Steamboat Resort will kick off end-of-season festivities this week with Springalicious, a weekend highlighted by the 43^rd annual Cardboard Classic Saturday and the Splashdown Pond Skim on Sunday.

“It’s really fun to see the season celebrated in such a fun way, and our staff enjoys the return of sunshine and warm weather and, of course, awesome spring skiing,” said Maren Franciosi, senior communications manager for the ski area.

The party will begin Saturday with more than 30 cardboard crafts making their way down the Stampede ski run at the base area during the annual Cardboard Classic. Crafts made from cardboard will be judged prior to the runs starting at 11 a.m. This year’s collection of homemade crafts will be ranked in eight categories: most creative, best individual craft, best reproduction, best costumes, crowd favorite, judges’ choice, best engineering and the Coca-Cola Classic, which goes to the best Coca-Cola-themed craft.

“Everyone will check in, and then they’ll have all the crafts out on the snow,” Franciosi said. “That’s when the judging happens for about a half hour. The judges all walk through and make their scores based on what the craft looks like.”

On Tuesday afternoon Franciosi said Cardboard Classic registration was nearly full.

Following the judging, crafts creators bring their cardboard creations to the top of the ski run before racing down the course to the bottom of the hill and the finish line. At 3:30 p.m. Saturday, the band Southern Avenue, a Grammy-nominated soul and roots band from Memphis, will close the day with a concert on the Steamboat Square stage.

Season-ending festivities continue at 1 p.m. Sunday with the annual Splashdown Pond Skim, where 75 participants attempt to ski across a pond at the base of the mountain.

Online registration was already full Tuesday, but those still interested in taking part can sign a wait list starting at 9:30 a.m. Sunday at a tent set up in Steamboat Square. Spots will be released at 11:30 a.m. and participants must be at the event in-person to sign-up.

Franciosi said the event normally draws huge crowds of enthusiastic spectators. There is also a panel of judges that will hold up signs ranging from 1-10, ranking competitors based on costume, distance, style and crowd response, as well as air.

“There are two options. You can can take one side that has a jump, or one side where you can just go straight across,” Franciosi said. “We’ll have judges holding up scores on a 10-point scale … and you’re probably going to get some good air and maybe even some good crowd response taking the jump, but you might not make much distance.”

The Legendary Wailers featuring Junior Marvin will provide reggae music to close out the day Sunday, starting at 3:30 p.m. on the Steamboat Square stage.

The following week, the ski area will host several events leading up to Sunday, April 20, the ski area’s official closing date. At 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, April 16, Steamboat Resort will host “Ski for Pete’s Sake” to celebrate the legacy of longtime resident and local business owner, Pete Van De Carr, who died in a ski accident earlier this year. On April 20, Steamboat Resort will host Taylor Gold’s Home Break Mini Pipe Jam in the Little Rodeo Half Pipe at the base of the ski area. The event will be coupled with a Ride for Jesse at 10 a.m. honoring Jesse Hamric, who died in July at age 18. 

More information on Steamboat end-of-season events is at steamboat.com/things-to-do/events.