The Travis-Taylor NFL season has ended, and the Plateau is ready for a different sort of sport. The 17th Annual Great Sapphire Outhouse Race launches Saturday at 3. Check in is at 1:30 p.m., judging is at 2 p.m., the static outhouse parade is at 2:30 p.m., and the races follow. Live music and various breweries will be on scene that day.
While the name may conjure stinky images, the outhouse race is a high octane, potty party where handmade outhouses on skis rush down the Sapphire Valley Ski Resort’s slopes until one team rises in victory from the clogged toilet of the competition.
Linda Foxworth, director of marketing for Sapphire Valley Resort, said the racers are bracketed against each other, but race teams compete against each other in a seniority style. Teams who have competed in the races before will go against each other while newer teams will go against each other. Two outhouses will race at a time. The winner will push their outhouse back up the slopes and the losing team will head to the losers bracket. Brackets were designated by Steve Martell, director of amenities for the resort.
Foxworth said the races have only grown in the past, and she expects them to grow this year too. She estimates about 3,000 or more people attended last year’s events. Teams were capped at 26 last year but they were capped at 22 this year.
“Last year the races took way too long. The people in the race were worn completely out,” Foxworth said. “They have to push those outhouses back to the top of the hill every time.”
Some race teams build their own outhouses, but other teams rent outhouses from Sapphire Valley Resort and Capital Vacations, owner of the result. As of Feb. 8, five of the 19 registered teams indicated they were renting outhouses. Registration has since closed.
WLOS and The Highlander met with Foxworth and RJ Grady, graphics manager for the company and announcer for the races, to watch an outhouse construction.
Gary Wilson, Capital Vacations Maintenance Director, has built about 60 outhouses during his time with the company, just a year after the first race. The first outhouse he built 16 years ago actually won the race that year. Since then, he’s won best construction three times, he’s won the race twice, and he’s won most humorous outhouse once.
When the cameras arrived, Wilson and some crew were actively working on a new outhouse while the outhouse raced by last year’s winner, Slopeside Tavern, was getting a tune up. The maintenance facility typically pulls outhouses in late December for repairs and waxing.
“I really enjoy [building them]. It gets us away from some of the mundane tasks at work,” Wilson said.
Wilson said the track conditions determine how an outhouse will run. He said a soft, powdery track covered with snow yields better results for lighter outhouses, while heavier outhouses do better on harder, icy tracks.
The outhouses meet given criteria. Outhouses must resemble traditional outhouses, including with a hole in the shed covered by a toilet seat and a roll of toilet paper mounted in the outhouse. After the basics, racers have some creative freedom. Outhouse names are clean, but some are still covered with crap. Outhouses must pass a safety check before pushing.
The outhouse Wilson was building was still in its infancy. He said it will take on a “hole in one” golf theme, centering on the required hole. He said he planned to stick golf balls to the exterior, but they could fall off. The outhouse had kicker skis mounted on the sides to hopefully prevent wrecks. Wilson’s sled had three bottom skis and an aerodynamics boost.
Wilson said contestants also get some advantages.
“They can experiment with anything that repels water, even furniture or car wax, if it helps it slide,” he said.
Wilson said crews are allowed a three person crew with no substitutions. Winning teams can’t swap pushers when they tire from the return up the mountain. There is one rider, who must wear a helmet, and two pushers. Pushers have about 15 feet to give the rider momentum and they may rush down the slope to help lift an outhouse if it wrecks. Crews may make slight repairs between races within reason.
Last year’s race was won by Slopeside Tavern, the bar located at the base of the ski slope. It was their first year in the race. Nicolle Fogarty, owner of Slopeside Tavern, gave credit to both luck and skilled pushers.a
Fogarty said “It all came down to our pushers and the construction of it.” It can certainly be anybody’s game, but Fogarty said they’re using the same outhouse from last year, Twinkle Twinkle Little Tavern, and keeping the same pushers. “I don’t want to be too cocky about it, but we’re just going to repeat from last year. The pushers have been training for it for a couple months now.”
Slopeside’s outhouse was built by Spalding McIntosh and John Buford and pushed by McIntosh and Colton Messer.
Another business located on the Sapphire Valley property, The Library Kitchen & Bar, is competing for the first time in many years. Chef Johannes Klapdohr, said he’s competing to support the community.
“It’s a great thing for the community. We feel like this is not a seasonal community. We’re still doing things year round, and we’re having fun and enjoying ourselves,” Klapdohr said.
The Library Kitchen & Bar is renting an outhouse. Klapdohr, Joe Houston, and Josh Schober will man their outhouse. Klapdohr knows many factors go into the races and it can truly be anybody’s game.
“It’s extremely unpredictable. I’m not sure if there’s betting going on, but I wouldn’t participate in betting,” he joked.
The Cashiers Rotary Club will sell hotdogs. Proceeds from the races will be donated to the Rotary, who will then benefit children, organizations, and nonprofits in the area.