When shredding mega-gnar lines through rocky slots and stormy man-eating blizzards, make sure your one-piece suit is bright enough to light your path, bro.

Luckily everyone who came out for Gaper Day 2005 was ready for the extreme elements, and the annual day of rockgrinding and bush hopping went off without a hitch. We awoke to unexpected, menacing rain clouds on June 5, the last day of Whistler/Blackcomb's ski season. Naive mortals cowered in fear, while keen Gapers knew there'd be freshies up top followed by extra slick grass lines below.

So after eagerly digging through their treasure trunks for the most tech'ed out ski suits to fight the elements, a group of hooligans converged at the base of the Whistler Gondola to celebrate the last day of the season in style - Gaper style. The day to celebrate all that's stupid about skiing, and there's plenty of it. We've all seen them before.

Those skiers or boarders who are still convinced that jeans are good things to take skiing, or that doing backscratchers on a monoski will still get them laid. Well, that might be true, but work with us here. We're talking about the 2 inch gap between goggles and toques, tight flourescent one-piece suits, rear-entry boots, big straight skis, snowlerblades, leopard print bandanas, you name it.

With storm clouds brewing, this year's gaper outfits took on new themes. Flourescent SteepTech one-pieces were a must, while others showed up with the always functional cold-water survival jacket, furry sasquatch suit, garbage bag over unitard, you name it.

Slush was carved, daffy's and spreads were linked from bump to bump, rocks were grinded, and a few rocks even bit back (see video). To end the day, the few gapers still standing skied a few thousand feet of uninterrupted grass and gravel under the gondola.

The "I can't see 10 feet in front of me" conditions prevented anyone from steaking claim to the DoDo Bird Award this year, but you can bet everyone will be training hard next winter in hopes of taking rock skiing one step further in '06.

Click here to watch Paul Cotton's Gaper Day 2005 Video.

For more of Paul's videos visit www.paulcottonfilms.com