Words by J Dogg. Photos by Jordan Manley. Video by Paul Cotton.

You're sitting innocently at the top of the terrain park, fixing your goggles and prepping for your all-too-serious new trick. You hear 'Rapid Fire Chain Gang' yelled behind you as a pack of 30 freaks in jeans, pink stretchies and garbage bags come barreling into the jumps, all within feet of each other, and a majestic display of spraffies, twisters, flips, spins, froggies and flicketies unfolds.

You're enjoying a casual stroll through the village when some dude with a mohawk comes skiing past you down the pan pacific stairs.

You're out with the family cruising Red Chair laps, when the whole family is blinded and bewildered as a monoboarder whisks past you... buck naked.

If you are one of the victims of Gaper Day 2006 we apologize, but ask you the question, why weren't you too wearing a yellow one-piece and skiing alongside us?

This June 4, Gaper Day 2006 went off like none other. Despite the semi-extreme rainy conditions, Gapers showed up from far and wide to digress the level of sillygoating once again. The Whistler boys were out in full swing, and Gapers from Seattle crossed the border to join the celebration. If Jeremy Nobis were there, you might have heard him say something like "You know, I really think I not only progressed my own skiing on this trip, but I progressed the sport of freeskiing as well." Well, um, he wasn't there, so we took the sport of freeskiing into our own hands, and the digression of sillygoating ensued.

Just before the stroke of noon, the motley crew of dressed up skiers and snowlerbladers gathered at the Longhorn, consumed what they wanted, and headed up the gondi. Spilling out of the gondola, the rampant chain gang chased it's own tail around the mountain for hours of to come. The terrain park was pillaged, the Peak was assaulted, and the muddy mid-station lap fought back. The level of sillyness was so high that the group was unable to single out one all-mighty Sillygoating Champion, but we all have our picks and your new bedroom wall poster-boys and girls.

Highlights and lowlights included James Heim straightling with a vengeance on his skinnies, Ian McIntosh and Brandon Anderson getting intimate with rocks, Smut & Robby Dag's spinning wizardry, Brett Crabtree's rock navigating, Leif Zapf-Gilje's usual grass skiing domination, and of course Captain Canada (name withheld incase witnesses didn't know it was 'cold out') skiing naked down the Red Chair.

Meanwhile, industry scouts and peanut gallery gossipers are spreading rumours that Duncan Doughnuts was skiing hard all day long in fine sillygoating form, and may well have taken the unofficial Dodo Bird title with waterfall skiing, rockstepping, flat-land ski ballet, and sexy pants. He's a threat to watch out for next year, when the Dodo Bird Trophy will be introduced and awarded to the 2007 Silly Goating World Champion.

Oh wait, almost forgot about the party. Ok, most of us already have forgotten the party, but the pieces are coming back. All Gapers still standing at the end of the day headed to Whistler Cay to close down the season in style, with a keg of beer and Vodka Base a' plenty, while local rockers put on a show in front of the bonfire.

That's all we can tell you, and with that, Winter 05/06 at Whistler comes to an end. We'll see you next June, and until then, here's Paul Cotton's video to inspire...

WATCH THE VIDEO
(WMV Format, 15MB)
By Paul Cotton

View More Gaper Photos by Jordan Manley, or more films by Paul Cotton.

Special thanks to Jordan and Paul for their photo and video goodies, the party hosts Smut, Dana, Turtle, Ian & Heimer for knowing how to party, Eric Blouin from Base Energy drink for the 'Freebase', Fez for the keg, us for the Vodka, and all the sillygoaters of Gaper Day 2006.