From December 12 to 14, Breckenridge will celebrate the Norse god of snow with its 61st annual Ullr Fest. While the festival is based in Scandinavian folklore, the mountain town has embraced its own rowdy and revelrous traditions. This year, visitors can catch the parade down Main Street, watch Christmas trees of yesteryear burn in a massive bonfire and participate in the record-breaking attempt at the world’s longest shotski.
For those unfamiliar, a shotski is a ski with three or four shot glasses attached. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with a group, imbibers lift and tilt the ski back to do a shot in sync — something you're likely to see at many après-ski spots.
Litch Polich pouring a bourbon shot during last year’s Ullr Fest.
Breckenridge Distillery / Davis Stuart
In 2013, he was brainstorming how the distillery would participate in Ullr Fest when his buddy Kristian Slaugh suggested a giant shotski event. With a sense of Midwest pride, Polich was all in. Local gear shops and friends helped the inventive duo amass fifty retired skis. They removed the bindings, drilled holes into the tips and tails, superglued plastic cups onto the planks and bolted them into one shotski spanning 252 feet. Breckenridge Distillery made a limited-edition peppermint schnapps for the occasion, and 153 people simultaneously threw back the spirit on Main Street.
A couple of months later, Polich received a photo from a group of college students who had seen the Ullr Fest shotski from the sidelines. In it, they were wearing triumphant grins and matching shirts reading, “Suck it, Breck.”
“This little ski hill in the middle of Iowa named Sundown broke our record with 350 people,” says Polich with a laugh. “We were like, ‘You've got to be kidding me.’” Before the end of the ski season, Fernie Alpine Resort in British Columbia joined in on the fun, setting a new record with 522 people. The competition was officially on,and during Ullr Fest 2014, Breckenridge reclaimed its title with 666 participants.
Park City made its winning debut in 2016 during Wasatch Brewery’s thirtieth anniversary. On a sunny October afternoon, more than 1,000 attendees in shorts and flip-flops knocked back beer from a 334-piece shotski. Some may question whether that really matches Ullr Fest’s feat, but Utah made it a more fair rivalry in 2019 when High West Distillery began supplying a higher ABV shot.
Since the first Ullr Fest shotski, the number of skis used has multiplied by ten.
Breckenridge Distillery
All proceeds from the shotski event benefit the Breckenridge Mountain Rotary Club, which supports several local nonprofits, including Friends of the Dillon Ranger District, High Country Conservation Center and Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center, among others.
In part, this beneficiary partner is why the “world’s longest shotski” record is technically unofficial. According to Polich, champions in the Guinness World Records pay to play, and he doesn’t want to take from the fundraiser’s earnings.
Additionally, officiants won’t honor the shotski record, as they view it as binge drinking — which is ironic, given that the Guinness World Records book was first promoted by the Irish beer giant.
Regardless, Polich is keeping count and has 500 skis prepped for this year’s Ullr Fest. Two rows of drinkers will form a U-shape down Main Street, connected at the end by a contraption Polich built out of two-by-fours and door hinges. “That's become like a coveted area. A lot of locals want to hang out on that horseshoe so they can look at their friends across from them,” he says.
And when at Ullr Fest, do like the locals. Let loose, don a Viking helmet and praise the god of powder days. May he bless us with a snowy season and a win against Park City!
