29 Feb 2012 mountain lifestyle

gelande quaffing.

way back in the 80’s, the greatest mountain sport competition was born.
Gelande Quaffing made its name right here in jackson hole.
what is Gelande Quaffing you ask?
well, the guys of the Hostel Team were nice enough to allow me to join in on a practice.
they answered all of my tough questions like, “what the hell is Gelande Quaffing?”
and I snapped some photos of their final Quaffing practice.
as you can see…..this sport is intense.
16 teams of the most hardcore Quaffers (local businesses) will line up today, February 29, 2012 at the base of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.
games start at 4:20, naturally.

History:
over 25 years ago in Jackson Hole, a few of the legendary Jackson Hole Air Force guys were having some brews at the Bear Claw (now Village Cafe) while waiting out a 14 foot storm.
the story goes that the bartender slid a full mug of beer down the bar to his buddy and instinctively, the beer was caught before it hit the ground.
little did they know but they had just changed the face of mountain sports forever.

Rules:
1. 4 person teams, no subs.
2. 1 minute for first 3 rounds, finals are 2 minutes.
3. Quaffer must be 2 feet from the edge of the bar.
4. Must rotate pitcher and quaffer every pitch.
5. You CANNOT pitch until beer is down and mug touches the bar again!
6. You must quaff the beer, not wear it.
7. No puking, puking results in immediate team disqualification.
8. In the event of a tie, each team will choose 1 quaffer and 1 pitcher, and the team with the fastest Gelande Quaff wins.
Scoring:
Round 1: 1 point regular catch, 2 points handle catch.
Round 2: The quaffer must do a 360 between leaving the pitchers
hand and the quaffer’s catch.  1 point regular catch, 2 points
handle catch.
Round 3: The quaffer must to a 360 OR under the leg catch.  1 point
regular catch, 2 points handle catch.
Finals: (2min) 1 catch of each… handle catch, 360 catch, and under
the leg catch. After the 3 required catches..Freestyle. 0 points
regular catch*, 1 point handle catch, 2 points 360 handle catch* OR under the leg, 0-5 points freestyle (at judges discretion)
*rules and scoring provided by the Village Cafe.

due to the release of this article being the morning of the world championship,
i was sworn into a vow of secrecy of the freestyle moves I witnessed last night.
that being said, the Hostel Team is looking tough!
good luck boys!!!