt Lake City beginning March 25. Several racers from Norway, Germany, Austria and North America may make detours to Bozeman.

“This is clearly the event in Montana for (recreational) pinheads,” Tuckerman says. “For the professionals traveling between the two big, serious events of the year, this is an opportunity to relax.”

Besides, with longer, warmer days and corn-snow conditions, spring skiing in Montana reaches its most sublime during the latter half of March.

Bridger Bowl spokesman Doug Wales says people come for the festive ambiance. Administered by a non-profit corporation, Bridger is one of only a few large community-run ski areas in the country. Although the terrain sprawls across a huge mountain, the feel of the place is small town.

“There is an intangible social quality here that you don’t find anywhere else,” Wales says. “The Pinhead Classic personifies that community atmosphere.”

Bridger Bowl recently was cited by Powder Magazine as one of the “Small Ski Areas That Rock.” Known for its prodigious powder - which locals affectionately call “white smoke” - the miles of intermediate terrain are complemented by a maze of chutes and steeps dropping off the Bridger Mountain crest. This section of the mountain, dubbed “the Ridge,” has been featured in the extreme-skiing films of Warren Miller.

The only hard-and-fast rule of the Pinhead Classic is one skier per pair of skis. While the stipulation might appear obvious, the edict was put in effect when six people showed up strapped to the same pair of teleboards dressed as a Volkswagon bus.

This year’s entry fee is $18. All skiers get a commemorative T-shirt, engraved beer glass, a full day of skiing, dancing to music by hometown favorites The Hooligans, and a chance to win $3,000 in prizes. Discounted lift tickets are available for out-of-towners without season passes. Proceeds from the event go to the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center, an important hub for avalanche research in the West.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: IF YOU GO Bozeman is an 8-hour drive east from Spokane on Interstate 90. Horizon Air and Delta Air Lines both fly to the southwest Montana city of 23,000. The Pinhead Classic is March 21. For more information about the event, call Doug Wales at the Bridger Bowl Ski Area marketing office, (406) 587-2111. Lodging information can be obtained from the Bozeman Area Chamber of Commerce, (406) 586-5421.