“Playing polo is like trying to play golf during an earthquake,” Sylvester Stallone, an accomplished polo player himself, once quipped. But set this Sport of Kings in snow and it becomes as action-packed as hockey—on horseback. Adrenaline and athleticism aside, snow polo is by no means a rowdy winter sport. This elite equestrian event attracts a star-studded crowd with the promise of excitement and elegance, and the St. Regis World Snow Polo Championship offers the best of both.

Polo is a pillar of the St. Regis brand and has paired perfectly with the hotel’s marque since the flagship hotel opened in 1904, when founder John Jacob Astor IV hosted polo matches on Governors Island in New York Harbor. A harmonious blend of both worlds, Aspen snow polo combines this St. Regis polo tradition with the Aspen appeal of winter sports. Snow polo in the U.S. is competed exclusively in Aspen at this annual event which takes place during the second half of December, where the event kicks off the Aspen social season, inviting top equestrian athletes from across the globe and an audience from stylish high society.

Slide, stop, pivot, repeat. The agile polo ponies race across the ice, ramping up from zero to full speed in a matter of seconds and turning on a dime. The jolt and jounce of the sport requires the ponies to be well-shod for reliable traction—snow polo horseshoes are fitted with eight studs (two for each hoof) and special rubber tubing to funnel out the snow as hooves pound the ice.

Hosted at the Aspen Valley Polo Club at Rio Grande Park with the 12,965-foot summit of Mount Sopris as its majestic mise-en-scène, Aspen snow polo is anticipated equally for the vim and the view. The St. Regis Aspen offers prime viewing at the VIP tent under the St. Regis marquee, where the hotel’s signature rustic elegance shines forth in an outdoor alpine chalet, the ultimate ambiance achieved with fur throws, tartan rugs, and antler chandeliers, where a DJ keeps the crowd on its feet in between chuckers. While the game is on, faux-furred guests gather round the evergreen bar to sip Downhill Snappers (the signature St. Regis cocktail) and elegant hands gleefully grasp Bloody Mary glasses as the drinks ripple with the nearby thunder of galloping hooves.

While Aspen snow polo spans three days as the final stop of the World Polo Tour, the event comes bridled with a series of lavish Midnight Suppers and razzle-dazzling parties held at the St. Regis Aspen and crowned by the Snow Polo Gala, a fundraiser for the Aspen Valley Hospital Foundation. After three days of exhilaration at Rio Grande Park, the tournament ends with another St. Regis tradition since the time of John Jacob Astor IV, champagne sabrage, where a saber slices open a symbolic bottle of champagne, signifying that the party has ended, but also that the celebrations are just getting started.

Each year the St. Regis World Snow Polo Championship draws crowds from across the globe, attracting industry titans, stars, and hippophiles, all eager to be in on—and close to—the action. But the event is just as anxiously awaited each year by Aspenites—there’s something irresistible about Aspen snow polo: the snowlight, the champagne, and the sure-footed thunder of hooves.