Those Vikings know their snow . . .

Was it creative insanity, festive zaniness, or just a waste of good snow? Whatever you call it, 9,000 spectators came out to watch, and apparently everyone had a great time.

Here’s the deal: a downhill competition in Westendorf, Austria, pits teams of costumed revelers in wildly innovative vehicles rolling downhill into … a pool of icy water. The goal isn’t the best time; ostensibly, it’s an award for best costume and for best vehicle, but a dunking in the pool seems to be the end result most showed up for. Consider the crew of a quasi-tank, which came to a disappointing stop at the edge of the water; most of them jumped in, anyway. One assumes they were well-sauced up before the event.      

Nonetheless, the crew of an ersatz Viking ship, decked out in furs and horned helmets, were the heroes of the event. They propelled their ship across the pond without the dunking. The winning vehicle, however, was a Trojan horse (a prop from the Brad Pitt movie, perhaps … well, maybe not), which dumped its crew of skimpily clad Greek soldiers into the drink, and a group of walking dynamite sticks won for best costume.