Pond skim event closes ski season at Terry Peak

RAPID CITY, S.D. — If you were up at Terry Peak on Saturday, chances are you saw something different on the slopes.

The pond skim combines creativity, skills and even just a little bit of luck for the skiers and snowboards who try their best to glide across some 30 feet of water after coming down the mountain, full speed ahead.

“It’s just going to be a wonderful event for Terry Peak from here on out.” Marketing Director at Terry Peak, Linda Derosier said.

The pond skim started as a fun new way to close out the ski season last year, and that carried over to this year with about 115 skiers and snowboarders participating in the event on Saturday.

For starters, the rules were the same. The skiers and snowboarders, in costume or not, try their run hoping to make it across the pond, with a chilly catch.

“Customers love it. Skiers love it,” said Derosier.  “As you can tell with the crowd, they’re really having a great time. The riders love to go through the water. They like to go across the water, but many of them are going right in the water.”

When asked about his run, D.J. Barth, a skier from Bismark, North Dakota, said:

“It was horrible! It’s cold! Everyone said it’s like a hot tub, but it’s not.”

But this year brought about slicker challenges. This year’s pond was about 20 feet longer than last year’s.

As for the approach some had a plan, and others hoped for the best.

“Send it, it really was,” Braydon Schmidt, a skier from Mandan, North Dakota explaining his approach.

“After like the little hump, I went full speed,” said Barth. “It was to keep your board back and right when I got there, I just did a front flip.”

But no matter what their plans were for going down the hill, they all did it together.

“So we got three out of seven of our group that made it, so that works for us! It was a blast,” Schmidt said.