Imagine whipping down a race course wearing only a helmet, goggles and a thin layer of Lycra in temperatures that one year were a stiffening minus twenty. Keep imagining as you bend your knees, keeping your back flat. You pull your hands to your forehead, poles tucked beneath your arms, and you begin to count the gates.

Your eyes start to blur and tear up, your boards chatter insanely as they barely come into contact with the bumpy snow and your leg muscles bellow for a release from their cramped position. But you realize you still have 20 out of 24 gates to go.

That's what happens when you Schuss Boom on Hudson Bay Mountain. If you're lucky, you might receive a gold medal like I did for my 45-50 age category. You just never know until you try.

Ski and Ride Smithers hosted the 23rd Annual Schuss Boomer this March. "Pirates, Blind Bunnies and Very Desperate Housewives" in costume joined the Lycra- outfitted racers in a one-day downhill derby that, whether you're beginner or novice, could end up being anyone's game.

Airplane tickets, accommodation and lift passes to Kamloop's Sun Peak's resort hung in the balance. Personally, I don't think drinking the shots of Schnapps and Fireball right before the race did much to reduce my nervousness. I hate racing, but I love to have fun. So here I was.

No-one seems to know exactly where the name Schuss Boomer came from. Rumour says someone returned from Switzerland where such an event had taken place, but regardless, the Schuss Boomer has become a function that rivals Ski and Ride Smithers own Schnai Day wind-up for being a day of craziness, prizes and partying up in the mountains.

Teams of three skiers and or snow boarders have one practice run through strategically placed gates on the Twinkle Toes ski run. A radar gun at the bottom of the course will mark the skier's speed, the person's time is recorded and handed back to the skier.

The team of three then get together and enter a combined guess of what their times will add up to before doing the race one last time. The closest to the speculated number wins a prize.