![](\"https:\/\/cdn.steamboatpilot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2020\/02\/Big-Boom-sbt-020920-1024x678.jpg\")
Derek Maiolo<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
Last year, his first attempt at the word record ended in failure when the shell exploded inside the mortar without lifting off the ground. Guinness World Records, which adjudicated both launches, requires the shell to leave the ground and explode in the air to consider it a success. <\/p>\n
\u201cMost people would balk at the idea of coming back and trying to launch such a tremendously large firework just a year later,\u201d Guinness adjudicator Christina Conlon said during an award ceremony inside Howelsen Hill Lodge following the launch.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut this team displayed all the qualities that we at Guinness World Records love to celebrate,\u201d Conlon continued, among them tenacity, perseverance and a dogged determination to achieve the seemingly impossible.<\/p>\n
The 62-inch shell hurtled 2,200 feet in the air before it exploded, according to Borden. Its weight, as well as all of its component parts, had to be carefully examined before the launch to ensure it followed Federal Aviation Administration regulations. <\/p>\n
Conlon checked the shell herself to verify it was indeed the world\u2019s largest. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey let me peek right over the edge when it was loaded in (the mortar),\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Someone beside her remarked that it was like staring down the barrel of the world\u2019s largest gun. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really freaking cool,\u201d Conlon said. <\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/cdn.steamboatpilot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2020\/02\/Big-boom-sbt-020920-2-1024x667.jpg\")
Derek Maiolo<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
Borden\u2019s success was not without its challenges. A heavy winter storm dumped more than 2 feet of snow on the mortar and made transporting the shell impossible without extensive machine work.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting it plowed out was much more trouble than getting the firework set up,\u201d Borden said. <\/p>\n
He also was worried inclement weather or high winds could cancel the launch. As the night drew on, the top of Mount Werner disappeared from view behind thick clouds. A storm was rolling in, but the air was free of snow as Borden prepared to press the button that would send a wireless signal to detonate the explosives. <\/p>\n
News crews faced their cameras toward the launch site. A reporter from CBS was there, as was a documentary crew following Borden\u2019s world record pursuit. <\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/cdn.steamboatpilot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2020\/02\/Big-boom-sbt-020920-4-1024x1017.jpg\")
Derek Maiolo<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
Just before 8 p.m., Borden initiated the countdown. When he hit the button, it took less than a second for bright sparks to fly from the mortar. For several more seconds, nothing else happened. Some murmured concern it would be a repeat of last year\u2019s bust. <\/p>\n
Then a large orb of light flashed as the shell exploded, sending a reverberation that could be felt thousands of feet away. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat was officially amazing,\u201d Conlon said.<\/p>\n
As if on cue, snowflakes started falling almost immediately after the explosion as kids scrambled up the face of Howelsen Hill and sledded down in ecstatic celebration. Snow fell even harder as Borden and his team received certificates of success on behalf of Guinness World Records from the warmth of Olympian Hall. <\/p>\n
At that point, it did not matter what the weather did. Borden had made history, and to him, the world was bright as sunshine. <\/p>\n