by Eric Rueth

Alright, let’s face it. Some of you haven’t decided on a Halloween costume yet and are panicking because you’re basically out of time. Well, good news! We have a few ideas to help get your creativity working and motivate you to get that costume done.

1. An old-school skier. Skiing has been around for awhile, so this could mean dressing up in florescent colors or a one piece ski suit, but in the spirit of Halloween we are thinking of something much much creepier… like these dolls we’ve found in our collection…

2. A Sourdough Expedition mountaineer. Now, for those of you that don’t know about the Sourdough Expedition in 1910, I’ll catch you up to speed. In 1910, four Yukon gold miners set out to make the first ascent of Denali in order to win a $500 bet. Surprisingly, the Sourdoughs ended up making the first ascent of Denali’s north summit and did so in homemade crampons, carrying a fourteen-foot spruce pole and summit day rations of a bag of donuts and a thermos of hot chocolate!

Items needed:

1. Fourteen-foot pole (spruce for historical accuracy)

2. Overalls

3. Rubber boots

4. Homemade crampons

5. Light parka

6. Thermos of hot chocolate*

7. Bag of donuts*

   *make sure you bring enough to share

3. A mountain. This suggestion will work very well for a very last minute costume. There are many mountains that resemble a sheet loosely draped over a human. Some of these mountains are Assiniboine, the Matterhorn, or the mountain turned Game of Thrones actor Kirkjufell.

Items needed:

1. One bed sheet (Gray or White)*

*A gray sheet gives a rocky mountain feeling while a white sheet will give off a more snowy vibe.

4. A yeti. The mythological (maybe?) creature of the high mountains is a great costume that you can make as scary as you like. Plus, depending on your Halloween climate, this can be a very warm costume option. Get inspired with some yeti history here.

Items needed:

1. Lots of faux fur (white or brown depending on which legend your yeti is based off of).

2. Big furry gloves

3. Big furry shoes

And now for the final and by far the scariest costume idea we have

5. A marmot. Marmots, sometimes referred to as, “whistle pigs,” are viscous creatures that will pester you for your trail mix when you’re looking and when you’re not looking try to eat your shoes and backpack straps.

Items needed:

1. Lots of brown faux fur

2. Make up. It is very important at the very least that you use some make up to make a cute little button nose; this is how marmots guilt hikers into giving them food and lulls hikers into thinking that the marmot will not destroy their equipment.

3. A willingness to chew on other people’s costumes.

Happy trick and/or treating!