Earlier this summer I heard a couple of ultimate players talking and Durango came up in the conversation, and then one player said to the other,
"Durango is an incredible town located in the most beautiful corner of the most beautiful state in the country"
We would like to invite all of you to join us this Labor Day weekend, Sept. 3-6, for the 15th Annual SKA Brewing Durango Hat. The ultimate happens on Saturday and Sunday, the 4th and 5th, but if you don't come early or stay late, you are doing yourself a disservice.
The party actually starts with Thursday night pick-up, followed by dinner at one of Durango's 100 restaurants, then pint night. Friday we will be mountain biking, tubing the Animas River through town, rock climbing, playing disc golf, road biking, or kayaking, then playing beach volleyball. At 4:30 we gather at the top of the ski hill in town to launch. Launching is basically hucking a disc off the top of a hill or cliff and then marveling as it soars and dips through the air, sometimes for more than a minute. Nobody has ever hit the road from the top of our hill, although several have made the parking lot, so there is a free disc for the first to accomplish that. After you throw, you hike down the hill and retrieve all the discs.
After launching we head to the fields for some pick-up at 6:00, which will turn into night disc with the full flashflight set up.
Then we grab some food, pick-up the kegs and head out to the campsite. Big bonfire, music, smores, beer, dancing.
Saturday morning you show up at the fields to coffee from Durango Joe's, pastries from Bread, and more field food than you have ever imagined.
We get everybody registered, then have yoga circle and opening ceremonies. We announce teams and colors and everybody gets a shirt of their team's color plus a disc.
After ultimate we head to the SKA Brewing World Headquarters for dinner by Zia's Taqueria(50% more food per person than last year), $1 SKA beers all night long, a dessert bar, and karaoke and dance contests. After we finish at SKA, we head back to the campground for the after party(see Friday night +).
Sunday morning show up at the fields for a pancake breakfast, and lots more field food and brews. Pre-quarters, quarters, semis, finals, award ceremony, closing ceremonies, disc games at the fields(last year we had a 2.5 hour game of milk) then go out for food and some bar-hopping, or hit the hot springs and a slightly quieter night at the campground, although we will have a keg there on Sunday night as well.
Monday is more of the same from Friday, then drive home, or stick around for another night with burger night, trivia, meditation group, salsa dancing, or a poker tournament as some of the possible Monday evening options. You're welcome to stay as long as you want actually, with several free camping options and plenty of outdoor and indoor fun stuff to do. And a really fun Savage Seven tournament in Santa Fe (3.5 hours away) the following weekend.
We will have 2 camping options this year, with the quiet campground being Hermosa Creek, which is where everybody has camped in years past. The party campground will be on BLM land east of town, which is where we partied for the Durango Invitational. Directions for both campgrounds as well as the fields and the party will be posted on
www.durangoultimate.com soon.
Early registration is currently available at
www.southwestultimate.com, save some $, the price will go up as soon as the first 120 people have registered
Anybody who brings their own keg gets to play for free.
